The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-09-29

hydrophobia, in fermentation in the dis
eases OF the vine, the making of beer, vine
gar. etc, and the ills to which silkworms
are heir.
PASTEUR'S METHODS.
the author of the book. says that when
he asked NJ. Pasteur for some account OF
the origins of all these experiments and a
detailed narration of the way in which
they became successful. the discoverer said
with that modesty for which he is cele-
brated: These things may all be found in
the Annals of the Academy of Medicine"
True" was the answer, ''but ii is not
for scientific persons that your story should
be told, but for the immense public which
rarely has any correct notion of
the ned eGns Of discovery ON ar0una and It which II
accepts all such accounts as veri-
table revelations, 1t took some time and
Pasteur that the public required any such
thing, but when he at last surrendered Ii
was with his usual grace, and he has aided
of his experiments. taken in chronological
order. When they are thus considered the
LIE work OF NJ. Pasteur becomes beaIiti-
ful and fascinating study, abounding in ma
terfal for the romancer and the poet. NJ
Renan Is wont to say, we learn form this
book. that NJ. Pasteurs life is like the
darkened atmosphere of imminent petit
During the course Of his tudies in molecu-
lar physics and chemistry NJ. Pasteur's at
tention was brought by a sudden and in
evitable change to the analysis of fermen-
tation. He strove to learn the causes of
the Intestinal changes which begin spon-
taneously in every organized body after
death. Where was he to find the explana-
tion OF the disappearance of the corpse
of the boiling of the must of the grape
in the vat of the wine-maker? What was
the use of the. swelling and .souring of
faction of blood2 After a few extremely
simple experiments followed up with the
utmost vigor and GOODNESS, Pasteur discov-
cred In each fermentation the existence of
vegetations or organized beings to which
all these transformation and decomposi-
tions were due. That special fermentation
called putrefaction was clearly attributable
to microscopic vibrions. These strange
creatures were charged with the vast work
of decomposition. and of the return to the
atmosphere of all that had lived And
these were the beings which were the
agents, the propagators, of various infec-
tious maladies
HIS FIRST WORK
Whence came these infinitesimal Great
lures? Did they form themselves or did
they come from germs? And if from germs
whence came the germs themselves? This
question of the appearance of organized
living ferments had already become for NJ
Paste1r the most important one of all rela-
tive to lamentations. for in all fermeIta-
tween the chemical action of decomposi-
ton and the presence of microscopic beings.
He said 10 himself that he could not pass
this problem by.
and at the age of thirty-fve was given
| the direction of scientific studies at the
Superior Normal School, But this did not
crafty his secret longings AS he had no
Chair he also had no laboratory. At thai a1
moment science and the studies of superior
rank were much neglected in France. In
his great soul in patience in damp and
dingy den at the College de France, where
NJ. Berthelot later to become one of the
simple preparation. NJ. Pasteur went to the
| Minister of Public instruction and told him
Of hi his scheme s for & important ts experiments =
! find 1900 francs per year for the expenses
of your experimenting? said the Minister.
rather roushly my the ne young no seeker e, sfter
with money taken from his own slender
rets of the Normal School: "and heaven
rator. % what kind of place that must
came Pasteur's home His friends and the
members of his family saw little of him
except at his meals. and now and then of
an evening. He was fond of conversation,
of course on the topic of his researches,
with NM Blot Dumas, De Lenormont,
ana Mss ost to freely to 'Sa1 eoGe
his hopes, and the bographer gives an
amusing instance of the manner I'm which
| Blot flew into a passion because he could
| not persuade Pasteur to relinquish the
notion of devoting his life to the search
after the causes of the microscopic beings.
| This was nothing else than an attempt Ito
| fathom the fathomless obscurity of spon-
| taneous generation" As NJ. Blot remarked,
You viii .ne never mSkH %i amy esa sSr
man man would not yield, he called him a fool,
eouid saSfso to o hinder him from going @ G. on with
| his project. M. Dumas also endeavored to
| dissuade Pasteur, saying that he could not
hIsi' his attention long to such a subject. NJ.
| De Eenormont said, Let ,Pasteur alone.
| He will know when 1T is time to desist
| Rut I shall be much surprised If he does
/ not find something that is worth looking
| after
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION.
It was not until toward the close OF 1856.
| that NJ Pasteur fairly triumphed over al
the apostles of the theory of spontaneous
generation, and showed by his experiments
| made before the distinguished audiences al
/ the Sorbonne, that the experiments OF
Pouchet and others, who fancied that they
had absolutely demonstrated their theory
were in no sense conclusive. The battle
| which Pasteur had been compelled to wage
| against the accumulated opinion of prede
cessors in investigation was terrific and Is
recited at length by the biographer. Ir
Louis XIV's time it was supposed. for in
| stance, that frogs, nevis, toads and
| leeches, as well as certain kinds of plants
| were produced by the odors which arise
from the bottom of the marshes. Var
| Helmont the celebrated alchemist, ever
gave a receipt for having nest of mice
1t was only necessary to stuff a soiled shirt
| into vase containing grains of wheat
| and at the end Of twenty-one days the fer
| mentation from the garment modified by
the odor of the grain, produced your mice
| supporters of the theory of spontaneous
| generation. and it required much skill in
| France TO get hearing against any doc
| trine for which Button had declared. The
| works of Needham, in England, on the
subject are well known. as are
combated them. In France, Professor
Pouchet, at Rouen. had made experiments
| which he set forth as absolutely DEM
| onstrating the fact that microscopic oe-
| ings came into the world without germs.
| NJ. Pouchet had isolated small bunch OF
| hay in such a manner that he fancied no
grain of dust could be in 1t. He filled q
bottle with boiling water sealed 1t
hermetically. and plunged Il upside down
| into a bath of mercury. When the water
| was entirely cold he uncorked the bottle
under the metal, and introduced half a
| ltre of pure oxygen gas-that gas which
| is the vital part of the air-quite as neces-
sary to the life of microscopic beings as
| TO that OF larger animals and plants Cp
| to that time there were in the vase only
| pure water and pure oxygen. The small
bunch of hay was now introduced, In
closed In a bottle corked, with emery and
| just taken from an oven heated TO more
than a hundred degrees. AT the end OF
| eight days there mldew plainly de-
veloped. So NJ. Pouchet said it could not