New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-27
HONORING NJ. PASTEUR.
Ills SEVENTEEN BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY
TO BE CELEBRATED
Paris. December B.


adopted resolutions censuring certain man. IL
disapproved his methods IL had no faith In thelr
result He was chemist. and he was daoolhg
in biology, of which he was assuredly ignorant
lie was presumptuous He was no true worship
per Of the God of Things As They Are Where
fore let him be anathema maranatha To-Day loi
the rcsults of the very work thus sternly de-
nounced, that very same body formally deVo'es
itself TO the grateful task Of honorlng that SAM
man, and calls on all the world to help 1t. 1hao
is poetic justice
The body is the French Academy OF ocichCc'
The man is Louis Pasteur.
And why was he esteemed reprobate these five
and-twcntv wears ago? Because. forsOOth he ven
tured 10 declare that all life comes from pre-eN-
istcnt life and that there is law of heredity 30
lately was the truth of to-day heresy. lie was
then already distinguished chemist; scehtln'
director of the Normal College, professor In the
College Of Fine Arts; Member of the lnstltute'
Rumford medallist of the Royal Society not quite
so distinguished yet. however, as the chemist
Dumas, his friend. But the latter. looking upon
him. said, not irreverently. lie VIII increase DIS
shall decrease -.
Dumas was studying the silkworm plague WIFI
out result This plague, called pebrine, was de-
stroyinr one of the greatest industries of France
A hundred million francs a year represented the
loss IL was innicting Presently the silk industry
would be annihiated Dumas gave up the hopeless
task returned 10 Paris. and said TO VI. Idsteur
"You must do it," 81? But have never seen
b silkworm!n What of that? You are a French
man. This pebrine will ruin the fatherland unless
Won stop its progress l have failed; but you
are younger
Then NJ Pasteur went TO the SIX region anu
began investigating pebrine. Soon ne sald l"iS
is disease but it is caused by parasites Let US
no \ axrill "a.
At that all France laughed even the ruined SILK
roisers How could all these microscope crea-
.urcs be destroyed?" by destroying all worms
and eggs already attacked by them, was ms repIy
.That is nonsense" said the others. Tor myrlaos
of new parasites will spring into being oy spoi'""e
GUS generation" And it was then that the hcau-
emv of Sciences censured him for bringing rdi-
Guile and rcproach upon his profession Nevero'e-
less, ne insisted that he was rght' ana nc SCI
about to prove it. He was at 81 HlppoN'e' H0
.ook with him the Mayor, and went TO silk cstab-
lishment He took from it dozen or more uii-
ferent lots of moths. numbered them, and exam
ined them carefully. Then he wrote out detalicd
nronhecy OF what would be the result of Matching
their ecgs sealed it up and left it in the Mayor
hands In due time the eggs Of these moths were
batched. Some produced healthy worms some
diseased ones Then the Mayor opened the seaico
prophecy, and found that NJ Pastenr hao loie,oiu
with absolute accuracy the condition oil each LOU
"Well then. they said lie does know something
about it, after all And then they followed HIS au
vice and got rid Of the plague in short order'
Then he went to investigate leriheh'dlo"
and similar phenomena "Animalculae are the
canse he said. Exclude them and such changes
will not occur" Nonsense" said tho others;
won can't exclude them; they arise from spon-
,a,aors generation" There il" replied NJ. Fas-
tnur "no such thing as spontaneous generation
And the scientific world looked at him as mad
man "There is" he repeated, no such thing
as spontaneous generation. Life can only pro
coed from other life" Even his friend Dumas
hesitated to stand by him in this. ION may Dc
right. he said, but you can never prove IT.
"But WILL replied VI. Pasteur. Then he SEQ up
his famous mountain-top laboratory ana proved
concusively that in pure air, where there couiu
be no contagon of germs, no Fermentation coIIu
occur and no animacules could appear; and that'
therefore there was no Spontaneous generation
To the value and the concusveness OF these Demon
STATIONS Professor Tynda has paid tribute which
voices the belief to which NJ. Paseur forced the
world: They have restOre1, he SAID the con-
yiction that life does not appear without inc
operation of antecedent life" So spontaneous
generation followed pebrine into retirement
NJ Pasteur next turned his attention 10 the
diseases Of men and animals Many of them were,
lie found caused by parasites, anmalculae, Daciih'
Just as was the sllCworm plague. Very well, then'
why not deal with them in the same way IL
is nv conviction, said he, that it is in the power
Of man 70 cause all parasitic maadics TO disappear
from the world. Such diseases can only be prop
o-atNd by oontagion Therefore, lohtr tho
afflicted. and the we'll will remain we'll Acting
on this principle, he mastered anthrax and other
deadly maadies, in man ana beast.
As 70 the most famous of his later achieve
ments-inoculation for the prevention of hydro
phobia-opinion is divided Beyond dispute, how
ever the great majority both of scientists and lay
men incline 10 tho belief that his process Is OF eX-
ceedingy great value The first impulse OF every
one who is bitten by dog or cat or other ami
nal il TO rush TO the Pasteur Institute ana b"
inoculated In most cases, doubtless. the preca'-
ton is not needed The animal was not rabd, aud
hydrophobia would not have cnoued. But on 'he
other hand some of the animals mad, and
+ho pcrsons bitten would surely have died from
tho most dreadful of msladcs. No one who Is
treated at the institute docs die Of hvdrophoola,
however save few who allowed too long time
10 elapse before sec king incubation. 1t Is Sin
rular sight 10 see the patients waiting their turn
in line like patrons at a h0y-ofice. One by one
they come before the operator. who meets lew
drops of lymph with nccdlc-pcinted syringe, and
they 90 their way rejoicing.
As is well known, the lymph - plcpaieu ny
@cultivationn at first in the living bodies OF rab
bits afterward in "a sort Of broth. NJ Pasteurs
laboratory has fer years been vast menagoric
II contained numerous dogs, cats and other ami
mails suffering from rabies in all stages As for
the rabbits and guinea pigs, their number Is legion
They are used by the hundred, being lnoculated
with virus from mad dogs, and thus made 10 die
of hydrophobia This is intensely cruel" sly
NJ Pastcur,s critics ." Not so, replies that Chris
tian scientist; ARE not yc of more value than
many sparrows?" For mere curiosity, he adds,
he would never venture TO kill even one rabbit
But when by so doing thc saving of human LIE