Vulpian expressed the opinion that Pasteur's

experiments on dogs were sufficiently conclusive to authorize

him to foresee the same success in human pathology. Why

not try this treatment added the professor, usually, so

№5

.

--page0165--

reserved. Was there any other efficacious treatment

against hydrophobia? If at least the cauterizations had been

made with a red-hot iron. But what was the good of

carbolic acid twelve hours after the accident? If the almost

certain danger which threatened the\"\"boy were weighed

against the chances of snatching him from death, Pasteur

would see that it was more than a right, that it was a duty

to apply antirabic inoculation to little Meister.

This was also the opinion of Dr. Grancher, whom

Pasteur consulted. M. Grancher worked at the laboratory;

he and Dr. Straus might claim to be the first two French

physicians who took up the study of bacteriology.

Vulpian and M. Grancher examined little Meister in

the evening, and, seeing ttie number of bites, some of

which, o*n one hand especially, were very deep, they

decided on performing the first inoculation immediately; the

substance chosen was fourteen days old and had quite

lost its virulence: it was to be followed by further

inoculations gradually increasing in strength. - ¦

It was a very slight operation, a. mere injection into

the* side of a few drops of a liquid prepared with some,

fragments of medulla qblongata. The child, who cried

very much before the operation, soon dried his tears

when he found the slight prick was all that he had to

.undergo.

Pasteur had had a bedroom comfortably arranged

for the mother and child in the old Rollin College, and the

little boy was very happy amid the various anwnals—

chickens, rabbits, white mice, guinea pigs; etc.; he begged

and easily obtained of Pasteur/the life of several of the

youngest of.them. . - .

-\"All is going well\", Pasteur wrote to his son-in-law on

July II: \"the child sleeps well, has a good appetite, and the *

inoculated matter is absorbed. into the system from one

day to another without leaving a trace. It is irue that

I have not yet come to the last inoculations, which will

take place on Tuesday, and Thursday. If the lad keeps

well during the three following weeks, I think tfre

experiment will be safe to succeed. I shall send the child and his

mother back in any case on August 1, giving these good

people detailed instruction as to the observations they

are to record for me. I shall make no statement before

the end of the vacation\". '

166'

.

--page0166--

But, as the inoculations were becoming more virulent,

Pasteur became a prey to anxiety. \"My dear children\",

wrote Mme. Pasteur, \"your father has h^d another bad

night; he is dreading the last inoculations on the child.

And yet there can be no drawing back now! The^boy

continues in perfect health*'.

Renewed hopes were expressed in the following letter

from Pasteur.

\"My dear Rene, I think great things are coming to

pass. Joseph Master has just left the laboratory. The three

last inoculations have left some pink marks under the

skin, gradually widening and not at all tender. There