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 petits bâtonnets 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 bâtonnets 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 Académie des Sciences in February 1881; 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 méthode que je viens de vous exposer pour obtenir des vaccins du charbon était à peine connue qu'elle passait dans la grande pratique pour prévenir l'affection charbonneuse. La France perd chaque année pour une valeur de plus de vingt millions d'animaux frappés du charbon, plus de 30 millions, m'a dit une des personnes autorisées de notre Ministère de l'Agriculture; mais des statistiques exactes font encore défaut. On me demanda de mettre à l'épreuve les résultats qui précèdent par une grande expérience publique, à Pouilly-le-Fort, près de Melun. … Je la résume en quelques mots; 50 moutons furent mis à ma disposition, nous en vaccinâmes 25, les 25 autres ne subirent aucun traitement. Quinze jours après environ, les 50 moutons furent inoculés par le microbe charbonneux le plus virulent. Les 25 vaccinés résistèrent; les 25 non-vaccinés moururent, tous charbonneux, en cinquante heures. Depuis lors, dans mon laboratoire, on ne peut plus suffire à préparer assez de vaccin pour les demandes des fermiers. En quinze jours, nous avons vacciné dans les départements voisins de Paris près de 20,000 moutons et un grand nombre de bœufs, 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 (1897-98) 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 Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, March 1894, M. Chamberland published the results of these twelve years in a paper entitled “Résultats 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 1886-92. 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 1er Janvier 1909, il a été expédié, pour la France, 8,400,000 doses de vaccin anti-charbonneux pour moutons, 1,300,000 pour bœufs. Pour letranger, 8,500,000 doses pour moutons, 6,200,000 pour bœufs. Le nombre de doses augmente d'année en année, de sorte que pour l'année 1908 seule il faut compter en tout 1,500,000 doses pour moutons (France et étranger) 1,100,000 pour bœufs.” (Two doses are used for each animal.) It remains to be added that a serum-treatment, introduced by Sclavo, has been found of considerable use in cases of anthrax (malignant pustule) occurring in man.
Vaccination against Charbon (France)
| Sheep. | |||||||||
| Years. | Total Number of Animals Vaccinated |
Number of Reports. |
Animals Vaccinated according to Reports received. |
Mortality. | Total. | Total Loss per 100. |
Average Loss before Vaccination. | ||
| After First Vaccination. |
After Second Vaccination. |
During the Rest of the Year. | |||||||
| 1882 | 270,040 | 1121 | 243,199 | 756 | 847 | 10371 | 2,640 | 1.08 | 10% |
| 1883 | 268,505 | 1031 | 193,119 | 436 | 272 | 784 | 1,492 | 0.77 | „ |
| 1884 | 316,553 | 1091 | 231,693 | 770 | 444 | 10331 | 2,247 | 0.97 | „ |
| 1885 | 342,040 | 1441 | 280,107 | 884 | 735 | 990 | 2,609 | 0.93 | „ |
| 1886 | 313,288 | 88 | 202,064 | 652 | 303 | 514 | 1,469 | 0.72 | „ |
| 1887 | 293,572 | 1071 | 187,811 | 718 | 737 | 968 | 2,423 | 1.29 | „ |
| 1888 | 269,574 | 50 | 101,834 | 149 | 181 | 300 | 1,630 | 0.62 | „ |
| 1889 | 239,974 | 43 | 188,483 | 238 | 285 | 501 | 1,024 | 1.16 | „ |
| 1890 | 223,611 | 69 | 169,865 | 331 | 261 | 244 | 1,836 | 1.20 | „ |
| 1891 | 218,629 | 65 | 153,640 | 181 | 102 | 177 | 1,360 | 0.67 | „ |
| 1892 | 259,696 | 70 | 163,125 | 319 | 183 | 126 | 1,628 | 0.99 | „ |
| 1893 | 281,333 | 30 | 173,939 | 234 | 156 | 224 | 1,514 | 0.69 | „ |
| Total: | 3,296,8153, | 9909 | 1,788,8791, | 56685 | 44064 | 67986 | 16,8721 | 0.94 | „ |
| Cattle. | |||||||||
| 1882 | 35,654 | 127 | 22,916 | 22 | 121 | 48 | 82 | 0.35 | 5% |
| 1883 | 26,453 | 130 | 20,501 | 17 | 1 | 46 | 64 | 0.31 | „ |
| 1884 | 33,900 | 139 | 22,616 | 20 | 131 | 52 | 85 | 0.37 | „ |
| 1885 | 34,000 | 192 | 21,073 | 32 | 8 | 67 | 1071 | 0.50 | „ |
| 1886 | 39,154 | 135 | 22,113 | 18 | 7 | 39 | 64 | 0.29 | „ |
| 1887 | 48,484 | 148 | 28,083 | 23 | 181 | 68 | 1091 | 0.39 | „ |
| 1888 | 34,464 | 161 | 10,920 | 18 | 4 | 35 | 47 | 0.43 | „ |
| 1889 | 32,251 | 168 | 11,610 | 14 | 7 | 31 | 52 | 0.45 | „ |
| 1890 | 33,965 | 171 | 11,057 | 15 | 4 | 14 | 23 | 0.21 | „ |
| 1891 | 40,736 | 168 | 10,476 | 16 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 0.13 | „ |
| 1892 | 41,609 | 171 | 19,757 | 18 | 3 | 15 | 26 | 0.26 | „ |
| 1893 | 38,154 | 145 | 19,840 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 18 | 0.18 | „ |
| Total: | 438,8244 | 12551 | 200,9622 | 1771 | 828 | 4324 | 6916 | 0.34 | „ |
Vaccination against Rouget (France)
| Sheep. | |||||||||
| Years. | Total Number of Animals Vaccinated |
Number of Reports. |
Animals Vaccinated according to Reports received. |
Mortality. | Total. | Total Loss per 100. |
Average Loss before Vaccination. | ||
| After First Vaccination. |
After Second Vaccination. |
During the Rest of the Year. | |||||||
| 1886 | * | 49 | 17,087 | 91 | 24 | 56 | 171 | 2.41 | 20% |
| 1887 | * | 49 | 17,467 | 57 | 10 | 23 | 190 | 1.21 | „ |
| 1888 | 15,958 | 31 | 16,968 | 31 | 25 | 38 | 194 | 1.35 | „ |
| 1889 | 19,338 | 41 | 11,257 | 92 | 12 | 40 | 144 | 1.28 | „ |
| 1890 | 17,658 | 41 | 14,992 | 1181 | 64 | 72 | 254 | 1.70 | „ |
| 1891 | 20,583 | 47 | 17,556 | 1021 | 34 | 70 | 206 | 1.17 | „ |
| 1892 | 37,900 | 38 | 10,128 | 43 | 19 | 46 | 108 | 1.07 | „ |
| Total: | 111,4371 | 2962 | 75,455 | 5345 | 1881 | 3453 | 10671 | 1.45 | „ |
*For these two years France and other countries are put together.
4. Tubercle.— Laennec, who in 1816 invented the stethoscope, recognized the fact that tubercle is a specific disease, not a simple degeneration of the affected tissues. Villemin, in 1865, communicated to the Académie des Sciences the fact that he had produced the disease in rabbits by inoculating them with tuberculous matter; and he appealed to these inoculations—en voici les preuves—to show that La tuberculose est une affection spécifique: Sa cause réside dans un agent inoculable: L'inoculation se fait très-bien de l'homme au lapin: La tuberculose appartient donc à la classe des maladies virulentes. In 1868 Chauveau produced the disease not by inoculation but by admixture of tuberculous matter with the animals' food. In 1880, after a period of some uncertainty and confusion
