18 October 2008
Pasteur's Gambit: Louis Pasteur, the Australasian Rabbit Plague and a Ten Million Dollar Prize
Stephen Dando-Collins Vintage, $34.95 VICTORIAN LAND-owner Thomas Austin could not have known what he was about to unleash when, on Christmas Day 1859, he set 24 rabbits free on his property near Geelong. By 1887 those rabbits had created a national crisis and kicked off an international competition - with huge prizemoney - to combat it. Enter world-renowned chemist Louis Pasteur, who sent his nephew Adrien Loir to present his solution to the plague - chicken cholera. It's one of those tales that rests on the convergence of an unlikely combination of players, including Sarah Bernhardt, who was touring Australia at the time and with whom Loir may have had an undoubtedly "musical" affair. Stephen Dando-Collins (whose previous book was Captain Bligh's Other Mutiny) is an engaging writer with the ability to bring history vividly to life.Get up to $600 in 1 hour with a Payday Loan!
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