of the chicken which, when chilled, contracted anthrax. A microbe may be harmless for the species which carries it, and may not be so for others, the resistance of which is not organized in the same fashion. It will be under- stood that it may be fatal to the young animal, whose phagocytes are not inured, that it may develop where the phagocytes are not numerous, and not where it finds them in great numbers and better trained, etc. And all this happens through the intermediary of cel- lular secretions, that is to say through physico-chemical agencies. It is evident that Claude Bernard and the physiologists who feared to see Pasteur re-introduce into science the idea of life as a hidden cause had in him not an enemy of their doctrines, but a powerful ally. We see also that the physicians were right in treating him as a chemist. They were wrong only in pronouncing this name with a disdainful air. With Pasteur chemistry took possession of medicine and we can foresee that it will not relinquish its hold. -321- |