WEBVTT

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[...]

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[Music]

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[Pictorial Films presents,
Louis Pasteur, The Benefactor]

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[Narrated by Harold Baumstone; edited by J. Milton Salzburg]

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[Music]

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[ICI EST NE; Louis Pasteur, LE 27, Decembre 1822] [Plaque where Pasteur was born]

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[Narrator:] In the year 1822, in the little town

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of Arbois, France, was born a son

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to the village tanner whose shop was right beside the river.

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The boy was named
Louis, Louis Pasteur.

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He was a plodding, careful boy with no particularly great talents.

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But he did have an indomitable will,

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a fiery temper, and a great capacity for work.

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He became a chemist.

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[Slow zoom into Pasteur examining a flask]

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[...]

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It was Louis Pasteur who
opened up [?]

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its very existence.

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He made us conscious
for the first time

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of this vast and
vital microscopic life

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by his daring and
original experiments.

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He, the chemist, made
modern medical science

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possible by sweeping away the
ancient theories of disease

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by such things as spirits,
dispositions, and devils.

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They were devils but of
a very different kind.

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Concrete, living,
destructive microbes.

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He definitely and completely
smashed the belief

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that microbes came
into existence

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by spontaneous generation.

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His opponents shouted
and ranted against him.

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But he performed his experiments
and silenced the unbelievers

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with indisputable facts.

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Microbes are born
from other microbes.

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They do not come to
life automatically

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and spontaneously from nowhere.

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This did Pasteur prove.

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[Facade of the Academe de Medecine]

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The Academy of Medicine in Paris was

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the citadel of the medical
profession in France.

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Among its members were
the most illustrious

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physicians and scientists as
well as the most stubborn.

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[...]

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In the general auditorium
of this famous academy,

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it was a custom for the members

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to present their theories and discoveries to be discussed

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by the other colleagues.

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[...]

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Many times had Pasteur faced
the men of this academy.

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And many times had
the meetings turned

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into stormy arguments
between Pasteur,

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the chemist, and
those prejudiced

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and narrow-minded enough
to regard him as a quack.

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[...]

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How often had he presented his discoveries

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only to shock the elders from their complacency.

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How often had he
roused them from

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their small and
unprogressive worlds

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to vistas of that new universe of deadly as well as beneficial

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microbes, at times to be applauded

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and at times to be laughed at, despised,

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and accused as a faker.

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Before this assembly, he had presented his experiments

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in fermentations, thus saving the wine industry for France.

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And gave to the world the process now known

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as pasteurization.

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A simple method of heating.

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From this platform
had he explained

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how he had saved
the silk industry

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by tracking down the microbe.

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And in this auditorium

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had he given science his most famous discovery.

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Immunization.

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By a process of
building up a resistance

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against a specific
germ, first by a week

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and then by increasingly
stronger injections

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of that very same germ,

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he had discovered that he could create immunity.

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The first step in curing

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many terrible diseases.

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He had discovered the
nature of vaccines.

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He would make his patient
just a little sick

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with a very weak germ and
permit him to recover.

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Then he could withstand
the most deadly microbes

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of the same species.

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He had tamed microbes
to fight other microbes.

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The same one that killed was the
one that guarded against death.

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Tirelessly, he and his
faithful assistants

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searched, experimented,
and searched again.

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It needed the patience,
ability, and imagination

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of a true scientist and genius.

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And Pasteur was all of that.

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But these men only
blustered their objections.

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Pasteur's weapons
were his laboratory

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and scientific truth.

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These stubborn
enemies of his are now

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long since forgotten.

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While Louis Pasteur will never be.

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[...]

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When Pasteur was 9 years old,
he had seen a peasant suffering

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from an attack by a mad dog.

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He heard the groans
of pain as the man

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was tortured by the horrible
disease, hydrophobia.

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This memory, no doubt,
prompted Pasteur

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to find the cause of
that scourge of mankind.

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He drove his assistants
almost to desperation,

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but finally he knew
he had succeeded.

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But the great proof still
remained to be shown.

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Could Pasteur save human
lives, dare he

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try his cure on the human body?

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He faced a terrible choice.

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And in a letter to
a friend, he wrote,

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he would inoculate himself
with the frightful germ

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and then try to cure himself.

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[...]

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But fate, mercifully relieved
him of such a decision.

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A boy, Joseph Meister,
was brought to him.

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[...]

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He had come from
a nearby village.

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[...]

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The old grandfather
told Pasteur, how little

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Joseph had gone out to the
field to play only two days ago.

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He had often done so and
never before had there

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been any danger.

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[...]

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Happily scampering down
a familiar country road,

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which had never held
any fears for him,

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he had suddenly met a
strange and raving mad dog.

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The beast, ravaged by
the terrible rabies,

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had attacked the boy and
mangled him with 14 wounds.

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"Save my boy!" pleaded the old man.

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"It is still not too late."

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Tenderly, Pasteur carried the boy to a bed.

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Was this his opportunity to try his new vaccine?

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Why hesitate?

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And yet, he was experimenting
with a human life.

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Such a young life too.

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Should he or should he not?

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The boy would surely die
from the dread disease.

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He might live if Pasteur
would try his vaccine.

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It had worked on his animals.

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He had proved that
beyond a doubt.

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There was no other protection
against this disease

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that strangled its victims.

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Only Pasteur could
save him, maybe.

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His faithful assistant, a physician

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who could administer the cure, did not hesitate.

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There was no choice.

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It was sure death
or possible life.

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The vaccine was prepared
for the final test.

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[...]

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That night, July 6, 1885,

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the first inoculation

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against rabies was made.

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[...]

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Then passed anxious
hours, anxious days.

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Each day Joseph Meister received an increasingly stronger dose

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of the lifesaving vaccine, building up an immunity

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against the time when
the deadly germ should

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strike its fatal blow.

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Of what did Pasteur think
as he paced the room?

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Perhaps he remembered
his many failures.

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Perhaps he remembered how
his anthrax cure for cattle

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had first proved to be a huge
success and then had failed.

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That was four years
before, in 1881.

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When he had tried his
first vaccine for anthrax.

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Would he failed now?

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How often had he
fumbled his way?

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How often had he made mistakes?

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He couldn't be wrong now.

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He had been stubborn
about hydrophobia

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and did not stop until he
had been absolutely sure.

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Well, as sure as he could be.

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[...]

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On the 14th day, the
unseen enemy was conquered.

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[...]

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All the world then paid
tribute to this man of science,

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this benefactor of mankind.

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Institutes were
established in his name.

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Streets were called after him.

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Statues were built.

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Louis Pasteur's name became known to the four corners

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of the Earth.

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He was the first man
to make the world fear

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and respect the almost
invisible microbe.

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More dangerous than cannon were these tiny creatures, and yet,

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more beneficial too, than
the greatest of healers.

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[Pasteur outdoors walking at his home in the country]

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Pasteur's life had
been a busy one.

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He had worked hard with his hand and his brain,

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and nature began to take its toll.

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[...]

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[Visitors riding in a carriage]

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[Man outdoors, waving]

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[Visitors riding in a carriage]

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[Pasteur outdoors walking at his home in the country]

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His hair turned white, and age sat heavily upon his shoulders.

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There was still much
work to be done,

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but his family and his
friends persuaded him to rest.

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Let others take up the
tremendous tasks before mankind

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where he had left off.

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And so he heeded
their words and went

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to live in his home
in the country,

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there to think and even to
plan greater experiments

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against the invisible enemies,

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those hoards of vicious microbes.

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[...]

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Even when he himself
was inactive physically,

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he was in constant touch
with the work in progress

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at the institute named in his honor. [Pasteur greets a visitor]

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And his spirit was tireless.

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[...]

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Then, to crown a career as brilliant as

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any man's in history,

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whether king or philosopher,

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France rose to pay a final
tribute to her native son.

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A great meeting was
held in his honor

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at the famous University
of the Sorbonne in Paris.

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[...]

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It was in 1892, on
Pasteur's 70th birthday,

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and this was a great day for
France and for Louis Pasteur.

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[...]

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Men famous the world over
where there to pay him homage.

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Men from every walk of life.

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Scientists, statesmen,
teachers, poets, and students.

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Representatives from every
civilized nation on Earth

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were there to greet him.  And
yet, among all those present,

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there were none so famous
and so revered as he himself.

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He had shown mankind
the road to health.

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He had shown mankind the path
to a greater freedom and a more

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generous life.

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He had opened another door
of knowledge and truth

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and had shown the world a
greater glory in the protection

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of the human body.

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[...]

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Leaning on the arm
of the President

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of the French Republic,
Pasteur entered the great hall

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cheered lustily by all present.

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[...]

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His final words were
to those young students

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of the famous university.

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And he said this.

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[Pasteur:] Do not let yourselves be
tainted by a deprecating

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and barren skepticism.

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Do not let yourself
be discouraged

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by the sadness of certain
hours which pass over nations.

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Live in the serene peace of
laboratories and libraries.

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Say to yourselves first, what
have I done for my instruction?

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And as you gradually
advance, what have I

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done for my country?

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Until the time comes, when you
may have the immense happiness

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of thinking that you have
contributed in some way

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to the progress and
good of humanity.

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[Music]

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[The End, a Pictorial Film]