from an Af/riciiltural and Veterinary Point of Vieic. 91! 
with the confidence of a believer, and with the zeal of an. 
enthusiast." 
Having succeeded so remarkably with the plague of fowls, 
Pasteur was naturally desirous of extending his protective 
inoculation to other diseases. Anthrax was at that time being 
investigated in his laboratory ; but as nothing was known as to 
whether one attack of the disease gave exemption from another, 
no idea could be formed whether inoculation would be suc- 
cessful. People who are accidentally infected from diseased 
animals rarely recover, and when they do, a second infection is 
not likely to be observed ; sheep attacked with it generally all 
perish ; but bovines are more resisting, and recoveries are not 
unfrequent. An opportunity occurred in 1879, in a veterinary 
surgeon of the Jura bringing forward a cure for splenic fever, 
when Pasteur was deputed by the Minister of Agriculture to 
report upon its value. A lot of cows were inoculated with 
crude virus, and one-half of the number were treated according 
to the veterinary surgeon's method, the other half receiving no 
treatment. The pretended remedy was a failure, but though 
many cattle died from anthrax, others survived, after being very 
ill. When they had quite recovered, they were re-inoculated 
with large quantities of the virus, but no symptom whatever of 
disease resulted — even when this was done after more than a 
year had elapsed. The question of immunity from recurrence 
was therefore settled, and the object now was to find a method 
of attenuating the virus of this malady, as he had that of fowl- 
cholera. 
But Pasteur and his able assistants, Chamberland and Roux,. 
met with a serious difficulty at starting. The microbe of anthrax 
differs from that of the poultry disease, in reproducing itself by 
spores, as well as by fission, the latter alone being the mode of 
generation in the last-named malady ; while the spores may 
be exposed to the air for years without losing their virulence, 
and ready to develop into the characteristic rods, or bacilli^,, 
whenever transferred to a suitable medium. The virulence of the 
spore is protected from injury by its impervious covering or 
shell. The problem therefore was, supposing the filaments or 
bacilli to be analogous to those of fowl-cholera, and cultivable 
as a protective agent, to determine the conditions which would 
prevent the formation of spores. At length, after many experi- 
ments and anxious consideration, success was secured. It was 
found that at a temperature of 111° to 114° the anthrax microbe 
could not be cultivated, but that this could easily be done at 108° 
or 109°, at which it produced no spores. At that temperature,, 
therefore, and in contact with pure air, cultivation of bacilli 
destitute of spores can be effected. But in a few weeks the crop- 
