THE TRUTH ABOUT PASTEUR'S "DISCOVERY."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1
SIR,—M. Jules Guerin has sent me the official " Bulletin de l'Academie de Mddecine," containing, in extenso, the report of the famous sitting of October 27th. This report shows M. Pasteur's communication from a point of view so different from that we have seen given in the Press of this country that I feel sure the readers of the Spectator will be interested in its contents.
M. Pasteur uses about ninety rabbits in every series of ex- periments destined to obtain the most virulent " vaccine." When he desires to inoculate any animal or person, he takes from the rabbits used to develop the virus, a series of fragments of spinal marrow, some stale, some fresh. The stale fragments are furnished by marrows which have been exposed to the action of dried air for some weeks or days ; the fresh fragments are taken from the marrows of rabbits very recently sacrificed. Every day for a fortnight or so, an inoculation is made under the skin of the subject whom it is desired to " protect," by means of a Pravaz syringe containing sterilised liquid in which a small piece of marrow has been dissolved, beginning with a quite stale marrow, and ending with a quite fresh one. The inocula- tions made on Joseph Meister were thirteen in number. After M. Pasteur had read his communication, M. Jules Guerin, whose very important and interesting speech has been nowhere noticed in this country, rose and pointed out that Joseph Meister's wounds had, before he was submitted to M. Pasteur's treatment. and within twelve hours of their infliction, been cauterised by a local surgeon, and that, therefore, his case, whatever its termina- tion, could have no real value for test purposes.* Further, he observed that M. Pasteur seemed to take for granted what at best was but a mere assumption, viz., that the boy was certain to be attacked by hydrophobia unless inoculation could prevent such attack, whereas statistics everywhere clearly show the chances to be all the other way. In fact, the latest statistics, furnished in the Department of the Seine for the years 1881, 1882, and 1883, show that out of every hundred persons bitten by rabid dogs, from 10 to 13 per cent. only contract hydro- phobia. In 1883, the number of persons bitten is cited as forty- five, the number who became hydrophobic as five only. M. Jules Guerin, basing his remarks on M. Pasteur's own experiments and results, argued, moreover, that the rabbits used to supply " vaccine " were not really rabid, but were simply suffering from the effects of an artificial malady produced by M. Pasteur's method of operation and of developing the morbid material introduced into their tissues. Four years ago, a similar malady, similarly produced, was notified to the Academy by MM. Raynaud and Lannelongue, and it was then agreed, M. Pasteur himself con- curring, that the relations of this artificial malady with true rabies were very problematic. Indeed, judging from other experiments duly reported to the Academy, rabbits appear not to be susceptible of true rabies at all. The symptoms set up in them by M. Pasteur's inoculations resemble rather septicmmia- that is, blood-poisoning—than rabies ; the method of death being usually by paralysis commencing in the hind quarters of the animal.
In a second hearing of M. Pasteur's paper before the Veterinary Congress, a well-known surgeon of the Alfort School pointed out that no proof had been offered by M. Pasteur that the dog which attacked young Meister was really mad. M. Pasteur replied that when it was killed and examined, pieces of
• Cauterisation, when skillully performed, is so valuable a safeguard against ydrophobia, Vitt Dr. Acland, F.R.s., writing in the Contemporary Review for annary. 1878 (Dog-Poi.on in Man), speaks of this operation as " conferring almost corn/Atte immunity,"
hay and stubble were found in its stomach, and that, judging from this circumstance, he assumed it had had rabies. Several veterinary surgeons rejoined that in such a conclusion M. Pasteur was very probably mistaken, nothing being commoner than for epileptic or otherwise sickly dogs to swallow hay, grass, or other unusual substances, while suffering from fits or ill-health. The dog was a farm-yard dog, and hay lay all about him. M. Pasteur replied that lie could only have obtained scientific proof of the madness of the dog in question by inoculating healthy animals from his tissues or saliva. This, however, was not done, and the omission is a grave one. The principal doubts thrown on the value of M. Pasteur's experiment, therefore, are three in number, viz. :—First, it is doubtful whether the dog which bit Meister was really mad; secondly, it is doubtful whether, if the dog was mad, the boy was not sufficiently protected by cauterisation ; thirdly, it is doubtful whether the inoculating material used by M. Pasteur is really attenuated rabid virus.
It has caused me much surprise that the medical profession has not popularised the method of Dr. Buisson for the treatment of hydrophobia. This method has saved many lives,—not hypothetically, but actually,—having proved efficacious in cases where the symptoms of the disease were already manifest. The treatment consists of a series of hot-air or vapour bathe, administered daily during seven days, the patient being under some circumstances subjected to the influence of the bath for twelve consecutive hours. " Experience," said Dr. Buisson, speaking before the Academie des Sciences, " has shown me that cure is certain by this treatment if it be adopted on the first day of the manifestation of hydrophobia, uncertain the second, and hopeless the third. But who, knowing of the method, would wait until the third day, or, indeed, even until the disease had declared itself ? Hydrophobia never appears within the week after the bite; it is therefore possible to make a long journey, if necessary, in order to procure the hot-air baths." Not only did Dr. Buisson cure himself of hydrophobia by this method, but saved the lives also of nearly a hundred patients, who were completely restored to health by his treatment. Pro- fessor Gosselin, of the Paris Faculty, with whom I am personally acquainted, found Dr. Buisson's system equally successful in his own hands. During the prevalence of the present hydro- phobia " scare " it would surely be worth while to make the above facts known to the public, although it is evident from the newspaper reports that many of the cases of so-ealled " hydro- phobia " recently published, were simply instances of "blood- poisoning," such as that which is liable to ensue from any jagged wound difficult to heal by " first intention." I have seen many such cases in hospitals, and remember one especially of a woman who had been severely bitten on the arm and shoulder by her own cat. The cat was not rabid, but only fierce; the bites were deep and ragged, and the woman died of blood-poisoning (septiemmia) after five weeks' illness. She never had any hydrophobic symptoms at all; but, had the case occurred in London during the present panic, it would undoubtedly have appeared in the journals under the heading " Another Death from Hydro-
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