Central Catholic High School - Echo Yearbook (Fort Wayne, IN)

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. :J , . ' xl., ,. mf V: , ' I ' 'l I 22 CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ECHO drunken stranger, turned his attention to his companions. Brennan stole a glance at them and discovered that the captain, the mate of the tug, and a small man with a black mus4 tache comprised the party. The captain ad- dressed the small man as Jackson. He leaned across the table and said: Say, Jackson, I want my share of that Johnstone affair. All right, assented Jackson, handing the captain a roll of bills, and don't forget to have your tug between 28th and 32d streets at eight o'clock this evening. VVe're going to rifle As- tor's yacht and should we get chased by the cops as we pass by your craft we'1l toss the bag of stuff onto the deck. Then if We get caught there will be no -evidence as beforeg but be there on time. This 'ended the conversation and the three men left the'saloon. When they were gone Brennan staggered out into the street, and walked up to the station, where he requested the use of five men and a police boat for the evening. The chief was only too glad to ac- commodate him, because he, too, had comeg in for a share of the criticism. About seven-thirty Brennan brought the po- lice boat against the side of the Warrior, Asto'r's yacht, and having made arrangements with the owner. concealed his men about the deck. Twenty minutes later a launch bumped lightly against the yacht's side and soon a man appeared above the rail. Then climbing over the rail the man descended into the cabin. Soon he appeared again carrying in his hands a black bag bulging with stolen valuables. Pulling out his revolver, Brennan fired at the man's arm. The bullet struck the mark, and dropping the bag, the fellow immediately leaped over the rail into the launch and started down' the river. Brennan and his men leaped into their boat and started in pursuit. The crook's launch tried to cut across the bow,0f a municipal ferry-boat and Brennan again fired his revolver. The bullet clipped off the top of a spark plug, and this stalled the motor. The launch now drifted helplessly. The ferry tried to swingifrom its course but failed. There was a crash, and man and boat disappeared under the waves. L L cATHoLlc SCIENTXISTSL By H. C. Wiener, '16.' II.-Louis Pasteur. ' , Louis Pasteur, the great French scientist and founder of bacteriology, was born at ,Dole, France, December 27, 1822. His father was a poor tanner. When Louis was but two months old his parents moved to Arbois. When-young Pasteur was old enough to go to school he was sent to the College Cummnal, but he cared little for the study of books and devoted most of his time to fishing and sketching. However, as soon as he was admitted to studies in sci- ence he became interested and acquired such a love for science that he had no sooner re- ceived his degree at the College Communal than he set out for Paris to continue his studies under Dumas, Barlard, and Biot. I l A scientist named Mitscherlich, after some experiments in crystallography, aroused Pas- teur's curiosity by announcing that two tar- taric acids, apparently identical in chemical qualities and crystalline form, acted differently in solution toward polarized light. The young scientist doubted the statement of Mitscher- lich and, after performing several 'experiments on crystals, demonstrated beyond doubt that the said crystals were of different structures. . Shortly after this, a Ferman manufacturer ot chemicals discovered that impure tartrates of lime fermented when dissolved and exposed' to the sun's rays. This discovery prompted Paste-ur to conduct an investigation of fer- mentation and putrefaction In explaining his theories on the former hemaintained that all fermentations are the result of the pres'ence and growth of micro-organisms which he called the ferment. He also maintained that fermen- tations are not the result of spontaneous pro- duction but that the living organism proceeds from a parent of the same species. Reasoning from this he concluded that fermentation could never take place if the ferment germs be prevented from entering substances which easily ferment. Q . As a result of his 'experiments he was asked by the Empress Eugenie if he would devote himself to the establishment of great. manufac- turing industries for the benefit of France. He replied that he thought it quite beneath the dignity of a scientist to give up his time to commerce, but at the same time he manifested I 'l L ...1 ' ui 1

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' CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ECHO 21 Two years later he was married to Miss Mary Murphy of that city. He devoted his entire time to literary work and continued to edit the Pilot till his untimely death in 1890. Though he had lived only forty-six years he had nevertheless built himself a lasting place in American literature, particularly in Catholic lines. His literary efforts, aside from newspaper work, include the realms of poetry, oration, and story. But it is as O'Reilly the poet he will be remembered, for, as he himself has expressed it, The dreamer lives for ever, but the toiler dies in a day? Yes, poetry was the natural mode of expression for a man of his temperament. He could express thought with greater ease in a single line of poetry than he could in a page of his very creditable prose. His poetry is remarkable for its ease and naturalness, and how could it be otherwise with one who was poetic even in a prison cell? . v 'His poetry is not hidden, it.is not the conception of one who feels he is a world within himself. His lines are marked by a thorough knowledge of human nature, particu- larly the pathetic and sy'mpat11etic sides. In- deed, the distinguishing mark of all his poems is their quality of sympathetic appeal. He is at his best when dealing with a patriotic sub- ject. By nature a patriot, liberty-inspired verses sprang from his soul. - Some of O'Reilly's published works are: Songs' of the Southern Seasg The Statues in Block and Other Poems, Songs, Legends, and Bajladsg America, Lectures and Speeches. His novel, Moondyne, is very interesting and it seems in some degree to reflect the author's life before he found shelter in America. illil I ALONG THE WATERFRONT By Frank Rogers, '17, -In a brightly lighted room of the Forty- second Street Detective Agency in New York City, Detective Thomas Brennan sat with his head in his hands, trying to solve a puzzling problem of his profession. He had just come from a rather sharp interview with a superior officer by whom he was appointed and advised to get busy. As he racked his brain trying to think of some way to trap the crooks who were committing wholesale robberies . v along the rivers of the city, his eyes fell on an article on the front page of a newspaper with the headlines as follows: Waterfront Robbers Getting Bolderg Yacht of William Johnstone, the Millionaire, Robbedf' It also added a few ironical remarks praising the pres- ent police and detective force. Brennan read the editorial and jumping up said to one of his men in the room: I'll get those scoun- drels or know the reason why! Then picking up his hat he went out into the street. As Brennan walked along the sidewalk he reasoned that if he wished to catch the thieves his best chance would be by associating with the rivermen and sailors that frequented those saloons near the docks. He knew it would be fatal for him to be recognized, so he stopped in a store and bought a sailor's cap and blouse, and returning to his flat he changed his clothes. Then clad in his sailor's clothes he sauntered along the docks near the Battery. Thinking he might pick up some clue to the identity of the robbers, he obtained a job on a tug plying about 'New York Bay. A few hours later, as the tug was transporting a scow across the harbor, a slim, dark-colored launch sailed up alongside, and a note was handed up to the captain. He read it and then laid it upon the sill of the pilot-house window, and went out to give some orders to the helmsman. A gust of wind blew the letter from the window almost hands, who was standing near into Brennan's the pilot-house. ' After securing the note Bren- nan walked to the stern and read it. It con- tained but Iive words: Come to Caseyls at seven. Scenting a clue, Brennan said to him- self, I'll be there at seven, all right, and with these. words he let the wind blow the note over the rail. The captain 'looked for the note, but when he could not iind it he readily supposed it had been blown into the water. About six o'clock Brennan entered Casey's saloon and sat down at one of the tables. He ordered a glass of whiskey, but when no one was looking he dashed its contents into a cuspidor. He ordered three more and the con- tents of these also found the cuspidor. A few minutes later he allowed his head to sink down on the table as though in a drunken stupor. Soon after, three men entered and sat down at an adjoining table. Before be- ginning to talk one of them looked sharply at Brennan, and being satisiied that he was a

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. ' CENTRAL CATHOLIC his willingness to let others profit by his dis- coveries, whilephe himself would continue his scientific work. In 1857 he became director of science at the Ecole Normal, Paris. Some time after- ward he was appointed professor of geology, physics and chemistry at the School of Fine Arts. H At this time the silkworm disease was Last spreading over France and the great industry of the country was becoming crippled. Pas- teur was called to the rescue, though it is said that he had never seen a silkworm up, to this time. However, such real or attributed ignorance did not prevent him from making a completed study of the silkworm disease germs as soon as he undertook the commission. He discovered the disease germs in the bodies of the dead silkworms and also in the moth, the larva, and the egg. He concluded that by carefully segregating the healthy silkworms from the infected the spread of the disease could be prevented. He demonstrated the truth of his theory and manifested his prac- tical ability by taking charge of the silkworm industry at the French Prince Imperial. At the end of a year he had netted the French government 55,000,000 So much labor was too much for his strength, and partial paralysis followed in 1868. I But as he was a real scientist he could not be idle. He proceeded to study the diseases of animals. He investigated the chicken chol- era which was destroying ten per cent of the French fowls. This he succeeded in curing by cultivating the cholera germs artificially until they were harmless when inoculated into healthy fowl, though at the same time strong enough to call forth such a quantity of the contrary germs that the fowls would be here- after immune from the disease in question. In 1880 the Institute of Pasteur was founded. Here he continued his many investigations with renewed energy. He demonstrated the bacterial cause of anthrax, a disease which had destroyed whole herds of cattle in France. He showed that birds were not liable to fall vic- tims to the disease because the temperature of their blood is too high for the prosperity of the germ. He found by investigation that earth worms carried it from the graves of dead animals to the grazing animals in the fields. By the use of heat he gradually lowered I , . .2- HIGH SCHOOL ECHO 23 the vitality of the anthrax microbe until its source as a disease was much impaired. Bacteriology and its relation to human dis- eases was his next study. He spent much time in the hospitals and made many discoveries regarding those bacteria which cause diseases in man. Among other things he laid before the Institute of Sorbonne, in 1864, a plan for preventing the fatal results of hydrophobia by the same method of cultivation and inocula- tion of germs which had succeeded in counter- acting the chicken cholera. The Russians and the British of India have since used his method with success. As to the value of Pasteur's experiments, it is estimated that he more than compensated the French nation for the money wrung from her in 1870. His country was not unmindful of his work. The French government granted him an pension of 20,000 francs. Medals of honor and gifts of money came to him from his own and other countries. His scientific work was the wonder of the century, and it is little wonder that societies vied with one another in honoring him. But Pasteur's faith was even more admirable than his science. The more I know the more nearly is my faith that ofa Breton peasant. Could I but know an I would have the faith of a Breton peasant, said he one day in a public address. He could never understand .how any- one could call himself a scientist and at the same time profess to doubt the existence of a Creator, when all nature demonstrated the fact. In this simple faith he' died, September 28, 1895, saying his beads with the same devotion with which he had said it in the days of his strength. By his side was the life of St. Vincent de Paul, a saint who he had striven to imitate by lightening the sufferings of hu- manity. Above his tomb in the Institute Pas- teur are engraved the words which he himself wrote in a letter to a friend: 'iHappy the man who bears within him a Divinity, an ideal- of beauty and obeys it, an ideal of art, an ideal of science, of country, and of the vir- tues of the Gospel. A