ANALYSIS OF CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
369 
have always been open to all those who have wished to follow 
me in my labours. That is to say, that all those who have 
wished it have been able to acquaint themselves not only with 
the results obtained, but also with those results which are as 
yet sought for; as well as with the various means employed 
in these researches, and the ideas which instigated the ex¬ 
periments, in accord with the general direction in which my 
study of these poisons tended with regard to its logical and 
technical bearings. I am in the habit of working in broad 
daylight in the midst of those who surround me. I do 
nothing mysteriously; I love science sufficiently well not to 
be unmindful of its progress, and to labour to perfect it, 
advancing it without troubling myself to disguise the part I 
take in doing so. And, in addition, a goodly number of the 
ideas originating in my laboratory have had a commencement 
of popularity beyond all publicity, properly speaking. The 
small circle of friends and fellow-workers which surround and 
assist me, has thought that I ought not, in the actual circum¬ 
stances, to allow the public to think that these ideas had 
originated from other than their true source. These ideas 
belong to Lyons. They are part of her scientific patrimony, 
and in their way, however trifling they may be, they will add 
to the claims which our city has a right to make on the atten¬ 
tion of those upon whom falls the task of reorganising scien¬ 
tific instruction in France. To lay claim to this right is, 
therefore, in some measure a civic duty, and one from which it 
was difficult for me to refrain. Nevertheless, these consider¬ 
ations, as cherished as the interests which provoke them, 
would not have been able to determine me to undertake 
the trial of systematisation that I am going to make before 
you, if they had not been based on motives of scientific 
interest, concerning which I shall presently bring to your 
notice. 
If it is certain that the physiological study of virulent 
maladies is as yet too little advanced for the building up of a 
theory on virus, based on an experimental demonstration 
complete in all respects, it is no less certain that science 
already possesses many facts which have brought this demon¬ 
stration to a high degree of advancement. Numerous results 
are being achieved every day in this field of investigation, 
which are sufficiently important and significant to permit, 
even at present, of pronouncing a judgment on the diverse 
tendencies of opinion on the theory of viruses. I believe, 
then, that it is now indispensable to pronounce this judg¬ 
ment. This will be an indication for those workers who 
devote themselves to these studies, and whose efforts 
