, 1881-10-23

| A remarkable incident happened at tnt
great Medical Congress lately held at Lon
! dun, and attended BY the most eminent med
teal men of all civilized countries. Whe1
the President Of the congress III his inaugu
raj spoke OF Pasteur,, his learned audience
leaped to their feet, and, acting more like ar
American political convention stampedins
with *'dark horse" than the grave ANT
scientific body they were, cheered and
| cteered, again and again.. In this acclaim
to - the Quiet-lookng Frenchnan" Nho sat
on the platform, these doctors only has
tened the popular recognition of man
who will unQuestlonably be known as
the greatest benefactor Of his age. Pas
teur, began in a quiet Partisan labora-
tory With the study Of germs in yeast,
passed on to the great discovery that the
Zynlotic plasues that rayage mankind are
the work Of germs, and is at this moment
capp.ng his wonderful achievements with
the discovery that many and perhaps all of
this class Of diseases can, like smallpox, be
prevented by vaccination. Jenner won i'm
mortal gratitude BY the discovery Of vac
cination for smallpox; but, where Jen-
ner found out fact, Pasteur has
discovered a law-the Newtouian law Of
the world Of disease In another col
unln we print a statement gathered from
various Sources Of just what has been
done by pasteur and the gifted and devoted
scientists of various nationalities who have
followed his lead. Splentc fever, or the
plague Of b0ils among men and cattle,
chicken cholera, ague 6r u,alarial fever, con
sumption, smallpox, diphtheria, and hydro
phobia-llese diseases have been seientiacal-
ly proved by Pasteur and those who have
taken up his line of experiment to be the
depredatlons Of germs. We owe to two Amer
leans, Pr0f. Il. T., Wood and Dr. Henry f.
Formad, the discovery made latest of all,
that diphtheria is germ disease. Vaccina-
tion has already been proved to be a prevent
iy; df smallpox, of spenlc fever, of chicken
cholera, of pig typhoid, and of hydrophohia
i'll sheep and goat. Lester, whose anti
septic surgery Is grand application Ut Pas
teur's ideas. believes that the remedy OF vac
which has been so ef1icacious in
some Of these germ diseases, will soon be
APPLIED to measles, scarlet-teyer,
and others, aud scores of enthusiastic inyes-
tiEators are at work in different parts of the
world to realize what is now more than
hope. It seems that we are On the eve Of
universal vaccination, and that the day
is at hand which has been so loaged
for by scientific men who could not
believe that only smallpox could be prevent
ed by innoculatlon, the day which has been
50 prayed for by those who have seen one
after another Of their loved ones swept into
the grave by diphtheria, searlet-fever, or
some other malady Of the zyn1otic type.
1he saying that there are no solitary truths
n Nature has remarkable confirmation in
these researches. The process by which the
germs Of disease are fitted for innocuiation is
he same as that by which the unwhoIesome
Ind sometimes poisonous wild fruits and
vegetables have been made by generations of !
culture the delicious and nourishlng food |
hey now are. : These germs can be |
cultivated, and so modified that, like |
smallpox that has passed through the !
ow. they mar be introduced, into the blood |
With beneficial instead Of fatal effect. No |
hapter Of what is ordinarily called bistoryis
lalf So fascinating as the recital We give else