422 



HCIEJSI'CE. 



[Vol. VII., No. 170 



obstructed by the continents. Is it necessary to 

 add that the waters of the ocean, under a press- 

 ure of from four hundred to six hundred at- 

 mospheres, penetrate deeply into the solid beds 

 upon which the ocean rests, and render these beds 

 more permeable to the heat? It is reasonable, and 

 in no wise contrary to the laws of physics, to con- 

 clude that the cooling of our globe, elsewhere 

 excessively slow, has progressed more rapidly and 

 more deeply under the seas than under the con- 

 tinents. This difference has existed for many 

 million years, and ought to have caused in that 

 extent of time a notable variation of thickness in 

 the solid crust. H. Fa ye. 



BACTERIA AND DISEASE. 



Dr. George M. Sternberg, U.S.A., so well 

 known as a writer and investigator in bacteri- 

 ology, delivered a lecture before the Alumni asso- 

 ciation of the Long Island college hospital, Brook- 

 lyn, on the evening of April 20. The subject upon 

 which he was requested to address the association 

 was, "A general review of the relation of bac- 

 teria to disease, including an account of a personal 

 observation of Pasteur's methods in the prevention 

 of hydrophobia, and their results." 



The lecturer called attention to the frequent 

 references of late to the labors of Pasteur in his 

 inoculations for hydrophobia. While some of these 

 willingly accorded to Pasteur all the honor he de- 

 served, there were others which criticised adverse- 

 ly not only his methods, but even his professional 

 reputation, charging him with acting the charlatan 

 in keeping his methods secret. It is true that 

 Pasteur has not proclaimed his experiments abroad 

 in all then details ; but this is not because he de- 

 sired to keep them secret, but because he wished to 

 satisfy himself that his methods were right before 

 he encouraged others to undertake them. In this re- 

 spect he has done what every scientific man would 

 do. He has, however, always been ready to ex- 

 plain to those whom he regarded as competent his 

 method, and even to demonstrate it to them. 



The basis of Pasteur's method depending on in- 

 crease; in the virulence of the virus by transmission 

 through a number of rabbits, and its use in gradu- 

 ally increasing potency in inoculation, has already 

 been described in Science ; and his system of pro- 

 tecting inoculation is too well known to call for 

 further mention at this place. 



Before Pasteur inoculated any human beings, 

 he had tested his method upon fifty dogs, and 

 had in every case rendered them immune, that is, 

 insusceptible to hydrophobia. The history of the 

 first person inoculated, Joseph Meister, is too well 

 known to need repetition here. Since this time 



(July, 1885), Pasteur has inoculated three hundred 

 and fifty persons. Of course, Pasteur knows as 

 well as any of his adverse critics that all these 

 persons were not bitten by rabid dogs, but he 

 could not refuse to inoculate them. With the ex- 

 ception of the Russians who have recently died, 

 Pasteur has had but one unsuccessful result. In 

 these cases the explanation is probably to be found 

 in the fact that the inoculation was practised too 

 late. It is just so in vaccination, which is recog- 

 nized as a preventive of small-pox. If we can 

 vaccinate in time, we may abort an attack of 

 small-pox which would otherwise occur ; while, if 

 our vaccination is done at the close of the incu- 

 batory stage of the small-pox, it will be of no 

 avail. 



Dr. Sternberg read a translation of Pasteur's 

 last communication to the French academy, pub- 

 lished in the Comptes rendus of March 1. In this 

 paper Pasteur gives the results of his inoculations, 

 showing indubitably that the individuals operated 

 upon had in most instances been bitten by rabid 

 animals. These persons had come to him with 

 certificates from medical men and veterinarians, 

 showing this fact beyond a doubt. In speaking 

 of his one apparent failure, Pasteur says that the 

 child was not brought to him until thirty-seven 

 days after the bite was received, and that the 

 wounds in the axilla and the head were in them- 

 selves most serious, and that but for the sake of 

 humanity he would have refused to treat the child 

 for the hydrophobia. 



Pasteur gives it as his opinion that one death 

 from hydrophobia occurs in every six persons bit- 

 ten, and that the disease is most apt to occur 

 within forty or sixty days. Of the persons treated 

 by him, one hundred were bitten more than 

 seventy-five days before the publication of his 

 communication, and were still well ; another 

 hundred had passed for six weeks to two months ; 

 and the others were still well, and time only 

 could tell what would be the result in their cases. 



In concluding his remarks upon hydrophobia 

 and the methods of Pasteur, Dr. Sternberg said 

 that the only criticism which suggests itself with 

 reference to this interesting statement of facts is 

 that Pasteur does not attach as much importance 

 to the prophylactic value of early and thorough 

 cauterization as this measure seems entitled to. 

 The considerable number of cases in which cau- 

 terization was practised may have had a greater 

 influence upon the favorable result in the extended 

 series of cases reported than Pasteur has been 

 willing to admit. At all events, it will be well to 

 withhold our final judgment as to the value of 

 fche method ;is applied to man until the three 

 hundred and fifty cases reported are all beyond 



