Can Pasteur's dog vaccine save young Joseph Meister from a horrible death from hydrophobia? Hydrophobia or rabies, victims die in a frenzy of saliva-filled throat spasms and uncontrollable fits of rage. Would this be the fate of young Joseph? Only time would tell as Louis Pasteur administered his dangerous vaccine, heretofore tested only on rabid dogs. Without the vaccine, the boy would surely die; but, if the vaccine did not work and the boy were to die in the hands of Pasteur, Pasteur could be hanged for murder.