M. PASTEUR'S MICROBES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1752, 28 January 1888, Page 4

M. PASTEUR'S MICROBES.

Although no leas than 38J3 inventors have competed for the_-<£25, 000 prize offered by New Soatli Wales for a remedy for the rabbit nuisance without m any one^iffstance establishing their right to th^ reward, it really seems very probable that the great French chemist, M. Pasteur, will succeed where all others have failed. Prima facie he should be likely to succeed if anyone caa m the direction of indicating a communicable disease which shall be fatal to the hosts of bunny, inasmuch as his researches m connection with rabies and other diseases hare resulted m the ascertainment and classification of disease germs, which, m some instances at anyrate, are microscopically small animalcule, or M microbes," a term invented since the latest published dictionary to which we have access. Pasteur has discovered that the microbes of chicken-cholera can be transferred to the rabbit, to which that disease is promptly fatal, and it is claimed that m a recent experiment the introduction of an inoculated rabbit 1 into a rabbit-warren was m a few hours j fatal to every rabbit within it. If this prove to be an invariable result, the effectiveness of the Pasteur remedy will be established beyond doubt, and if we can only be as positively assured that the disease is incommunicable to human beings and to domestic animals, then the value of the discovery cannot be over-estimated. The colonies have already lost millions of money through the mischief wrought by rabbits, and will lose many millions more unless that mischief can be put a stop to by their decimation or extermination, and no sum of money would be too large, even though it went into six figures, to pay for a certain and complete remedy. But before we go m for the importation of microbes for this purpose, it is to be hoped that the most thorough investigation will be made and the most searching cafe taken to be absolutely sure that the disease they are imported to propagate can and will be confined to the rabbits alone — for we cannot divest ourselves of an uneasy feeling that m the importation of disease of any kind we are playing with edged tools. It is, therefore, with satisfaction that we observe that Sir F. B. Bell is about to proceed to Paris to make careful enquiry on this head, and we shall await the result of his investigations with interest. Meantime, we concur entirely with much that is said by our Auckland contemporary, the " TSTew Zealand Herald," on this subc. ject. That journal writes (m its issue of 19th inst.) as follows :— " The Scientific investigations and experiments of M. Pasteur will no doubt redound to the benefit of humanity, but a grave responsibility appears to attach to his recent proposal of sending a cargo of microbes to the colonies for introducing A fatal disease among rabbits. We may not fally comprehend the pathological developments of ' chicken cholera,' as he terms the disease which lie proposes to impart by inoculation ; but as the rabbits infested by it live only a few hours it appears to be something more virulent than the disease which is commonly known to us by that name- — indeed the virulence of a malady which proves so rapidly fatal is enough to create some alarm at the prospect of its spread over the colony, by whatever name it may be called. That it has been found communicable to only certain classes of animals may mean the actual limitation of its operation, or it may mean the failure of experiment to determine its potency ; but that it affects creatures so diverse as fowls and rabbits, opossums and hares, shows that m some way or other it has a pretty wide range of fatality. If it is merely what we know as chicken-cholera we do not require the introduction of M, Pasteur's microbes ; but if is something of greater virulenc ', some discretion should be exercised by the Government m the acceptance of M. Pasteur's favors. We have already had considerable experience of the fact that when men have a particular end to attain they are not so particular as to the consequences affecting other interests ; I and the efforts of our acclimatisation societies have not been m all cases unattended with evil, although expert and scientific evidence has been freely enough adduced to prove the perfectly innocuous character of the importations. Even supposing that M. Pasteur s experiments, proving the non-comtnunicability of this disease to others than rabbits, hares, and opossums, have b^en exhaustive, there if something revolting m the chances cf such diseased animals entering into the consumption of food by the people ; nor can science affirm with absolute certaiuty that a disease evidently invested with a considerable virulence m itself, may not when widely diffused become, intensified, and develope new and more dangerous features. On such points science is usually dogmatic, but considering all the contingencies it certainly demands grave considerations whether we are warranted, even with such an object as slaying rabbits, m introducing a fatal disease of any kind which is expected to diffuse itself over all the Australian colonies. Like the rabbits themselves, it may refuse to be controlled, and like the genii of the tales it may be easy to raise but very difficult to lay."