Louis Pasteur's last words

[welsummerchicks]

I don't think he meant it that way. The terrain quote, I mean.

He was talking about INNER TERRAIN - the immune system. The immune system and germs. At the time, they (finally) understood a lot more about germs, but not everything about immunity, those guys were still working that out.

Bernard was the one who said it, on his death bed, Pasteur just agreed.

And I'm not sure that's really right, even.

I think the Germ is 'a lot'. And I also think the 'terrain' is a lot. The 'terrain' can be changed by immunization, medications, and when nutrition is deficient, also by nutrition.

For example, I get H1N1, and I have a couple bad days, I mean, to my way of thinking, a couple of REALLY bad days. A younger man, a friend of mine, is in the hospital over a month unconscious, flat lines twice, lost 100 lbs, and is on PTSD drugs and has, probably permanent respiratory damage.

I was exposed to a similar virus in 1975. He was not. My 'inner terrain' had a lot to do with how sick I got from H1N1. So did his. Mine was relatively mild, he almost died.

The first vaccine was made about 24 years before Pasteur was born. The concept of immunity still was just starting to be understood; I'm not sure the first vaccine (for cowpox) really was accompanied by exact understanding of how it worked....but Pasteur was able to build on the ideas that came before him. More like building a stair case than one big aha moment.

 

[joebryant]

Welsummerchicks, thanks. We who laugh last ... usually have to have it explained to us.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I didn't explain much really, I just said how I see it, which is in Pasteur's context.

 

[speckledhen]

This is pretty much what I've been trying to tell folks about their chickens--keep an eye toward their healthy immune systems. Keep them in glowing health and even if they are exposed to some pathogen, they may avoid contracting the disease at all. I think that is why my hens who are internal layers, which is really a malfunction more than a disease, hang on for months on end and fight to live. They bounce back over and over because they are super healthy in the first place. Thanks, welsummerchicks, I agree with the way you've illustrated Pasteur's statement.

 

[EweSheep]