Details
PASTEUR, LOUIS. Autograph letter signed ("L. Pasteur") to an unidentified fellow scientist, "Cher Monsieur," Paris, 29 August 1884. 1 full page, 8vo, integral blank, closely written in Pasteur's hurried hand, in French. Fine.
"I AM SENDING YOU A NOTICE ABOUT VACCINATIONS"
An extremely interesting letter concerning Pasteur's experiments with a vaccine for Swine Erysipelas: "I found your letter when I came back from Copenhagen. I am sending you a notice about vaccinations of rouget. If you want to test some of the vaccines please write...The vaccines which will be sent to you gave very good results in the last months. However, because the number of experiments is not yet considerable... and the study of the length of time for conservation of the... vaccines has not been completed... I fear that between one practical test and another the vaccines will change. We must therefore proceed very carefully with a limited number of animals to test our hypothesis, and on young pigs of 2,3,4 months or more. The immunity due to the vaccination can be demonstrated by giving to the vaccinated animals food like potatoes, inflamed intestines, lumps of pigs certainly dead because of rouget. The non-vaccinated pigs will die or be very ill..."
In 1881 Pasteur had developed a method of inoculation as protection for animals against anthrax, one of his greatest medical acheivments. He then turned to research on vaccines for Swine Erysipelas or rouget du porc, which was decimating French livestock. The new method of inoculation revealed certain characteristics of microbes not noted previously. See Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 10:399-400 for a detailed account of this research.
"I AM SENDING YOU A NOTICE ABOUT VACCINATIONS"
An extremely interesting letter concerning Pasteur's experiments with a vaccine for Swine Erysipelas: "I found your letter when I came back from Copenhagen. I am sending you a notice about vaccinations of rouget. If you want to test some of the vaccines please write...The vaccines which will be sent to you gave very good results in the last months. However, because the number of experiments is not yet considerable... and the study of the length of time for conservation of the... vaccines has not been completed... I fear that between one practical test and another the vaccines will change. We must therefore proceed very carefully with a limited number of animals to test our hypothesis, and on young pigs of 2,3,4 months or more. The immunity due to the vaccination can be demonstrated by giving to the vaccinated animals food like potatoes, inflamed intestines, lumps of pigs certainly dead because of rouget. The non-vaccinated pigs will die or be very ill..."
In 1881 Pasteur had developed a method of inoculation as protection for animals against anthrax, one of his greatest medical acheivments. He then turned to research on vaccines for Swine Erysipelas or rouget du porc, which was decimating French livestock. The new method of inoculation revealed certain characteristics of microbes not noted previously. See Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 10:399-400 for a detailed account of this research.