as merely accidental concomitants of putrescence; but now shown by Pasteur to be its essential cause." The present antiseptic

method includes the aseptic method. That is to say, the instruments and other accessories of an operation are " sterilized " by heat; and, where heat cannot be applied, as to the patient's skin and the surgeon's hands, antiseptics are used. Modern surgery is both antiseptic and aseptic.

3. Anthrax.—

The bacillus of anthrax (charbon, malignant pustule, wool-sorter's disease) was the first specific micro-organism discovered. Rayer and Davaine (1850) observed the peliis batonne'.s in the blood of sheep dead of the disease; and in 1863, when Pasteur's observations on lactic-acid fermentation were published, Davaine recognized that the baton nets were not blood crystals, but living organisms.

Koch afterward succeeded in cultivating the bacillus, and in reproducing the disease in animals by inoculation from these cultures.

Pasteur's discovery of preventive inoculation of animals against the disease was communicated to the Acadomie des Sciences in February 1 881; and in May of that year he gave his public demonstration at Pouilly-le-Fort. Two months later, at the International Medical Congress in London, he spoke as follows of this discovery: "... La m^thode que je viens de vous exposer pour obtenir des vaccins du charbon etait ^ peine connuc qu'elle passait dans la grande pratique pour prevenir I'affection charbOnneuse. La France perd chaque ann^e pour une valeur de plus de vingt millions d'animaux frapp^s du charbon, plus de 30 millions, m'a dit une des personnel autoris^es de notre Ministcre de I'Agriculture; mais des statistiques exactes font encore d^faut. On me demanda de mettre a I'epreuve les resultants qui precedent par une grande experience publique, a Pouilly-le-Fort, pres de Melun.

Je la resume en quelques mots; 50 moutons furent mis a ma disposition, nous en vaccinates 25, les 25 autres ne subirent aucun traitement. Quinze jours apres environ, les 50 moutons furent inocul^s par le microbe charbonneux le plus virulent. Les 25 vaccines resistcrent; les 25 non- vaccines moururent, tous charbonneux, en cinquante heures.

Depuis lors, dans mon laboratoire, on ne peut plus suftire a preparer assez de vaccin pour les demandcs des fermiers. En quinze jours, nous avons vaccine dans les d^partcments voisins de Paris pres dc 20,000 moutons et un grand nombre de baeufs, de vaches et de chevaux."

The extent of this preventive vaccination may be judged from the fact that a single institute, the Sero-Therapeutic Institute of Milan, in a single year (1897-^8) sent out 165,000 tubes of anti-charbon vaccine, enough to inoculate 33,734 cattle and 98,792 sheep.

In France, during the years 1882-93, more than three million sheep and nearly half a million cattle were inoculated. In the A alcs de I'Institut Pasteur, March 1894, M. Chamberland published the results of these twelve years in a paper entitled " Resultats pratiques des vaccinations contre le charbon et le rouget en France."

The mortality from charbon, before vaccination, was 10% among sheep and 5% among cattle, according to estimates made by veterinary surgeons all over the country. With vaccination, the whole loss of sheep was about 1 %; the average for the twelve years was 0-94. The loss of vaccinated cattle was still less; for the twelve years it was 0-34, or about one-third %. The annual reports sent to M. Chamberland by the veterinary surgeons represent not more than half of the work. "A certain number of veterinary surgeons neglect to send their reports at the end of the year. The number of reports that come to us even tends to become less each year. The fact is, that many veterinary surgeons who perform vaccinations every year content themselves with writing, 'The results are always very good: it is useless to send you reports that are always the same. We have every reason to believe, as a matter of fact, that those who send no reports are satisfied; for if anything goes wrong with the herds, they do not fail to let us know it at once by special letters." The following tables, from M. Chamberland's paper, give the results of Pasteur's treatment against charbon during 1882-93, and against rouget (swine-measles) during 188&-92. It is to be noted that the mortality from rouget among swine, in years before vaccination, was much higher than that from charbon among sheep and cattle: " It was about 20%; a certain number of reports speak of losses of 60 and even 80%; so that almost all the veterinary surgeons are loud in their praises of the new vaccination." It would be too much to say that every country, in every year, has obtained results with this anthrax-vaccine equal to those which have been obtained in France.

Nor would it be reasonable to

advocate the compulsory or wholesale use of the vaccine in the British Islands, where anthrax is rare. For the general value of the vaccine, however, we have this striking fact, that the use of it has steadily increased year by year.

A note from the Pasteur Institute,

dated November 29, 1909, says.:

"Depuis 1882 jusqu'au I" Janvier

1909, "il a 6t6 expddie, pour la France, 8,400,000 doses de vaccin anti-charbonneux pour moutons, 1.300,000 pour boeufs. Pour

I'^tranger, 8,500,000 doses pour moutons, 6.200,000 pour boeufs. Le nombre de doses augmente d'ann^e en ann^e, de sorte que pour I'annfe 1908 seule il faut compter en tout 1,500,000 doses pour moutons (France et etranger) 1,100,000 pour boeufs." (Two doses

are used for each animal.)

It remains to be added that a serum treatment, introduced by Sclavo, has been found of considerable

value in cases of anthrax (malignant pustule) occurring in man. Vaccination against Rouget (France)