Pierre-Victor or Pierre Victor Galtier ( – ) was a veterinarian and professor at the , specialising in pathology of infectious diseases, health surveillance and commercial and medical legislation. He developed a rabies vaccine which had some experimental success in laboratory animals.
Early life and studies Galtier was born on 15 October 1846 in Langogne, Lozère to a farmer's family. In 1853, he was entrusted to the nuns who ran the local school. He escaped from this school twice, only to be placed with his grandmother who lived in Langogne. There, he attended secondary school, leaving after the tenth grade.
He read Greco-Roman studies at La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin in the "Petit Séminaire", the famous ecclesiastical secondary school of Bishop Felix Dupanloup, an outpost of the Seminar d'Orléans. He received his bachelor's degree with honours.
He studied for his master's degree and his veterinary license at Marvejols college. Around this time Lozère created a scholarship to help poor students to study to become veterinarians, which Galtier received and used to study at the . He came top of the class for four consecutive years, and graduated in 1873 as a valedictorian, receiving the "".
Career Galtier began his professional career as an associate of Monsieur Delorme, a veterinarian in Arles, whose daughter he married. He began teaching veterinary pathology and eventually became the Chair of Infectious Diseases. Aged 33, he began his work on rabies.
In 1876, he was appointed the Chair of Pathology and Internal Medicine in the veterinary science department at Lyon. In 1877, his department began to carry out studies on microbial pathology and microbiology. This led to the school supporting the idea of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, the common cold, and rabies, as opposed to the National Veterinary School of Alfort which supported the idea of spontaneous generation.
In 1878 he was appointed professor of pathology of infectious diseases, animal health, trade and medical law. In the same year, Mr. Bouley, Inspector General of veterinary schools, created a new department that would separate the teaching of general pathology from that of communicable diseases. Pierre Victor Galtier was appointed to the department chair and held the position for 30 years.
In 1879, he made important discoveries about two deadly diseases: common cold and rabies. In 1883, he obtained a law degree.
For his work on rabies, Galtier was considered for the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. However, he died in La Mulatière on 24 April 1908, thereby preventing his nomination.
Honors 1881: Member of the Anthropological Society of Lyon 1887: Member of the National Agricultural Society, natural history and useful Arts de Lyon 1888: Officer Academy 1891: Knight Legion of Honor 1895: Officer of the Order of Agricultural Merit Correspondent of the Academy of Medicine 1898: Correspondent of the National Society of Agriculture 1898: Associate of the National Central Society of Veterinary Medicine Associate 1901: Elected Associate of the , by 56 votes out of 59 1903: Appointed Commander of Agricultural Merit 1903–08: Member of the Veterinary Academy of France 1903: Member of the Rhône Hygiene County Council 1906: Appointed Officer of Education Member of the Rhone vaccines commission Four gold medals with the effigy of Olivier de Serres (works on rabies, pneumo-enteritis in sheep and horse and tuberculosis) Agricultural Society of France 1887: Bréant Prize (for his work on rabies)Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, 1887, Vol 105, session of 26 December 1887 1887: Barbier Prize (for his work on rabies). Academy of Medicine, contests 1890: Behague Prize of the National Society of Agriculture of France for his work on the pneumo-enteritis in sheep (25 June) 1891: Barbier Prize (for his work on pneumo-enteritis from cheeses) 1892: Stanski Prize (for the second edition of contagious diseases)
Work on rabies Pierre Galtier was notable for his work on rabies; he was the first to develop a vaccine for rabies. He also made important advances in the study of the common cold and on the infectiousness of viruses.
Galtier assumed that, because of the incubation period of rabies, the development of a vaccine could be used as curative for a disease like this.
1879 His first publication on rabies was a thesis entitled "Studies on rabies" published in two veterinary journalsPierre Galtier, studies on rabies Rec. Med. Vet, 1879, 6, {2} {E} series, No. 17, pp 857–867.Pierre Galtier, Studies on rabies, Ann. Med. Vet., 1879 28, p. 627–639. and whose findings are published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences.
On 25 April 1879, the Academy of Sciences published his notes on rabies.Pierre Galtier, studies on rabies (Presented by Mr. Bouley), Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences 1879, Volume 89, 25 August 1879, p. 444–446.
The article made clear his conclusions about rabies: The dog rabies is transmitted to the rabbit, which thus becomes a convenient and safe reagent to determine the status of non-virulence or virulence of various liquids from rabid animals (…) Rabies is transmitted to animals (rabbits) of his kind (…) Symptoms that predominate in the rabid rabbits are paralysis and convulsions. The rabbit can live from several hours to one, two and even four days after the disease has clearly declared. (…) the incubation period is shorter in him than in other species. (Based on an experience table published in the note, Galtier accurately and correctly calculates an average incubation time for the rabbit 18 days). Salicylic acid, administered by hypodermic injection, the daily dose of 0.0068 gr for fourteen consecutive days from the fiftieth hour after inoculation, did not prevent the development of rabies the rabbit. The saliva of rabid dog, collected on the living animal and stored in the water is still virulent five, fourteen twenty-four hours.
Galtier also had a brilliant idea: he began experiments to find an agent capable of neutralizing rabies virus. He thought that the discovery of an effective preventive was almost equivalent to the discovery of a cure, especially if it was effective when administered within a day or two of an infected bite. It is this 'genius idea which is the basis of preventive treatment for rabies by vaccination'.
1880 In 1880, Galtier published a "Treaty of contagious diseases" which contains a chapter on rabies.
In this book, he wrote this sentence summarizing his first observations on immunity to rabies: "Rabies virus injected directly into the blood stream is ineffective, at least this is what I found in several experiences where I had injected into the jugular vein of the sheep a large amount of rabid drool". His experiments were published in several articles the following year.
Also in 1880, Louis Pasteur became interested in rabies and took note of Galtier's work, regarding him with a certain disdain, stating that these experiments "do not make it possible to reconicle, let alone identify the disease […] as rabies". Pasteur often denigrated his predecessors before taking over their work, and the credit for it; he also did this with Henri Toussaint and Antoine Béchamp.
1881 In August 1881, Galtier sent a note to the Academy of Sciences.Pierre Galtier, rabies injections into the circulation do not cause the outbreak of rabies and appear to confer immunity. Rabies can be transmitted by ingestion of the rabies material (Presented by Mr. Bouley), Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, 1881, Volume 93, 1 August 1881, pp 284–285. He noted his experiences of the intravenous inoculation of the rabies virus in the bloodstream.
He wrote: The findings that emerge from these facts are the following: Injections of rabies virus into the veins of the sheep do not cause rabies and seem to confer immunity. Rabies can be transmitted by injection of the rabies material.
This method provided immunity against rabies in sheep. In the Bulletin of the Academy of Medicine, he wrote: "I injected the rabies saliva into the jugular vein of sheep seven times, and never saw rabies, one of my test subjects was successively inoculated with saliva from a rabid dog, four months after this inoculation, the animal is alive and well; he seems to have acquired immunity. I inoculated him for another fortnight by putting eight cubic centimeters of rabid saliva in the peritoneum; it always went very well; then I would administer him another inoculation."Pierre Galtier, Transmission of rabies virus, Bull Acad. Med, 1881 {2} {e} series, Volume 10, pp 90–94 (quote taken from )
According to the science historian Jean Théodoridès, this is the first time in the history of medicine that the idea of immunization against rabies was supported by convincing experimental results.
1882 Galtier remarked "intravenous inoculation is ineffective. [But] immunity follows this inoculation in sheep", and he noted the absence of virus in the nerve centers.
This last point drew the attention of Louis Pasteur who saw a lack of sensitivity due to the subcutaneous inoculation technique. With his student Émile Roux, Pasteur developed an intracranial inoculation, by trepanning the skull of a dog. This isolated the virus in the nerve centers, and supported the idea that rabies is neurotropic, meaning that the virus preferentially develops in nerve cells, and spreads through nerve pathways from the peripheral inoculation point to the brain.
1883 In 1883, Émile Roux published his medical doctorate thesis on "New acquisitions on rabies." According to Jean Théodoridès, the most striking thing about Roux's thesis is the frequent mention of the work of Galtier, whereas Pasteur referred to Galtier only incidentally.
1886 In 1886, Galtier published an important book on rabies, Rabies considered in animals and humans from the point of view of its character and its prophylaxis (). It discussed:
Symptoms Curability Cause, proving the lack of "spontaneous" rabies, and concluding that "contagion is the only cause that can cause rabies in animals of any kind." Transmission of rabies between different animals Experimental methods of transmission of rabies by bites
It reviewed Galtier's research of 1879–1881, and reported that research was continuing as of 1886 (the date of publication of the book).
The book also dealt with health measures and forensics, dog control measures (wearing the collar, a muzzle, leash).
1887 In 1887, Galtier received the Barbier Prize () from the for his work on rabies.
In its report on awarding the Barbier Prize to Galtier, Edmond Nocard wrote: "The discovery of Mr. Galtier, therefore, has a high importance not only from the scientific point of view but also in practical point of view; it is hoped that it will soon lead to the establishment of a simple, practical and effective treatment, saving the largest number of bitten animals."
The same year, he received the Bréant Price of the Academy of Sciences (December 1887) for his book on rabies. Bouchard, on behalf of the Commission consisting of Marey, Charcot, Brown- Séquard and Verneuil emphasized the importance of the work of several years preceding those of Louis Pasteur.
1888 On 30 January 1888, Galtier published an article in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences.Pierre Galtier, Persistence of rabies virulence in buried corpses (Presented by Mr. Chauveau), Proceedings Academy of Sciences, 1888, Vol 106, pp 364–366. He insisted that "the rabies virus retains its activity in buried corpses, so that when doubts arise afterwards about the nature of the disease that caused the death, exhumation, and inoculation of the bulb are naturally indicated".Pierre Galtier, Persistence of rabid virulence in buried corpses (Presented by Mr. Chauveau), Proceedings of the Academy of Science, 1888, vol 106, p 364.