By Michael P Foley CATHOLIC ORIGINS Bacteriology. The celebrated microbiologist

and founder of bacteriology is Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). After groundbreaking work in fermentation and putrefaction, Pasteur was asked by the French government to save the national silkworm industry from a pestilence that was ravaging it. Pasteur did so by finding the diseases from which the silkworms were suffering and simply segregating the healthy specimens from the sick.
Pasteur now found himself interested in germs and their relation to disease. He discovered the bacterial cause of anthrax and childbed fever and developed a vaccine for rabies. (The Russian population, which was frequently attacked by wolves from the steppes, was particularly grateful for the latter, and the tsar honoured him with a personal visit.) Pasteur, however, is best known for the method that bears his name. Pasteurisation was a boon to the wine, vinegar, and beer industries of France, just as it is to the American milk industry today. Not only does the heating process destroy harmful germs, but it prolongs the storage life of the product.
Much of Pasteur's work was motivated by his Catholic faith. Pasteur marvelled at the failure of his scientific colleagues to recognise the existence of God. On his deathbed he asked to have the life of St Vincent read to him: like St Vincent he had worked to alleviate the suffering of children. He died with his rosary in his hands.
Among the obscure scientists deserving far greater acclaim perhaps none is more worthy than Fr Roger Boscovich (17111787). In addition to significant contributions in astronomy and architectural statics, Fr
Boskovich is credited by some as the true father of atomic physics, his well-developed work on the matter having appeared a century before the emergence of modem atomic theory.
Why do Catholics Eat Fish on Friday? by Michael P Foley is published by Palgrave Macmillan priced at £9.99. To order please visit www. pal grave.com or telephone 01256 302866.
WM1 lin ,A7110,1