Details
PASTEUR, Louis (1822-1895). Sur la rage. Offprint from Comptes rendus des sances de l'Acadmie des Sciences 92 (1881). [Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1881].
4o (263 x 207 mm). 2 leaves, bifolium. Modern blue cloth; original plain blue wrappers bound in. Provenance: the author's copy (his marginalia).
FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. PASTEUR'S OWN COPY OF HIS FIRST MEMOIR ON RABIES, with a long marginal note in his hand on the first page. After success in developing vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and swine erysipelas, Pasteur turned his attention to rabies. Although the disease was greatly feared, actual deaths were relatively rare. However, as a disease common to both man and animal, it was eminently suited to research, as Pasteur could conduct thorough experiments before trying vaccinations on humans. This paper explained that the injection of diseased cerebral matter into a healthy brain transferred the disease more effectively and with a shorter incubation period (two weeks instead of three to four months), making experimentation more efficient. Pasteur used living organisms to introduce the disease as he could not grow the submicroscopic virus in vitro. This has still not been achieved. Garrison-Morton 5481.4; Norman 1662.
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FIRST EDITION, offprint issue. PASTEUR'S OWN COPY OF HIS FIRST MEMOIR ON RABIES, with a long marginal note in his hand on the first page. After success in developing vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and swine erysipelas, Pasteur turned his attention to rabies. Although the disease was greatly feared, actual deaths were relatively rare. However, as a disease common to both man and animal, it was eminently suited to research, as Pasteur could conduct thorough experiments before trying vaccinations on humans. This paper explained that the injection of diseased cerebral matter into a healthy brain transferred the disease more effectively and with a shorter incubation period (two weeks instead of three to four months), making experimentation more efficient. Pasteur used living organisms to introduce the disease as he could not grow the submicroscopic virus in vitro. This has still not been achieved. Garrison-Morton 5481.4; Norman 1662.