The Louis Pasteur Centenary

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 6, 8 February 1923, Page 11

The Louis Pasteur Centenary

France intends to commemorate this year the centenary of the birth of one of the most brilliant of all the many men of genius she has given to the world, in the person of Louis Pasteur, founder of the physio-chemistry, father of bacteriology, inventer of bio-therapeutics, whose epoch-making discoveries have been the means not only of saving tens of thousands from the most cruel of deaths, but also of adding to an extent that is almost incalculable, to the material prosperity of his native land. Pasteur was born of poor parents at Dole, Jura, December 27, 1822, and received his early education at the College Communal of Arbois, but at first paid little attention to books. When science was reached in the course, ho grew interested. He received his degree at Besancon, and then in order to devote himself to science went to Paris to study under Dumas, Ballard, and Biot. - Meteoric Rise. His rise was meteoric. His earliest work was done in crystals, concerning which he made discoveries that revolutionised previous ideas, and at 27 he was appointed professor of chemistry at Strassburg University, which institution and the town of Strassburg are now erecting a statue in honor of his memory. From crystals the young chemist turned to fermentation, to the causes which set fermentation to work, and to the question whether life can arise spontaneously as some were foolishly prone to believe before he began his researches. He proved, first, that fermentation and putrefaction were due to living germs of various kinds, and from this the demonstration that life comes only from the living was but a step. He showed that in highly organised material, if the living germs are all destroyed, and that, if further access of germs be prevented, even though air may be allowed free access, fermentation or putrefaction does not take place. A piece of cotton wool or a mere bending of the neck of the flask to keep the germs from entering is sufficient after sterilisation to keep organic solutions quite sterile. By degrees he proceeded to his greatest discovery of all, that of germs, bacilli and bacteria, which may be called the key of medicine.- - Further Researches. These earlier studies led Pasteur to researches in vinegar, wine, and beer, silkworm disease, and disease in sheep. The silkworm disease had produced such ravages in the great silk industry in France that the end seemed not far off. Pasteur threw himself into the problem and solved it by showing that the spread of the disease in silkworms could be prevented by careful segregation of healthy worms from those diseased. ■ „ The announcement, like so many other great discoveries was scouted at first, but Pasteur demonstrated its absolute truth and his practical ability by taking charge of the villa

of the French Prince Imperial, where,the silk industry had been ruined. At the end of the year the sale of cocoons gave a net profit of 26 million francs. “Pasteur’s discoveries,” said Huxley, “have brought France more than the five milliards she paid to Germany.” Pasteur was one of the most unselfish and disinterested of men and it is recorded of him that when Napoleon 111. asked him why he reaped no benefit from discoveries which were enriching the world, he replied u “In France scientists would think themselves dishonored by acting in such a way.”

It was fortunate for the welfare of mankind that Pasteur considered commerce beneath the dignity of a scientist, and decided to push on with his research work. For far above the material value of his discoveries, great though these are, must be placed his discovery of what contagion really is and how it can be prevented. It was Pasteur who made modem surgery possible, a fact to which Lister, the famous British surgeon, who first put Pasteur’s discoveries into practice, has given the most emphatic testimony. One of the greatest joys of Pasteur’s life was the receipt of a letter from Lister thanking him most heartily for having shown me by your brilliant investigations the truth of the germ theory of putrefaction and for having thus acquainted me with the one principle which can lead the antiseptic system to final success.” Lister, it is hardly necessary to say, by putting Pasteur’s experiments into practice, abolished a whole series of deadly diseases, and made a major operation practically a safe matter, instead of one in which four out of five cases died. The Crowning Triumph. The crowning triumph of Pasteur’s career was, perhaps, us discovery of the cure for hydrophobia, a disease that had hitherto been invariably fatal. He first traced rabies to a bacillus. Next he found how to attenuate and strengthen the virulence mats with a serum prepared from it, and protected them against it. . Though he had an intense horror of vivisection, yet he assisted at a simple operation, such as an inoculation under the skin, without much distress, but even then as a recent biography tells us, if the animal made a little sound, Pasteur was filled with pity and lavished upon the victim words of comfort or encouragement, which would have been ludicrous if they had not been touching. The hour came when the great scientist was entreated to use lus skill on man. In July, 1885, a boy of nine, who had been cruelly bitten by a mad dog, was brought to him. The boy’s death was certain ,f he did not act. With agony and fear at heart he began the inoculations; on ten successive days n n/JTm T mir f te^f d in constan % growing strength, and the child lived. The crucial experiment had been made. Six months later he had inoculated 300 persons, with on y a single death—that of a girl who came to him 37 days after being bitten in the head. This case he regarded as hopeless from the first, and only undertook it because of her parents’ distress. In 1887 a British official commission, of which Lister that a “M ei p reprtedafter 14 months’ study with him, that M. Pasteur has discovered a method of preventing rabies comparable to that of vaccination for small pox It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this discovery, both as regards its practical application and its effect on general pathology.” is indebted t0 + u ,e f ni,,S ° f Pasteur that medical science is indebted for the discovery of the serum to cure dinhthem, which proved the master-key to the treatment of to B ™ 6B 7 SerUm ’ k "° W “ M antitoins . appropriate

Many honors,, came to Pasteur from all parts of the world, and on his 70th birthday— 27, 1892 there was a magnificent celebration of his jubilee, to which contributions were sent from every civilised country and all the great institutions of learning. It has been truly remarked that the faith of this great man was as genuine as his science. : -

PASTEUR’S CATHOLICITY ~. Much has been written of late in the' Catholic press -(says America) concerning the religion of the great French scientist, .Pasteur. . That he was : a Catholic, in name at least, is admitted hy all. But was ho a Catholic who faith-

fully practised his religion, one who can pointed* to - as a true light and glory of the Catholic Church? We reprint from the Pittsburgh Observer the latest contribution to this question. It appears in the shape of a letter from the Right Rev. Mgr. Joseph Guillot, of St. Paul, Minn., who says:

“Some years ago a letter was published from Detroit, and made the rounds of the press of the country, in which it was stated that Catholics had no claims on Pasteur, on© of the greatest men of the last century, that his religion was mere Deism, and that he never was a practical member of Holy Church. At the time I sought authentic information in the matter. It is* only of late, owing no doubt to the many cares of my correspondents, during the last dreadful few years, that I have received complete answers to my inquiries, and they may be summed up in these very striking facts written in a letter I have from the chancellor of the diocese of St. Claude. The territory of that diocese comprises the department of Jura, in which is situated the pretty little city of Arboy, where Louis Pasteur was born and raised, and where his remains are buried between those of his good Catholic father and mother. The chancellor writes: (1) Pasteur was always known here as a good Catholic. (2) Even in his busiest days he never failed to take at Paris a night train that would bring him to Arboy on the morning of Corpus Christi, so that he could join the procession of the Blessed Sacrament. And he came again every year at the end of September, to be present at what is called here the vintage feast, when the first ripe grapes gathered are brought by the most notable Catholics to the parish church, where they are blessed by the pastor. (3) A few years before his death, presiding at the commencement exercises of the College of Dole, in the same department, he pronounced before his young audience these beautiful words, which were then quoted and commented upon by the papers; “When one has studied much, he comes back to the faith of a Breton peasant; as to me, had I studied more, I would have the faith of a Breton peasant woman.” (4) In April, 1895, the year in which he died, he insisted on going, with his worthy wife, to receive his Easter Communion in the parish church. (5) On Friday, September 25, the day of his death, he very piously received the last Sacraments from Father Richard, one of the assistant priests, and was able afterwards to have a lengthy conversation with Father Boulanger, a Dominican, who was the great man’s confessor. I believe this will satisfy anyone as a proof that Pasteur was a faithful child of the Church, and his example is another confirmation of the words of Pascal that “a little knowledge estranges from God, whilst great knowledge brings one nearer to God.’ ”

Here at least we have a series of definite statements on which reliance can doubtless be placed. The reader can form from them his own judgment.