The Portland daily press., 1890-01-24
THE REPORTERS AND THE MICROBES.
M. Pasteur Talks Of the Cause of the
Influenza.
Collections OF Bacteria No Comfort
to Victims OF Disease.
Sick People and Their Friends Care
More About the Remedy.

PARIS. January 23.-The Herald's Euro
pean edition publishes today the following;
The news published yesterday from Vienna
that two doctors there claim to have discov-
cred the influenza microbe, which they name
the "bishop" microbe. has set the savants
and psychologists of Paris talking and ar
believe the story while others
are doubtful. Among the last named Is the
great Pasteur.
81 have read the Vienna despatch" he
said last night. "and am far from denying
the possibility of the alleged discovery, but
must say that at present sufficient proofs
OF its genuineness are wanting. You must
know that important discoveries Of this
kind result only from long, painstaking re.
search, In the course Of which, one by one,
after great labor, we succeed In overcoming
or eliminating the difficulties Of counter by
pOtheses which meet US at every point 10 cur
experiments and make 1t impossible for us
to declare positively, almost TO the very last,
whether our fOndly cherished theories are
based on truth, or on merely vain Illusions.
=" 1ublc find difficult to understand,
'ewspaper men Will not under
- 10 write up new mscrObe
~. - the same rapidity, the
same ( a.. -9ud employ ln de-
scIibing railway uls.s 81 a OF an explosion IN
a mine / viii indicate single L0int,- which
must be established before the scientil.e
world will admit the conclusions Of the two
Vienna doctors. both Of whom, by the way,
are unknown In France. Have they sue
ceeded in producing influenza In animals by
nOculating them WITH the human virus?
The despatch has nothing TO say as regards
this, simply stating that the rabbit inOculat-
ed with the supposed Influenza mier0be died
Immediately Of blood poisoning. That
proves nothing. IL seems strange also that
IL they have really cultivated the influenza
microbe there Is no mention Of their verify
ing its character by inOculattng themselves
or some of their friends with It, The dis
ease Is of so benign nature that II would
have been easy TO fnd person willing To be
experimented upon. Furthermore, while
am always glad to see any advance, how
aver small, In the study to which nave de-
voted my life, / would remark that, even
supposing the doctors have discovered the
genuine influenza bacillus, they have aehiev-
ed nothing OF any great moment Every
body knew already that the influenza was
caused by mlcrObe. NObOdy's happiness
is especially increased by the additional
knowledge that the micrObe has head that
resembles that of bishop. WHAT sisk man
wants to know Is, not so much how
he became sick, as how he can get we'll. We
can show you in our laboratories jars full Of
cholera, consumption and pneumonia NIL
crobes. but what earthly difference does that
make to thousands Of men and women who
are dying every year of pneumonia, con-
sumption and cholera? All that the Vienna
doctors have accomplished-if they have ac-
cOmplshed it's to put another useless
jar alongside the dozens Of others equally use
less. The time for savaut TO rejoice, ard
with him, the newspapers, their readers and
all mankind is when he has discovered not
only the micrObe that causes disease, but the
means Of rendering that microbe harmless,