VI 



RABIES 



ASTEUR'S study of rabies began in 1880 ; and 



the date of the first case treated — Joseph 

 Meister, a shepherd-boy of Alsace — is July 1885. 

 The first part of the work was spent in a prolonged 

 search for the specific microbe of rabies. It was 

 not found : its existence is a matter of inference, 

 but not of observation. In his earlier inoculations, 

 Pasteur made use of the saliva of rabid animals ; 

 and M. Vallery-Radot tells the story, how Pasteur 

 took him on one of his expeditions : — 



"The rabid beast was in this case a huge bull- 

 dog, foaming at the mouth and howling in his 

 cage. All attempts to induce the animal to bite, 

 and so infect one of the rabbits, failed. ' But we 

 must,' said Pasteur, 'inoculate the rabbits with the 

 saliva.' Accordingly a noose was made and thrown, 

 the dog secured and dragged to the edge of the 

 cage, and his jaws tied together. Choking with 

 rage, the eyes bloodshot, and the body convulsed 

 by a violent spasm, the animal was stretched on a 

 table, and kept motionless, while Pasteur, leaning 

 over his foaming head, sucked up into a narrow 

 glass tube some drops of the saliva." 



104 



