Louis PASTEUR (1822-1895) - Lot 83

Lot n° 83
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1500 - 1800 EUR
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Result : 3 200EUR
Louis PASTEUR (1822-1895) - Lot 83
Louis PASTEUR (1822-1895) L.A.S., Arbois (Jura) September 19, 1884, to Eugène VIALA; 2 1/2 pages in-8, on green paper with his cipher. Interesting letter to his preparator about his latest research on rabies vaccine, which would culminate a few months later, in 1885, with the first human trials. "Get yourself a monkey or two. I'm afraid you'll run out. How is the one on page 121, with the dog Nocard. [...] I hope that the guinea pig and the rabbits on p. 106, page 13 (verso) will give us a favorable result. I can't wait to find out whether the guinea pig in 13 is still alive and whether it will live for a few more days; whether the rabbits, for their part, will last more than 8 days. On the death of one of these rabbits, I will transfer it by trepanation to a monkey, with whom the series will be continued"... After signing, he adds a message for Mr. ADRIEN: "when he gives the 2nd vaccine to the ten hens, don't forget to try this 2nd vaccine on at least 5 or 6 new hens at the same time, in order to compare the effects with those on the 10 and judge the effect of the first vaccine - let him use temperatures". Then he gives the text of a dispatch for surgeon SYMONDS in Oxford: "Impossible to operate on man yet. Transport attenuated virus impossible today". He ends by repeating his instructions: "see Messrs BOURREL and BERAUD to get a dog dead of street rabies and start again with the bulb of this dog to trepan, as on p.121, a new monkey, two guinea pigs, two rabbits". I'm afraid the dog Nocard was not rabid. If you had proof that he was rabid, you'd have to start the tests all over again. On the back of the last page, Eugène Viala has written a few pencil notes about the rabbit and monkey experiments.
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