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12 - Louis Pasteur by Albert Keim, Louis Lumet · Louis Pasteur

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Speaker 1: Section twelve of Louis Pasteur by alber Kheim and Louis Lumat,
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Speaker 1: translated by Frederick Taber Cooper. This LibriVox recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain recording by Pamelinagami, chapter eight. Hydrophobia mad
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Speaker 1: dogs were formerly the terror of the countryside. The mysterious
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Speaker 1: character of the malady its frightful consequences to those whom
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Speaker 1: it attacked, classed it among those scourges of the fields
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Speaker 1: against which no certain remedy was known. In ancient times,
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Speaker 1: Pliny the Elder advised those who had been bitten to
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Speaker 1: eat the liver of the dog who had done the harm,
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Speaker 1: while Galion prescribed as a remedy the eyes of crabs
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Speaker 1: during the Middle Ages, which were haunted by mad dogs.
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Speaker 1: The remedies used were omelets made of ground oyster shells
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Speaker 1: and cauterization of the wound with red hot irons, but
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Speaker 1: most frequently they stifled the unhappy sufferers between two mattresses.
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Speaker 1: In the eighteenth century, a lieutenant of police named Lenoire
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Speaker 1: founded a prize of twelve hundred pounds to be awarded
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Speaker 1: by the Royal Society of Medicine to the author of
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Speaker 1: the best paper on the methods of curing hydrophobia. It
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Speaker 1: was won by a certain doctor Rue, a physician at Dijon,
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Speaker 1: and among the methods of saving those who had been bitten,
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Speaker 1: he recommended cauterization with hot irons and more especially with
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Speaker 1: antimony trichloride butter of antimony. In the eighteenth century, the
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Speaker 1: problem of hydrophobia, although it had been studied more scientifically,
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Speaker 1: had made but little progress until Pasteur caused a sensation
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Speaker 1: by discovering its solution. He began his researches in eighteen
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Speaker 1: eighty with the collaboration of doctors Chamberlain, Rue Antuiliers. We
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Speaker 1: cannot fight follow them through all the details of the
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Speaker 1: long succession of exceedingly delicate experiments that often had to
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Speaker 1: be commenced all over again in order to obtain assured results,
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Speaker 1: but a very simple summary will make it clear that
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Speaker 1: Pastor's genius was as fruitful as ever, and that his
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Speaker 1: illness had in no wise impaired his qualities as an experimenter.
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Speaker 1: On the tenth of December eighteen eighty, Pastor being informed
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Speaker 1: by doctor lan Lung that he had under treatment at
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Speaker 1: Trousseau a five year old child who had been bitten
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Speaker 1: by a mad dog, went to obtain a specimen of
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Speaker 1: his saliva. In the saliva, he discovered a microbe which
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Speaker 1: was not that of hydrophobia, and which, when injected into rabbits,
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Speaker 1: caused their death within two days of a different disease. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: the saliva contained the microbes of hydrophobia, but they lost
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Speaker 1: all their virulence within twenty four hours. Since rabies chiefly
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Speaker 1: affects the nerve centers, Pasteur inoculated rabbits and dogs with
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Speaker 1: the cranial marrow of rabid dogs. The subjects inoculated developed
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Speaker 1: hydrophobia after a greater or less lapse of time, and
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Speaker 1: the experiments became difficult to follow into control. In order
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Speaker 1: to hasten the period of inoculation, Pasteur conceived the idea
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Speaker 1: of injecting the matter containing the germs directly into the
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Speaker 1: dog's skulls, but the idea of trepening necessitated by the
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Speaker 1: injection was repugnant to him. He could witness without much
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Speaker 1: distress a simple operation such as subcutaneous inoculation, writes Monsieur,
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Speaker 1: although even then if the animal cried a little, Pastor
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Speaker 1: would be overcome with pity and make his escape lavishing
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Speaker 1: on the victim words of consolation and encouragement, which would
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Speaker 1: have seemed comical if they had not been so touching.
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Speaker 1: The thought that a dog's skull would have to be
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Speaker 1: perforated was most unpleasant to him. He was keenly anxious
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Speaker 1: to have the experiment tried, yet he shrank from seeing
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Speaker 1: it undertaken. I did it one day when he was absent.
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Speaker 1: The following day, when I reported to him that the
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Speaker 1: intracranial inoculation offered no difficulties, he fell to pitying the dog,
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Speaker 1: poor beast. Its brain is no doubt ruptured. It must
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Speaker 1: be paralyzed. Without reply, I descended to the basement to
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Speaker 1: get the animal, and brought it back with me to
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Speaker 1: the laboratory. Pastor was not fond of dogs, but when
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Speaker 1: he saw this one, full of spirits and curiously exploring
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Speaker 1: the premises, he exhibited the keenest satisfaction and began to
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Speaker 1: lavish terms of endearment upon it. He felt an infinite
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Speaker 1: gratitud toward this particular dog for having stood the trepening
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Speaker 1: so well, and thus having put an end to all
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Speaker 1: his scruples in regard to future trepening. The experiment succeeded
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Speaker 1: and the period of inoculation was reduced to twenty days,
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Speaker 1: and it was demonstrated that the principal seat of the
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Speaker 1: malady was in the nervous centers. To the first results,
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Speaker 1: which were of a theoretic character, Pastor became ambitious to
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Speaker 1: add others of a practical nature. Was it possible to
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Speaker 1: render dogs immune to hydrophobia after they had been bitten
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Speaker 1: as he had rendered cattle and sheep immune to antrax,
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Speaker 1: And could this immunity be extended to man. The problem
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Speaker 1: was quite complex, for he did not know the microbe
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Speaker 1: of hydrophobia, which had barely been detected by doctor Rue
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Speaker 1: in the form of points almost imperceptible under the most
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Speaker 1: powerful microscopes. It was here that the inventive genius of
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Speaker 1: Pastor displayed itself. Since he could not cultivate these microbes
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Speaker 1: in appropriate liquids and attenuate them according to the method
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Speaker 1: that he had used in the case of anthrax and
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Speaker 1: chicken cholera, he conceived the idea of cultivating them from
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Speaker 1: rabbit to rabbit, and in this way he obtained a
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Speaker 1: fixed maximum of virulence, which reduced the period of inoculation
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Speaker 1: to seven days. But how was the virus to be
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Speaker 1: transformed into vaccine. Pastor observed that the infected marrows, when
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Speaker 1: brought into contact with dry air, lost their virulence in
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Speaker 1: proportion to the length of time they were exposed, becoming
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Speaker 1: almost harmless after fifteen days. The attenuated virus having been
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Speaker 1: found by a process which, although hardly scientific, was certain.
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Speaker 1: The next facts to ascertain were first whether inoculation with
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Speaker 1: this vaccine virus would render dogs resistant to hydrophobia, and secondly,
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Speaker 1: whether inoculation would prevent the disease from appearing and developing
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Speaker 1: in animals that had been bitten. The experiments were long
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Speaker 1: and full of difficulties. The laboratory in the Rue Dames
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Speaker 1: no longer sufficed to contain all the subjects. The State
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Speaker 1: placed at Pastor's disposal more extensive quarters at Villeeneuve Lestanne
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Speaker 1: near Saint lou Finally, his experiments achieved this double result.
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Speaker 1: Hydrophobia could be communicated to animals by inoculation, and on
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Speaker 1: the other hand, inoculation with attenuated virus rendered dogs resistant
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Speaker 1: to hydrophobia and prevented the disease from appearing in those
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Speaker 1: who had been bitten. Pastor was sure of the efficacy
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Speaker 1: of his discovery, but he hesitated to apply his method
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Speaker 1: to human beings. I have not yet dared to make
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Speaker 1: any attempt upon man, he wrote to the Emperor of Brazil.
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Speaker 1: In spite of my confidence as to the result, and
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Speaker 1: in spite of the numerous opportunities that have been offered
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Speaker 1: me since my last lecture at the Academy of Sciences,
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Speaker 1: I am too much afraid of a failure which would
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Speaker 1: compromise my future plans. I want first to collect a
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Speaker 1: multitude of successful cases of the treatment of animals. In
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Speaker 1: this respect, matters are going well. I already have numerous
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Speaker 1: examples of dogs rendered immune after having been bitten. I
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Speaker 1: take two dogs and I cause them to be bitten
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Speaker 1: by another dog that is mad. I vaccinate one of them,
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Speaker 1: and I leave the other without treatment. The latter dies
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Speaker 1: of hydrophobia. The one that was vaccinated is immune. But
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Speaker 1: no matter to what extent I should multiply these examples
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Speaker 1: of the prophylaxis of hydrophobia in dogs. It seems to
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Speaker 1: me that my hand would inevitably tremble when the time
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Speaker 1: came to apply the treatment to a human being. Here
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Speaker 1: is where the high and powerful initiative of the sovereign
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Speaker 1: of a state might intervene most profitably for the greatest
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Speaker 1: good of humanity. If I were king, or emperor, or
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Speaker 1: even President of the Republic, this is the way in
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Speaker 1: which I should exercise my right to pardon prisoners condemned
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Speaker 1: to death. I should offer the condemned man, through his lawyer,
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Speaker 1: on the eve of his client's execution, the choice between
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Speaker 1: imminent death and an experiment consisting of preventive inoculation of hydrophobia,
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Speaker 1: for the purpose of rendering his constitution immune to that disease.
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Speaker 1: Aside from the risks of these experiments, the life of
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Speaker 1: the condemned man would be spared in case the experiments
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Speaker 1: should succeed. In point of fact, I am sure they would.
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Speaker 1: In order to protect society which had previously condemned the criminal,
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Speaker 1: he should be ca in custody for the rest of
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Speaker 1: his life. Every condemned man would accept, for the only
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Speaker 1: thing which a condemned man fears is death. This brings
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Speaker 1: me to the question of cholera, which your Majesty also
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Speaker 1: had the goodness to discuss with me. Neither doctors Strauss
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Speaker 1: and Rue, nor doctor Koch have succeeded in infecting animals
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Speaker 1: with cholera. Hence, there is a great uncertainty regarding the
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Speaker 1: basilis which doctor Koch believes to be the cause of cholera.
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Speaker 1: We ought to be allowed to try to give cholera
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Speaker 1: to criminal's condemned to death by making them swallow cultures
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Speaker 1: of these basili as soon as the malady should make
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Speaker 1: its appearance, through remedies regarded as most efficacious could immediately
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Speaker 1: be administered. I attach so much importance to these measures,
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Speaker 1: that if your Majesty should share my views, I would
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Speaker 1: gladly set out for Rio Janeiro, despite my age and
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Speaker 1: state of health, in order to devote myself to this
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Speaker 1: sort of study of the prophylaxis of hydrophobia or the
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Speaker 1: contagion of cholera, and the remedies to be applied to it.
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Speaker 1: Letters cited by Monsieur Valrerado in La Ville de Pasteur.
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Speaker 1: His conscience became so troubled by this weight of responsibility
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Speaker 1: that the famous scientists even thought of inoculating himself, when
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Speaker 1: at last his experiments, repeatedly tried upon animals, gave such
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Speaker 1: unmistakable results that he decided to apply his methods to
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Speaker 1: human beings. The first inoculation was given to a boy
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Speaker 1: nine years old, an Alsatian named Joseph Meister, who had
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Speaker 1: been seriously bitten by a mad dog on the sixth
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Speaker 1: of July eighteen eighty five. He had fourteen wounds and
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Speaker 1: was in a lamentable state. The treatment began with the
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Speaker 1: injection of the least virulent vaccine obtained from infected marrow
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Speaker 1: fourteen days old. The child stood it admirably, but pastor
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Speaker 1: became anxious, distressed to the point of sleeplessness when it
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Speaker 1: became necessary to pass on to the virulent vaccines. How
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Speaker 1: would the young patient respond to them? He stood them
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Speaker 1: all without any apparent trouble, and two months from the
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Speaker 1: time when he was first attacked, not a sign of
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Speaker 1: hydrophobia had developed, nor did young Meister subsequently ever show
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Speaker 1: any symptom of it. Then came another lad who had
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Speaker 1: played the part of hero, a young shepherd by the
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Speaker 1: name of J. B. Jupille, who successfully underwent the second
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Speaker 1: treatment for hydrophobia. This boy, fifteen years of age, had
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Speaker 1: fought with a mad dog on the lands of Ville
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Speaker 1: Farlei in the Jura in order to save his comrades
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Speaker 1: five other young shepherds. He had been badly bitten in
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Speaker 1: the struggle, and his case was more serious than that
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Speaker 1: of Meister because a whole week had passed between the
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Speaker 1: day on which he had received his wounds and that
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Speaker 1: on which he could be inoculated. Like the first patient,
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Speaker 1: he received the hypodermic from doctor Granche with the assistance
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Speaker 1: of Vulpien on Tuesday, October twenty ninth, eighteen eighty five,
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Speaker 1: and after a series of injections of vaccines, he was
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Speaker 1: immune to hydrophobia. It was at the meeting of the
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Speaker 1: Academy of Sciences held October twenty sixth, eighteen eighty five,
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Speaker 1: that Pasteur made his communication on the subject of hydrophobia,
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Speaker 1: preventive vaccination and vaccination after bites as applied to man.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Volpia responded and paid homage to the genius of Pasteur.
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Speaker 1: The Academy will not be surprised if, as a member
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Speaker 1: of the Section of Medicine and Surgery, I ask the
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Speaker 1: floor in order to express the sentiments of admiration inspired
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Speaker 1: in me by the communication of Monsieur Pasteur. These will
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Speaker 1: be shared. I am convinced by the medical profession as
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Speaker 1: a whole, hydrophobia, that terrible disease against which all therapeutic
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Speaker 1: efforts have hitherto failed, has at last found its remedy.
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Speaker 1: Monsieur Pasteur, who has had no precursor but himself along
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Speaker 1: this route, has been led through a series of researches
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Speaker 1: uninterruptedly pursued for years, to create a method of treatment,
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Speaker 1: by the aid of which it is possible to prevent,
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Speaker 1: beyond all question, the development of hydrophobia in a man
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Speaker 1: recently bitten by a mad dog. I say beyond all questions,
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Speaker 1: because after what I have seen in Monsieur Pastor's laboratory,
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Speaker 1: I cannot myself doubt the permanent success of this treatment.
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Speaker 1: Whenever it is supplied in its full extent, with within
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Speaker 1: a few days after the bite has been received, it
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Speaker 1: becomes at once necessary to take steps toward the organization
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Speaker 1: of a public system of treatment for hydrophobia. According to
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Speaker 1: the Pastor method, every individual bitten by a mad dog
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Speaker 1: ought to be able to benefit by this great discovery,
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Speaker 1: which puts the seal of glory upon our illustrious colleague,
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Speaker 1: and is destined to redound greatly to the honor of
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Speaker 1: our country. It was Pastor's destiny never to triumph through
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Speaker 1: any of his discoveries until after he had overcome desperate resistance.
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Speaker 1: The value of his method was questioned by a large
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Speaker 1: part of the profession. He was ridiculed, and the comic
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Speaker 1: papers published caricatures upon his work. Pastor's enemies, who had
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Speaker 1: not even yet disarmed in the presence of his genius,
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Speaker 1: renewed their attacks and connection with a failure which occurred
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Speaker 1: in December eighteen eighty five, the death of a young girl,
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Speaker 1: Louise Le Pellettiers, who had been inoculated thirty seven days
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Speaker 1: after she was bitten. Nevertheless, all resistance and all perfidy disappeared.
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Speaker 1: Beneath the immense flood of enthusiasm which had been aroused
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Speaker 1: by Pastor's discoveries. A public system of vaccination against hydrophobia
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Speaker 1: was installed, and people flocked there from all parts of
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Speaker 1: France and from every other country. Within one year and
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Speaker 1: two months from October eighteen eighty five to December eighteen
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Speaker 1: eighty six, two thousand, six hundred eighty two persons who
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Speaker 1: had been bitten were treated there, and out of this
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Speaker 1: number only thirty one succumbed. The efficacy of the method
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Speaker 1: had been demonstrated, Pastor took an interest in the children
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Speaker 1: whom he treated and lavished caresses and presents on them.
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Speaker 1: He wrote to them after the course of treatment was over,
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Speaker 1: trying to keep watch of their subsequent lives, and urging
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Speaker 1: upon them the advantages of honesty and industry. The great man,
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Speaker 1: surrounded with the halo of glory, and overburdened with his
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Speaker 1: labors and his thoughts, found himself paternally drawn toward these
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Speaker 1: little ones, and they were his best source of repose.
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Speaker 1: End of Section twelve.