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Louis Pasteur Biography

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PASTEUR, Louis (1822–96). A celebrated French biological chemist and pathologist, born at Dôle (Jura), Dec. 27, 1822. He early devoted himself to the study of chemistry, graduating from the Ecole Normale, Paris, in 1847. In 1848 he became professor of physics at Dijon and in the following year accepted the professorship of chemistry at Strassburg. In 1854 he was called to Lille as dean and professor of chemistry in the faculty of sciences. Here he remained until 1857, when he went to Paris as scientific director of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and was elected a member of the Institute. In 1863 he became professor of geology, physics, and chemistry at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and from 1867 to 1889 was professor of chemistry at the Sorbonne. Later he carried on his researches at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, of which he was director until his death and where he was surrounded by such men as Calmette, Chamberland, Metchnikoff (q.v.), Yersin, and Roux (q.v.), who became his successor. He died near Saint-Cloud, Sept. 28, 1895.

The results of Pasteur’s investigations have formed contributions of the highest importance to nearly every branch of physical and natural science. By his classical researches on optically active substances and their separation into isomeric modifications of identical chemical but different physical properties, Pasteur became the founder of the science of stereochemistry (q.v.). In the province of fermentation and the germ theory his work was even greater. He showed that lactic, butyric, acetic, and other fermentations are caused by microörganisms, and established on a firm scientific basis the principle that spontaneous generation cannot take place, at least under ordinary conditions. The different processes of putrefaction and fermentation set up by the air are invariably produced by germs, the presence of which in the atmosphere Pasteur demonstrated by passing a current of air through guncotton and dissolving the latter in a mixture of alcohol and ether; an insoluble residue was thus obtained, in which the germs of organisms could be readily seen with the aid of a microscope and could be shown to be capable of developing into mature organisms. See Milk Production; Pasteurizer.

Pasteur’s studies on the diseased conditions of wine and beer have rendered possible and easy the prevention of these conditions. No less important were his investigations on the silkworm’s disease pébrine and its cure. His discovery of bacteria as the cause of anthrax (splenic fever) in cattle was epoch-making in the science of diseases. Similar results were obtained with regard to fowl’s cholera; and his experiments show success in preventing the various diseases caused by septic bacteria by inoculating animals with a milder form of the disease by means of a weaker brood of bacteria artificially cultured. Pasteur found that by keeping a cultured crop of specific microörganisms at a certain temperature with a full supply of oxygen he could reduce organisms to an incapacity for producing spores, therefore to sterility. But before this point is reached the cultured organism loses its virulence, although still germinating; vaccination with it then produces a mild disease, which effectually protects from the fatal scourge of splenic fever, of fowl’s cholera, and other diseases.

In the same manner he dealt with splenic apoplexy, which he showed to be caused by the presence of specific bacteria in the blood. Pasteur’s well-known treatment of hydrophobia is based on a similar principle, the spinal column of the infected animal serving as culture medium. See Hydrophobia.

Besides important articles in the Annales de Chimie, his writings include: Nouvel exemple de fermentation déterminée par des animalcules infusoires pouvant vivre sans oxygène libre (1863); Etudes sur le vin, ses maladies, causes qui les provoquent (1866); Etudes sur le vinaigre, sa fabrication, ses maladies, moyens de les prévenir (1868); Etudes sur la maladie des vers à soie (1870); Nouvelles études sur la maladie des vers à soie, etc. (1871); Etudes sur la brève (1876; Eng. trans., Studies on Fermentation, 1879); Les microbes (1878), jointly with Tyndall; Sur les maladies virulentes et en particulier sur la maladie appelée vulgairement choléra des poules (1880; Eng. trans., The Attenuation of the Virus of Fowl Cholera, 1886); Résultats de l’application de la méthode pour prévenir la rage après morsure (1886; Eng. trans., Researches on Vaccination for Rabies, 1886); Nouvelle communication sur la rage (1886); Le traitement de la rage (1886; Eng. trans., Rabies, 1890).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920)147.