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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d1a2f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #60956 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60956) diff --git a/old/60956-0.txt b/old/60956-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6dc66b7..0000000 --- a/old/60956-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,21883 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The life of Pasteur, by René Vallery-Radot - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The life of Pasteur - -Author: René Vallery-Radot - -Contributor: William Osler - -Translator: R. L. Devonshire - -Release Date: December 18, 2019 [EBook #60956] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF PASTEUR *** - - - - -Produced by Turgut Dincer, Chuck Greif and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -book was produced from images made available by the -HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - - - - - - - - - THE LIFE OF PASTEUR - -“L’œuvre de Pasteur est admirable; elle montre son génie, mais il faut -avoir vécu dans son intimité pour connaître toute la bonté de son -cœur.”--DR. ROUX. - - [Illustration: Portrait of LOUIS PASTEUR.] - - - - - THE - LIFE OF PASTEUR - - BY RENÉ VALLERY-RADOT - - TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY - MRS. R. L. DEVONSHIRE - - - WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY - - SIR WILLIAM OSLER, BART., M.D., F.R.S. - REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY - - - NEW YORK - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - 1920 - - - PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY - RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, - BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1, - AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - L’homme en ce siècle a pris une connaissance toute nouvelle des - ressource de la nature et, par l’application de son intelligence il - a commencé à les faire fructifier. Il a refait, par la géologie et - la paléontologie, l’histoire de la terre, entraînée elle-même par - la grande loi de l’évolution. Il connaît mieux, grâce à Pasteur - surtout, les conditions d’existence de son propre organisme et peut - entreprendre d’y combattre les causes de destruction.--Monod, - _L’Europe Contemporaine_. - - -Whether to admire more the man or his method, the life or the work, I -leave for the readers of this well-told story to decide. Among the -researches that have made the name of Pasteur a household word in the -civilised world, three are of the first importance--a knowledge of the -true nature of the processes in fermentation--a knowledge of the chief -maladies which have scourged man and animals--a knowledge of the -measures by which either the body may be protected against these -diseases, or the poison neutralised when once within the body. - - -I. - -Our knowledge of disease has advanced in a curiously uniform way. The -objective features, the symptoms, naturally first attracted attention. -The Greek physicians, Hippocrates, Galen, and Aretaeus, gave excellent -accounts of many diseases; for example, the forms of malaria. They knew, -too, very well, their modes of termination, and the art of prognosis was -studied carefully. But of the actual causes of disease they knew little -or nothing, and any glimmerings of truth were obscured in a cloud of -theory. The treatment was haphazard, partly the outcome of experience, -partly based upon false theories of the cause of the disease. This may -be said to have been the sort of knowledge possessed by the profession -until men began to study the “seats and causes” of disease, and to -search out the changes _inside_ the body, corresponding to the outward -symptoms and the external appearances. Morbid anatomy began to be -studied, and in the hundred years from 1750 to 1850 such colossal -strides were made that we knew well the post-mortem appearances of the -more common diseases; the recognition of which was greatly helped by a -study of the relation of the pathological appearances with the signs and -symptoms. The 19th century may be said to have given us an -extraordinarily full knowledge of the changes which disease produces in -the solids and fluids of the body. Great advances, too, were made in the -treatment of disease. We learned to trust Nature more and drugs less; we -got rid (in part) of treatment by theory, and we ceased to have a drug -for every symptom. But much treatment was, and still is, irrational, not -based on a knowledge of the cause of the disease. In a blundering way -many important advances were made, and even specifics were -discovered--cinchona, for example, had cured malaria for a hundred and -fifty years before Laveran found the cause. At the middle of the last -century we did not know much more of the actual causes of the great -scourges of the race, the plagues, the fevers and the pestilences, than -did the Greeks. Here comes in Pasteur’s great work. Before him Egyptian -darkness; with his advent a light that brightens more and more as the -years give us ever fuller knowledge. The facts that fevers were -catching, that epidemics spread, that infection could remain attached to -particles of clothing, etc., all gave support to the view that the -actual cause was something alive, a _contagium vivum_. It was really a -very old view, the germs of which may be found in the Fathers, but which -was first clearly expressed--so far as I know--by Frascastorius, a -Veronese physician in the 16th century, who spoke of the seeds of -contagion passing from one person to another; and he first drew a -parallel between the processes of contagion and the fermentation of -wine. This was more than one hundred years before Kircher, Leeuwenhoek, -and others, began to use the microscope and to see animalculæ, etc., in -water, and so gave a basis for the “infinitely little” view of the -nature of disease germs. And it was a study of the processes of -fermentation that led Pasteur to the sure ground on which we now stand. -Starting as a pure chemist, and becoming interested in the science of -crystallography, it was not until his life at Lille, a town with -important brewing industries, that Pasteur became interested in the -biological side of chemical problems. Many years before it had been -noted by Cagniard-Latour that yeast was composed of cells capable of -reproducing themselves by a sort of budding, and he made the keen -suggestion that it was possibly through some effect of their vegetation -that the sugar was transformed. But Liebig’s view everywhere prevailed -that the ferment was an alterable, organic substance which exercised a -catalytic force, transforming the sugar. It was in August, 1857, that -Pasteur sent his famous paper on _Lactic Acid Fermentation_ to the Lille -Scientific Society; and in December of the same year he presented to the -Academy of Sciences a paper on _Alcoholic Fermentation_, in which he -concluded that the deduplication of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid -is correlevant to a phenomena of life. These studies had the signal -effect of diverting the man from the course of his previous more -strictly chemical studies. It is interesting to note how slowly these -views dislocated the dominant theories of Liebig. More than ten years -after their announcement I remember that we had in our chemical lectures -the catalytic theory very fully presented. - -Out of these researches arose a famous battle which kept Pasteur hard at -work for four or five years--the struggle over spontaneous generation. -It was an old warfare, but the microscope had revealed a new world, and -the experiments on fermentation had lent great weight to the _omne vivum -ex ovo_ doctrine. The famous Italians, Redi and Spallanzani, had led the -way in their experiments, and the latter had reached the conclusion that -there is no vegetable and no animal that has not its own germ. But -heterogenesis became the burning question, and Pouchet in France, and -Bastian in England, led the opposition to Pasteur. The many famous -experiments carried conviction to the minds of scientific men, and -destroyed for ever the old belief in spontaneous generation. All along -the analogy between disease and fermentation must have been in Pasteur’s -mind; and then came the suggestion: “What would be most desirable would -be to push those studies far enough to prepare the road for a serious -research into the origin of various diseases.” If the changes in lactic, -alcohol and butyric fermentations are due to minute living organisms, -why should not the same tiny creatures make the changes which occur in -the body in the putrid and suppurative diseases. With an accurate -training as a chemist, having been diverted in his studies upon -fermentation into the realm of biology, and nourishing a strong -conviction of the identity between putrefactive changes of the body and -fermentation, Pasteur was well prepared to undertake investigations, -which had hitherto been confined to physicians alone. - -The first outcome of the researches of Pasteur upon fermentation and -spontaneous generation represents a transformation in the practice of -surgery, which, it is not too much to say, has been one of the greatest -boons ever conferred upon humanity. It had long been recognised that now -and again a wound healed without the formation of pus, that is without -suppuration, but both spontaneous and operative wounds were almost -invariably associated with that change; and, moreover, they frequently -became putrid, as it was then called--infected, as we should say; the -general system became involved, and the patient died of blood poisoning. -So common was this, particularly in old, ill-equipped hospitals, that -many surgeons feared to operate, and the general mortality in all -surgical cases was very high. Believing that from outside the germs came -which caused the decomposition of wounds, just as from the atmosphere -the sugar solution got the germs which caused the fermentation, a young -surgeon at Glasgow, Joseph Lister, applied the principles of Pasteur’s -experiments to their treatment. It may be well here to quote from -Lister’s original paper in the _Lancet_, 1867:--“Turning now to the -question how the atmosphere produces decomposition of organic -substances, we find that a flood of light has been thrown upon this most -important subject by the philosophic researches of M. Pasteur, who has -demonstrated by thoroughly convincing evidence that it is not to its -oxygen or to any of its gaseous constituents that the air owes this -property, but to minute particles suspended in it, which are the germs -of various low forms of life, long since revealed by the microscope, and -regarded as merely accidental concomitants of putrescence, but now shown -by Pasteur to be its essential cause, resolving the complex organic -compounds into substances of simpler chemical constitution, just as the -yeast plant converts sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid.” From these -beginnings modern surgery took its rise, and the whole subject of wound -infection, not only in relation to surgical diseases, but to child-bed -fever, forms now one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of -Preventive Medicine. - - -II. - -Pasteur was early impressed with the analogies between fermentation and -putrefaction and the infectious diseases, and in 1863 he assured the -French Emperor that his ambition was “to arrive at the knowledge of the -causes of putrid and contagious diseases.” After a study upon the -diseases of wines, which has had most important practical bearings, an -opportunity came of the very first importance, which not only changed -the whole course of his career, but had great influence in the -development of medical science. A disease of the silkworm had, for some -years, ruined one of the most important industries of France, and in -1865 the Government asked Pasteur to give up the laboratory work and -teaching, and to devote his whole energies to the task of investigating -it. The story of the brilliant success which followed years of -application to the problem will be read with deep interest by every -student of science. It was the first of his victories in the application -of the experimental methods of a trained chemist to the problems of -biology, and it placed his name high in the group of the most -illustrious benefactors of practical industries. - -The national tragedy of 1870-2 nearly killed Pasteur. He had a terrible -pilgrimage to make in search of his son, a sergeant in Bourbaki’s force. -“The retreat from Moscow cannot have been worse than this,” said the -_savant_. In October, 1868, he had had a stroke of paralysis, from which -he recovered in a most exceptional way, as it seemed to have diminished -neither his enthusiasm nor his energy. In a series of studies on the -diseases of beer, and on the mode of production of vinegar, he became -more and more convinced that these studies on fermentation had given him -the key to the nature of the infectious diseases. It is a remarkable -fact that the distinguished English philosopher of the seventeenth -century, the man who more than any one else of his century appreciated -the importance of the experimental method, Robert Boyle, had said that -he who could discover the nature of ferments and fermentation, would be -more capable than anyone else of explaining the nature of certain -diseases. The studies on spontaneous generation, and Lister’s -application of the germ theory to the treatment of wounds, had aroused -the greatest interest in the medical world, and Villemin, in a series of -most brilliant experiments, had demonstrated the infectivity of -tuberculosis. An extraordinary opportunity now offered for the study of -a widespread epidemic disease, known as anthrax, which in many parts of -France killed from 25 to 30 per cent. of the sheep and cattle, and which -in parts of Europe had been pandemic, attacking both man and beast. As -far back as 1838 minute rods had been noted in the blood of animals -which had died from the disease; and in 1863 Devaine thought that these -little bodies, which he called bacteridia, were the cause of the -disease. In 1876 a young German district physician, Robert Koch, began a -career, which in interest and importance rivals that of the subject of -this memoir. Koch confirmed in every point the old researches of -Devaine; but he did much more, and for the first time isolated the -organism in pure culture outside the body, grew successive generations, -showed the remarkable spore formation, and produced the disease -artificially in animals by inoculating with the cultures. Pasteur -confirmed these results, and in the face of extraordinary opposition -succeeded in convincing his opponents. Out of this study came a still -more important discovery, namely, that it was possible so to attenuate -or weaken the virus or poison that the animal could be inoculated, and -have a slight attack, recover, and be protected against the disease. -More than eighty years had passed since, on May 14th, 1796, Jenner, with -a small bit of virus taken from a cow-pox on the hand of the milkmaid, -Sarah Newlme, had vaccinated a child, and thus proved that a slight -attack of one disease would protect the body from disease of a similar -character. It was an occasion famous in the history of medicine, when, -in the spring of 1881, at Melun, at the farmyard of Pouilly le Fort, the -final test case was determined, and the flock of vaccinated sheep -remained well, while every one of the unvaccinated, inoculated from the -same material, had died. It was indeed a great triumph. - -The studies on chicken cholera, yellow fever, and on swine plague helped -to further the general acceptance of the germ theory. I well remember at -the great meeting of the International Congress in 1881, the splendid -reception accorded to the distinguished Frenchman, who divided with -Virchow the honours of the meeting. Finally came the work upon one of -the most dreaded of all diseases--hydrophobia, an infection of a most -remarkable character, the germ of which remains undiscovered. The -practical results of Pasteur’s researches have given us a prophylactic -treatment of great efficacy. Before its introduction the only means of -preventing the development of the disease was a thorough cauterisation -of the disease wound within half an hour after its infliction. Pasteur -showed that animals could be made immune to the poison, and devised a -method by which the infection conveyed by the bite could be neutralised. -Pasteur Institutes for the treatment of hydrophobia have been -established in different countries, and where the disease is widely -prevalent have been of the greatest benefit. Except at the London -Congress, the only occasion on which I saw the great master was in 1891 -or 1892, when he demonstrated at the Institute to a group of us the -technique of the procedure, and then superintended the inoculations of -the day. A large number of persons are treated in the course of the -year; a good many, of course, have not been bitten by mad dogs; but a -very careful classification is made:-- - -(_a_) Includes persons bitten by dogs proved experimentally to have been -mad. - -(_b_) Persons bitten by dogs declared to be mad by competent veterinary -surgeons. - -(_c_) All other cases. - -The mortality even in Class A is very slight, though many patients are -not brought until late. Incidentally it may be remarked the lesson of -this country in its treatment of hydrophobia is one of the most -important ever presented in connection with an infectious disease. There -are no Pasteur Institutes; there are no cases. Why? The simple muzzling -order has prevented the transmission of the disease from dog to dog, and -once exterminated in the dog, the possibility of the infection in man -had gone. In 1888 the crowning work of Pasteur’s life was the -establishment of an Institute to serve as a centre of study on -contagious disease, and a dispensary for the treatment of hydrophobia, -which is to-day the most important single centre of research in the -world. The closing years of his life were full of interest in the work -of his colleagues and assistants, and he had the great satisfaction of -participating, with his assistant Roux, in another great victory over -the dread scourge, diphtheria. Before his death in 1895 he had seen his -work prosper in a way never before granted to any great discoverer. To -no one man has it ever been given to accomplish work of such great -importance for the well-being of humanity. As Paul Bert expressed it in -the report to the French Government, Pasteur’s work constitutes three -great discoveries, which may be thus formulated. 1. Each fermentation is -produced by the development of a special microbe. - -2. Each infectious disease is produced by the development within the -organism of a special microbe. - -3. The microbe of an infectious disease culture, under certain -detrimental condition is attenuated in its pathogenic activity; from a -virus it has become a vaccine. - -In an address delivered in Edinburgh by Sir James Simpson in 1853, in -which he extolled the recent advancement of physic, occur these -words:--“I do not believe, that, at the present moment, any individual -in the profession, who, in surgery or in midwifery, could point out some -means of curing--or some prophylactic means of averting by antecedent -treatment--the liability to these analogous or identical diseases--viz., -surgical or puerperal fever--such a fortunate individual would, I say, -make, in relation to surgery and midwifery, a greater and more important -discovery than could possibly be attained by any other subject of -investigation. Nor does such a result seem hopelessly unattainable.” -Little did he think that the fulfilment of these words was in the -possession of a young Englishman who had just gone to Edinburgh as an -assistant to his colleague, Professor Syme. Lister’s recognition of the -importance of Pasteur’s studies led to the fulfilment within this -generation of the pious hope expressed by Simpson. In Institutions and -Hospitals surgical infection and puerperal fevers are things of the -past, and for this achievement if for nothing else, the names of Louis -Pasteur and Joseph Lister will go down to posterity among those of the -greatest benefactors of humanity. - - -III. - -In his growth the man kept pace with the scientist--heart and head held -even sway in his life. To many whose estimate of French character is -gained from “yellow” literature this story will reveal the true side of -a great people, in whom filial piety, brotherly solicitude, generosity, -and self-sacrifice are combined with a rare devotion to country. Was -there ever a more charming picture than that of the family at Dôle! -Napoleon’s old sergeant, Joseph Pasteur, is almost as interesting a -character as his illustrious son; and we follow the joys and sorrows of -the home with unflagging attention. Rarely has a great man been able to -pay such a tribute to his father as that paid by Pasteur:--“For thirty -years I have been his constant care, I owe everything to him.” - -This is a biography for young men of science, and for others who wish to -learn what science has done, and may do, for humanity. From it may be -gleaned three lessons. - -The value of method, of technique, in the hands of a great master has -never been better illustrated. Just as Harvey, searching out Nature by -way of experiment, opened the way for a study of the functions of the -body in health, so did Pasteur, bringing to the problems of biology the -same great _organon_, shed a light upon processes the nature of which -had defied the analysis of the keenest minds. From Dumas’s letter to -Pasteur, quoted in Chapter VI., a paragraph may be given in -illustration:--“The art of observation and that of experiment are very -distinct. In the first case, the fact may either proceed from logical -reasons or be mere good fortune; it is sufficient to have some -penetration and the sense of truth in order to profit by it. But the art -of experimentation leads from the first to the last link of the chain, -without hesitation and without a blank, making successive use of Reason, -which suggests an alternative, and of Experience, which decides on it, -until, starting from a faint glimmer, the full blaze of light is -reached.” Pasteur had the good fortune to begin with chemistry, and with -the science of crystallography, which demanded extraordinary accuracy, -and developed that patient persistence so characteristic of all his -researches. - -In the life of a young man the most essential thing for happiness is the -gift of friendship. And here is the second great lesson. As a Frenchman, -Pasteur had the devotion that marks the students of that nation to their -masters, living and dead. Not the least interesting parts of this work -are the glimpses we get of the great teachers with whom he came in -contact. What a model of a scientific man is shown in the character of -Biot, so keenly alive to the interests of his young friend, whose -brilliant career he followed with the devotion of a second father. One -of the most touching incidents recorded in the book relates to -Pasteur’s election to the Academy of Sciences:--“The next morning when -the gates of the Montparnasse cemetery were opened, a woman walked -towards Biot’s grave with her hands full of flowers. It was Mme. Pasteur -who was bringing them to him ... who had loved Pasteur with so deep an -affection.” Pasteur looked upon the cult of great men as a great -principle in national education. As he said to the students of the -University of Edinburgh:--“Worship great men”;[1] and this reverence for -the illustrious dead was a dominant element in his character, though the -doctrines of Positivism seemed never to have had any attraction for him. -A dark shadow in the scientific life is often thrown by a spirit of -jealousy, and the habit of suspicious, carping criticism. The hall-mark -of a small mind, this spirit should never be allowed to influence our -judgment of a man’s work, and to young men a splendid example is here -offered of a man devoted to his friends, just and generous to his -rivals, and patient under many trying contradictions and vexatious -oppositions. - -And the last great lesson is humility before the unsolved problems of -the Universe. Any convictions that might be a comfort in the sufferings -of human life had his respectful sympathy. His own creed was beautifully -expressed in his eulogy upon _Littré_:--“He who proclaims the existence -of the Infinite, and none can avoid it--accumulates in that affirmation -more of the supernatural than is to be found in all the miracles of all -the religions; for the notion of the Infinite presents that double -character that it forces itself upon us and yet is incomprehensible. -When this notion seizes upon our understanding, we can but kneel.... I -see everywhere the inevitable expression of the Infinite in the world; -through it, the supernatural is at the bottom of every heart. The idea -of God is a form of the idea of the Infinite. As long as the mystery of -the Infinite weighs on human thought, temples will be erected for the -worship of the Infinite, whether God is called Brahma, Allah, Jehovah, -or Jesus; and on the pavement of those temples, men will be seen -kneeling, prostrated, annihilated in the thought of the Infinite.” And -modern Pantheism has never had a greater disciple, whose life and work -set forth the devotion to an ideal--that service to humanity is service -to God:--“Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and -who obeys it: ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of the gospel -virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions; -they all reflect light from the Infinite.” - -The future belongs to Science. More and more she will control the -destinies of the nations. Already she has them in her crucible and on -her balances. In her new mission to humanity she preaches a new gospel. -In the nineteenth century renaissance she has had great apostles, -Darwin, for example, whose gifts of heart and head were in equal -measure, but after re-reading for the third or fourth time the _Life of -Louis Pasteur_, I am of the opinion, expressed recently by the anonymous -writer of a beautiful tribute in the _Spectator_, “that he was the most -perfect man who has ever entered the Kingdom of Science.” - - WILLIAM OSLER. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -Introduction by Sir William Osler, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., v. - - -CHAPTER I - -1822--1843 - -Origin of the Pasteur Family, 1--Jean Joseph Pasteur, a Conscript in -1811; Sergeant-major in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3; a Knight -of the Legion of Honour, 4; his Marriage, 5; the Tannery at Dôle, -6--Birth of Louis Pasteur, his Childhood and Youth, 6. Studies in -Arbois College, 7. Departure for Paris, 11. Arrival in Paris, 11; -the Barbet Boarding School, Home Sickness, 11. Return to Jura, -Pasteur a Portrait Painter, 12; enters Besançon Royal College, 13; -a Bachelier ès Lettres, a Preparation Master, 14; his Readings, 15. -Friendship with Chappuis, 18; a Bachelier ès Sciences, 20; Pasteur -admitted to the Ecole Normale, 22; Sorbonne Lectures, Impression -produced by J. B. Dumas, 21. - - -CHAPTER II - -1844--1849 - -First Crystallographic Researches, 26; Pasteur a Curator in Balard’s -Laboratory, works with Auguste Laurent, 32. Chemistry and -Physics Theses, 34. Pasteur reads a Paper at the Académie des -Sciences, 36. February days, 1848, 37. Molecular Dissymmetry, -38; J. J. Biot’s Emotion at Pasteur’s first Discovery, 41. Pasteur -Professor of Physics at Dijon, 43. Professor of Chemistry at the -Strasburg Faculty, his Friend Bertin, 45; M. Laurent, Rector of -the Strasburg Academy, 47; Pasteur’s Marriage, 51. - - -CHAPTER III - -1850--1854 - -Disgrace of the Strasburg Rector, 54. Letter from Biot to Pasteur’s -Father, 57. Letter from J. B. Dumas, 60. Interview with Mitscherlich, -61. Pasteur in quest of Racemic Acid, in Germany, Austria -and Bohemia, 62. Pasteur a Knight of the Legion of Honour, 70. -Biot’s Congratulations, 70. Proposed Work, 72. - - -CHAPTER IV - -1855--1859 - -Pasteur Dean of the new Lille Faculty, 75; his Teaching, 77; First -Studies on Fermentations, 79. First Candidature for the Academy -of Sciences, 81. Lactic Fermentation, 83. Pasteur Administrator -of the Ecole Normale, 84. Alcoholic Fermentation, 85. Death of -Pasteur’s eldest Daughter, 86. - - -CHAPTER V - -1860--1864 - -So-called spontaneous Generation, 88. Polemics and Experiments, 92. -Renewed Candidature for the Académie des Sciences, 100. Lectures -on Crystallography, 102. Pasteur elected a Member of the Académie -des Sciences, 103. Conversation with Napoleon III, 104. Lecture -at the Sorbonne on so-called spontaneous Generation, 106. Pasteur -and the Students of the Ecole Normale, 109. Discussions raised -by the question of spontaneous Generation, 111. Studies on -Wine, 113. - - -CHAPTER VI - -1865--1870 - -The Silkworm Disease; Pasteur sent to Alais, 115. Death of Jean -Joseph Pasteur, 118. Return to Paris, 121; Pasteur’s Article on -J. B. Dumas’ Edition of Lavoisier’s Works, 122. Death of his -Daughter Camille, 123. Candidature of Ch. Robin for the Académie -des Sciences, 124. Letters exchanged between Ste. Beuve and -Pasteur, 124. The Cholera, 126. Pasteur at Compiègne Palace, -127. Return to the Gard, 130; Pasteur’s Collaborators, 130. Death -of his Daughter Cécile, 131. Letter to Duruy, 131. Publication of -the _Studies on Wine_, 133. Pasteur’s Article on Claude Bernard’s -Work, 134. Pasteur’s Work in the South of France, 138. Letter -from Duruy, 139. Pasteur a Laureate of the Exhibition, 140; -solemn Distribution of Rewards, 141. Ste. Beuve at the Senate, -142. Disturbance at the Ecole Normale, 143. Pasteur’s Letter to -Napoleon III, 147. Lecture on the Manufacture of Vinegar at -Orleans, 148. Council of Scientists at the Tuileries, 154. Studies -on Silkworm Diseases (continued), 155. Heating of Wines, 157. -Paralytic Stroke, 160; Illness, 161; private Reading, 163. Enlargement -of the Laboratory, 164. Pasteur in the South, 166. Success -of his Method of opposing Silkworm Diseases, 168. Pasteur at -Villa Vicentina, Austria, 173. Interview with Liebig, 176. - - -CHAPTER VII - -1870--1872 - -Pasteur in Strasburg, 177; the War, 179; Pasteur at Arbois, 180. The -Académie des Sciences during the Siege of Paris, 186. Pasteur -returns his Doctor’s Diploma to the Bonn Faculty of Medicine, 189. -Retreat of Bourbaki’s Army Corps, 192; Pasteur at Pontarlier, -192. Pasteur at Lyons, 194. “Why France found no superior Men -in the Hours of Peril,” 194. Proposed Studies, 198. Professorship -offered to Pasteur at Pisa, 200; his Refusal, 200. The Prussians -at Arbois, 201. Pasteur and his Pupil Raulin, 203. Pasteur at -Clermont Ferrand; stays with his Pupil M. Duclaux, 206. Studies -on Beer, 207. Visit to London Breweries, 210. Renewed Discussions -at the Académie des Sciences, 216. - - -CHAPTER VIII - -1873--1877 - -Pasteur elected to the Académie de Médecine, 225. General Condition -of Medicine, 226. Surgery before Pasteur, 234. Influence of his -Work, 236. Letter from Lister, 238. Debates at the Académie de -Médecine, 240; Science and Religion, 244. National Testimonial, -245. Pasteur a Candidate for the Senate, 248. Speech at the Milan -Congress of Sericiculture, 251. Letter from Tyndall, 252. Discussion -with Dr. Bastian, 253. - - -CHAPTER IX - -1877--1879 - -Charbon, or Splenic Fever, 257; Pasteur studies it, 259. Traditional -Medicine and Pastorian Doctrines, 263. Progress of Surgery, 266. -The word Microbe invented, 266; renewed Attacks against Pasteur, -267. Charbon given to Hens--experiment before the Académie de -Médecine, 268. Pasteur’s Note on the Germ Theory, 271. Campaign -of Researches on Charbon, 275. Critical Examination of a -posthumous Note by Claude Bernard, 281. Pasteur in the Hospitals, -289; Puerperal Fever, 289. - - -CHAPTER X - -1880--1882 - -Chicken Cholera, 297. Attenuation of the Virus, 299. Suggested -Researches on the bubonic Plague, 301. The Share of Earthworms in the -Development of Charbon, 304; an Incident at the Académie de Médecine, -309. The Vaccine of Charbon, 311; public Experiment at Pouilly le Fort -on the Vaccination of Splenic Fever, 316. First Experiments on -Hydrophobia, 318. Death of Sainte-Claire Deville, 326; Pasteur’s Speech, -327. Pasteur at the London Medical Congress, 329; Virchow and -Anti-vivisection, 332. Yellow Fever, 338; Pasteur at Pauillac, 338. - - -CHAPTER XI - -1882--1884 - -Pasteur elected a Member of the Académie Française, 341; his Opinions -on Positivism, 342; J. B. Dumas and Nisard, his Sponsors, 344; -Pasteur welcomed by Renan into the Académie Française, 346. -Homage from Melun, from Aubenas, 350; Pasteur at Nîmes and -at Montpellier, 353. Speech of J. B. Dumas, 354; Pasteur’s -Answer, 355. Pasteur at the Geneva Conference of Hygiene, 358. -Studies on the Rouget of Pigs--Journey to Bollène, 360. Typhoid -Fever and the Champions of old Medical Methods, 364. Pasteur -and the Turin Veterinary School, 368. Marks of Gratitude from -Agriculturists, 372; Pasteur at Aurillac, 373. Another Testimonial -of national Gratitude, 374; a commemorative Plate on the House -where Pasteur was born, 376; his Speech at the Ceremony, 377. -Cholera, 378; French Mission to Alexandria, 379. Death of -Thuillier, 380. J. B. Dumas’ last Letter to Pasteur, 383. Third -Centenary of the University of Edinburgh--the French Delegation, -384; Ovation to Pasteur, 386; Pasteur’s Speech, 386. - - -CHAPTER XII - -1884--1885 - -The Hydrophobia Problem, 390; preventive Inoculations on Dogs, 395. -Experiments on Hydrophobia verified by a Commission, 396. The Copenhagen -Medical Congress, Pasteur in Denmark, 399. Installation at Villeneuve -l’Etang of a Branch Establishment of Pasteur’s Laboratory, 406. Former -Remedies against Hydrophobia, 407. Kennels at Villeneuve l’Etang, 410. - - -CHAPTER XIII - -1885--1888 - -First Antirabic Inoculation on Man, 414; the little Alsatian Boy, Joseph -Meister, 415. Pasteur at Arbois; his Speech for the Welcome of -Joseph Bertrand, succeeding J. B. Dumas at the Académie Française, -418. Perraud the Sculptor, 421. Inoculation of the Shepherd -Jupille, 422; the Discovery of the Preventive Treatment of Rabies -announced to the Académie des Sciences and the Académie de -Médecine, 422. Death of Louise Pelletier, 426; Pasteur’s Solicitude -for inoculated Patients, 427. Foundation of the Pasteur -Institute, 428; the Russians from Smolensk, 429; English Commission -for the Verification of the Inoculations against Hydrophobia, -430. Fête at the Trocadéro, 431. Temporary Buildings in the Rue -Vauquelin for the Treatment of Hydrophobia, 432. Ill-health of -Pasteur, 433; his Stay at Bordighera, 434. Foundation of the -_Annals of the Pasteur Institute_, 434. Discussions on Rabies at the -Académie de Médecine, 434. Earthquake at Bordighera, 436. -Pasteur returns to France, 437. Report of the English Commission -on the Treatment of Rabies, 437. Pasteur elected Permanent -Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, 439; his Resignation, 439. -Inauguration of the Pasteur Institute, 440. - - -CHAPTER XIV - -1889--1895 - -Influence of Pasteur’s Labours, 445; his Jubilee, 447; Speech, 450. -Pasteur’s Name given to a District in Canada and to a Village in -Algeria, 451. Diphtheria, M. Roux’ Studies in Serotherapy, 453; -Pasteur at Lille; Lecture by M. Roux on Serotherapy, 456; repeated -at the Buda-Pesth Congress, 456. Subscription for the Organization -of the Antidiphtheritic Treatment, 456. Pasteur’s Disciples, -457. Pasteur’s Illness, 458; Visit from Alexandre Dumas, 460; -Visit from former Ecole Normale Students, 460. Pasteur refuses a -German Decoration, 461. Conversations with Chappuis, 462. Departure -for Villeneuve l’Etang, 462; last Weeks, 463. Project for -a Pasteur Hospital, 464. Death of Pasteur, 464. - -Index 465 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -1822--1843 - - -The origin of even the humblest families can be traced back by -persevering search through the ancient parochial registers. Thus the -name of Pasteur is to be found written at the beginning of the -seventeenth century in the old registers of the Priory of Mouthe, in the -province of Franche Comté. The Pasteurs were tillers of the soil, and -originally formed a sort of tribe in the small village of Reculfoz, -dependent on the Priory, but they gradually dispersed over the country. - -The registers of Mièges, near Nozeroy, contain an entry of the marriage -of Denis Pasteur and Jeanne David, dated February 9, 1682. This Denis, -after whom the line of Pasteur’s ancestors follows in an unbroken -record, lived in the village of Plénisette, where his eldest son Claude -was born in 1683. Denis afterward sojourned for some time in the village -of Douay, and ultimately forsaking the valley of Mièges came to Lemuy, -where he worked as a miller for Claude François Count of Udressier, a -noble descendant of a secretary of the Emperor Charles V. - -Lemuy is surrounded by wide plains affording pasture for herds of oxen. -In the distance the pine trees of the forest of Joux stand close -together, like the ranks of an immense army, their dark masses deepening -the azure of the horizon. It was in those widespreading open lands that -Pasteur’s ancestors lived. Near the church, overshadowed by old beech -and lime trees, a tombstone is to be found overgrown with grass. Some -members of the family lie under that slab naïvely inscribed: “Here lie, -each by the side of the others....” - -In 1716, in the mill at Lemuy, ruins of which still exist, the marriage -contract of Claude Pasteur was drawn up and signed in the presence of -Henry Girod, Royal notary of Salins. The father and mother declared -themselves unable to write, but we have the signatures of the affianced -couple, Claude Pasteur and Jeanne Belle, affixed to the record of the -quaint betrothal oath of the time. This Claude was in his turn a miller -at Lemuy, though at his death in 1746 he is only mentioned as a labourer -in the parish register. He had eight children, the youngest, whose name -was Claude Etienne, and who was born in the village of Supt, a few -kilometres from Lemuy, being Louis Pasteur’s great-grandfather. - -What ambition, what love of adventures induced him to leave the Jura -plains to come down to Salins? A desire for independence in the literal -sense of the word. According to the custom then still in force in -Franche Comté (in contradiction to the name of that province, as -Voltaire truly remarks), there were yet some serfs, that is to say, -people legally incapable of disposing of their goods or of their -persons. They were part of the possessions of a nobleman or of the lands -of a convent or monastery. Denis Pasteur and his son had been serfs of -the Counts of Udressier. Claude Etienne desired to be freed and -succeeded in achieving this at the age of thirty, as is proved by a -deed, dated March 20, 1763, drawn up in the presence of the Royal -notary, Claude Jarry. Messire Philippe-Marie-François, Count of -Udressier, Lord of Ecleux, Cramans, Lemuy and other places, consented -“by special grace” to free Claude Etienne Pasteur, a tanner, of Salins, -his serf. The deed stipulated that Claude Etienne and his unborn -posterity should henceforth be enfranchised from the stain of mortmain. -Four gold pieces of twenty-four livres were paid then and there in the -mansion of the Count of Udressier by the said Pasteur. - -The following year, he married Françoise Lambert. After setting up -together a small tannery in the Faubourg Champtave they enjoyed the -fairy tale ideal of happiness: they had ten children. The third, Jean -Henri, through whom this genealogy continues, was born in 1769. On June -25, 1779, letters giving Claude Etienne Pasteur the freedom of the city -of Salins were delivered to him by the Town Council. - -Jean Henri Pasteur, in his twentieth year, went to Besançon to seek his -fortune as a tanner, but was not successful. His wife, Gabrielle -Jourdan, died at the age of twenty, and he married again, but himself -died at twenty-seven, leaving one little son by his first marriage, Jean -Joseph Pasteur, born March 16, 1791. This child, who was to be Louis -Pasteur’s father, was taken charge of by his grandmother at Salins; -later on, his father’s sisters, one married to a wood merchant named -Chamecin, and the other to Philibert Bourgeois, Chamecin’s partner, -adopted the orphan. He was carefully brought up, but without much -learning; it was considered sufficient in those days to be able to read -the Emperor’s bulletins; the rest did not seem to matter very much. -Besides, Jean Joseph had to earn his living at the tanner’s trade, which -had been his father’s and his grandfather’s before him. - -Jean Joseph was drawn as a conscript in 1811, and went through the -Peninsular War in 1812 and 1813. He belonged to the 3rd Regiment of the -Line, whose mission was to pursue in the northern Spanish provinces the -guerillas of the famous Espoz y Mina. A legend grew round this wonderful -man; he was said to make his own gunpowder in the bleak mountain passes; -his innumerable partisans were supplied with arms and ammunition by the -English cruisers. He dragged women and old men after him, and little -children acted as his scouts. Once or twice however, in May, 1812, the -terrible Mina was very nearly caught; but in July he was again as -powerful as ever. The French had to organize mobile columns to again -occupy the coast and establish communications with France. There was -some serious fighting. Mina and his followers were incessantly harassing -the small French contingent of the 3rd and 4th Regiments, which were -almost alone. “How many traits of bravery,” writes Tissot, “will remain -unknown which on a larger field would have been rewarded and honoured!” - -The records of the 3rd Regiment allow us to follow step by step this -valiant little troop, and among the rank and file, doing his duty -steadily through terrible hardships, that private soldier (a corporal in -July, 1812, and a sergeant in October, 1813) whose name was Pasteur. The -battalion returned to France at the end of January, 1814. It formed a -part of that Leval division which, numbering barely 8,000 men, had to -fight at Bar-sur-Aube against an army of 40,000 enemies. The 3rd -Regiment was called “brave amongst the brave.” “If Napoleon had had none -but such soldiers,” writes Thiers in his _History of the Consulate and -the Empire_, “the result of that great struggle would certainly have -been different.” The Emperor, touched by so much courage, distributed -crosses among the men. Pasteur was made a sergeant-major on March 10, -1814, and received, two days later, the cross of the Legion of Honour. - -At the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (March 21) the Leval division had again -to stand against 50,000 men--Russians, Austrians, Bavarians, and -Wurtembergers. Pasteur’s battalion, the 1st of the 3rd Regiment, came -back to St. Dizier and went on by forced marches to Fontainebleau, where -Napoleon had concentrated all his forces, arriving on April 4. The -battalion was now reduced to eight officers and 276 men. The next day, -at twelve o’clock, the Leval division and the remnant of the 7th corps -were gathered in the yard of the Cheval Blanc Inn and were reviewed by -Napoleon. The attitude of these soldiers, who had heroically fought in -Spain and in France, and who were still offering their passionate -devotion, gave him a few moments’ illusion. Their enthusiasm and -acclamations contrasted with the coldness, the reserve, the almost -insubordinations of Generals like Ney, Lefebvre, Oudinot and MacDonald, -who had just declared that to march on Paris would be folly. - -Marmont’s defection hastened events; the Emperor, seeing himself -forsaken, abdicated. Jean Joseph Pasteur had not, like Captain Coignet, -the sad privilege of witnessing the Emperor’s farewell, his battalion -having been sent into the department of Eure on April 9. On April 23 the -white cockade replaced the tricolour. - -On May 12, 1814, a royal order gave to the 3rd line Regiment the name of -“Régiment Dauphin”; it was reorganized at Douai, where Sergeant-major -Pasteur received his discharge from the service. He returned to Besançon -with grief and anger in his heart: for him, as for many others risen -from the people, Napoleon was a demi-god. Lists of victories, principles -of equality, new ideas scattered throughout the nations, had followed -each other in dazzling visions. It was a cruel trial for half-pay -officers, old sergeants, grenadiers, peasant soldiers, to come down from -this imperial epic to every-day monotony, police supervision, and the -anxieties of poverty; their wounded patriotism was embittered by -feelings of personal humiliation. Jean Joseph resigned himself to his -fate and went back to his former trade. The return from Elba was a ray -of joy and hope in his obscure life, only to be followed by renewed -darkness. - -He was living in the Faubourg Champtave a solitary life in accordance -with his tastes and character when this solitude was interrupted for an -instant. The Mayor of Salins, a knight of Malta and an ardent royalist, -ordered all the late soldiers of Napoleon, the “_brigands de la Loire_” -as they were now called, to bring their sabres to the Mairie. Joseph -Pasteur reluctantly obeyed; but when he heard that these glorious -weapons were destined to police service, and would be used by police -agents, further submission seemed to him intolerable. He recognized his -own sergeant-major’s sabre, which had just been given to an agent, and, -springing upon the man, wrested the sword from him. Great excitement -ensued--a mixture of indignation, irritation and repressed enthusiasm; -the numerous Bonapartists in the town began to gather together. An -Austrian regiment was at that time still garrisoned in the town. The -Mayor appealed to the colonel, asking him to repress this disobedience; -but the Austrian officer refused to interfere, declaring that he both -understood and approved the military feelings which actuated the -ex-sergeant-major. Pasteur was allowed to keep his sword, and returned -home accompanied by sympathizers who were perhaps more noisily -enthusiastic than he could have wished. - -Having peacefully resumed his work he made the acquaintance of a -neighbouring family of gardeners, whose garden faced his tannery on the -other bank of the “Furieuse,” a river rarely deserving its name. From -the steps leading to the water Jean Joseph Pasteur often used to watch a -young girl working in the garden at early dawn. She soon perceived that -the “old soldier”--very young still; he was but twenty-five years -old--was interested in her every movement. Her name was Jeanne -Etiennette Roqui. - -Her parents, natives of Marnoz, a village about four kilometres from -Salins, belonged to one of the most ancient plebeian families of the -country. The Salins archives mention a Roqui working in vineyards as far -back as 1555, and in 1659 there were Roqui lampmakers and plumbers. The -members of this family were in general so much attached to each other -that “to love like the Roqui” had become proverbial; their wills and -testaments mentioned legacies or gifts from brother to brother, uncle to -nephew. In 1816 the father and mother of Jeanne Etiennette were living -very quietly in the old Salins faubourg. Their daughter was modest, -intelligent and kind; Jean Joseph Pasteur asked for her hand in -marriage. They seemed made for each other; the difference in their -natures only strengthened their mutual affection: he was reserved, -almost secretive, with a slow and careful mind apparently absorbed in -his own inner life; she was very active, full of imagination, and ready -enthusiasm. - -The young couple migrated to Dôle and settled down in the Rue des -Tanneurs. Their first child only lived a few months; in 1818 a little -daughter came. Four years later in a small room of their humble home, on -Friday, December 27, 1822, at 2 a.m., Louis Pasteur was born. - -Two daughters were born later--one at Dôle and the other at Marnoz, in -the house of the Roqui. Jean Joseph Pasteur’s mother-in-law, now a -widow, considering that her great age no longer allowed her to -administer her fortune, had divided all she possessed between her son -Jean Claude Roqui, a landed proprietor at Marnoz, and Jeanne Etiennette -her daughter. - -Thus called away from Dôle by family interests, Jean Joseph Pasteur came -to live at Marnoz. The place was not very favourable to his trade, -though a neighbouring brook rendered the establishment of a tannery -possible. The house, though many times altered, still bears the name of -“Maison Pasteur.” On one of the inner doors the veteran, who had a taste -for painting, had depicted a soldier in an old uniform now become a -peasant and tilling the soil. This figure stands against a background of -grey sky and distant hills; leaning on his spade the man suspends his -labours and dreams of past glories. It is easy to criticize the faults -in the painting, but the sentimental allegory is full of feeling. - -Louis Pasteur’s earliest recollections dated from that time; he could -remember running joyously along the Aiglepierre road. The Pasteur family -did not remain long at Marnoz. A tannery was to let in the neighbourhood -by the town of Arbois, near the bridge which crosses the Cuisance, and -only a few kilometres from the source of the river. The house, behind -its modest frontage, presented the advantage of a yard where pits had -been dug for the preparation of the skins. Joseph Pasteur took this -little house and settled there with his wife and children. - -Louis Pasteur was sent at first to the “Ecole Primaire” attached to the -college of Arbois. Mutual teaching was then the fashion; scholars were -divided into groups: one child taught the rudiments of reading to -others, who then spelt aloud in a sort of sing-song. The master, M. -Renaud, went from group to group designating the monitors. Louis soon -desired to possess this title, perhaps all the more so because he was -the smallest scholar. But those who would decorate the early years of -Louis Pasteur with wonderful legends would be disappointed: when a -little later he attended the daily classes at the Arbois college he -belonged merely to the category of good average pupils. He took several -prizes without much difficulty; he rather liked buying new lesson books, -on the first page of which he proudly wrote his name. His father, who -wished to instruct himself as well as to help his son, helped him with -his home preparation. During holidays, the boy enjoyed his liberty. Some -of his schoolfellows--Vercel, Charrière, Guillemin, Coulon--called for -him to come out with them and he followed them with pleasure. He -delighted in fishing parties on the Cuisance, and much admired the net -throwing of his comrade Jules Vercel. But he avoided bird trapping; the -sight of a wounded lark was painful to him. - -The doors of Louis Pasteur’s home were not usually open except to his -schoolboy friends, who, when they did not fetch him away, used to come -and play in the tannery yard with remnants of bark, stray bits of iron, -etc. Joseph Pasteur, though not considered a proud man, did not easily -make friends. His language and manners were not those of a retired -sergeant; he never spoke of his campaigns and never entered a café. On -Sundays, wearing a military-looking frock coat, spotlessly clean and -adorned with the showy ribbon of the Legion of Honour (worn very large -at that time), he invariably walked out towards the road from Arbois to -Besançon. This road passes between vine-planted hills. On the left, on a -wooded height above the wide plain towards Dôle, the ruins of the Vadans -tower invest the whole landscape with a lingering glamour of heroic -times. In these solitary meditations, he dwelt more anxiously on the -future than on present difficulties, the latter being of little account -in this hard-working family. What would become of this son of his, -conscientious and studious, but, though already thirteen years old, with -no apparent preference for anything but drawing? The epithet of _artist_ -given to Louis Pasteur by his Arboisian friends only half pleased the -paternal vanity. And yet it is impossible not to be struck by the -realism of his first original effort, a very bold pastel drawing. This -pastel represents Louis’ mother, one morning that she was going to -market, with a white cap and a blue and green tartan shawl. Her son -insisted on painting her just as she was. The portrait is full of -sincerity and not unlike the work of a conscientious pre-Raphaelite. The -powerful face is illumined by a pair of clear straightforward eyes. - -Though they did not entertain mere acquaintances, the husband and wife -were happy to receive those who seemed to them worthy of affection or -esteem by reason of some superiority of the mind or of the heart. In -this way they formed a friendship with an old army doctor then -practising in the Arbois hospital, Dr. Dumont, a man who studied for the -sake of learning and who did a great deal of good while avoiding -popularity. - -Another familiar friend was a philosopher named Bousson de Mairet. An -indefatigable reader, he never went out without a book or pamphlet in -his pocket. He spent his life in compiling from isolated facts annals in -which the characteristics of the Francs-Comtois, and especially the -Arboisians, were reproduced in detail, with labour worthy of a -Benedictine monk. He often came to spend a quiet evening with the -Pasteur family, who used to question him and to listen to his -interesting records of that strange Arboisian race, difficult to -understand, presenting as it does a mixture of heroic courage and that -slightly ironical good humour which Parisians and Southerners mistake -for naïveness. Arboisians never distrust themselves, but are sceptical -where others are concerned. They are proud of their local history, and -even of their rodomontades. - -For instance, on August 4, 1830, they sent an address to the Parisians -to express their indignation against the “Ordonnances”[2] and to assure -them that all the available population of Arbois was ready to fly to the -assistance of Paris. In April, 1834, a lawyer’s clerk, passing one -evening through Arbois by the coach, announced to a few _gardes -nationaux_ who were standing about that the Republic was proclaimed at -Lyons. Arbois immediately rose in arms; the insurgents armed themselves -with guns from the Hôtel de Ville. Louis Pasteur watched the arrival -from Besançon of 200 grenadiers, four squadrons of light cavalry, and a -small battery of artillery sent to reduce the rebels. The _sous-préfet_ -of Poligny having asked the rioters who were their leaders, they -answered with one voice, “We are all leaders.” A few days later the -great, the good news was published in all the newspapers: “Arbois, -Lyons, and Paris are pacified.” The Arboisians called their neighbours -“the Braggarts of Salins,” probably with the ingenious intention of -turning such a well-deserved accusation from themselves. - -Louis Pasteur, whose mind already had a serious bent, preferred to these -recent anecdotes such historical records as that of the siege of Arbois -under Henry IV, when the Arboisians held out for three whole days -against a besieging army of 25,000 men. His childish imagination, after -being worked upon by these stories of local patriotism, eagerly seized -upon ideals of a higher patriotism, and fed upon the glory of the French -people as represented by the conquests of the Empire. - -He watched his parents, day by day working under dire necessity and -ennobling their weary task by considering their children’s education -almost as essential as their daily bread; and, as in all things the -father and mother took an interest in noble motives and principles, -their material life was lightened and illumined by their moral life. - -One more friend, the headmaster of Arbois college, M. Romanet, exerted a -decisive influence on Louis Pasteur’s career. This master, who was -constantly trying to elevate the mind and heart of his pupils, inspired -Louis with great admiration as well as with respect and gratitude. -Romanet considered that whilst instruction doubled a man’s value, -education, in the highest sense of the word, increased it tenfold. He -was the first to discover in Louis Pasteur the hidden spark that had not -yet revealed itself by any brilliant success in the hardworking -schoolboy. Louis’ mind worked so carefully that he was considered slow; -he never affirmed anything of which he was not absolutely sure; but with -all his strength and caution he also had vivid imaginative faculties. - -Romanet, during their strolls round the college playground, took -pleasure in awakening with an educator’s interest the leading qualities -of this young nature--circumspection and enthusiasm. The boy, who had -been sitting over his desk with all-absorbing attention, now listened -with sparkling eyes to the kind teacher talking to him of his future and -opening to him the prospect of the great _Ecole Normale_.[3] - -An officer of the Paris municipal guard, Captain Barbier, who always -came to Arbois when on leave, offered to look after Louis Pasteur if he -were sent to Paris. But Joseph Pasteur--in spite of all--hesitated to -send his son, not yet sixteen years old, a hundred leagues away from -home. Would it not be wiser to let him go to Besançon college and come -back to Arbois college as professor? What could be more desirable than -such a position? Surely Paris and the Ecole Normale were quite -unnecessary! The question of money also had to be considered. - -“That need not trouble you,” said Captain Barbier. “In the Latin -Quarter, Impasse des Feuillantines, there is a preparatory school, of -which the headmaster, M. Barbet, is a Franc-Comtois. He will do for your -son what he has done for many boys from his own country--that is, take -him at reduced school fees.” - -Joseph Pasteur at last allowed himself to be persuaded, and Louis’ -departure was fixed for the end of October, 1838. He was not going -alone: Jules Vercel, his dear school friend, was also going to Paris to -work for his “baccalauréat.”[4] This youth had a most happy temperament: -unambitious, satisfied with each day’s work as it came, he took pride -and pleasure in the success of others, and especially in that of -“Louis,” as he then and always fraternally called his friend. The two -boys’ friendship went some way to alleviate the natural anxieties felt -by both families. The slowness and difficulty of travelling in those -days gave to farewells a sort of solemn sadness; they were repeated -twenty times whilst the horses were being harnessed and the luggage -hoisted on to the coach in the large courtyard of the “Hôtel de la -Poste.” On that bleak October morning, amidst a shower of rain and -sleet, the two lads had to sit under the tarpaulin behind the driver; -there were no seats left inside or under the hood. In spite of Vercel’s -habit of seeing the right side of things and his joy in thinking that in -forty-eight hours he, the country boy, would see the wonders of -Paris--in spite of Pasteur’s brave resolve to make the most of his -unexpected opportunities of study, of the now possible entrance into the -“Ecole Normale”--both looked with heavy hearts at the familiar scene -they were leaving behind them--their homes, the square tower of Arbois -church, the heights of the Ermitage in the grey distance. - -Every native of Jura, though he affects to feel nothing of the kind, -has, at the bottom of his heart, a strong feeling of attachment for the -corner of the world where he has spent his childhood; as soon as he -forsakes his native soil his thoughts return to it with a painful and -persistent charm. The two boys did not take much interest in the towns -where the coach stopped to change horses, Dôle, Dijon, Auxerre, Joigny, -Sens, Fontainebleau, etc. - -When Louis Pasteur reached Paris he did not feel like Balzac’s student -hero, confidently defying the great city. In spite of the strong will -already visible in his pensive features, his grief was too deep to be -reasoned away. No one at first suspected this; he was a reserved youth, -with none of the desire to talk which leads weak natures to ease their -sorrows by pouring them out; but, when all was quiet in the Impasse des -Feuillantines and his sleeping comrades could not break in upon his -regrets, he would lie awake for hours thinking of his home and repeating -the mournful line-- - - How endless unto watchful anguish - Night doth seem. - -The students of the Barbet school attended the classes of the Lycée St. -Louis. In spite of his willingness and his passionate love of study, -Louis was overcome with despair at being away from home. Never was -homesickness more acute. “If I could only get a whiff of the tannery -yard,” he would say to Jules Vercel, “I feel I should be cured.” M. -Barbet endeavoured in vain to amuse and turn the thoughts of this lad of -fifteen so absorbed in his sorrow. At last he thought it his duty to -warn the parents of this state of mind, which threatened to become -morbid. - -One morning in November Louis Pasteur was told with an air of mystery -that he was wanted. “They are waiting for you close by,” said the -messenger, indicating a small café at the corner of the street. Louis -entered and found a man sitting at a small table at the back of the -shop, his face in his hands. It was his father. “I have come to fetch -you,” he said simply. No explanations were necessary; the father and son -understood each other’s longings. - -What took place in Pasteur’s mind when he found himself again at Arbois? -After the first few days of relief and joy, did he feel, when he went -back to Arbois college, any regret, not to say remorse, at not having -overcome his homesickness? Was he discouraged by the prospect of a -restricted career in that small town? Little is known of that period -when his will had been mastered by his feelings; but from the indecision -of his daily life we may hazard a guess at the disquieted state of his -mind at this time. At the beginning of that year (1839) he returned for -a time to his early tastes; he went back to his coloured chalks, left -aside for the last eighteen months, ever since one holiday time when he -had drawn Captain Barbier, proudly wearing his uniform, and with the -high colour of excellent health. - -He soon got beyond the powers of his drawing master, M. Pointurier, a -good man who does not seem to have seen any scientific possibilities in -the art of drawing. - -Louis’ pastel drawings soon formed a portrait gallery of friends. An old -cooper of seventy, Father Gaidot, born at Dôle, but now living at -Arbois, had his turn. Gaidot appears in a festive costume, a blue coat -and a yellow waistcoat, very picturesque with his wrinkled forehead and -close-shaven cheeks. Then there are all the members of a family named -Roch. The father and the son are drawn carefully, portraits such as are -often seen in country villages; but the two daughters Lydia and Sophia -are more delicately pencilled; they live again in the youthful grace of -their twenty summers. Then we have a notary, the wide collar of a frock -coat framing his rubicund face; a young woman in white; an old nun of -eighty-two in a fluted cap, wearing a white hood and an ivory cross; a -little boy of ten in a velvet suit, a melancholy-looking child, not -destined to grow to manhood. Pasteur obligingly drew any one who wished -to have a portrait. Among all these pastels, two are really remarkable. -The first represents, in his official garb, a M. Blondeau, registrar of -mortgages, whose gentle and refined features are perfectly delineated. -The other is the portrait of a mayor of Arbois, M. Pareau; he wears his -silver-embroidered uniform, with a white stock. The cross of the Legion -of Honour and the tricolour scarf are discreetly indicated. The whole -interest is centred in the smiling face, with hair brushed up _à la_ -Louis Philippe, and blue eyes harmonizing with a blue ground. - -The compliments of this local dignitary and Romanet’s renewed counsels -at the end of the year--when Pasteur took more school prizes than he -could carry--reawakened within him the ambition for the Ecole Normale. - -There was no “philosophy”[5] class in the college of Arbois, and a -return to Paris seemed formidable. Pasteur resolved to go to the college -at Besançon, where he could go on with his studies, pass his -baccalauréat and then prepare for the examinations of the Ecole Normale. -Besançon is only forty kilometres from Arbois, and Joseph Pasteur was in -the habit of going there several times a year to sell some of his -prepared skins. This was by far the wisest solution of the problem. - -On his arrival at the Royal College of Franche Comté Pasteur found -himself under a philosophy master, M. Daunas, who had been a student at -the Ecole Normale and was a graduate of the University; he was young, -full of eloquence, proud of his pupils, of awakening their faculties and -directing their minds. The science master, M. Darlay, did not inspire -the same enthusiasm; he was an elderly man and regretted the good old -times when pupils were less inquisitive. Pasteur’s questions often -embarrassed him. Louis’ reputation as a painter satisfied him no longer, -though the portrait he drew of one of his comrades was exhibited. “All -this does not lead to the Ecole Normale,” he wrote to his parents in -January, 1840. “I prefer a first place at college to 10,000 praises in -the course of conversation.... We shall meet on Sunday, dear father, for -I believe there is a fair on Monday. If we see M. Daunas, we will speak -to him of the Ecole Normale. Dear sisters, let me tell you again, work -hard, love each other. When one is accustomed to work it is impossible -to do without it; besides, everything in this world depends on that. -Armed with science, one can rise above all one’s fellows.... But I hope -all this good advice to you is superfluous, and I am sure you spend many -moments every day learning your grammar. Love each other as I love you, -while awaiting the happy day when I shall be received at the Ecole -Normale.” Thus was his whole life filled with tenderness as well as with -work. He took the degree of “bachelier ès lettres” on August 29, 1840. -The three examiners, doctors “ès lettres,” put down his answers as “good -in Greek on Plutarch and in Latin on Virgil, good also in rhetoric, -medicine, history and geography, good in philosophy, very good in -elementary science, good in French composition.” - -At the end of the summer holidays the headmaster of the Royal College of -Besançon, M. Répécaud, sent for him and offered him the post of -preparation master. Certain administrative changes and an increased -number of pupils were the reason of this offer, which proved the -master’s esteem for Pasteur’s moral qualities, his first degree not -having been obtained with any particular brilliancy. - -The youthful master was to be remunerated from the month of January, -1841. A student in the class of special mathematics, he was his -comrades’ mentor during preparation time. They obeyed him without -difficulty; simple and yet serious-minded, his sense of individual -dignity made authority easy to him. Ever thoughtful of his distant home, -he strengthened the influence of the father and mother in the education -of his sisters, who had not so great a love of industry as he had. On -November 1, 1840--he was not eighteen yet--pleased to hear that they -were making some progress, he wrote the following, which, though -slightly pedantic, reveals the warmth of his feelings--“My dear parents, -my sisters, when I received at the same time the two letters that you -sent me I thought that something extraordinary had happened, but such -was not the case. The second letter you wrote me gave me much pleasure; -it tells me that--perhaps for the first time--my sisters have _willed_. -To _will_ is a great thing, dear sisters, for Action and Work usually -follow Will, and almost always Work is accompanied by success. These -three things, Will, Work, Success, fill human existence. Will opens the -door to success both brilliant and happy; Work passes these doors, and -at the end of the journey Success comes to crown one’s efforts. And so, -my dear sisters, if your resolution is firm, your task, be it what it -may, is already begun; you have but to walk forward, it will achieve -itself. If perchance you should falter during the journey, a hand would -be there to support you. If that should be wanting, God, who alone could -take that hand from you, would Himself accomplish its work.... May my -words be felt and understood by you, dearest sisters. I impress them on -your hearts. May they be your guide. Farewell. Your brother.” - -The letters he wrote, the books he loved, the friends he chose, bear -witness to the character of Pasteur in those days of early youth. As he -now felt, after the discouraging trial he had gone through in Paris, -that the development of the will should hold the first place in -education, he applied all his efforts to the bringing out of this -leading force. He was already grave and exceptionally matured; he saw in -the perfecting of self the great law of man, and nothing that could -assist in that improvement seemed to him without importance. Books read -in early life appeared to him to have an almost decisive influence. In -his eyes a good book was a good action constantly renewed, a bad one an -incessant and irreparable fault. - -There lived at that time in Franche Comté an elderly writer, whom Sainte -Beuve considered as the ideal of the upright man and of the man of -letters. His name was Joseph Droz, and his moral doctrine was that -vanity is the cause of many wrecked and aimless lives, that moderation -is a form of wisdom and an element of happiness, and that most men -sadden and trouble their lives by causeless worry and agitation. His own -life was an example of his precepts of kindliness and patience, and was -filled to the utmost with all the good that a pure literary conscience -can bestow; he was all benevolence and cordiality. It seemed natural -that he should publish one after another numberless editions of his -_Essay on the Art of being Happy_. - -“I have still,” wrote Pasteur to his parents, “that little volume of M. -Droz which he was kind enough to lend me. I have never read anything -wiser, more moral or more virtuous. I have also another of his works; -nothing was ever better written. At the end of the year I shall bring -you back these books. One feels in reading them an irresistible charm -which penetrates the soul and fills it with the most exalted and -generous feelings. There is not a word of exaggeration in what I am -writing. Indeed I take his books with me to the services on Sundays to -read them, and I believe that in so acting, in spite of all that -thoughtless bigotry might say, I am conforming to the very highest -religious ideas.” - -Those ideas Droz might have summarized simply by Christ’s words, “Love -ye one another.” But this was a time of circumlocution. Young people -demanded of books, of discourses, of poetry, a sonorous echo of their -own secret feelings. In the writings of the Besançon moralist, Pasteur -saw a religion such as he himself dreamed of, a religion free from all -controversy and all intolerance, a religion of peace, love and devotion. - -A little later, Silvio Pellico’s _Miei Prigioni_ developed in him an -emotion which answered to his instinctive sympathy for the sorrows of -others. He wrote advising his sisters to read “that interesting work, -where you breathe with every page a religious perfume which exalts and -ennobles the soul.” In reading _Miei Prigioni_ his sisters would light -upon a passage on fraternal love and all the deep feelings which it -represents. - -“For my sisters,” he wrote in another letter, “I bought, a few days ago, -a very pretty book; I mean by very pretty something very interesting. It -is a little volume which took the Montyon[6] prize a few years ago, and -it is called, _Picciola_. How could it have deserved the Montyon -prize,” he added, with an edifying respect for the decisions of the -Academy, “if the reading of it were not of great value?” - -“You know,” he announced to his parents when his appointment was -definitely settled, “that a supplementary master has board and lodging -and 300 francs a year!” This sum appeared to him enormous. He added, on -January 20: “At the end of this month money will already be owing to me; -and yet I assure you I am not really worth it.” - -Pleased with this situation, though such a modest one, full of eagerness -to work, he wrote in the same letter: “I find it an excellent thing to -have a room of my own; I have more time to myself, and I am not -interrupted by those endless little things that the boys have to do, and -which take up a good deal of time. Indeed I am already noticing a change -in my work; difficulties are getting smoothed away because I have more -time to give to overcoming them; in fact I am beginning to hope that by -working as I do and shall continue to do I may be received with a good -rank at the Ecole. But do not think that I am overworking myself at all; -I take every recreation necessary to my health.” - -Besides his ordinary work, he had been entrusted with the duty of giving -some help in mathematics and physical science to the youths who were -reading for their baccalauréat. - -As if reproaching himself with being the only member of the family who -enjoyed the opportunity of learning, he offered to pay for the schooling -of his youngest sister Josephine in a girls’ college at -Lons-le-Saulnier. He wrote, “I could easily do it by giving private -lessons. I have already refused to give some to several boys at 20 or 25 -fr. a month. I refused because I have not too much time to give to my -work.” But he was quite disposed to waive this motive in deference to -superior judgment. His parents promised to think over this fraternal -wish, without however accepting his generous suggestion, offering even -to supplement his small salary of 24 francs a month by a little -allowance, in case he wished for a few private lessons to prepare -himself more thoroughly for the Ecole Normale. They quite recognized his -right to advise; and--as he thought that his sister should prepare -herself beforehand for the class she was to enter--he wrote to his -mother with filial authority, “Josephine should work a good deal until -the end of the year, and I would recommend to Mother that she should not -continually be sent out on errands; she must have time to work.” - -Michelet, in his recollections, tells of his hours of intimacy with a -college friend named Poinsat, and thus expresses himself: “It was an -immense, an insatiable longing for confidences, for mutual revelations.” -Pasteur felt something of the sort for Charles Chappuis, a _philosophie_ -student at Besançon college. He was the son of a notary at St. Vit, one -of those old-fashioned provincial notaries, who, by the dignity of their -lives, their spirit of wisdom, the perpetual preoccupation of their -duty, inspired their children with a sense of responsibility. His son -had even surpassed his father’s hopes. Of this generous, gentle-faced -youth there exists a lithograph signed “Louis Pasteur.” A book entitled -_Les Graveurs du XIXᵐᵉ Siècle_ mentions this portrait, giving Pasteur an -unexpected form of celebrity. Before the _Graveurs_, the _Guide de -l’Amateur des Œuvres d’Art_ had already spoken of a pastel drawing -discovered in the United States near Boston. It represents another -schoolfellow of Pasteur’s, who, far from his native land, carefully -preserved the portrait of Chappuis as well as his own. Everything that -friendship can give in strength and disinterestedness, everything that, -according to Montaigne--who knew more about it even that -Michelet--“makes souls merge into each other so that the seam which -originally joined them disappears,” was experienced by Pasteur -and Chappuis. Filial piety, brotherly solicitude, friendly -confidences--Pasteur knew the sweetness of all these early human joys; -the whole of his life was permeated with them. The books he loved added -to this flow of generous emotions. Chappuis watched and admired this -original nature, which, with a rigid mind made for scientific research -and always seeking the proof of everything, yet read Lamartine’s -_Meditations_ with enthusiasm. Differing in this from many science -students, who are indifferent to literature--just as some literature -students affect to disdain science--Pasteur kept for literature a place -apart. He looked upon it as a guide for general ideas. Sometimes he -would praise to excess some writer or orator merely because he had found -in one page or in one sentence the expression of an exalted sentiment. -It was with Chappuis that he exchanged his thoughts, and together they -mapped out a life in common. When Chappuis went to Paris, the better to -prepare himself for the Ecole Normale, Pasteur felt an ardent desire to -go with him. Chappuis wrote to him with that open spontaneity which is -such a charm in youth, “I shall feel as if I had all my Franche Comté -with me when you are here.” Pasteur’s father feared a crisis like that -of 1838, and, after hesitating, refused his consent to an immediate -departure. “Next year,” he said. - -In October, 1841, though still combining the functions of master and -student, Pasteur resumed his attendance of the classes for special -mathematics. But he was constantly thinking of Paris, “Paris, where -study is deeper.” One of Chappuis’ comrades, Bertin, whom Pasteur had -met during the holidays, had just entered the Ecole Normale at the head -of the list after attending in Paris a class of special mathematics. - -“If I do not pass this year,” Pasteur wrote to his father on November 7, -“I think I should do well to go to Paris for a year. But there is time -to think of that and of the means of doing so without spending too much, -if the occasion should arise. I see now what great advantage there is in -giving two years to mathematics; everything becomes clearer and easier. -Of all our class students who tried this year for the Ecole -Polytechnique and the Ecole Normale, not a single one has passed, not -even the best of them, a student who had already done one year’s -mathematics at Lyons. The master we have now is very good. I feel sure I -shall do a great deal this year.” - -He was twice second in his class; once he was first in physics. “That -gives me hope for later on,” he said. He wrote about another -mathematical competition, “If I get a good place it will be well -deserved, for this work has given me a pretty bad headache; I always do -get one, though, whenever we have a competition.” Then, fearful of -alarming his parents, he hastily adds, “But those headaches never last -long, and it is only an hour and a half since we left off.” - -Anxious to stifle by hard work his growing regrets at not having -followed Chappuis to Paris, Pasteur imagined that he might prepare -himself for the Ecole Polytechnique as well as for the Ecole Normale. -One of his masters, M. Bouché, had led him to hope that he might be -successful. “I shall try this year for both schools,” Pasteur wrote to -his friend (January 22, 1842). “I do not know whether I am right in -deciding to do so. One thing tells me that I am wrong: it is the idea -that we might thus be parted; and when I think of that, I firmly believe -that I cannot possibly be admitted this year into the Ecole -Polytechnique. I feel quite superstitious about it. I have but one -pleasure, your letters and those from my family. Oh! do write often, -very long letters!” - -Chappuis, concerned at this sudden resolve, answered in terms that did -credit to his heart and youthful wisdom. “Consult your tastes, think of -the present, of the future. You must think of yourself; it is your own -fate that you have to direct. There is more glitter on the one side; on -the other the gentle quiet life of a professor, a trifle monotonous -perhaps, but full of charm for him who knows how to enjoy it. You too -appreciated it formerly, and I learned to do so when we thought we -should both go the same way. Anyhow, go where you think you will be -happy, and think of me sometimes. I hope your father will not blame me. -I believe he looks upon me as your evil genius. These last holidays I -wanted you to come to me, then I advised you to go to Paris; each time -your father created some obstacle! But do what he wishes, and never -forget that it is perhaps because he loves you too much that he never -does what you ask him.” - -Pasteur soon thought no more of his Polytechnic fancy, and gave himself -up altogether to his preparation for the Ecole Normale. But the study of -mathematics seemed to him dry and exhausting. He wrote in April, “One -ends by having nothing but figures, formulas and geometrical forms -before one’s eyes.... On Thursday I went out and I read a charming -story, which, much to my astonishment, made me weep. I had not done such -a thing for years. Such is life.” - -On August 13, 1842, he went up for his examination (_baccalauréat ès -sciences_) before the Dijon Faculty. He passed less brilliantly even -than he had done for the _baccalauréat ès lettres_. In chemistry he was -only put down as “_médiocre_.” On August 26 he was declared admissible -to the examinations for the Ecole Normale. But he was only fifteenth out -of twenty-two candidates. He considered this too low a place, and -resolved to try again the following year. In October, 1842, he started -for Paris with Chappuis. On the eve of his departure Louis drew a last -pastel, a portrait of his father. It is a powerful face, with -observation and meditation apparent in the eyes, strength and caution in -the mouth and chin. - -Pasteur arrived at the Barbet Boarding School, no longer a forlorn lad, -but a tall student capable of teaching and engaged for that purpose. He -only paid one-third of the pupil’s fees, and in return had to give to -the younger pupils some instruction in mathematics every morning from -six to seven. His room was not in the school, but in the same Impasse -des Feuillantines; two pupils shared it with him. - -“Do not be anxious about my health and work,” he wrote to his friends a -few days after his arrival. “I need hardly get up till 5.45; you see it -is not so very early.” He went on outlining the programme of his time. -“I shall spend my Thursdays in a neighbouring library with Chappuis, who -has four hours to himself on that day. On Sundays we shall walk and work -a little together; we hope to do some Philosophy on Sundays, perhaps too -on Thursdays; I shall also read some literary works. Surely you must see -that I am not homesick this time.” - -Besides attending the classes of the Lycée St. Louis, he also went to -the Sorbonne[7] to hear the Professor, who, after taking Gay-Lussac’s -place in 1832, had for the last ten years delighted his audience by an -eloquence and talent which opened boundless horizons before every mind. - -In a letter dated December 9, 1842, Pasteur wrote, “I attend at the -Sorbonne the lectures of M. Dumas, a celebrated chemist. You cannot -imagine what a crowd of people come to these lectures. The room is -immense, and always quite full. We have to be there half an hour before -the time to get a good place, as you would in a theatre; there is also a -great deal of applause; there are always six or seven hundred people.” -Under this rostrum, Pasteur became, in his own words, a “disciple” full -of the enthusiasm inspired by Dumas. - -Happy in this industrious life, he wrote in response to an expression of -his parents’ provincial uneasiness as to the temptations of the Latin -Quarter. “When one wishes to keep straight, one can do so in this place -as well as in any other; it is those who have no strength of will that -succumb.” - -He made himself so useful at Barbet’s that he was soon kept free of all -expense. But the expenses of his Parisian life are set out in a small -list made about that time. His father wished him to dine at the Palais -Royal on Thursdays and Sundays with Chappuis, and the price of each of -those dinners came to a little less than two francs. He had, still with -the inseparable Chappuis, gone four times to the theatre and once to the -opera. He had also hired a stove for his stone-floored room; for eight -francs he had bought some firewood, and also a two-franc cloth for his -table, which he said had holes in it, and was not convenient to write -on. - -At the end of the school year, 1843, he took at the Lycée St. Louis two -“Accessits,”[8] and one first prize in physics, and at the “_Concours -Général_”[9] a sixth “Accessit” in physics. He was admitted fourth on -the list to the Ecole Normale. He then wrote from Arbois to M. Barbet, -telling him that on his half-holidays he would give some lessons at the -school of the Impasse des Feuillantines as a small token of his -gratitude for past kindness. “My dear Pasteur,” answered M. Barbet, “I -accept with pleasure the offer you have made me to give to my school -some of the leisure that you will have during your stay at the Ecole -Normale. It will indeed be a means of frequent and intimate intercourse -between us, in which we shall both find much advantage.” - -Pasteur was in such a hurry to enter the Ecole Normale that he arrived -in Paris some days before the other students. He solicited permission to -come in as another might have begged permission to come out. He was -readily allowed to sleep in the empty dormitory. His first visit was to -M. Barbet. The Thursday half-holiday, usually from one to seven, was -now from one to eight. “There is nothing more simple,” he said, “than to -come regularly at six o’clock on Thursdays and give the schoolboys a -physical science class.” - -“I am very pleased,” wrote his father, “that you are giving lessons at -M. Barbet’s. He has been so kind to us that I was anxious that you -should show him some gratitude; be therefore always most obliging -towards him. You should do so, not only for your own sake, but for -others; it will encourage him to show the same kindness to other -studious young men, whose future might depend upon it.” - -Generosity, self-sacrifice, kindliness even to unknown strangers, cost -not the least effort to the father and son, but seemed to them the most -natural thing possible. Just as their little house at Arbois was -transformed by a ray of the ideal, the broken down walls of the old -Ecole Normale--then a sort of annexe of the Louis Le Grand college, and -looking, said Jules Simon, like an old hospital or barracks--reflected -within them the ideas and sentiments which inspire useful lives. Joseph -Pasteur wrote (Nov. 18, 1843): “The details you give me on the way your -work is directed please me very much; everything seems organized so as -to produce distinguished scholars. Honour be to those who founded this -School.” Only one thing troubled him, he mentioned it in every letter. -“You know how we worry about your health; you do work so immoderately. -Are you not injuring your eyesight by so much night work? Your ambition -ought to be satisfied now that you have reached your present position!” -He also wrote to Chappuis: “Do tell Louis not to work so much; it is not -good to strain one’s brain. That is not the way to succeed but to -compromise one’s health.” And with some little irony as to the -cogitations of Chappuis the philosopher: “Believe me, you are but poor -philosophers if you do not know that one can be happy even as a poor -professor in Arbois College.” - -Another letter, December, 1843, to his son this time: “Tell Chappuis -that I have bottled some 1834 bought on purpose to drink the health of -the Ecole Normale during the next holidays. There is more wit in those -100 litres than in all the books on philosophy in the world; but, as to -mathematical formulæ, there are none, I believe. Mind you tell him that -we shall drink the first bottle with him. Remain two good friends.” - -Pasteur’s letters during this first period at the Normale have been -lost, but his biography continues without a break, thanks to the letters -of his father. “Tell us always about your studies, about your doings at -Barbet’s. Do you still attend M. Pouillet’s lectures, or do you find -that one science hampers the other? I should think not; on the contrary, -one should be a help to the other.” This observation should be -interesting to a student of heredity; the idea casually mentioned by the -father was to receive a vivid demonstration in the life-work of the -son. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -1844--1849 - - -Pasteur often spent his leisure moments in the library of the Ecole -Normale. Those who knew him at that time remember him as grave, quiet, -almost shy. But under these reflective characteristics lay the latent -fire of enthusiasm. The lives of illustrious men, of great scientists, -of great patriots inspired him with a generous ardour. To this ardour he -added a great eagerness of mind; whether studying a book, even a -commonplace one--for he was so conscientious that he did not even know -what it was to “skim” through a book--or coming away from one of J. B. -Dumas’ lectures, or writing his student’s notes in his small fine -handwriting, he was always thirsting to learn more, to devote himself to -great researches. There seemed to him no better way of spending a -holiday than to be shut up all Sunday afternoon at the Sorbonne -laboratory or coaxing a private lesson from the celebrated Barruel, -Dumas’ curator. - -Chappuis--anxious to obey the injunctions of Pasteur’s father, who in -every letter repeated “Do not let him work too much!” desirous also of -enjoying a few hours’ outing with his friend--used to wait -philosophically, sitting on a laboratory stool, until the experiments -were over. Conquered by this patient attitude and reproachful silence -Pasteur would take off his apron, saying half angrily, half gratefully, -“Well, let us go for a walk.” And, when they were out in the street, the -same serious subjects of conversation would inevitably crop up--classes, -lectures, readings, etc. - -One day, in the course of those long talks in the gardens of the -Luxembourg, Pasteur carried Chappuis with him very far away from -philosophy. He began to talk of tartaric acid and of paratartaric acid. -The former had been known since 1770, thanks to the Swedish chemist -Scheele, who discovered it in the thick crusty formations within wine -barrels called “tartar”; but the latter was disconcerting to chemists. -In 1820 an Alsatian manufacturer, Kestner, had obtained by chance, -whilst preparing tartaric acid in his factory at Thann, a very singular -acid which he was unable to reproduce in spite of various attempts. He -had kept some of it in stock. Gay-Lussac, having visited the Thann -factory in 1826, studied this mysterious acid; he proposed to call it -_racemic_ acid. Berzelius studied it in his turn, and preferred to call -it _paratartaric_. Either name may be adopted; it is exactly the same -thing: men of letters or in society are equally frightened by the word -paratartaric or racemic. Chappuis certainly was when Pasteur repeated to -him word for word a paragraph by a Berlin chemist and crystallographer -named Mitscherlich. Pasteur had pondered over this paragraph until he -knew it by heart; often indeed, absorbed in reading the reports for 1844 -of the Académie des Sciences, in the dark room which was then the -library of the Ecole Normale, he had wondered if it were possible to get -over a difficulty which seemed insurmountable to scientists such as -Mitscherlich and Biot. This paragraph related to two saline -combinations--tartrate and paratartrate of soda or ammonia--and may be -epitomized as follows: in these two substances of similar crystalline -form, the nature and number of the atoms, their arrangement and -distances are the same. Yet dissolved tartrate rotates the plane of -polarized light and paratartrate remains inactive. - -Pasteur had the gift of making scientific problems interesting in a few -words, even to minds least inclined to that particular line of thought. -He rendered his listener’s attention very easy; no question surprised -him and he never smiled at ignorance. Though Chappuis, absorbed in the -series of lectures on philosophy given at that time by Jules Simon, was -deep in a train of thought very far away from Mitscherlich’s -perplexities, he gradually became interested in this optical inactivity -of paratartrate, which so visibly affected his friend. Pasteur liked to -look back into the history of things, giving in this way a veritable -life to his explanations. Thus, à propos of the optical phenomenon which -puzzled Mitscherlich, Pasteur was speaking to his friend of crystallized -carbonate of lime, called Iceland spar, which presents a double -refraction--that is to say: if you look at an object through this -crystal, you perceive two reproductions of that object. In describing -this, Pasteur was not giving to Chappuis a vague notion of some piece -of crystal in a glass case, but was absolutely evoking a vision of the -beautiful crystal, perfectly pure and transparent, brought from Iceland -in 1669 to a Danish physicist. Pasteur almost seemed to experience the -surprise and emotion of this scientist, when, observing a ray of light -through this crystal, he saw it suddenly duplicated. Pasteur also spoke -enthusiastically of an officer of Engineers under the First Empire, -Etienne Louis Malus. Malus was studying double refraction, and holding -in his hands a piece of spar crystal, when, from his room in the Rue de -l’Enfer, it occurred to him to observe through the crystal the windows -of the Luxembourg Palace, then lighted up by the setting sun. It was -sufficient to make the crystal rotate slowly round the visual ray (as on -an axis) to perceive the periodic variations in the intensity of the -light reflected by the windows. No one had yet suspected that light, -after being reflected under certain conditions, would acquire properties -quite different from those it had before its reflection. Malus gave the -name of polarized light to light thus modified (by reflection in this -particular case). Scientists admitted in those days, in the theory of -emission, the existence of luminous molecules, and they imagined that -these molecules “suffered the same effects simultaneously when they had -been reflected on glass at a certain angle.... They were all turned in -the same direction.” Pouillet, speaking of this discovery of Malus in -the class on physics that Pasteur attended, explained that the -consequent persuasion was “that those molecules had rotatory axes and -poles, around which their movements could be accomplished under certain -influences.” - -Pasteur spoke feverishly of his regrets that Malus should have died at -thirty-seven in the midst of his researches; of Biot, and of Arago, who -became illustrious in the path opened by Malus. He explained to Chappuis -that, by means of a polarizing apparatus, it could be seen that certain -quartz crystals deflected to the right the plane of polarized light, -whilst others caused it to turn to the left. Chappuis also learned that -some natural organic material, such as solutions of sugar or of tartaric -acid, when placed in such an apparatus, turned to the right the plane of -polarization, whilst others, like essence of turpentine or quinine, -deflected it to the left; whence the expression “rotatory polarization.” - -These would seem dry researches, belonging altogether to the domain of -science. And yet, thanks to the saccharimeter, which is a polarizing -apparatus, a manufacturer can ascertain the quantity of pure sugar -contained in the brown sugar of commerce, and a physiologist can follow -the progress of diabetes. - -Chappuis, who knew what powers of investigation his friend could bring -to bear on the problem enunciated by Mitscherlich, thought with regret -that the prospect of such examinations as that for the _licence_ and for -the _agrégation_ did not allow Pasteur to concentrate all his forces on -such a special scientific point. But Pasteur was resolved to come back -definitely to this subject as soon as he should have become “_docteur ès -sciences_.” - -When writing to his father he did not dwell upon tartrate and -paratartrate; but his ambition was palpable. He was ever eager to do -double work, to go up for his examination at the very earliest. “Before -being a captain,” answered the old sergeant-major, “you must become a -lieutenant.” - -These letters give one the impression of living amongst those lives, -perpetually reacting upon each other. The thoughts of the whole family -were centred upon the great School, where that son, that brother, was -working, in whom the hopes of each were placed. If one of his bulky -letters with the large post mark was too long in coming, his father -wrote to reproach him gently: “Your sisters were counting the days. -Eighteen days, they said! Louis has never kept us waiting so long! Can -he be ill? It is a great joy to me,” adds the father, “to note your -attachment to each other. May it always remain so.” - -The mother had no time to write much; she was burdened with all the -cares of the household and with keeping the books of the business. But -she watched for the postman with a tender anxiety increased by her vivid -imagination. Her thoughts were ever with the son whom she loved, not -with a selfish love, but for himself, sharing his happiness in that he -was working for a useful career. - -So, between that corner in the Jura and the Ecole Normale, there was a -continual exchange of thoughts; the smallest incidents of daily life -were related. The father, knowing that he should inform the son of the -fluctuations of the family budget, spoke of his more or less successful -sales of leathers at the Besançon fair. The son was ever hunting in the -progress of industry anything that could tend to lighten the father’s -heavy handicraft. But though the father declared himself ready to -examine Vauquelin’s new tanning process, which obviated the necessity of -keeping the skins so long in the pits, he asked himself with scrupulous -anxiety whether leathers prepared in that way would last as long as the -others. Could he safely guarantee them to the shoemakers, who were -unanimous in praising the goods of the little tannery-yard, but alas -equally unanimous in forgetting to reward the disinterested tanner by -prompt payment? He supplied his family with the necessaries of life: -what more did he want? When he had news of his _Normalien_ he was -thoroughly happy. He associated himself with his son’s doings, sharing -his enthusiasm over Dumas’ lectures, and taking an interest in -Pouillet’s classes: Pouillet was a Franc-Comtois, and had been a student -at the Ecole Normale; he was now Professor of Physics at the Sorbonne -and a member of the _Institut_.[10] When Balard, a lecturer at the -Ecole, was nominated to the Académie des Sciences, Louis told his father -of it with the delight of an admiring pupil. - -Like J. B. Dumas, Balard had been an apothecary’s pupil. When he spoke -of their humble beginnings, Dumas was wont to say rather -pompously--“Balard and I were initiated into our scientific life under -the same conditions.” When, at the age of forty-two, he was made a -member of the Institute, Balard could not contain his joy; he was quite -a Southerner in his language and gestures, and the adjective _exubérant_ -might have been invented for him. But this same Southerner, ever on the -move as he was, belonged to a special race: he always kept his word. “I -was glad to note your pleasure at this nomination,” wrote Joseph Pasteur -to his son; “it proves that you are grateful to your masters.” About -that same time the headmaster of Arbois College, M. Romanet, used to -read out to the older boys the letters, always full of gratitude, which -he received from Louis Pasteur. These letters reflected life in Paris, -such as Pasteur understood it--a life of hard work and exalted ambition. -M. Romanet, in one of his replies, asked him to become librarian _in -partibus_ for the college and to choose and procure books on science and -literature. The headmaster also begged of the young man some lectures -for the _rhétorique_ class during the holidays. “It would seem to the -boys like an echo of the Sorbonne lectures! And you would speak to us of -our great scientific men,” added M. Romanet, “amongst whom we shall one -day number him who once was one of our best pupils and will ever remain -one of our best friends.” - -A corresponding member of Arbois College, and retained as vacation -lecturer, Pasteur now undertook a yet more special task. He had often -heard his father deplore his own lack of instruction, and knew well the -elder man’s desire for knowledge. By a touching exchange of parts, the -child to whom his father had taught his alphabet now became his father’s -teacher; but with what respect and what delicacy did this filial master -express himself! “It is in order that you may be able to help Josephine -that I am sending you this work to do.” He took most seriously his task -of tutor by correspondence; the papers he sent were not always easy. His -father wrote (Jan. 2, 1845)--“I have spent two days over a problem which -I afterwards found quite easy; it is no trifle to learn a thing and -teach it directly afterwards.” And a month later: “Josephine does not -care to rack her brains, she says; however I promise you that you will -be pleased with her progress by the next holidays.” - -The father would often sit up late at night over rules of grammar and -mathematical problems, preparing answers to send to his boy in Paris. - -Some Arboisians, quite forgotten now, imagined that they would add -lustre to the local history. General Baron Delort, a peer of France,[11] -aide de camp to Louis Philippe, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and -the first personage in Arbois--where he beguiled his old age by -translating Horace--used to go across the Cuisance bridge without so -much as glancing at the tannery where the Pasteur family lived. Whilst -the general in his thoughts bequeathed to the town of Arbois his books, -his papers, his decorations, even his uniform, he was far from -foreseeing that the little dwelling by the bridge would one day become -the cynosure of all eyes. - -Months went by and happy items of news succeeded one another. The -_Normalien_ was chiefly interested in the transformations of matter, and -was practising in order to become capable of assisting in experiments; -difficulties only stimulated him. At the chemistry class that he -attended, the process of obtaining phosphorus was merely explained, on -account of the length of time necessary to obtain this elementary -substance; Pasteur, with his patience and desire for proven knowledge, -was not satisfied. He therefore bought some bones, burnt them, reduced -them to a very fine ash, treated this ash with sulphuric acid, and -carefully brought the process to its close. What a triumph it seemed to -him when he had in his possession sixty grammes of phosphorus, extracted -from bones, which he could put into a phial labelled “phosphorus.” This -was his first scientific joy. - -Whilst his comrades ironically (but with some discernment) called him a -“laboratory pillar,” some of them, more intent upon their examinations, -were getting ahead of him.--M. Darboux, the present “doyen” of the -Faculty[12] of Science, finds in the Sorbonne registers that Pasteur was -placed 7th at the _licence_ examination; two other students having -obtained equal marks with him, the jury (Balard, Dumas and Delafosse), -mentioned his name after theirs. - -Those who care for archives would find in the _Journal Général de -l’Instruction Publique_ of September 17, 1846, a report of the -_agrégation_[13] competition (physical science). Out of fourteen -candidates only four passed and Pasteur was the third. His lessons on -physics and chemistry caused the jury to say, “He will make an excellent -professor.” - -Many _Normaliens_ of that time fancied themselves called to a destiny -infinitely superior to his. Some of them, in later times, used to -complacently allude to this momentary superiority when speaking to their -pupils. Of all Pasteur’s acquaintances Chappuis was the only one who -divined the future. “You will see what Pasteur will be,” he used to say, -with an assurance generally attributed to friendly partiality. -Chappuis--Pasteur’s confidant--was well aware of his friend’s powers of -concentration. - -Balard also realised this; he had the happy idea of taking the young -_agrégé_ into his laboratory, and intervened vehemently when the -Minister of Public Instruction desired--a few months later--that Pasteur -should teach physics in the Tournon Lycée. It would be rank folly, -Balard declared, to send 500 kilometres away from Paris a youth who only -asked for the modest title of curator, and had no ambition but to work -from morning till night, preparing for his doctor’s degree. There would -be time to send him away later on. It was impossible to resist this -torrent of words founded on solid sense. Balard prevailed. - -Pasteur was profoundly grateful to him for preserving him from exile to -the little town in Ardèche; and, as he added to his Franc-Comtois -patience and reflective mind a childlike heart and deep enthusiasm, he -was delighted to remain with a master like Balard, who had become -celebrated, at the age of twenty-four, as the discoverer of bromin. - -At the end of 1846, a newcomer entered Balard’s laboratory, a strange -delicate-looking man, whose ardent eyes were at the same time proud and -yet anxious. This man, a scientist and a poet, was a professor of the -Bordeaux Faculty, named Auguste Laurent. Perhaps he had had some -friction with his Bordeaux chiefs, possibly he merely wished for a -change; at all events, he now desired to live in Paris. Laurent was -already known in the scientific world, and had recently been made a -correspondent of the Académie des Sciences. He had foreseen and -confirmed the theory of substitutions, formulated by Dumas as early as -1834 before the Académie. Dumas had expressed himself thus: “Chlorine -possesses the singular power of seizing upon the hydrogen in certain -substances, and of taking its place atom by atom.” - -This theory of substitutions was--according to a simple and vivid -comparison of Pasteur’s--a way of looking upon chemical bodies as upon -“molecular edifices, in which one element could be replaced by another -without disturbing the structure of the edifice; as if one were to -replace, one by one, every stone of a monument by a new stone.” Original -researches, new and bold ideas, appealed to Pasteur. But his cautious -mind prevented his boldness from leading him into errors, surprises or -hasty conclusions. “That is possible,” he would say, “but we must look -more deeply into the subject.” - -When asked by Laurent to assist him with some experiments upon certain -theories, Pasteur was delighted at this suggested collaboration, and -wrote to his friend Chappuis: “Even if the work should lead to no -results worth publishing, it will be most useful to me to do practical -work for several months with such an experienced chemist.” - -It was partly due to Laurent, that Pasteur entered more deeply into the -train of thought which was to lead him to grapple with Mitscherlich’s -problem. “One day” (this is a manuscript note of Pasteur’s) “one day it -happened that M. Laurent--studying, if I mistake not, some tungstate of -soda, perfectly crystallized and prepared from the directions of another -chemist, whose results he was verifying--showed me through the -microscope that this salt, apparently very pure, was evidently a mixture -of three distinct kinds of crystals, easily recognizable with a little -experience of crystalline forms. The lessons of our modest and excellent -professor of mineralogy, M. Delafosse, had long since made me love -crystallography; so, in order to acquire the habit of using the -goniometer, I began to carefully study the formations of a very fine -series of combinations, all very easily crystallized, tartaric acid and -the tartrates.” He appreciated any favourable influence on his work; we -find in the same note: “Another motive urged me to prefer the study of -those particular forms. M. de la Provostaye had just published an almost -complete work concerning them; this allowed me to compare as I went -along my own observations with those, always so precise, of that clever -scientist.” - -Pasteur and Laurent’s work in common was interrupted. Laurent was -appointed as Dumas’ assistant at the Sorbonne. Pasteur did not dwell -upon his own disappointment, but rejoiced to see honour bestowed upon a -man whom he thought worthy of the first rank. Some judges have thought -that Laurent, in his introductory lesson, was too eager to expound his -own ideas; but is not every believer an apostle? When a mind is full of -ideas, it naturally overflows. It is probable that Pasteur in Laurent’s -place would have kept his part as an assistant more in the background. -He did not give vent to the slightest criticism, but wrote to Chappuis. -“Laurent’s lectures are as bold as his writings, and his lessons are -making a great sensation amongst chemists.” Whether one of criticism or -of approbation, this sensation was a living element of success. In order -to answer some insinuations concerning Laurent’s ambition and constant -thirst for change, Pasteur proclaimed in his thesis on chemistry how -much he had been “enlightened by the kindly advice of a man so -distinguished, both by his talent and by his character.” - -This essay was entitled “_Researches into the saturation capacity of -arsenious acid. A study of the arsenites of potash, soda and ammonia._” -This, to Pasteur’s mind, was but schoolboy work. He had not yet, he -said, enough practice and experience in laboratory work. “In physics,” -he wrote to Chappuis, “I shall only present a programme of some -researches that I mean to undertake next year, and that I merely -indicate in my essay.” - -This essay on physics was a “_Study of phenomena relative to the -rotatory polarization of liquids_.” In it he rendered full homage to -Biot, pointing out the importance of a branch of science too much -neglected by chemists; he added that it was most useful, in order to -throw light upon certain difficult chemical problems, to obtain the -assistance of crystallography and physics. “Such assistance is -especially needed in the present state of science.” - -These two essays, dedicated to his father and mother, were read on -August 23, 1847. He only obtained one white ball and two red ones for -each. “We cannot judge of your essays,” wrote his father, in the name of -the whole family, “but our satisfaction is no less great. As to a -doctor’s degree, I was far from hoping as much; all _my_ ambition was -satisfied with the _agrégation_.” Such was not the case with his son. -“Onwards” was his motto, not from a desire for a diploma, but from an -insatiable thirst for knowledge. - -After spending a few days with his family and friends, he wanted to go -to Germany with Chappuis to study German from morning till night. The -prospect of such industrious holidays enchanted him. But he had -forgotten a student’s debt. “I cannot carry out my project,” he sadly -wrote, on September 3, 1847; “I am more than ruined by the cost of -printing my thesis.” - -On his return to Paris he shut himself up in the laboratory. “I am -extremely happy. I shall soon publish a paper on crystallography.” His -father writes (December 25, 1847): “We received your letter yesterday; -it is absolutely satisfactory, but it could not be otherwise coming from -you; you have long, indeed ever, been all satisfaction to me.” And in -response to his son’s intentions of accomplishing various tasks, fully -understanding that nothing will stop him: “You are doing right to make -for your goal; it was only out of excessive affection that I have often -written in another sense. I only feared that you might succumb to your -work; so many noble youths have sacrificed their health to the love of -science. Knowing you as I do, this was my only anxiety.” - -After being reproved for excessive work, Louis was reprimanded for too -much affection (January 1, 1848). “The presents you sent have just -arrived; I shall leave it to your sisters to write their thanks. For my -part, I should prefer a thousand times that this money should still be -in your purse, and thence to a good restaurant, spent in some good meals -that you might have enjoyed with your friends. There are not many -parents, my dearest boy, who have to write such things to their son; my -satisfaction in you is indeed deeper than I can express.” At the end of -this same letter, the mother adds in her turn: “My darling boy, I wish -you a happy new year. Take great care of your health.... Think what a -worry it is to me that I cannot be with you to look after you. Sometimes -I try to console myself for your absence by thinking how fortunate I am -in having a child able to raise himself to such a position as yours -is--such a happy position, as it seems to be from your last letter but -one.” And in a strange sentence, where it would seem that a presentiment -of her approaching death made worldly things appear at their true -value: “Whatever happens to you, do not grieve; nothing in life is more -than a chimera. Farewell, my son.” - -On March 20, 1848, Pasteur read to the Académie des Sciences a portion -of his treatise on “_Researches on Dimorphism_.” There are some -substances which crystallize in two different ways. Sulphur, for -instance, gives quite dissimilar crystals according to whether it is -melted in a crucible or dissolved in sulphide of carbon. Those -substances are called dimorphous. Pasteur, kindly aided by the learned -M. Delafosse (with his usual gratefulness he mentions this in the very -first pages) had made out a list--as complete as possible--of all -dimorphous substances. When M. Romanet, of Arbois College, received this -paper he was quite overwhelmed. “It is much too stiff for you,” he said -with an infectious modesty to Vercel, Charrière, and Coulon, Pasteur’s -former comrades. Perhaps the head master desired to palliate his own -incompetence in the eyes of coming generations, for on the title page of -the copy of Pasteur’s booklet still to be found in the Arbois -library, he wrote this remark, which he signed with his initial -R.:--“_Dimorphisme_; this word is not even to be found in the -_Dictionnaire de l’Académie_”!! The approbation of several members of -the Académie des Sciences compensated for the somewhat summary judgment -of M. Romanet, whose good wishes continued to follow the rapid course of -his old pupil. - -After this very special study, dated at the beginning of 1848, one might -imagine the graduate-curator closing his ears to all outside rumours and -little concerned with political agitation, but that would be doing him -an injustice. Those who witnessed the Revolution of 1848 remember how -during the early days France was exalted with the purest patriotism. -Pasteur had visions of a generous and fraternal Republic; the words -_drapeau_ and _patrie_ moved him to the bottom of his soul. -Lamartine[14] as a politician inspired him with an enthusiastic -confidence; he delighted in the sight of a poet leader of men. Many -others shared the same illusions. France, as Louis Veuillot has it, made -the mistake of choosing her band-master as colonel of the regiment. -Enrolled with his fellow students, Pasteur wrote thus to his parents: “I -am writing from the Orleans Railway, where as a _garde national_[15] I -am stationed. I am glad that I was in Paris during the February days[16] -and that I am here still; I should be sorry to leave Paris just now. It -is a great and a sublime doctrine which is now being unfolded before our -eyes ... and if it were necessary I should heartily fight for the holy -cause of the Republic.” “What a transformation of our whole being!” has -written one who was then a candidate to the Ecole Normale, already noted -by his masters for his good sense, Francisque Sarcey. “How those magical -words of liberty and fraternity, this renewal of the Republic, born in -the sunshine of our twentieth year, filled our hearts with unknown and -absolutely delicious sensations! With what a gallant joy we embraced the -sweet and superb image of a people of free men and brethren! The whole -nation was moved as we were; like us, it had drunk of the intoxicating -cup. The honey of eloquence flowed unceasingly from the lips of a great -poet, and France believed, in childlike faith, that his word was -efficacious to destroy abuses, cure evils and soothe sorrows.” - -One day when Pasteur was crossing the Place du Panthéon, he saw a -gathering crowd around a wooden erection, decorated with the words: -_Autel de la Patrie_. A neighbour told him that pecuniary offerings -might be laid upon this altar. Pasteur goes back to the Ecole Normale, -empties a drawer of all his savings, and returns to deposit it in -thankful hands. - -“You say,” wrote his father on April 28, 1848, “that you have offered to -France all your savings, amounting to 150 francs. You have probably kept -a receipt of the office where this payment was made, with mention of the -date and place?” And considering that this action should be made known, -he advises him to publish it in the journal _Le National_ or _La -Réforme_ in the following terms, “Gift to the _Patrie_: 150 francs, by -the son of an old soldier of the Empire, Louis Pasteur of the Ecole -Normale.” He wrote in the same letter, “You should raise a subscription -in your school in favour of the poor Polish exiles who have done so much -for us; it would be a good deed.” - -After those days of national exaltation, Pasteur returned to his -crystals. He studied tartrates under the influence of certain ideas that -he himself liked to expound. Objects considered merely from the point of -view of form, may be divided into two great categories. First, those -objects which, placed before a mirror, give an image which can be -superposed to them: these have a symmetrical plan; secondly, those which -have an image which cannot be superposed to them: they are -dissymmetrical. A chair, for instance, is symmetrical, or a straight -flight of steps. But a spiral staircase is not symmetrical, its own -image cannot be laid over it. If it turns to the right, its image turns -to the left. In the same way the right hand cannot be superposed to the -left hand, a righthand glove does not fit a left hand, and a right hand -seen in a mirror gives the image of a left hand. - -Pasteur noticed that the crystals of tartaric acid and the tartrates had -little faces, which had escaped even the profound observation of -Mitscherlich and La Provostaye. These faces, which only existed on one -half of the edges or similar angles, constituted what is called a -hemihedral form. When the crystal was placed before a glass the image -that appeared could not be superposed to the crystal; the comparison of -the two hands was applicable to it. Pasteur thought that this aspect of -the crystal might be an index of what existed within the molecules, -dissymmetry of form corresponding with molecular dissymmetry. -Mitscherlich had not perceived that his tartrate presented these little -faces, this dissymmetry, whilst his paratartrate was without them, was -in fact not hemihedral. Therefore, reasoned Pasteur, the deviation to -the right of the plane of polarization produced by tartrate and the -optical neutrality of paratartrates would be explained by a structural -law. The first part of these conclusions was confirmed; all the crystals -of tartrate proved to be hemihedral. But when Pasteur came to examine -the crystals of paratartrate, hoping to find none of them hemihedral, he -experienced a keen disappointment. The paratartrate also was hemihedral, -but the faces of some of the crystals were inclined to the right, and -those of others to the left. It then occurred to Pasteur to take up -these crystals one by one and sort them carefully, putting on one side -those which turned to the left, and on the other those which turned to -the right. He thought that by observing their respective solutions in -the polarizing apparatus, the two contrary hemihedral forms would give -two contrary deviations; and then, by mixing together an equal number of -each kind, as no doubt Mitscherlich had done, the resulting solution -would have no action upon light, the two equal and directly opposite -deviations exactly neutralizing each other. - -With anxious and beating heart he proceeded to this experiment with the -polarizing apparatus and exclaimed, “I have it!” His excitement was such -that he could not look at the apparatus again; he rushed out of the -laboratory, not unlike Archimedes. He met a curator in the passage, -embraced him as he would have embraced Chappuis, and dragged him out -with him into the Luxembourg garden to explain his discovery. Many -confidences have been whispered under the shade of the tall trees of -those avenues, but never was there greater or more exuberant joy on a -young man’s lips. He foresaw all the consequences of his discovery. The -hitherto incomprehensible constitution of paratartaric or racemic acid -was explained; he differentiated it into righthand tartaric acid, -similar in every way to the natural tartaric acid of grapes, and -lefthand tartaric acid. These two distinct acids possess equal and -opposite rotatory powers which neutralize each other when these two -substances, reduced to an aqueous solution, combine spontaneously in -equal quantities. - -“How often,” he wrote to Chappuis (May 5), whom he longed to have with -him, “how often have I regretted that we did not both take up the same -study, that of physical science. We who so often talked of the future, -we did not understand. What splendid work we could have undertaken and -would be undertaking now; and what could we not have done united by the -same ideas, the same love of science, the same ambition! I would we -were twenty and with the three years of the Ecole before us!” Always -fancying that he could have done more, he often had such retrospective -regrets. He was impatient to begin new researches, when a sad blow fell -upon him--his mother died almost suddenly of apoplexy. “She succumbed in -a few hours,” he wrote to Chappuis on May 28, “and when I reached home -she had already left us. I have asked for a holiday.” He could no longer -work; he remained steeped in tears and buried in his sorrow. For weeks -his intellectual life was suspended. - - * * * * * - -In Paris, in the scientific world perhaps even more than in any other, -everything gets known, repeated, discussed. Pasteur’s researches were -becoming a subject of conversation. Balard, with his strident voice, -spoke of them in the library at the Institute, which is a sort of -drawing-room for talkative old Academicians. J. B. Dumas listened -gravely; Biot, old Biot, then seventy-four years old, questioned the -story with some scepticism. “Are you quite sure?” he would ask, his head -a little on one side, his words slow and slightly ironical. He could -hardly believe, on first hearing Balard, that a new doctor, fresh from -the Ecole Normale, should have overcome a difficulty which had proved -too much for Mitscherlich. He did not care for long conversations with -Balard, and as the latter continued to extol Pasteur, Biot said, “I -should like to investigate that young man’s results.” - -Besides Pasteur’s deference for all those whom he looked upon as his -teachers, he also felt a sort of general gratitude for their services to -Science. Partly from an infinite respect and partly from an ardent -desire to convince the old scientist, he wrote on his return to Paris to -Biot, whom he did not know personally, asking him for an interview. Biot -answered: “I shall be pleased to verify your results if you will -communicate them confidentially to me. Please believe in the feelings of -interest inspired in me by all young men who work with accuracy and -perseverance.” - -An appointment was made at the Collège de France,[17] where Biot lived. -Every detail of that interview remained for ever fixed in Pasteur’s -memory. Biot began by fetching some paratartaric acid. “I have most -carefully studied it,” he said to Pasteur; “it is absolutely neutral in -the presence of polarized light.” Some distrust was visible in his -gestures and audible in his voice. “I shall bring you everything that is -necessary,” continued the old man, fetching doses of soda and ammonia. -He wanted the salt prepared before his eyes. - -After pouring the liquid into a crystallizer, Biot took it into a corner -of his room to be quite sure that no one would touch it. “I shall let -you know when you are to come back,” he said to Pasteur when taking -leave of him. Forty-eight hours later some crystals, very small at -first, began to form; when there was a sufficient number of them, -Pasteur was recalled. Still in Biot’s presence, Pasteur withdrew, one by -one, the finest crystals and wiped off the mother-liquor adhering to -them. He then pointed out to Biot the opposition of their hemihedral -character, and divided them into two groups--left and right. - -“So you affirm,” said Biot, “that your righthand crystals will deviate -to the right the plane of polarization, and your lefthand ones will -deviate it to the left?” - -“Yes,” said Pasteur. - -“Well, let me do the rest.” - -Biot himself prepared the solutions, and then sent again for Pasteur. -Biot first placed in the apparatus the solution which should deviate to -the left. Having satisfied himself that this deviation actually took -place, he took Pasteur’s arm and said to him these words, often -deservedly quoted: “My dear boy, I have loved Science so much during my -life, that this touches my very heart.” - -“It was indeed evident,” said Pasteur himself in recalling this -interview, “that the strongest light had then been thrown on the cause -of the phenomenon of rotatory polarization and hemihedral crystals; a -new class of isomeric substances was discovered; the unexpected and -until then unexampled constitution of the racemic or paratartaric acid -was revealed; in one word a great and unforeseen road was opened to -science.” - -Biot now constituted himself the sponsor in scientific matters of his -new young friend, and undertook to report upon Pasteur’s paper entitled: -“_Researches on the relations which may exist between crystalline form, -chemical composition, and the direction of rotatory power_”--destined -for the Académie des Sciences. - -Biot did full justice to Pasteur; he even rendered him homage, and--not -only in his own name but also in that of his three colleagues, Regnault, -Balard, and Dumas--he suggested that the Académie should declare its -highest approbation of Pasteur’s treatise. - -Pasteur did not conceive greater happiness than his laboratory life, and -yet the laboratories of that time were very unlike what they are -nowadays, as we should see if the laboratories of the Collège de France, -of the Sorbonne, of the Ecole Normale had been preserved. They were all -that Paris could offer Europe, and Europe certainly had no cause to -covet them. Nowadays the most humble college, in the smallest provincial -town, would not accept such dens as the State offered (when it offered -them any) to the greatest French scientists. Claude Bernard, Magendie’s -curator, worked at the Collège de France in a regular cellar. Wurtz only -had a lumber-room in the attics of the Dupuytren Museum. Henri Sainte -Claire Deville, before he became head of the Besançon Faculty, had not -even as much; he was relegated to one of the most miserable corners of -the Rue Lafarge. J. B. Dumas did not care to occupy the unhealthy room -reserved for him at the Sorbonne; his father-in-law, Alexandre -Brongniart, having given him a small house in the Rue Cuvier, opposite -the Jardin des Plantes, he had had it transformed into a laboratory and -was keeping it up at his own expense. He was therefore comfortably -situated, but he was exceptionally fortunate. Every scientist who had no -private means to draw upon had to choose between the miserable cellars -and equally miserable garrets which were all that the State could offer. -And yet it was more tempting than a Professor’s chair in a College or -even in a Faculty, for there one could not give oneself up entirely to -one’s work. - -Nothing would have seemed more natural than to leave Pasteur to his -experiments. But his appointment to some definite post could no longer -be deferred, in spite of Balard’s tumultuous activity. The end of the -summer vacation was near, there was a vacancy: Pasteur was made a -Professor of Physics at the Dijon Lycée. The Minister of Public -Instruction consented to allow him to postpone his departure until the -beginning of November, in order to let him finish some work begun under -the eye of Biot, who thought and dreamt of nothing but these new -investigations. During thirty years Biot had studied the phenomena of -rotatory polarization. He had called the attention of chemists to these -phenomena, but his call had been unheeded. Continuing his solitary -labour, he had--in experimenting on cases both simple and -complex--studied this molecular rotatory power, without suspecting that -this power bore a definite relation to the hemihedral form of some -crystals. And now that the old man was a witness of a triumphant sequel -to his own researches, now that he had the joy of seeing a young man -with a thoughtful mind and an enthusiastic heart working with him, now -that the hope of this daily collaboration shed a last ray on the close -of his life, Pasteur’s departure for Dijon came as a real blow. “If at -least,” he said, “they were sending you to a Faculty!” He turned his -wrath on to the Government officials. “They don’t seem to realize that -such labours stand above everything else! If they only knew it, two or -three such treatises might bring a man straight to the Institut!” - -Nevertheless Pasteur had to go. M. Pouillet gave him a letter for a -former Polytechnician,[18] now a civil engineer at Dijon, a M. -Parandier, in which he wrote-- - -“M. Pasteur is a most distinguished young chemist. He has just completed -some very remarkable work, and I hope it will not be long before he is -sent to a first-class Faculty. I need add nothing else about him; I know -no more honest, industrious, or capable young man. Help him as much as -you can at Dijon; you will not regret it.” - -Those first weeks away from his masters and from his beloved pursuits -seemed very hard to Pasteur. But he was anxious to prove himself a good -teacher. This duty appeared to him to be a noble ideal, and to involve a -wide responsibility. He felt none of the self satisfaction which is -sometimes a source of strength to some minds conscious of their -superiority to others. He did not even do himself the justice of feeling -that he was absolutely sure of his subject. He wrote to Chappuis -(November 20, 1848): “I find that preparing my lessons takes up a great -deal of time. It is only when I have prepared a lesson very carefully -that I succeed in making it very clear and capable of compelling -attention. If I neglect it at all I lecture badly and become -unintelligible.” - -He had both first and second year pupils; these two classes took up all -his time and all his strength. He liked the second class; it was not a -very large one. “They all work,” Pasteur wrote, “some very -intelligently.” As to the first year class, what could he do with eighty -pupils? The good ones were kept back by the bad. “Don’t you think,” he -wrote, “that it is a mistake not to limit classes to fifty boys at the -most? It is with great difficulty that I can secure the attention of all -towards the end of the lesson. I have only found one means, which is to -multiply experiments at the last moment.” - -Whilst he was eagerly and conscientiously giving himself up to his new -functions--not without some bitterness, for he really was entitled to an -appointment in a Faculty, and he could not pursue his favourite -studies--his masters were agitating on his behalf. Balard was clamouring -to have him as an assistant at the Ecole Normale. Biot was appealing to -Baron Thenard. This scientist was then Chairman of the Grand Council of -the Université.[19] He had been a pupil of Vauquelin, a friend of -Laplace, and a collaborator of Gay-Lussac; he had lectured during thirty -years at the Sorbonne, at the Collège de France, and at the Ecole -Polytechnique; he could truthfully boast that he had had 40,000 pupils. -He was, like J. B. Dumas, a born professor. But, whilst Dumas was always -self possessed and dignified in his demeanour, his very smile serious, -Thenard, a native of Burgundy, threw his whole personality into his -work, a broad smile on his beaming face. - -He was now (1848) seventy years old, and the memory of his teaching, -the services rendered to industry by his discoveries, the _éclat_ of his -name and titles contrasted with his humble origin, all combined to -render him more than a Chancellor of the University; he was in fact a -sort of Field Marshal of science, and all powerful. Three years -previously he had much scandalized certain red-tape officials by -choosing three very young men--Puiseux, Delesse, and H. Sainte Claire -Deville--as professors for the new Faculty of Science at Besançon. He -had accentuated this authoritative measure by making Sainte Claire -Deville Dean of the Faculty. In the unknown professor of twenty-six, he -had divined the future celebrated scientist. - -At the end of the year 1848 Pasteur solicited the place of assistant to -M. Delesse, who was taking a long leave of absence. This would have -brought him near Arbois, besides placing him in a Faculty. He asked for -nothing more. Thenard, who had Biot’s report in his hands, undertook to -transmit to the Minister this modest and natural request. He was opposed -by an unexpected argument--the presentation of assistantships belonged -to each Faculty. This custom was unknown to Pasteur. Thenard was unable -to overcome this routine formality. Pasteur thought that the unanimous -opinion of Thenard, Biot, and Pouillet ought to have prevailed. “I can -practically do nothing here,” he wrote on the sixth of December, -thinking of his interrupted studies. “If I cannot go to Besançon, I -shall go back to Paris as a curator.” - -His father, to whom he paid a visit for the new year, persuaded him to -look upon things more calmly, telling him that wisdom repudiated too -much hurry. Louis deferred to his father’s opinion to the extent of -writing, on January 2, 1849, to the Minister of Public Instruction, -begging him to overlook his request. However, the members of the -Institute who had taken up his cause did not intend to be thwarted by -minor difficulties. Pasteur’s letter was hardly posted when he received -an assistantship, not at the Besançon Faculty but at Strasburg, to take -the place of M. Persoz, Professor of Chemistry, who was desirous of -going to Paris. - -Pasteur, on his arrival at Strasburg (January 15) was welcomed by the -Professor of Physics, his old school friend, the Franc-Comtois Bertin. -“First of all, you are coming to live with me,” said Bertin gleefully. -“You could not do better; it is a stone’s throw from the Faculté.” By -living with Bertin, Pasteur acquired a companion endowed with a rare -combination of qualities--a quick wit and an affectionate heart. Bertin -was too shrewd to be duped, and a malicious twinkle often lit up his -kindly expression; with one apparently careless word, he would hit the -weak point of the most self satisfied. He loved those who were simple -and true, hence his affection for Pasteur. His smiling philosophy -contrasted with Pasteur’s robust faith and ardent impetuosity. Pasteur -admired, but did not often imitate, the peaceful manner with which -Bertin, affirming that a disappointment often proved to be a blessing in -disguise, accepted things as they came. In order to prove that this was -no paradox, Bertin used to tell what had happened to him in 1839, when -he was mathematical preparation master at the College of Luxeuil. He was -entitled to 200 francs a month, but payment was refused him. This -injustice did not cause him to recriminate, but he quietly tendered his -resignation. He went in for the Ecole Normale examination, entered the -school at the head of the list, and subsequently became Professor of -Physics at the Strasburg Faculty. “If it had not been for my former -disappointment, I should still be at Luxeuil.” He was now perfectly -satisfied, thinking that nothing could be better than to be a Professor -in a Faculty; but this absence of any sort of ambition did not prevent -him from giving his teaching the most scrupulous attention. He prepared -his lessons with extreme care, endeavouring to render them absolutely -clear. He took great personal interest in his pupils, and often helped -them with his advice in the interval between class hours. This excellent -man’s whole life was spent in working for others, and to be useful was -ever to him the greatest satisfaction. - -Perhaps Pasteur was stimulated by Bertin’s example to give excessive -importance to minor matters in his first lessons. He writes: “I gave too -much thought to the style of my two first lectures, and they were -anything but good; but I think the subsequent ones were more -satisfactory, and I feel I am improving.” His lectures were well -attended, for the numerous industries of Alsace gave to chemistry quite -a place by itself. - -Everything pleased him in Strasburg save its distance from Arbois. He -who could concentrate his thoughts for weeks, for months even, on one -subject, who could become as it were a prisoner of his studies, had -withal an imperious longing for family life. His rooms in Bertin’s house -suited him all the better that they were large enough for him to -entertain one of his relations. His father wrote in one of his letters: -“You say that you will not marry for a long time, that you will ask one -of your sisters to live with you. I could wish it for you and for them, -for neither of them wishes for a greater happiness. Both desire nothing -better than to look after your comfort; you are absolutely everything to -them. One may meet with sisters as good as they are, but certainly with -none better.” - -Louis Pasteur’s circle of dear ones was presently enlarged by his -intimacy with another family. The new Rector of the Academy of -Strasburg, M. Laurent, had arrived in October. He was no relation to the -chemist of the same name, and the place he was about to take in -Pasteur’s life was much greater than that held by Auguste Laurent at the -time when they were working together in Balard’s laboratory. - -After having begun, in 1812, as preparation master in the then Imperial -College of Louis le Grand, M. Laurent had become, in 1826, head master -of the College of Riom. He found at Riom more tutors than pupils; there -were only three boys in the school! Thanks to M. Laurent, those three -soon became one hundred and thirty-four. From Riom he was sent to -Guéret, then to Saintes, to save a college in imminent danger of -disappearing; there were struggles between the former head master and -the Mayor, the town refused the subsidies, all was confusion. Peace -immediately followed his arrival. “Those who have known him,” wrote M. -Pierron in the _Revue de l’Instruction Publique_, “will not be surprised -at such miracles coming from a man so intelligent and so active, so -clever, amiable, and warm-hearted.” Wherever he was afterwards sent, at -Orleans, Angoulême, Douai, Toulouse, Cahors, he worked the same charm, -born of kindness. At Strasburg, he had made of the Académie a home where -all the Faculty found a simple and cordial welcome. Madame Laurent was a -modest woman who tried to efface herself, but whose exquisite qualities -of heart and mind could not remain hidden. The eldest of her daughters -was married to M. Zevort, whose name became doubly dear to the -Université. The two younger ones, brought up in habits of industry and -unselfishness which seemed natural to them, brightened the home by their -youthful gaiety. - -When Pasteur on his arrival called on this family, he had the feeling -that happiness lay there. He had seen at Arbois how, through the daily -difficulties of manual labour, his parents looked at life from an -exalted point of view, appreciating it from that standard of moral -perfection which gives dignity and grandeur to the humblest existence. -In this family--of a higher social position than his own--he again found -the same high ideal, and, with great superiority of education, the same -simple-mindedness. When Pasteur entered for the first time the Laurent -family circle, he immediately felt the delightful impression of being in -a thoroughly congenial atmosphere; a communion of thoughts and feelings -seemed established after the first words, the first looks exchanged -between him and his hosts. - -In the evening, at the restaurant where most of the younger professors -dined, he heard others speak of the kindliness and strict justice of the -Rector; and everyone expressed respect for his wonderfully united -family. - -At one of M. Laurent’s quiet evening “at homes,” Bertin was saying of -Pasteur, “You do not often meet with such a hard worker; no attraction -ever can take him away from his work.” The attraction now came, however, -and it was such a powerful one that, on February 10, only a fortnight -after his arrival, Pasteur addressed to M. Laurent the following -official letter:-- - - “SIR,-- - - “An offer of the greatest importance to me and to your family is - about to be made to you on my behalf; and I feel it my duty to put - you in possession of the following facts, which may have some - weight in determining your acceptance or refusal. - - “My father is a tanner in the small town of Arbois in the Jura, my - sisters keep house for him, and assist him with his books, taking - the place of my mother whom we had the misfortune to lose in May - last. - - “My family is in easy circumstances, but with no fortune; I do not - value what we possess at more than 50,000 francs, and, as for me, I - have long ago decided to hand over to my sisters the whole of what - should be my share. I have therefore absolutely no fortune. My only - means are good health, some courage, and my position in the - Université. - - “I left the Ecole Normale two years ago, an _agrégé_ in physical - science. I have held a Doctor’s degree eighteen months, and I have - presented to the Académie a few works which have been very well - received, especially the last one, upon which a report was made - which I now have the honour to enclose. - - “This, Sir, is all my present position. As to the future, unless my - tastes should completely change, I shall give myself up entirely to - chemical research. I hope to return to Paris when I have acquired - some reputation through my scientific labours. M. Biot has often - told me to think seriously about the Institute; perhaps I may do so - in ten or fifteen years’ time, and after assiduous work; but this - is but a dream, and not the motive which makes me love Science for - Science’s sake. - - “My father will himself come to Strasburg to make this proposal of - marriage. - - “Accept, Sir, the assurance of my profound respect, etc. - - “P.S.--I was twenty-six on December 27.” - -A definite answer was adjourned for a few weeks. Pasteur, in a letter to -Madame Laurent, wrote, “I am afraid that Mlle. Marie may be influenced -by early impressions, unfavourable to me. There is nothing in me to -attract a young girl’s fancy. But my recollections tell me that those -who have known me very well have loved me very much.” - -Of these letters, religiously preserved, fragments like the following -have also been obtained. “All that I beg of you, Mademoiselle (he had -now been authorised to address himself directly to her) is that you will -not judge me too hastily, and therefore misjudge me. Time will show you -that below my cold, shy and unpleasing exterior, there is a heart full -of affection for you!” In another letter, evidently remorseful at -forsaking the laboratory, he says, “I, who did so love my crystals!” - -He loved them still, as is proved by an answer from Biot to a proposal -of Pasteur’s. In order to spare the old man’s failing sight, Pasteur had -the ingenious idea of cutting out of pieces of cork, with exquisite -skill, some models of crystalline types greatly enlarged. He had tinted -the edges and faces, and nothing was easier than to recognize their -hemihedral character. “I accept with great pleasure,” wrote Biot on -April 7, “the offer you make me of sending me a small quantity of your -two acids, with models of their crystalline types.” He meant the -righthand tartaric acid and the lefthand tartaric acid, which -Pasteur--not to pronounce too hastily on their identity with ordinary -tartaric acid--then called _dextroracemic_ and _lævoracemic_. - -Pasteur wished to go further; he was now beginning to study the -crystallizations of formate of strontian. Comparing them with those of -the paratartrates of soda and ammonia, surprised and uneasy at the -differences he observed, he once exclaimed, “Ah! formate of strontian, -if only I had got you!” to the immense amusement of Bertin, who long -afterwards used to repeat this invocation with mock enthusiasm. - -Pasteur was about to send these crystals to Biot, but the latter wrote, -“Keep them until you have thoroughly investigated them.... You can -depend on my wish to serve you in every circumstance when my assistance -can be of any use to you, and also on the great interest with which you -have inspired me.” - -Regnault and Senarmont had been invited by Biot to examine the valuable -samples received from Strasburg, the dextroracemic and lævoracemic -acids. Biot wrote to Pasteur, “We might make up our minds to sacrifice a -small portion of the two acids in order to reconstitute the racemic, but -we doubt whether we should be capable of discerning it with certainty by -those crystals when they are formed. You must show it us yourself, when -you come to Paris for the holidays. Whilst arranging my chemical -treasures, I came upon a small quantity of racemic acid which I thought -I had lost. It would be sufficient for the microscopical experiments -that I might eventually have to make. So if the small phial of it that -you saw here would be useful to you, let me know, and I will willingly -send it. In this, as in everything else, you will always find me most -anxious to second you in your labours.” - -This period was all happiness. Pasteur’s father and his sister Josephine -came to Strasburg. The proposal of marriage was accepted, the father -returned to Arbois, Josephine staying behind. She remained to keep house -and to share the everyday life of her brother, whom she loved with a -mixture of pride, tenderness and solicitude. In her devoted sisterly -generosity, she resigned herself to the thought that her happy dream -must be of short duration. The wedding was fixed for May 29. - -“I believe,” wrote Pasteur to Chappuis, “that I shall be very happy. -Every quality I could wish for in a wife I find in her. You will say, -‘He is in love!’ Yes, but I do not think I exaggerate at all, and my -sister Josephine quite agrees with me.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -1850--1854 - - -From the very beginning Mme. Pasteur not only admitted, but approved, -that the laboratory should come before everything else. She would -willingly have adopted the typographic custom of the Académie des -Sciences Reports, where the word Science is always spelt with a capital -S. It was indeed impossible to live with her husband without sharing his -joys, anxieties and renewed hopes, as they appeared day by day reflected -in his admirable eyes--eyes of a rare grey-green colour like the sparkle -of a Ceylon gem. Before certain scientific possibilities, the flame of -enthusiasm shone in those deep eyes, and the whole stern face was -illumined. Between domestic happiness and prospective researches, -Pasteur’s life was complete. But this couple, who had now shared -everything for more than a year, was to suffer indirectly through the -new law on the liberty of teaching. - -Devised by some as an effort at compromise between the Church and the -University, considered by others as a scope for competition against -State education, the law of 1850 brought into the Superior Council of -Public Instruction four archbishops or bishops, elected by their -colleagues. In each Department[20] an Academy Council was instituted, -and, in this parcelling out of University jurisdiction, the right of -presence was recognized as belonging to the bishop or his delegate. But -all these advantages did not satisfy those who called themselves -Catholics before everything else. The rupture between Louis Veuillot on -one side and, on the other, Falloux and Montalembert, the principal -authors of this law, dates from that time. - -“What we understood by the liberty of teaching,” wrote Louis Veuillot, -“was not a share given to the Church, but the destruction of -monopoly.... No alliance with the University! Away with its books, -inspectors, examinations, certificates, diplomas! All that means the -hand of the State laid on the liberty of the citizen; it is the breath -of incredulity on the younger generation.” Confronted by the violent -rejection of any attempt at reconciliation and threatened interference -with the University on the part of the Church, the Government was trying -to secure to itself the whole teaching fraternity. - -The primary schoolmasters groaned under the heavy yoke of the prefects. -“These deep politicians only know how to dismiss.... The rectors will -become the valets of the prefects ...” wrote Pasteur with anger and -distress in a letter dated July, 1850. After the primary schools, the -attacks now reached the colleges. The University was accused of -attending exclusively to Latin verse and Greek translations, and of -neglecting the souls of the students. Romieu, who ironically dubbed the -University “Alma Parens,” and attacked it most bitterly, seemed hardly -fitted for the part of justiciary. He was a former pupil of the Ecole -Polytechnique, who wrote vaudevilles until he was made a prefect by -Louis Philippe. He was celebrated for various tricks which amused Paris -and disconcerted the Government, much to the joy of the Prince de -Joinville,[21] who loved such mystifications. After the fall of Louis -Philippe, Romieu became a totally different personality. He had been -supposed to take nothing seriously; he now put a tragic construction on -everything. He became a prophet of woe, declaring that “gangrene was -devouring the souls of eight year old children.” According to him, -faith, respect, all was being destroyed; he anathematized Instruction -without Education, and stigmatized village schoolmasters as “obscure -apostles” charged with “preaching the doctrines of revolt.” This -violence was partly oratory, but oratory does not minimize violence, it -excites it. Every pamphleteer ends by being a bond-slave to his own -phraseology. - -When Romieu appeared in Strasburg as an Envoy Extraordinary entrusted by -the Government with a general inquiry, he found that M. Laurent did not -answer to that ideal of a functionary which was entertained by a -certain party. M. Laurent had the very highest respect for justice; he -distrusted the upstarts whose virtues were very much on the surface; he -never decided on the fate of an inferior without the most painstaking -inquiry; he did not look on an accidental mistake as an unpardonable -fault; he refused to take any immediate and violent measures: all this -caused him to be looked upon with suspicion. “The influence of the -Rector” (thus ran Romieu’s official report) “is hardly, if at all, -noticeable. He should be replaced by a safe man.” - -The Minister of Public Instruction, M. de Parieu, had to bow before the -formal wish of the Minister of the Interior, founded upon peremptory -arguments of this kind. M. Laurent was offered the post of Rector at -Châteauroux, a decided step downward. He refused, left Strasburg, and, -with no complaint or recriminations, retired into private life at the -age of fifty-five. - -It was when this happy family circle was just about to be enlarged that -its quiet was thus broken into by this untoward result of political -agitation. M. Laurent’s youngest daughter soon after became engaged to -M. Loir, a professor at the Strasburg Pharmaceutical School, who had -been a student at the Ecole Normale, and who ultimately became Dean of -the Faculty of Sciences at Lyons. He was then preparing, assisted by -Pasteur, his “thesis” for the degree of Doctor of Science. In this he -announced some new results based on the simultaneous existence of -hemihedral crystalline forms and the rotatory power. He wrote, “I am -happy to have brought new facts to bear upon the law that M. Pasteur has -enunciated.” - -“Why are you not a professor of physics or chemistry!” wrote Pasteur to -Chappuis; “we should work together, and in ten years’ time we would -revolutionize chemistry. There are wonders hidden in crystallization, -and, through it, the inmost construction of substances will one day be -revealed. If you come to Strasburg, you _shall_ become a chemist; I -shall talk to you of nothing but crystals.” - -The vacation was always impatiently awaited by Pasteur. He was able to -work more, and to edit the result of his researches in an extract for -the Académie des Sciences. On October 2 his friend received the -following letter: “On Monday I presented this year’s work to the -‘Institut.’ I read a long extract from it, and then gave a vivâ voce -demonstration relative to some crystallographic details. This -demonstration, which I had been specially desired to give, was quite -against the prevailing customs of the Académie. I gave it with my usual -delight in that sort of thing, and it was followed with great attention. -Fortunately for me, the most influential members of the Académie were -present. M. Dumas sat almost facing me. I looked at him several times, -and he expressed by an approving nod of his head that he understood and -was much interested. He asked me to his house the next day, and -congratulated me. He said, amongst other things, that I was a proof that -when a Frenchman took up crystallography he knew what he was about, and -also that if I persevered, as he felt sure I should, I should become the -founder of a school. - -“M. Biot, whose kindness to me is beyond all expression, came to me -after my lecture and said, ‘It is as good as it can possibly be.’ On -October 14 he will give his report on my work; he declares I have -discovered a very California. Do not suppose I have done anything -wonderful this year. This is but a satisfactory consequence of preceding -work.” - -In his report (postponed until October 28) Biot was more enthusiastic. -He praised the numerous and unforeseen results brought out by Pasteur -within the last two years. “He throws light upon everything he touches,” -he said. - -To be praised by Biot was a rare favour; his diatribes were better -known. In a secret committee of the Académie des Sciences (January, -1851) the Académie had to pronounce on the merits of two candidates for -a professorship at the Collège de France: Balard, a professor of the -Faculty of Science, chief lecturer of the Ecole Normale, and Laurent the -chemist, who in order to live had been compelled to accept a situation -as assayer at the Mint. Biot, with his halting step, arrived at the -Committee room and spoke thus: “The title of Member of the Institute is -the highest reward and the greatest honour that a French scientist can -receive, but it does not constitute a privilege of inactivity that need -only be claimed in order to obtain everything.... For several years, M. -Balard has been in possession of two large laboratories where he might -have executed any work dictated to him by his zeal, whilst nearly all M. -Laurent’s results have been effected by his unaided personal efforts at -the cost of heavy sacrifices. If you give the college vacancy to M. -Balard, you will add nothing to the opportunities for study which he -already has; but it will take away from M. Laurent the means of work -that he lacks and that we have now the opportunity of providing for him. -The chemical section, and indeed the whole Academy will easily judge on -which side are scientific justice and the interests of future progress.” - -Biot had this little speech printed and sent a copy of it to Pasteur. -The incident led to a warm dispute, and Biot lost his cause. Pasteur -wrote to Chappuis, “M. Biot has done everything that was possible to do -in order that M. Laurent should win, and the final result is a great -grief to him. But really,” the younger man added, more indulgent than -the old man, and divided between his wishes for Laurent and the fear of -the sorrow Balard would have felt, “M. Balard would not have deserved so -much misfortune. Think of the disgrace it would have been to him if -there had been a second vote favourable to Laurent, especially coming -from the Institute of which he is a member.” At the end of that -campaign, Biot in a fit of misanthropy which excepted Pasteur alone, and -knowing that Pasteur had spoken with effusion of their mutual feelings, -wrote to him as follows: “I am touched by your acknowledgment of my deep -and sincere affection for you, and I thank you for it. But whilst -keeping your attachment for me as I preserve mine for you, let me for -the future rejoice in it in the secret recesses of my heart and of -yours. The world is jealous of friendships however disinterested, and my -affection for you is such that I wish people to feel that they honour -themselves by appreciating you, rather than that they should know that -you love me and that I love you. Farewell. Persevere in your good -feelings as in your splendid career, and be happy. Your friend.” - -The character of Biot, a puzzle to Sainte Beuve, seems easier to -understand after reading those letters, written in a small conscientious -hand. The great critic wrote: “Who will give us the secret key to Biot’s -complex nature, to the curiosities, aptitudes, envies, prejudices, -sympathies, antipathies, folds and creases of every kind in his -character?” Even with no other documents, the history of his relations -with Pasteur would throw light upon this nature, not so “complex” after -all. From the day when Pasteur worked out his first experiment before -Biot, at first suspicious, then astonished and finally touched to the -heart, until the period of absolute mutual confidence and friendship, we -see rising before us the image of this true scientist, with his rare -independence, his good-will towards laborious men and his mercilessness -to every man who, loving not Science for its own sake, looked upon a -discovery as a road to fortune, pecuniary or political. - -He loved both science and letters, and, now that age had bent his tall -form, instead of becoming absorbed in his own recollections and the -contemplation of his own labours, he kept his mind open, happy to learn -more every day and to anticipate the future of Pasteur. - -During the vacation of 1851 Pasteur came to Paris to bring Biot the -results of new researches on aspartic and malic acids, and he desired -his father to join him in order to efface the sad impression left by his -former journey in 1838. Biot and his wife welcomed the father and son as -they would have welcomed very few friends. Touched by so much kindness, -Joseph Pasteur on his return in June wrote Biot a letter full of -gratitude, venturing at the same time to send the only thing it was in -his power to offer, a basket of fruit from his garden. Biot answered as -follows: “Sir, my wife and I very much appreciate the kind expressions -in the letter you have done me the honour of writing me. Our welcome to -you was indeed as hearty as it was sincere, for I assure you that we -could not see without the deepest interest such a good and honourable -father sitting at our modest table with so good and distinguished a son. -I have never had occasion to show that excellent young man any feelings -but those of esteem founded on his merit, and an affection inspired by -his personality. It is the greatest pleasure that I can experience in my -old age, to see young men of talent working industriously and trying to -progress in a scientific career by means of steady and persevering -labour, and not by wretched intriguing. That is what has made your son -dear to me, and his affection for me adds yet to his other claims and -increases that which I feel for him. We are therefore even with one -another. As to your kindness in wishing that I should taste fruit from -your garden, I am very grateful for it, and I accept it as cordially as -you send it.” - -Pasteur had also brought Biot some other products--a case full of new -crystals. Starting from the external configuration of crystals, he -penetrated the individual constitution of their molecular groups, and -from this point of departure, he then had recourse to the resources of -chemistry and optics. Biot never ceased to admire the sagacity of the -young experimentalist who had turned what had until then been a mere -crystallographic character into an element of chemical research. - -Equally interested by the general consequences of these studies, so -delicate and so precise, M. de Senarmont wished in his turn to examine -the crystals. No one approved more fully than he the expressions of the -old scientist, who ended in this way his 1851 report: “If M. Pasteur -persists in the road he has opened, it may be predicted of him that what -he has found is nothing to what he will find.” And, delighted to see the -important position that Pasteur was taking at Strasburg and the -unexpected extension of crystallography, Biot wrote to him: “I have read -with much interest the thesis of your brother-in-law, M. Loir. It is -well conceived and well written, and he establishes with clearness many -very curious facts. M. de Senarmont has also read it with very great -pleasure, and I beg you will transmit our united congratulations to your -brother-in-law.” Biot added, mixing as he was wont family details with -scientific ideas: “We highly appreciated your father, the rectitude of -his judgment, his firm, calm, simple reason and the enlightened love he -bears you.” - -“My plan of study is traced for this coming year,” wrote Pasteur to -Chappuis at the end of December. “I am hoping to develop it shortly in -the most successful manner.... I think I have already told you that I am -on the verge of mysteries, and that the veil which covers them is -getting thinner and thinner. The nights seem to me too long, yet I do -not complain, for I prepare my lectures easily, and often have five -whole days a week that I can give up to the laboratory. I am often -scolded by Mme. Pasteur, but I console her by telling her that I shall -lead her to fame.” - -He already foresaw the greatness of his work. However he dare not speak -of it, and kept his secret, save with the confidante who was now a -collaborator, ever ready to act as secretary, watching over the precious -health of which he himself took no account, an admirable helpmeet, to -whom might be applied the Roman definition, _socia rei humanæ atque -divinæ_. Never did life shower more affection upon a man. Everything at -that time smiled upon him. Two fair children in the home, great security -in his work, no enemies, and the comfort of receiving the approval and -counsel of masters who inspired him with a feeling of veneration. - -“At my age,” wrote Biot to Pasteur, “one lives only in the interest one -takes in those one loves. You are one of the small number who can -provide such food for my mind.” And alluding in that same letter -(December 22, 1851) to four reports successively approved of by Balard, -Dumas, Regnault, Chevreul, Senarmont and Thenard: “I was very happy to -see, in those successive announcements of ideas of so new and so -far-reaching a nature, that you have said--and that we have made you -say--nothing that should now be contradicted or objected to in one -single point. I still have in my hands the pages of your last paper -concerning the optical study of malic acid. I have not yet returned them -to you, as I wish to extract from them some results that I shall place -to your credit in a paper I am now writing.” - -It was no longer Biot and Senarmont only who were watching the growing -importance of Pasteur’s work. At the beginning of the year 1852 the -physicist Regnault thought of making Pasteur a corresponding member of -the Institute. Pasteur was still under thirty. There was a vacancy in -the General Physics section, why not offer it to him? said Regnault, -with his usual kindliness. Biot shook his head: “It is to the Chemistry -section that he ought to belong.” And, with the courage of sincere -affection, he wrote to Pasteur, “Your work marks your place in chemistry -rather than physics, for in chemistry you are in the front rank of -inventors, whilst in physics you have applied processes already known -rather than invented new ones. Do not listen to people, who, without -knowing the ground, would cause you to desire, and even to hastily -obtain, a distinction which would be above your real and recognized -claims.... Besides, you can see for yourself how much your work of the -last four years has raised you in every one’s estimation. And that -place, which you have made for yourself in the general esteem, has the -advantage of not being subject to the fluctuations of the ballot. -Farewell, dear friend, write to me when you have time, and be assured -that my interest in hard workers is about the only thing which yet makes -me wish to live. Your friend.” - -Pasteur gratefully accepted these wise counsels. In an excess of -modesty, he wrote to Dumas that he should not apply as candidate even -if a place for a correspondent were vacant in the Chemistry section. “Do -you then believe,” answered Dumas with a vivacity very unlike his usual -solemn calmness, “do you believe that we are insensible to the glory -which your work reflects on French chemistry, and on the Ecole from -whence you come? The very day I entered the Ministry, I asked for the -Cross[22] for you. I should have had in giving it to you myself a -satisfaction which you cannot conceive. I don’t know whence the delay -and difficulty arise. But what I do know is that you make my blood boil -when you speak in your letter of the necessity of leaving a free place -in chemistry to the men you mention, one or two excepted.... What -opinion have you then of our judgment? When there _is_ a vacant place, -you shall be presented, supported and elected. It is a question of -justice and of the great interests of science: we shall make them -prevail.... When the day comes, there will be means found to do what is -required for the interests of science, of which you are one of the -firmest pillars, and one of the most glorious hopes. Heartily yours.” - -“My dear father,” wrote Pasteur, sending his father a copy of this -letter, “I hope you will be proud of M. Dumas’ letter. It surprised me -very much. I did not believe that my work deserved such a splendid -testimony, though I recognize its great importance.” - -Thus were associated in Pasteur the full consciousness of his great -mental power with an extreme ingenuousness. Instead of the pride and -egotism provoked, almost excusably, in so many superior men by excessive -strength, his character presented the noblest delicacy. - -Another arrangement occurred to Regnault: that he himself should accept -the direction of the Sèvres Manufactory, and give up to Pasteur his -professorship at the Ecole Polytechnique. Others suggested that Pasteur -should become chief lecturer at the Ecole Normale. Rumours of these -possibilities reached Strasburg, but Pasteur’s thoughts were otherwise -absorbed. He was concerned with the manner in which he could modify the -crystalline forms of certain substances which, though optically active, -did not at the first view present the hemihedral character, and with the -possibility of provoking the significant faces by varying the nature of -the dissolving agents. Biot was anxious that he should not be disturbed -in these ingenious researches, and advised him to remain at Strasburg in -terms as vigorous as any of his previous advice. “As to the accidents -which come from or depend on men’s caprice, be strong-minded enough to -disdain them yet awhile. Do not trouble about anything, but pursue -indefatigably your great career. You will be rewarded in the end, the -more certainly and unquestionably that you will have deserved it more -fully. The time is not far when those who can serve you efficiently will -feel as much pride in doing so as shame and embarrassment in not having -done so already.” - -When Pasteur came to Paris in August, for what he might have called his -annual pilgrimage, Biot had reserved for him a most agreeable surprise. -Mitscherlich was in Paris, where he had come, accompanied by another -German crystallographer, G. Rose, to thank the Académie for appointing -him a foreign Associate. They both expressed a desire to see Pasteur, -who was staying in a hotel in the Rue de Tournon. Biot, starting for his -daily walk round the Luxembourg Garden, left this note: “Please come to -my house to-morrow at 8 a.m., if possible with your products. M. -Mitscherlich and M. Rose are coming at 9 to see them.” The interview was -lengthy and cordial. In a letter to his father--who now knew a great -deal about crystals and their forms, thanks to Pasteur’s lucid -explanations--we find these words. “I spent two and a half hours with -them on Sunday at the Collège de France, showing them my crystals. They -were much pleased, and highly praised my work. I dined with them on -Tuesday at M. Thenard’s; you will like to see the names of the guests: -Messrs. Mitscherlich, Rose, Dumas, Chevreul, Regnault, Pelouze, Péligot, -C. Prévost, and Bussy. You see I was the only outsider, they are all -members of the Académie.... But the chief advantage of my meeting these -gentlemen is that I have heard from them the important fact that there -is a manufacturer in Germany who again produces some racemic acid. I -intend to go and see him and his products, so as to study thoroughly -that singular substance.” - -At the time when scientific novels were in fashion, a whole chapter -might have been written on Pasteur in search of that acid. In order to -understand in a measure his emotion on learning that a manufacturer in -Saxony possessed this mysterious acid, we must remember that the racemic -acid--produced for the first time by Kestner at Thann in 1820, through -a mere accident in the manufacture of tartaric acid--had suddenly ceased -to appear, in spite of all efforts to obtain it again. What then was the -origin of it? - -Mitscherlich believed that the tartars employed by this Saxony -manufacturer came from Trieste. “I shall go to Trieste,” said Pasteur; -“I shall go to the end of the world. I _must_ discover the source of -racemic acid, I must follow up the tartars to their origin.” Was the -acid existent in crude tartars, such as Kestner received in 1820 from -Naples, Sicily, or Oporto? This was all the more probable from the fact -that from the day when Kestner began to use semi-refined tartars he had -no longer found any racemic acid. Should one conclude that it remained -stored up in the mother-liquor? - -With a feverish impetuosity that nothing could soothe, Pasteur begged -Biot and Dumas to obtain for him a mission from the Ministry or the -Académie. Exasperated by red tape delays, he was on the point of writing -directly to the President of the Republic. “It is a question,” he said, -“that France should make it a point of honour to solve through one of -her children.” Biot endeavoured to moderate this excessive impatience. -“It is not necessary to set the Government in motion for this,” he said, -a little quizzically. “The Academy, when informed of your motives might -very well contribute a few thousand francs towards researches on the -racemic acid.” But when Mitscherlich gave Pasteur a letter of -recommendation to the Saxony manufacturer, whose name was Fikentscher -and who lived near Leipzig, Pasteur could contain himself no longer, and -went off, waiting for nothing and listening to no one. His travelling -impressions were of a peculiar nature. We will extract passages from a -sort of diary addressed to Madame Pasteur so that she might share the -emotions of this pursuit. He starts his campaign on the 12th September. -“I do not stop at Leipzig, but go on to Zwischau, and then to M. -Fikentscher. I leave him at nightfall and go back to him the next -morning very early. I have spent all to-day, Sunday, with him. M. -Fikentscher is a very clever man, and he has shown me his whole -manufactory in every detail, keeping no secrets from me.... His factory -is most prosperous. It comprises a group of houses which, from a -distance, and situated on a height as they are, look almost like a -little village. It is surrounded by 20 hectares[23] of well cultivated -ground. All this is the result of a few years’ work. As to _the_ -question, here is a little information that you will keep strictly to -yourself for the present. M. Fikentscher obtained racemic acid for the -first time about twenty-two years ago. He prepared at that time rather a -large quantity. Since then only a very small amount has been formed in -the process of manufacture and he has not troubled to preserve it. When -he used to obtain most, his tartars came from Trieste. This confirms, -though not in every point, what I heard from M. Mitscherlich. Anyhow, -here is my plan: Having no laboratory at Zwischau, I have just returned -to Leipzig with two kinds of tartars that M. Fikentscher now uses, some -of which come from Austria, and some from Italy. M. Fikentscher has -assured me that I should be very well received here by divers -professors, who know my name very well, he says. To-morrow Monday -morning, I will go to the Université and set up in some laboratory or -other. I think that in five or six days I shall have finished my -examination of these tartars. Then I shall start for Vienna, where I -shall stay two or three days and rapidly study Hungarian tartars.... -Finally I shall go to Trieste, where I shall find tartars of divers -countries, notably those of the Levant, and those of the neighbourhood -of Trieste itself. On arriving here at M. Fikentscher’s I have -unfortunately discovered a very regrettable circumstance. It is that the -tartars he uses have already been through one process in the country -from which they are exported, and this process is such that it evidently -eliminates and loses the greater part of the racemic acid. At least I -think so. I must therefore go to the place itself. If I had enough money -I should go on to Italy; but that is impossible, it will be for next -year. I shall give ten years to it if necessary; but it will not be, and -I am sure that in my very next letter I shall be able to tell you that I -have some good results. For instance, I am almost sure to find a prompt -means of testing tartars from the point of view of racemic acid. That is -a point of primary importance for my work. I want to go quickly through -examining all these different tartars; that will be my first study.... -M. Fikentscher will take nothing for his products. It is true that I -have given him hints and some of my own enthusiasm. He wants to prepare -for commercial purposes some _left_ tartaric acid, and I have given him -all the necessary crystallographic indications. I have no doubt he will -succeed.” - -_Leipzig, Wednesday, September 15, 1852._ “My dear Marie, I do not want -to wait until I have the results of my researches before writing to you -again. And yet I have nothing to tell you, for I have not left the -laboratory for three days, and I know nothing of Leipzig but the street -which goes from the Hôtel de Bavière to the Université. I come home at -dusk, dine, and go to bed. I have only received, in M. Erdmann’s study, -the visit of Professor Hankel, professor of physics of the Leipzig -Université, who has translated all my treatises in a German paper edited -by M. Erdmann. He has also studied hemihedral crystals, and I enjoyed -talking with him. I shall also soon meet the professor of mineralogy, M. -Naumann. - -“To-morrow only shall I have a first result concerning racemic acid. I -shall stay about ten days longer in Leipzig. It is more than I told you, -and the reason lies in rather a happy circumstance. M. Fikentscher has -kindly written to me and to a firm in Leipzig, and I heard yesterday -from the head of that firm that, very likely, they can get me to-morrow -some tartars absolutely crude and of the same origin as M. -Fikentscher’s. The same gentleman has given me some information about a -factory at Venice, and will give me a letter of recommendation to a firm -in that city, also for Trieste. In this way the journey I proposed to -make in that town will not simply be a pleasure trip.... I shall write -to M. Biot as soon as I have important results. To-day has been a good -day, and in about three or four more you will no doubt receive a -satisfactory letter.” - -_Leipzig, September 18, 1852._ “My dear Marie, the very question which -has brought me here is surrounded with very great difficulties.... I -have only studied one tartar thoroughly since I have been here; it comes -from Naples and has been refined once. It contains racemic acid, but in -such infinitesimal proportions that it can only be detected by the most -delicate process. It is only by manufacture on a very large scale that a -certain quantity could be prepared. But I must tell you that the first -operation undergone by this tartar must have deprived it almost entirely -of racemic acid. Fortunately M. Fikentscher is a most enlightened man, -he perfectly understands the importance of this acid and he is prepared -to follow most minutely the indications that I shall give him in order -to obtain this singular substance in quantities such that it can again -be easily turned into commercial use. I can already conceive the history -of this product. M. Kestner must have had at his disposal in 1820 some -Neapolitan tartars, as indeed he said he had, and he must have operated -on crude tartar. That is the whole secret.... But is it certain that -almost the whole of the acid is lost in the first manufacture undergone -by tartar? I believe it is. But it must be proved. There are at Trieste -and at Venice two tartar refineries of which I have the addresses. I -also have letters of introduction. I shall examine there (if I find a -laboratory) the residual products, and I shall make minute inquiries -respecting the places the tartars used in those two cities come from. -Finally, I shall procure a few kilogrammes, which I shall carefully -study when I get back to France....” - -_Freiberg, September 23, 1852._ “I arrived on the evening of the 21st at -Dresden, and I had to wait until eleven the next morning to have my -passport _visé_, so I could not start for Freiberg before seven p.m. I -took advantage of that day to visit the capital of Saxony, and I can -assure you that I saw some admirable things. There is a most beautiful -museum containing pictures by the first masters of every school. I spent -over four hours in the galleries, noting on my catalogue the pictures I -most enjoyed. Those I liked I marked with a cross; but I soon put two, -three crosses, according to the degree of my enthusiasm. I even went as -far as four. - -“I also visited what they call the green vault room, an absolutely -unique collection of works of art, gems, jewels ... then some churches, -avenues, admirable bridges across the Elbe.... - -“I then started for Freiberg at 7.... My love of crystals took me first -to the learned Professor of mineralogy, Breithaupt, who received me as -one would not be received in France. After a short colloquy, he passed -into the next room, came back in a black tail-coat with three little -decorations in his button hole, and told me he would first present me to -the Baron von Beust, Superintendent of Factories, so as to obtain a -permit to visit the latter.... Then he took me for a walk, talking -crystals the whole time....” - -P.S.--“Mind you tell M. Biot how I was received; it will please him.” - -_Vienna, September 27, 1852._ “Yesterday, Monday morning, I set out to -call upon several people. Unfortunately, I hear that Professor Schrotten -is at Wiesbaden, at a scientific congress, as well as M. Seybel, a -manufacturer of tartaric acid. M. Miller, a merchant for whom I had a -letter of recommendation, was kind enough to ask M. Seybel’s business -manager for permission for me to visit the factory in his absence. He -refused, saying he was not authorized. But I did not give in; I asked -for the addresses of Viennese professors, and I fortunately came upon -that of a very well known scientific man, M. Redtenbacher, who has been -kind to me beyond all description. At 6 a.m. he came to my hotel, and we -took the train at 7 for the Seybel manufactory, which is at a little -distance from Vienna. We were received by the chemist of the factory, -who made not the slightest difficulty in introducing us into the -sanctuary, and after many questions we ended by being convinced that the -famous racemic acid was seen there last winter.... I reserve for later -many details of great interest, for here they have operated for years on -crude tartar. I came away very happy. - -“There is another factory of tartaric acid in Vienna. We go there; I -repeat through M. Redtenbacher my string of questions. They have seen -nothing. I ask to see their products, and I come upon a barrel full of -tartaric acid crystals, on the surface of which I think I perceive _the_ -substance. A first test made with dirty old glasses then and there -confirms my doubts; they become a certainty a few moments later at M. -Redtenbacher’s laboratory. We dine together; then we go back to the -factory, where we learn, miraculous to relate, that they are just now -embarrassed in their manufacturing process, and, almost certainly, the -product which hinders them--though it is in a very small quantity, and -they take it for sulphate of potash--is no other than racemic acid. I -wish I could give you more details of this eventful day. I was to have -left Vienna to-day, but, as you will understand, I shall stay until I -have unravelled this question. I have already in the laboratory three -kinds of products from the factory. To-morrow night, or the day after, I -shall know what to think.... - -“You remember what I used to say to you and to M. Dumas, that almost -certainly the first operation which tartar goes through in certain -factories causes it to lose all or nearly all its racemic acid. Well, in -the two Viennese factories, it is only two years since they began to -operate on crude tartar, and it is only two years since they first saw -the supposed sulphate of potash, the supposed sulphate of magnesia. For, -at M. Seybel’s, they had taken for sulphate of magnesia the little -crystals of racemic acid. - -“Shortly, this is as far as I have come--I spare you many details:-- - -1. “The Naples tartar contains racemic acid. - -2. “The Austrian tartar (neighbourhood of Vienna) contains racemic acid. - -3. “The tartars of Hungary, Croatia, Carniola contain racemic acid. - -4. “The tartar of Naples contains notably more than the latter, for it -presents racemic acid even after one refining process, whilst that from -Austria and Hungary only presents it when in the crude state. - -“I believe it now to be extremely probable that I shall find some -racemic acid in French tartars, but in very small quantities; and if it -is not detected it is because all the circumstances of the manufacture -of tartaric acid are unknown or unappreciated, or because some little -precaution is neglected that would preserve it or make it visible. - -“You see, dear Marie, how useful was my journey.” - -“_Vienna, September 30, 1852._ I am not going to Trieste; I shall start -for Prague this evening.” - -“_Prague, October 1, 1852._ Here is a startling piece of news. I arrive -in Prague; I settle down in the Hôtel d’Angleterre, have lunch, and call -on M. Rochleder, Professor of chemistry, so that he may introduce me to -the manufacturer. I go to the chemist of the factory, Dr. Rassmann, for -whom I had a letter from M. Redtenbacher, his former master. That letter -contained all the questions that I usually make to the manufacturers of -tartaric acid. - -“Dr. Rassmann hardly took time to read the letter; he saw what it dealt -with, and said to me: ‘I have long obtained racemic acid. The Paris -Pharmaceutical Society offered a prize for whoever manufactured it. It -is a product of manufacture; I obtain it with the assistance of tartaric -acid.’ I took the chemist’s hand affectionately, and made him repeat -what he had said. Then I added: ‘You have made one of the greatest -discoveries that it is possible to make in chemistry. Perhaps you do not -realise as I do the full importance of it. But allow me to tell you -that, with my ideas, I look upon that discovery as impossible. I do not -ask for your secret; I shall await the publication of it with the -greatest impatience. So that is really true? You take a kilogramme of -pure tartaric acid, and with that you make racemic acid?’ - -“‘Yes,’ he said; ‘but it is still’ ... and as he had some difficulty in -expressing himself, I said: ‘It is still surrounded with great -difficulties?’ - -“‘Yes, monsieur.’ - -“Great heavens! what a discovery! if he had really done what he says! -But no; it is impossible. There is an abyss to cross, and chemistry is -yet too young.” - -_Second letter, same date._ “M. Rassmann is mistaken.... He has never -obtained racemic acid with pure tartaric acid. He does what M. -Fikentscher and the Viennese manufacturers do, with slight differences, -which confirm the general opinion I expressed in my letter to M. Dumas a -few days ago.” - -That letter, and also another addressed to Biot, indicated that racemic -acid was formed in varying quantities in the mother-liquor, which -remained after the purification of crude tartars. - -“I can at last,” Pasteur wrote from Leipzig to his wife, “turn my steps -again towards France. I want it; I am very weary.” - -In an account of this journey in a newspaper called _La Vérité_ there -was this sentence, which amused everybody, Pasteur included: “Never was -treasure sought, never adored beauty pursued over hill and vale with -greater ardour.” - -But the hero of scientific adventures was not satisfied. He had foreseen -by the examination of crystalline forms, the correlation between -hemihedral dissymmetry and rotatory power; this was, to his mind, a -happy foresight. He had afterwards succeeded in separating the racemic -acid, inactive on polarized light, into two acids, left and right, -endowed with equal but contrary rotatory powers; this was a discovery -deservedly qualified as memorable by good judges in those matters. Now -he had indicated the mother-liquor as a source of racemic acid, and this -was a precious observation that Kestner, who was specially interested in -the question, confirmed in a letter to the Académie des Sciences -(December, 1852), sending at the same time three large phials of racemic -acid, one of which, made of thin glass, broke in Biot’s hands. But a -great advance, apparently unrealizable, remained yet to be accomplished. -Could not racemic acid be produced by the aid of tartaric acid? - -Pasteur himself, as he told the optimist Rassmann, did not believe such -a transformation possible. But, by dint of ingenious patience, of -trials, of efforts of all sorts, he fancied he was nearing the goal. He -wrote to his father: “I am thinking of one thing only, of the hope of a -brilliant discovery which seems not very far. But the result I foresee -is so extraordinary that I dare not believe it.” He told Biot and -Senarmont of this hope. Both seemed to doubt. “I advise you,” wrote -Senarmont, “not to speak until you can say: ‘I obtain racemic acid -artificially with some tartaric acid, of which I have myself verified -the purity; the artificial acid, like the natural, divides itself into -equal equivalents of left and right tartaric acids, and those acids have -the forms, the optical properties, all the chemical properties of those -obtained from the natural acid.’ Do not believe that I want to worry -you; the scruples I have for you I should have for myself; it is well to -be doubly sure when dealing with such a fact.” But with Biot, Senarmont -was less reserved; he believed the thing done. He said so to Biot, who, -prudent and cautious, still desirous of warning Pasteur, wrote to him on -May 27, 1853, speaking of Senarmont: “The affection with which your -work, your perseverance and your moral character have inspired him makes -him desire impossible prodigies for you. My friendship for you is less -hastily hopeful and harder to convince. However, enjoy his friendship -fully, and be as unreserved with him as you are with me. You can do so -in full security; I do not know a stronger character than his. I have -said and repeated to him how happy I am to see the affection he bears -you. For there will be at least one man who will love you and understand -you when I am gone. Farewell; enough sermons for to-day; a man must be -as I am, in his eightieth year, to write such long homilies. Fortunately -you are accustomed to mine, and do not mind them.” - -At last, on the first of June, here is the letter announcing the great -fact: “My dear father, I have just sent out the following telegram: -_Monsieur Biot, Collège de France, Paris. I transform tartaric acid into -racemic acid; please inform MM. Dumas and Senarmont._ Here is at last -that racemic acid (which I went to seek at Vienna) artificially obtained -through tartaric acid. I long believed that that transformation was -impossible. This discovery will have incalculable consequences.” - -“I congratulate you,” answered Biot on the second of June. “Your -discovery is now complete. M. de Senarmont will be as delighted as I am. -Please congratulate also Mme. Pasteur from me; she must be as pleased as -you.” It was by maintaining tartrate of cinchonin at a high temperature -for several hours that Pasteur had succeeded in transforming tartaric -acid into racemic acid. Without entering here into technical details -(which are to be found in a report of the Paris Pharmaceutical Society, -concerning the prize accorded to Pasteur for the artificial production -of racemic acid) it may be added that he had also produced the neutral -tartaric acid--that is: with no action on polarized light--which -appeared at the expense of racemic acid already formed. There were -henceforth four different tartaric acids:--(1) the right or -dextro-tartaric acid; (2) the left or lævo-tartaric acid; (3) the -combination of the right and the left or racemic acid; and (4) the -meso-tartaric acid, optically inactive. - -The reports of the Académie des Sciences also contain accounts of -occasional discoveries, of researches of all kinds accessory to the -history of racemic acid. Thus aspartic acid had caused Pasteur to make a -sudden journey from Strasburg to Vendôme. A chemist named -Dessaignes--who was municipal receiver of that town, and who found time -through sheer love of science for researches on the constitution of -divers substances--had announced a fact which Pasteur wished to verify; -it turned out to be inaccurate. - -One whole sitting of the Académie, the third of January, 1853, was given -up to Pasteur’s name and growing achievements. - -After all this Pasteur came back to Arbois with the red ribbon of the -Legion of Honour. He had not won it in the same way as his father had, -but he deserved it as fully. Joseph Pasteur, delighting in his -illustrious son, wrote effusively to Biot; indeed the old scientist had -had his share in this act of justice. Biot answered in the following -letter, which is a further revelation of his high and independent ideal -of a scientific career. - -“Monsieur, your good heart makes out my share to be greater than it is. -The splendid discoveries made by your worthy and excellent son, his -devotion to science, his indefatigable perseverance, the conscientious -care with which he fulfils the duties of his situation, all this had -made his position such that there was no need to solicit for him what he -had so long deserved. But one might boldly point out that it would be a -real loss to the Order if he were not promptly included within its -ranks. That is what I did, and I am very glad to see that the too long -delay is now at an end. I wished for this all the more as I knew of your -affectionate desire that this act of justice should be done. Allow me to -add, however, that in our profession our real distinction depends on us -alone, fortunately, and not on the favour or indifference of a minister. -In the position that your son has acquired, his reputation will grow -with his work, no other help being needed; and the esteem he already -enjoys, and which will grow day by day, will be accorded to him, without -gainsaying or appeal, by the Grand Jury of scientists of all nations--an -absolutely just tribunal, the only one we recognize. - -“Allow me to add to my congratulations the expression of the esteem and -cordial affection with which you have inspired me.” - -On his return to Strasburg Pasteur went to live in a house in the Rue -des Couples, which suited him as being near the Académie and his -laboratory; it also had a garden where his children could play. He was -full of projects, and what he called the “spirit of invention” daily -suggested some new undertaking. The neighbourhood of Germany, at that -time a veritable hive of busy bees, was a fertile stimulant to the -French Faculty at Strasburg. - -But material means were lacking. When Pasteur received the prize of -1,500 francs given him by the Pharmaceutical Society, he gave up half of -it to buying instruments which the Strasburg laboratory was too poor to -afford. The resources then placed by the State at his disposal by way of -contribution to the expenses of a chemistry class only consisted of -1,200 francs under the heading “class expenses.” Pasteur had to pay the -wages of his laboratory attendant out of it. Now that he was better -provided, thanks to his prize, he renewed his studies on crystals. - -Taking up an octahedral crystal, he broke off a piece of it, then -replaced it in its mother-liquor. Whilst the crystal was growing larger -in every direction by a deposit of crystalline particles, a very active -formation was taking place on the mutilated part; after a few hours the -crystal had again assumed its original shape. The healing up of wounds, -said Pasteur, might be compared to that physical phenomenon. Claude -Bernard, much struck later on by these experiments of Pasteur’s and -recalling them with much praise, said in his turn-- - -“These reconstituting phenomena of crystalline redintegration afford a -complete comparison with those presented by living beings in the case of -a wound more or less deep. In the crystal as in the animal, the damaged -part heals, gradually taking back its original shape, and in both cases -the reformation of tissue is far more active in that particular part -than under ordinary evolutive conditions.” - -Thus those two great minds saw affinities hidden under facts apparently -far apart. Other similarities yet more unexpected carried Pasteur away -towards the highest region of speculation. He spoke with enthusiasm of -molecular dissymmetry; he saw it everywhere in the universe. These -studies in dissymmetry gave birth twenty years later to a new science -arising immediately out of his work, viz. stereo-chemistry, or the -chemistry of space. He also saw in molecular dissymmetry the influence -of a great cosmic cause-- - -“The universe,” he said one day, “is a dissymmetrical whole. I am -inclined to think that life, as manifested to us, must be a function of -the dissymmetry of the universe and of the consequences it produces. The -universe is dissymmetrical; for, if the whole of the bodies which -compose the solar system were placed before a glass moving with their -individual movements, the image in the glass could not be superposed to -the reality. Even the movement of solar life is dissymmetrical. A -luminous ray never strikes in a straight line the leaf where vegetable -life creates organic matter. Terrestrial magnetism, the opposition which -exists between the north and south poles in a magnet, that offered us by -the two electricities positive and negative, are but resultants from -dissymmetrical actions and movements.” - -“Life,” he said again, “is dominated by dissymmetrical actions. I can -even foresee that all living species are primordially, in their -structure, in their external forms, functions of cosmic dissymmetry.” - -And there appeared to him to be a barrier between mineral or artificial -products and products formed under the influence of life. But he did -not look upon it as an impassable one, and he was careful to say, “It is -a distinction of fact and not of absolute principle.” As nature -elaborates immediate principles of life by means of dissymmetrical -forces, he wished that the chemist should imitate nature, and that, -breaking with methods founded upon the exclusive use of symmetrical -forces, he should bring dissymmetrical forces to bear upon the -production of chemical phenomena. He himself, after using powerful -magnets to attempt to introduce a manifestation of dissymmetry into the -form of crystals, had had a strong clockwork movement constructed, the -object of which was to keep a plant in continual rotatory motion first -in one direction then in another. He also proposed to try to keep a -plant alive, from its germination under the influence of solar rays -reversed by means of a mirror directed by a heliostat. - -But Biot wrote to him: “I should like to be able to turn you from the -attempts you wish to make on the influence of magnetism on vegetation. -M. de Senarmont agrees with me. To begin with, you will spend a great -deal on the purchase of instruments with the use of which you are not -familiar, and of which the success is very doubtful. They will take you -away from the fruitful course of experimental researches which you have -followed hitherto, where there is yet so much for you to do, and will -lead you from the certain to the uncertain.” - -“Louis is rather too preoccupied with his experiments,” wrote Mme. -Pasteur to her father-in-law; “you know that those he is undertaking -this year will give us, if they succeed, a Newton or a Galileo.” - -But success did not come. “My studies are going rather badly,” wrote -Pasteur in his turn (December 30). “I am almost afraid of failing in all -my endeavours this year, and of having no important achievement to -record by the end of next year. I am still hoping, though I suppose it -was rather mad to undertake what I have undertaken.” - -Whilst he was thus struggling, an experiment, which for others would -have been a mere chemical curiosity, interested him passionately. -Recalling one day how his first researches had led him to the study of -ferments: “If I place,” he said, “one of the salts of racemic acid, -paratartrate or racemate of ammonia, for instance, in the ordinary -conditions of fermentation, the dextro-tartaric acid alone ferments, the -other remains in the liquor. I may say, in passing, that this is the -best means of preparing lævo-tartaric acid. Why does the -dextro-tartaric acid alone become putrefied? Because the ferments of -that fermentation feed more easily on the right than on the left -molecules.” - -“I have done yet more,” he said much later, in a last lecture to the -Chemical Society of Paris; “I have kept alive some little seeds of -_penicillium glaucum_--that mucor which is to be found everywhere--on -the surface of ashes and paratartaric acid and I have seen the -lævo-tartaric acid appear....” - -What seemed to him startling in those two experiments was to find -molecular dissymmetry appear as a modifying agent on chemical affinities -in a phenomenon of the physiological order. - -By an interesting coincidence it was at the very moment when his studies -were bringing him towards fermentations that he was called to a country -where the local industry was to be the strongest stimulant to his new -researches. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -1855--1859 - - -In September, 1854, he was made Professor and Dean of the new Faculté -des Sciences at Lille. “I need not, Sir,” wrote the Minister of Public -Instruction, M. Fortoul, in a letter where private feelings were mixed -with official solemnity, “recall to your mind the importance which is -attached to the success of this new Faculty of Science, situated in a -town which is the richest centre of industrial activity in the north of -France. By giving you the direction of it, I show the entire confidence -which I have placed in you. I am convinced that you will fulfil the -hopes which I have founded upon your zeal.” - -Built at the expense of the town, the Faculté was situated in the Rue -des Fleurs. In the opening speech which he pronounced on December 7, -1854, the young Dean expressed his enthusiasm for the Imperial decree of -August 22, which brought two happy innovations into the Faculties of -Science: (1) The pupils might, for a small annual sum, enter the -laboratory and practise the principal experiments carried out before -them at the classes; and (2) a new diploma was created. After two years -of practical and theoretical study the young men who wished to enter an -industrial career could obtain this special diploma and be chosen as -foremen or overseers. Pasteur was overjoyed at being able to do useful -work in that country of distilleries, and to attract large audiences to -the new Faculty. “Where in your families will you find,” he said, to -excite indolent minds--“where will you find a young man whose curiosity -and interest will not immediately be awakened when you put into his -hands a potato, when with that potato he may produce sugar, with that -sugar alcohol, with that alcohol æther and vinegar? Where is he that -will not be happy to tell his family in the evening that he has just -been working out an electric telegraph? And, gentlemen, be convinced of -this, such studies are seldom if ever forgotten. It is somewhat as if -geography were to be taught by travelling; such geography is remembered -because one has seen the places. In the same way your sons will not -forget what the air we breathe contains when they have once analysed it, -when in their hands and under their eyes the admirable properties of its -elements have been resolved.” - -After stating his wish to be directly useful to these sons of -manufacturers and to put his laboratory at their disposal, he eloquently -upheld the rights of theory in teaching-- - -“Without theory, practice is but routine born of habit. Theory alone can -bring forth and develop the spirit of invention. It is to you specially -that it will belong not to share the opinion of those narrow minds who -disdain everything in science which has not an immediate application. -You know Franklin’s charming saying? He was witnessing the first -demonstration of a purely scientific discovery, and people round him -said: ‘But what is the use of it?’ Franklin answered them: ‘What is the -use of a new-born child?’ Yes, gentlemen, what is the use of a new-born -child? And yet, perhaps, at that tender age, germs already existed in -you of the talents which distinguish you! In your baby boys, fragile -beings as they are, there are incipient magistrates, scientists, heroes -as valiant as those who are now covering themselves with glory under the -walls of Sebastopol. And thus, gentlemen, a theoretical discovery has -but the merit of its existence: it awakens hope, and that is all. But -let it be cultivated, let it grow, and you will see what it will become. - -“Do you know when it first saw the light, this electric telegraph, one -of the most marvellous applications of modern science? It was in that -memorable year, 1822: Oersted, a Danish physicist, held in his hands a -piece of copper wire, joined by its extremities to the two poles of a -Volta pile. On his table was a magnetized needle on its pivot, and he -suddenly saw (by chance you will say, but chance only favours the mind -which is prepared) the needle move and take up a position quite -different from the one assigned to it by terrestrial magnetism. A wire -carrying an electric current deviates a magnetized needle from its -position. That, gentlemen, was the birth of the modern telegraph. -Franklin’s interlocutor might well have said when the needle moved: ‘But -what is the use of that?’ And yet that discovery was barely twenty years -old when it produced by its application the almost supernatural effects -of the electric telegraph!” - -The small theatre where Pasteur gave his chemistry lessons soon became -celebrated in the students’ world. - -The faults had disappeared with which Pasteur used to reproach himself -when he first taught at Dijon and later at Strasburg. He was sure of -himself, he was clear in his explanations; the chain of thought, the -fitness of words, all was perfect. He made few experiments, but those -were decisive. He endeavoured to bring out every observation or -comparison they might suggest. The pupil who went away delighted from -the class did not suspect the care each of those apparently easy lessons -had cost. When Pasteur had carefully prepared all his notes, he used to -make a summary of them; he had these summaries bound together -afterwards. We may thus sketch the outline of his work; but who will -paint the gesture of demonstration, the movement, the grave penetrating -voice, the life in short? - -After a few months the Minister wrote to M. Guillemin, the rector, that -he was much pleased with the success of this Faculty of Sciences at -Lille, “which already owes it to the merit of the teaching--solid and -brilliant at the same time--of that clever Professor, that it is able to -rival the most flourishing Faculties.” The Minister felt he must add -some official advice: “But M. Pasteur must guard against being carried -away by his love for science, and he must not forget that the teaching -of the Faculties, whilst keeping up with scientific theory, should, in -order to produce useful and far-reaching results, appropriate to itself -the special applications suitable to the real wants of the surrounding -country.” - -A year after the inauguration of the new Faculty, Pasteur wrote to -Chappuis: “Our classes are very well attended; I have 250 to 300 people -at my most popular lectures, and we have twenty-one pupils entered for -laboratory experiments. I believe that this year, like last year, Lille -holds the first rank for that innovation, for I am told that at Lyons -there were but eight entries.” It was indeed a success to distance -Lyons. “The zeal of all is a pleasure to watch (January, 1856). It -reaches that point that four of the professors take the trouble to have -their manuscript lessons printed; there are already 120 subscribers for -the course of applied mechanics. - -“Our building is fortunately completed; it is large and handsome, but -will soon become insufficient owing to the progress of practical -teaching. - -“We are very comfortably settled on the first floor, and I have (on the -ground floor immediately below) what I have always wished for, a -laboratory where I can go at any time. This week, for instance, the gas -remains on, and operations follow their course whilst I am in bed. In -this way I try to make up a little of the time which I have to give to -the direction of all the rather numerous departments in our Faculties. -Add to this that I am a member of two very active societies, and that I -have been entrusted, at the suggestion of the Conseil-Général,[24] with -the testing of manures for the département of the Nord, a considerable -work in this rich agricultural land, but one which I have accepted -eagerly, so as to popularize and enlarge the influence of our young -Faculty. - -“Do not fear lest all this should keep me from the studies I love. I -shall not give them up, and I trust that what is already accomplished -will grow without my help, with the growth that time gives to everything -that has within it the germ of life. Let us all work; that only is -enjoyable. I am quoting M. Biot, who certainly is an authority on that -subject. You saw the share he took the other day in a great discussion -at the Académie des Sciences; his presence of mind, high reasoning -powers, and youthfulness were magnificent, and he is eighty-four!” - -In a mere study on Pasteur as a scientific man, the way in which he -understood his duties as Dean would only be a secondary detail. It is -not so here, the very object of this book being to paint what he was in -all the circumstances, all the trials of life. Besides his professional -obligations, his kindness in leaving his laboratory, however hard the -sacrifice, bears witness to an ever present devotion. For instance, he -took his pupils round factories and foundries at Aniche, Denain, -Valenciennes, St. Omer. In July, 1856, he organized for the same pupils -a tour in Belgium. He took them to visit factories, iron foundries, -steel and metal works, questioning the foremen with his insatiable -curiosity, pleased to induce in his tall students a desire to learn. All -returned from these trips with more pleasure in their work; some with -the fiery enthusiasm that Pasteur wished to see. - -The sentence in his Lille speech, “in the fields of observation, chance -only favours the mind which is prepared,” was particularly applicable to -him. In the summer of 1856 a Lille manufacturer, M. Bigo, had, like many -others that same year, met with great disappointments in the manufacture -of beetroot alcohol. He came to the young Dean for advice. The prospect -of doing a kindness, of communicating the results of his observations to -the numerous hearers who crowded the small theatre of the Faculty, and -of closely studying the phenomena of fermentation which preoccupied him -to such a degree, caused Pasteur to consent to make some experiments. He -spent some time almost daily at the factory. On his return to his -laboratory--where he only had a student’s microscope and a most -primitive coke-fed stove--he examined the globules in the fermentation -juice, he compared filtered with non-filtered beetroot juice, and -conceived stimulating hypotheses often to be abandoned in face of a fact -in contradiction with them. Above some note made a few days previously, -where a suggested hypothesis had not been verified by fact, he would -write: “error,” “erroneous,” for he was implacable in his criticism of -himself. - -M. Bigo’s son, who studied in Pasteur’s laboratory, has summed up in a -letter how these accidents of manufacture became a starting point to -Pasteur’s investigations on fermentation, particularly alcoholic -fermentation. “Pasteur had noticed through the microscope that the -globules were round when fermentation was healthy, that they lengthened -when alteration began, and were quite long when fermentation became -lactic. This very simple method allowed us to watch the process and to -avoid the failures in fermentation which we used so often to meet -with.... I had the good fortune to be many times the confidant of the -enthusiasms and disappointments of a great man of science.” Young Bigo -indeed remembered the series of experiments, the numerous observations -noted, and how Pasteur, whilst studying the causes of those failures in -the distillery, had wondered whether he was not confronted with a -general fact, common to all fermentations. Pasteur was on the road to a -discovery the consequences of which were to revolutionize chemistry. -During months and months he worked to assure himself that he was not a -prey to error. - -In order to appreciate the importance of the ideas which from that -small laboratory were about to inundate the world, and in order to take -account of the effort necessitated to obtain the triumph of a theory -which was to become a doctrine, it is necessary to go back to the -teachings of that time upon the subject of fermentations. All was -darkness, pierced in 1836 by a momentary ray of light. The physicist -Cagniard-Latour, studying the ferment of beer called yeast, had observed -that that ferment was composed of cells “susceptible of reproduction by -a sort of budding, and probably acting on sugar through some effect of -their vegetation.” Almost at the same time the German doctor Schwann was -making analogous observations. However, as the fact seemed isolated, -nothing similar being met with elsewhere, Cagniard-Latour’s remark was -but a curious parenthesis in the history of fermentations. - -When such men as J. B. Dumas said that perhaps there might be a sequel -to Cagniard-Latour’s statement, they emitted the idea so timidly that, -in a book _On Contagion_ published at Montpellier in 1853, Anglada, the -well known author, expressed himself thus-- - -“M. Dumas, who is an authority, looks upon the act of fermentation as -_strange and obscure_; he declares that it gives rise to phenomena the -knowledge of which is only tentative at present. Such a competent -affirmation is of a nature to discourage those who claim to unravel the -mysteries of contagion by the comparative study of fermentation. What is -the advantage of explaining one through the other since both are equally -mysterious!” This word, _obscure_, was to be found everywhere. Claude -Bernard used the same epithet at the Collège de France in March, 1850, -to qualify those phenomena. - -Four months before the request of the Lille manufacturer, Pasteur -himself, preparing on a loose sheet of paper a lesson on fermentation, -had written these words: “What does fermentation consist of?--Mysterious -character of the phenomenon.--A word on lactic acid.” Did he speak in -that lesson of his ideas of future experiments? Did he insist upon the -mystery he intended to unveil? With his powers of concentration it is -probable that he restrained himself and decided to wait another year. - -The theories of Berzelius and of Liebig then reigned supreme. To the -mind of Berzelius, the Swedish chemist, fermentation was due to contact. -It was said that there was a catalytic force. In his opinion, what -Cagniard-Latour believed he had seen, was but “an immediate vegetable -principle, which became precipitated during the fermentation of beer, -and which, in precipitating, presented forms analogous to the simpler -forms of vegetable life, but formation does not constitute life.” - -In the view of the German chemist Liebig, chemical decomposition was -produced by influence: the ferment was an extremely alterable organic -substance which decomposed, and in decomposing set in motion, by the -rupture of its own elements, the molecules of the fermentative matter; -it was the dead portion of the yeast, that which had lived and was being -altered, which acted upon the sugar. These theories were adopted, -taught, and to be found in all treatises on chemistry. - - * * * * * - -A vacancy at the Académie des Sciences took Pasteur away from his -students for a time and obliged him to go to Paris. Biot, Dumas, Balard -and Senarmont had insisted upon his presenting himself in the section of -mineralogy. He felt himself unfit for the candidature. He was as -incapable of election manœuvres as he was full of his subject when he -had to convince an interlocutor or to interest an audience in his works -on crystallography. (These works had just procured the bestowal on him -of the great Rumford medal, conferred by the London Royal Society.) -During this detested canvassing campaign he had one happy day: he was -present on February 5, 1857, at the reception of Biot by the Académie -Française. - -Biot, who had entered the Académie des Sciences fifty-four years -earlier, and was now the oldest member of the Institute, took advantage -of his great age to distribute, in the course of his speech, a good deal -of wise counsel, much applauded by Pasteur from the ranks of the -audience. Biot, with his calm irony, aimed this epigram at men of -science who disdained letters: “Their science was not the more apparent -through their want of literary culture.” He ended by remarks which -formed a continuation of his last letter to Pasteur’s father. Making an -appeal to those whose high ambition is to consecrate themselves to pure -science, he proudly said: “Perhaps your name, your existence will be -unknown to the crowd. But you will be known, esteemed, sought after by a -small number of eminent men scattered over the face of the earth, your -rivals, your peers in the intellectual Senate of minds; they alone have -the right to appreciate you and to assign to you your rank, a -well-merited rank, which no princely will, no popular caprice can give -or take away, and which will remain yours as long as you remain faithful -to Science, which bestows it upon you.” - -Guizot, to whom it fell to welcome Biot to the Académie, rendered homage -to his independence, to his worship of disinterested research, to his -ready counsels. “The events which have overturned everything around -you,” he said, “have never turned the course of your free and firm -judgment, or of your peaceful labours.” On that occasion the decline of -Biot’s life seemed like a beautiful summer evening in the north, before -nightfall, when a soft light still envelops all things. No disciple ever -felt more emotion than Pasteur when participating in that last joy of -his aged master. In Regnault’s laboratory, a photograph had been taken -of Biot seated with bent head and a weary attitude, but with the old -sparkle in his eyes. Biot offered it to Pasteur, saying: “If you place -this proof near a portrait of your father, you will unite the pictures -of two men who have loved you very much in the same way.” - -Pasteur, between two canvassing visits, gave himself the pleasure of -going to hear a young professor that every one was then speaking of. “I -have just been to a lecture by Rigault, at the Collège de France,” he -wrote on March 6, 1857. “The room is too small, it is a struggle to get -in. I have come away delighted; it is a splendid success for the -Université, there is nothing to add, nothing to retrench. Fancy a -professor in one of the Paris _lycées_ making such a début at the -Collège de France!” - -Pasteur preferred Rigault to St. Marc Girardin. “And Rigault is only -beginning!” But, under Rigault’s elegance and apparent ease, lurked -perpetual constraint. One day that St. Marc Girardin was congratulating -him, “Ah,” said Rigault, “you do not see the steel corsets that I wear -when I am speaking!” That comparison suited his delicate, ingenious, -slightly artificial mind, never unrestrained even in simple -conversation, at the same time conscientious and self-conscious. He who -had once written that “Life is a work of art to be fashioned by a -skilful hand if the faculties of the mind are to be fully enjoyed,” made -the mistake of forcing his nature. He died a few months after that -lecture. - -Pasteur’s enthusiastic lines about Rigault show the joy he felt at the -success of others. He did not understand envy, ill-will, or jealousy, -and was more than astonished, indeed amazed, when he came across such -feelings. One day that he had read an important paper at the Académie -des Sciences, “Would you believe it,” he wrote to his father, “I met a -Paris Professor of chemistry the very next day, whom I know to have been -present, who had indeed come purposely to hear my reading, and he never -said a word! I then remembered a saying of M. Biot’s: ‘When a colleague -reads a paper and no one speaks to him about it afterwards, it is -because it has been thought well of....’” - -The election was at hand. Pasteur wrote (March 11): “My dear father, I -am certain to fail.” He thought he might count upon twenty votes; thirty -were necessary. He resigned himself philosophically. His candidature -would at any rate bring his works into greater prominence. In spite of a -splendid report by Senarmont, enumerating the successive steps by which -Pasteur had risen since his first discoveries concerning the connection -between internal structure and external crystalline forms, Pasteur only -obtained sixteen votes. - -On his return to Lille he set to work with renewed energy; he took up -again his study of fermentations, and in particular that of sour milk, -called lactic fermentation; he made notes of his experiments day by day; -he drew in a notebook the little globules, the tiny bodies that he found -in a grey substance sometimes arranged in a zone. Those globules, much -smaller than those of yeast, had escaped the observation of chemists and -naturalists because it was easy to confound them with other products of -lactic fermentation. After isolating and then scattering in a liquid a -trace of that grey substance, Pasteur saw some well-characterized lactic -fermentation appear. That matter, that grey substance was indeed the -ferment. - -Whilst all the writings of the chemists who followed in the train of -Liebig and Berzelius united in rejecting the idea of an influence of -life in the cause of fermentations, Pasteur recognized therein a -phenomenon correlative to life. That special lactic yeast, Pasteur could -see budding, multiplying, and offering the same phenomena of -reproduction as beer yeast. - -It was not to the Académie des Sciences, as is generally believed, that -Pasteur sent the paper on lactic fermentation, the fifteen pages of -which contained such curious and unexpected facts. With much delicacy of -feeling, Pasteur made to the Lille Scientific Society this communication -(August, 1857) which the Académie des Sciences only saw three months -later. - -How was it that he desired to leave this Faculty at Lille to which he -had rendered such valuable service? The Ecole Normale was going through -difficult times. “In my opinion,” wrote Pasteur with a sadness that -betrayed his attachment to the great school, “of all the objects of care -to the authorities, the Ecole Normale should be the first; it is now but -the shadow of its former self.” He who so often said, “Do not dwell upon -things already acquired!” thought that the Lille Faculty was henceforth -sure of its future and needed him no longer. Was it not better to come -to the assistance of the threatened weak point? At the Ministry of -Public Instruction his wish was understood and approved of. Nisard had -just been made Director of the Ecole Normale with high and supreme -powers; his sub-director of literary studies was M. Jacquinet. The -administration was reserved for Pasteur, who was also entrusted with the -direction of the scientific studies. To that task were added “the -surveillance of the economic and hygienic management, the care of -general discipline, intercourse with the families of the pupils and the -literary or scientific establishments frequented by them.” - -The rector of the Lille Faculty announced in these terms the departure -of the Dean: “Our Faculty loses a professor and a scientist of the very -first order. You have yourselves, gentlemen, been able to appreciate -more than once all the vigour and clearness of that mind at once so -powerful and so capable.” - -At the Ecole Normale, Pasteur’s labours were not at first seconded by -material convenience. The only laboratory in the Rue d’Ulm building was -occupied by Henri Sainte Claire Deville who, in 1851, had taken the -place of Balard, the latter leaving the Ecole Normale for the Collège de -France. Dark rooms, a very few instruments, and a credit of 1,800 francs -a year, that was all Sainte Claire Deville had been able to obtain. It -would have seemed like a dream to Pasteur. He had to organize his -scientific installation in two attics under the roof of the Ecole -Normale; he had no assistance of any kind, not even that of an ordinary -laboratory attendant. But his courage was not of the kind which -evaporates at the first obstacle, and no difficulty could have kept him -from work: he climbed the stairs leading to his pseudo-laboratory with -all the cheerfulness of a soldier’s son. Biot--who had been grieved to -see the chemist Laurent working in a sort of cellar, where that -scientist’s health suffered (he died at forty-three)--was angry that -Pasteur should be relegated to an uninhabitable garret. Neither did he -understand the “economic and hygienic surveillance” attributed to -Pasteur. He hoped Pasteur would reduce to their just proportions those -secondary duties. “They have made him an administrator,” he said with -mock pomposity; “let them believe that he will administrate.” Biot was -mistaken. The _de minimis non curat_ did not exist for Pasteur. - -On one of his agenda leaves, besides subjects for lectures, we find -notes such as these: “Catering; ascertain what weight of meat per pupil -is given out at the Ecole Polytechnique. Courtyard to be strewn with -sand. Ventilation of classroom. Dining hall door to be repaired.” Each -detail was of importance in his eyes, when the health of the students -was in question. - -He inaugurated his garret by some work almost as celebrated as that on -lactic fermentation. In December, 1857, he presented to the Académie des -Sciences a paper on alcoholic fermentation. “I have submitted,” he said, -“alcoholic fermentation to the method of experimentation indicated in -the notes which I recently had the honour of presenting to the Académie. -The results of those labours should be put on the same lines, for they -explain and complete each other.” And in conclusion: “The deduplication -of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid is correlative to a phenomenon -of life, an organization of globules....” - -The reports of the Académie des Sciences for 1858 show how Pasteur -recognized complex phenomena in alcoholic fermentation. Whilst chemists -were content to say: “So much sugar gives so much alcohol and so much -carbonic acid,” Pasteur went further. He wrote to Chappuis in June: “I -find that alcoholic fermentation is constantly accompanied by the -production of glycerine; it is a very curious fact. For instance, in one -litre of wine there are several grammes of that product which had not -been suspected.” Shortly before that he had also recognized the normal -presence in alcoholic fermentation of succinic acid. “I should be -pursuing the consequences of these facts,” he added, “if a temperature -of 36° C. did not keep me from my laboratory. I regret to see the -longest days in the year lost to me. Yet I have grown accustomed to my -attic, and I should be sorry to leave it. Next holidays I hope to -enlarge it. You too are struggling against material hindrances in your -work; let it stimulate us, my dear fellow, and not discourage us. Our -discoveries will have the greater merit.” - -The year 1859 was given up to examining further facts concerning -fermentation. Whence came those ferments, those microscopic bodies, -those transforming agents, so weak in appearance, so powerful in -reality? Great problems were working in his mind; but he was careful not -to propound them hastily, for he was the most timid, the most hesitating -of men until he held proofs in his hands. “In experimental science,” he -wrote, “it is always a mistake not to doubt when facts do not compel you -to affirm.” - -In September he lost his eldest daughter. She died of typhoid fever at -Arbois, where she was staying with her grandfather. On December 30 -Pasteur wrote to his father: “I cannot keep my thoughts from my poor -little girl, so good, so happy in her little life, whom this fatal year -now ending has taken away from us. She was growing to be such a -companion to her mother and to me, to us all.... But forgive me, dearest -father, for recalling these sad memories. She is happy; let us think of -those who remain and try as much as lies in our power to keep from them -the bitterness of this life.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -1860--1864 - - -On January 30, 1860, the Académie des Sciences conferred on Pasteur the -Prize for Experimental Physiology. Claude Bernard, who drew up the -report, recalled how much Pasteur’s experiments in alcoholic -fermentation, lactic fermentation, the fermentation of tartaric acid, -had been appreciated by the Académie. He dwelt upon the great -physiological interest of the results obtained. “It is,” he concluded, -“by reason of that physiological tendency in Pasteur’s researches, that -the Commission has unanimously selected him for the 1859 Prize for -Experimental Physiology.” - -That same January, Pasteur wrote to Chappuis: “I am pursuing as best I -can these studies on fermentation which are of great interest, connected -as they are with the impenetrable mystery of Life and Death. I am hoping -to mark a decisive step very soon by solving, without the least -confusion, the celebrated question of spontaneous generation. Already I -could speak, but I want to push my experiments yet further. There is so -much obscurity, together with so much passion, on both sides, that I -shall require the accuracy of an arithmetical problem to convince my -opponents by my conclusions. I intend to attain even that.” - -This progress was depicted to his father in the following letter, dated -February 7, 1860-- - -“I think I told you that I should read a second and last lecture on my -old researches on Friday, at the Chemical Society, before several -members of the Institute--amongst others, Messrs. Dumas and Claude -Bernard. That lecture has had the same success as the first. M. Biot -heard about it the next day through some distinguished persons who were -in the audience, and sent for me in order to kindly express his great -satisfaction. - -“After I had finished, M. Dumas, who occupied the chair, rose and -addressed me in these words. After praising the zeal I had brought to -this novel kind of teaching at the Society’s request, and the _so great -penetration I had given proof of, in the course of the work I had just -expounded, he added, ‘The Académie, sir, rewarded you a few days ago for -other profound researches; your audience of this evening will applaud -you as one of the most distinguished professors we possess._’ - -“All I have underlined was said in those very words by M. Dumas, and was -followed by great applause. - -“All the students of the scientific section of the Ecole Normale were -present; they felt deeply moved and several of them have expressed their -emotion to me. - -“As for myself, I saw the realization of what I had foreseen. You know -how I have always told you confidentially that time would see the growth -of my researches on the molecular dissymmetry of natural organic -products. Founded as they were on varied notions borrowed from divers -branches of science--crystallography, physics, and chemistry--those -studies could not be followed by most scientists so as to be fully -understood. On this occasion I presented them in the aggregate with some -clearness and power and every one was struck by their importance. - -“It is not by their form that these two lectures have delighted my -hearers, it is by their contents; it is the future reserved to those -great results, so unexpected, and opening such entirely new vistas to -physiology. I have dared to say so, for at these heights all sense of -personality disappears, and there only remains that sense of dignity -which is ever inspired by true love of science. - -“God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to -the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those deep -mysteries of Life and Death where all our intellects have so lamentably -failed. - -“P.S.--Yesterday I presented to the Academy my researches on spontaneous -generation; they seemed to produce a great sensation. More later.” - -When Biot heard that Pasteur wished to tackle this study of spontaneous -generation, he interposed, as he had done seven years before, to arrest -him on the verge of his audacious experiments on the part played by -dissymmetrical forces in the development of life. Vainly Pasteur, -grieved at Biot’s disapprobation, explained that this question, in the -course of such researches, had become an imperious necessity; Biot -would not be convinced. But Pasteur, in spite of his quasi-filial -attachment to Biot, could not stop where he was; he had to go through to -the end. - -“You will never find your way out,” cried Biot. - -“I shall try,” said Pasteur modestly. - -Angry and anxious, Biot wished Pasteur to promise that he would -relinquish these apparently hopeless researches. J. B. Dumas, to whom -Pasteur related the more than discouraging remonstrances of Biot, -entrenched himself behind this cautious phrase-- - -“I would advise no one to dwell too long on such a subject.” - -Senarmont alone, full of confidence in the ingenious curiosity of the -man who could read nature by dint of patience, said that Pasteur should -be allowed his own way. - -It is regrettable that Biot--whose passion for reading was so -indefatigable that he complained of not finding enough books in the -library at the Institute--should not have thought of writing the history -of this question of spontaneous generation. He could have gone back to -Aristotle, quoted Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Pliny. Philosophers, poets, -naturalists, all believed in spontaneous generation. Time went on, and -it was still believed in. In the sixteenth century, Van Helmont--who -should not be judged by that one instance--gave a celebrated recipe to -create mice: any one could work that prodigy by putting some dirty linen -in a receptacle, together with a few grains of wheat or a piece of -cheese. Some time later an Italian, Buonanni, announced a fact no less -fantastic: certain timberwood, he said, after rotting in the sea, -produced worms which engendered butterflies, and those butterflies -became birds. - -Another Italian, less credulous, a poet and a physician, Francesco Redi, -belonging to a learned society calling itself The Academy of Experience, -resolved to carefully study one of those supposed phenomena of -spontaneous generation. In order to demonstrate that the worms found in -rotten meat did not appear spontaneously, he placed a piece of gauze -over the meat. Flies, attracted by the odour, deposited their eggs on -the gauze. From those eggs were hatched the worms, which had until then -been supposed to begin life spontaneously in the flesh itself. This -simple experiment marked some progress. Later on another Italian, a -medical professor of Padua, Vallisneri, recognized that the grub in a -fruit is also hatched from an egg deposited by an insect before the -development of the fruit. - -The theory of spontaneous generation, still losing ground, appeared to -be vanquished when the invention of the microscope at the end of the -seventeenth century brought fresh arguments to its assistance. Whence -came those thousands of creatures, only distinguishable on the slide of -the microscope, those infinitely small beings which appeared in rain -water as in any infusion of organic matter when exposed to the air? How -could they be explained otherwise than through spontaneous generation, -those bodies capable of producing 1,000,000 descendants in less than -forty-eight hours. - -The world of salons and of minor courts was pleased to have an opinion -on this question. The Cardinal of Polignac, a diplomat and a man of -letters, wrote in his leisure moments a long Latin poem entitled the -_Anti-Lucretius_. After scouting Lucretius and other philosophers of the -same school, the cardinal traced back to one Supreme Foresight the -mechanism and organization of the entire world. By ingenious -developments and circumlocutions, worthy of the Abbé Delille, the -cardinal, while vaunting the wonders of the microscope, which he called -“eye of our eye,” saw in it only another prodigy offered us by Almighty -Wisdom. Of all those accumulated and verified arguments, this simple -notion stood out: “The earth, which contains numberless germs, has not -produced them. Everything in this world has its germ or seed.” - -Diderot, who disseminated so many ideas (since borrowed by many people -and used as if originated by them), wrote in some tumultuous pages on -nature: “Does living matter combine with living matter? how? and with -what result? And what about dead matter?” - -About the middle of the eighteenth century the problem was again raised -on scientific ground. Two priests, one an Englishman, Needham, and the -other an Italian, Spallanzani, entered the lists. Needham, a great -partisan of spontaneous generation, studied with Buffon some microscopic -animalculæ. Buffon afterwards built up a whole system which became -fashionable at that time. The force which Needham found in matter, a -force which he called productive or vegetative, and which he regarded as -charged with the formation of the organic world, Buffon explained by -saying that there are certain primitive and incorruptible parts common -to animals and to vegetables. These organic molecules cast themselves -into the moulds or shapes which constituted different beings. When one -of those moulds was destroyed by death, the organic molecules became -free; ever active, they worked the putrefied matter, appropriating to -themselves some raw particles and forming, said Buffon, “by their -reunion, a multitude of little organized bodies, of which some, like -earthworms, and fungi, seem to be fair-sized animals or vegetables, but -of which others, in almost infinite numbers, can only be seen through -the microscope.” - -All those bodies, according to him, only existed through spontaneous -generation. Spontaneous generation takes place continually and -universally after death and sometimes during life. Such was in his view -the origin of intestinal worms. And, carrying his investigations -further, he added, “The eels in flour paste, those of vinegar, all those -so-called microscopic animals, are but different shapes taken -spontaneously, according to circumstances, by that ever active matter -which only tends to organization.” - -The Abbé Spallanzani, armed with a microscope, studied these -infinitesimal beings. He tried to distinguish them and their mode of -life. Needham had affirmed that by enclosing putrescible matter in vases -and by placing those vases on warm ashes, he produced animalculæ. -Spallanzani suspected: firstly that Needham had not exposed the vases to -a sufficient degree of heat to kill the seeds which were inside; and -secondly, that seeds could easily have entered those vases and given -birth to animalculæ, for Needham had only closed his vases with cork -stoppers, which are very porous. - -“I repeated that experiment with more accuracy,” wrote Spallanzani. “I -used hermetically sealed vases. I kept them for an hour in boiling -water, and after having opened them and examined their contents within a -reasonable time I found not the slightest trace of animalculæ, though I -had examined with the microscope the infusions from nineteen different -vases.” - -Thus dropped to the ground, in Spallanzani’s eyes, Needham’s singular -theory, this famous vegetative force, this occult virtue. Yet Needham -did not own himself beaten. He retorted that Spallanzani had much -weakened, perhaps destroyed, the vegetative force of the infused -substances by leaving his vases in boiling water during an hour. He -advised him to try with less heat. - -The public took an interest in this quarrel. In an opuscule entitled -_Singularities of Nature_ (1769), Voltaire, a born journalist, laughed -at Needham, whom he turned into an Irish Jesuit to amuse his readers. -Joking on this race of so-called eels which began life in the gravy of -boiled mutton, he said: “At once several philosophers exclaimed at the -wonder and said, ‘There is no germ; all is made, all is regenerated by a -vital force of nature.’ ‘Attraction,’ said one; ‘Organized matter,’ said -another, ‘they are organic molecules which have found their casts.’ -Clever physicists were taken in by a Jesuit.” - -In those pages, lightly penned, nothing remained of what Voltaire called -“the ridiculous mistake, the unfortunate experiments of Needham, so -triumphantly refuted by M. Spallanzani and rejected by whoever has -studied nature at all.” “It is now demonstrated to sight and to reason -that there is no vegetable, no animal but has its own germ.” In his -_Philosophic Dictionary_, at the word God, “It is very strange,” said -Voltaire, “that men should deny a creator and yet attribute to -themselves the power of creating eels!” The Abbé Needham, meeting with -these religious arguments, rather unexpected from Voltaire, endeavoured -to prove that the hypothesis of spontaneous generation was in perfect -accordance with religious beliefs. But both on Needham’s side and on -Spallanzani’s there was a complete lack of conclusive proofs. - -Philosophic argumentation always returned to the fore. As recently as -1846 Ernest Bersot (a moralist who became later a director of the Ecole -Normale) wrote in his book on Spiritualism: “The doctrine of spontaneous -generation pleases simplicity-loving minds; it leads them far beyond -their own expectations. But it is yet only a private opinion, and, were -it recognized, its virtue would have to be limited and narrowed down to -the production of a few inferior animals.” - -That doctrine was about to be noisily re-introduced. - - * * * * * - -On December 20, 1858, a correspondent of the Institute, M. Pouchet, -director of the Natural History Museum of Rouen, sent to the Académie -des Sciences a _Note on Vegetable and Animal Proto-organisms -spontaneously Generated in Artificial Air and in Oxygen Gas_. The note -began thus: “At this time when, seconded by the progress of science, -several naturalists are endeavouring to reduce the domain of spontaneous -generation or even to deny its existence altogether, I have undertaken a -series of researches with the object of elucidating this vexed -question.” Pouchet, declaring that he had taken excessive precautions to -preserve his experiments from any cause of error, proclaimed that he was -prepared to demonstrate that “animals and plants could be generated in a -medium absolutely free from atmospheric air, and in which, therefore, no -germ of organic bodies could have been brought by air.” - -On one copy of that communication, the opening of a four years’ -scientific campaign, Pasteur had underlined the passages which he -intended to submit to rigorous experimentation. The scientific world was -discussing the matter; Pasteur set himself to work. - -A new installation, albeit a summary one, allowed him to attempt some -delicate experiments. At one of the extremities of the façade of the -Ecole Normale, on the same line as the doorkeeper’s lodge, a pavilion -had been built for the school architect and his clerk. Pasteur succeeded -in obtaining possession of this small building, and transformed it into -a laboratory. He built a drying stove under the staircase; though he -could only reach the stove by crawling on his knees, yet this was better -than his old attic. He also had a pleasant surprise--he was given a -curator. He had deserved one sooner, for he had founded the institution -of _agrégés préparateurs_. Remembering his own desire, on leaving the -Ecole Normale, to have a year or two for independent study, he had -wished to facilitate for others the obtaining of those few years of -research and perhaps inspiration. Thanks to him, five places as -laboratory curators were exclusively reserved to Ecole Normale students -who had taken their degree (_agrégés_). The first curator who entered -the new laboratory was Jules Raulin, a young man with a clear and -sagacious mind, a calm and tenacious character, loving difficulties for -the sake of overcoming them. - -Pasteur began by the microscopic study of atmospheric air. “If germs -exist in atmosphere,” he said, “could they not be arrested on their -way?” It then occurred to him to draw--through an aspirator--a current -of outside air through a tube containing a little plug of cotton wool. -The current as it passed deposited on this sort of filter some of the -solid corpuscles contained in the air; the cotton wool often became -black with those various kinds of dust. Pasteur assured himself that -amongst various detritus those dusts presented spores and germs. “There -are therefore in the air some organized corpuscles. Are they germs -capable of vegetable productions, or of infusions? That is the question -to solve.” He undertook a series of experiments to demonstrate that the -most putrescible liquid remained pure indefinitely if placed out of the -reach of atmospheric dusts. But it was sufficient to place in a pure -liquid a particle of the cotton-wool filter to obtain an immediate -alteration. - -A year before starting any discussion Pasteur wrote to Pouchet that the -results which he had attained were “not founded on facts of a faultless -exactitude. I think you are wrong, not in believing in spontaneous -generation (for it is difficult in such a case not to have a -preconceived idea), but in affirming the existence of spontaneous -generation. In experimental science it is always a mistake not to doubt -when facts do not compel affirmation.... In my opinion, the question is -whole and untouched by decisive proofs. What is there in air which -provokes organization? Are they germs? is it a solid? is it a gas? is it -a fluid? is it a principle such as ozone? All this is unknown and -invites experiment.” - -After a year’s study, Pasteur reached this conclusion: “Gases, fluids, -electricity, magnetism, ozone, things known or things occult, there is -nothing in the air that is conditional to life, except the germs that it -carries.” - -Pouchet defended himself vigorously. To suppose that germs came from air -seemed to him impossible. How many millions of loose eggs or spores -would then be contained in a cubic millimetre of atmospheric air? - -“What will be the outcome of this giant’s struggle?” grandiloquently -wrote an editor of the _Moniteur Scientifique_ (April, 1860). Pouchet -answered this anonymous writer by advising him to accept the doctrine of -spontaneous generation adopted of old by so many “men of genius.” -Pouchet’s principal disciple was a lover of science and of letters, M. -Nicolas Joly, an _agrégé_ of natural science, doctor of medicine, and -professor of physiology at Toulouse. He himself had a pupil, Charles -Musset, who was preparing a thesis for his doctor’s degree under the -title: _New Experimental Researches on Heterogenia, or Spontaneous -Generation_. By the words heterogenia or spontaneous generation Joly -and Musset agreed in affirming that “they did not mean a creation out of -nothing, but the production of a new organized being, lacking parents, -and of which the primordial elements are drawn from ambient organic -matter.” - -Thus supported, Pouchet multiplied objections to the views of Pasteur, -who had to meet every argument. Pasteur intended to narrow more and more -the sphere of discussion. It was an ingenious operation to take the -dusts from a cotton-wool filter, to disseminate them in a liquid, and -thus to determine the alteration of that liquid; but the cotton wool -itself was an organic substance and might be suspected. He therefore -substituted for the cotton wool a plug of asbestos fibre, a mineral -substance. He invented little glass flasks with a long curved neck; he -filled them with an alterable liquid, which he deprived of germs by -ebullition; the flask was in communication with the outer air through -its curved tube, but the atmospheric germs were deposited in the curve -of the neck without reaching the liquid; in order that alteration should -take place, the vessel had to be inclined until the point where the -liquid reached the dusts in the neck. - -But Pouchet said, “How could germs contained in the air be numerous -enough to develop in every organic infusion? Such a crowd of them would -produce a thick mist as dense as iron.” Of all the difficulties this -last seemed to Pasteur the hardest to solve. Could it not be that the -dissemination of germs was more or less thick according to places? -“Then,” cried the heterogenists, “there would be sterile zones and -fecund zones, a most convenient hypothesis, indeed!” Pasteur let them -laugh whilst he was preparing a series of flasks reserved for divers -experiments. If spontaneous generation existed, it should invariably -occur in vessels filled with the same alterable liquid. “Yet it is ever -possible,” affirmed Pasteur, “to take up in certain places a notable -though limited volume of ordinary air, having been submitted to no -physical or chemical change, and still absolutely incapable of producing -any alteration in an eminently putrescible liquor.” He was ready to -prove that nothing was easier than to increase or to reduce the number -either of the vessels where productions should appear or of the vessels -where those productions should be lacking. After introducing into a -series of flasks of a capacity of 250 cubic centimetres a very easily -corrupted liquid, such as yeast water, he submitted each flask to -ebullition. The neck of those vessels was ended off in a vertical point. -Whilst the liquid was still boiling, he closed, with an enameller’s -lamp, the pointed opening through which the steam had rushed out, taking -with it all the air contained in the vessel. Those flasks were indeed -calculated to satisfy both partisans or adversaries of spontaneous -generation. If the extremity of the neck of one of these vessels was -suddenly broken, all the ambient air rushed into the flask, bringing in -all the suspended dusts; the bulb was closed again at once with the -assistance of a jet of flame. Pasteur could then carry it away and place -it in a temperature of 25-30° C., quite suitable for the development of -germs and mucors. - -In those series of tests some flasks showed some alteration, others -remained pure, according to the place where the air had been admitted. -During the beginning of the year 1860 Pasteur broke his bulb points and -enclosed ordinary air in many different places, including the cellars of -the Observatory of Paris. There, in that zone of an invariable -temperature, the absolutely calm air could not be compared to the air he -gathered in the yard of the same building. The results were also very -different: out of ten vessels opened in the cellar, closed again and -placed in the stove, only one showed any alteration; whilst eleven -others, opened in the yard, all yielded organized bodies. - -In a letter to his father (June, 1860), Pasteur wrote: “I have been -prevented from writing by my experiments, which continue to be very -curious. But it is such a wide subject that I have almost too many ideas -of experiments. I am still being contradicted by two naturalists, M. -Pouchet of Rouen and M. Joly of Toulouse. But I do not waste my time in -answering them; they may say what they like, truth is on my side. They -do not know how to experiment; it is not an easy art; it demands, -besides certain natural qualities, a long practice which naturalists -have not generally acquired nowadays.” - -When the long vacation approached, Pasteur, who intended to go on a -voyage of experiments, laid in a store of glass flasks. He wrote to -Chappuis, on August 10, 1860: “I fear from your letter that you will not -go to the Alps this year.... Besides the pleasure of having you for a -guide, I had hoped to utilize your love of science by offering you the -modest part of curator. It is by some study of air on heights afar from -habitations and vegetation that I want to conclude my work on so-called -spontaneous generation. The real interest of that work for me lies in -the connection of this subject with that of ferments which I shall take -up again November.” - -Pasteur started for Arbois, taking with him seventy-three flasks; he -opened twenty of them not very far from his father’s tannery, on the -road to Dôle, along an old road, now a path which leads to the mount of -the Bergère. The vine labourers who passed him wondered what this -holiday tourist could be doing with all those little phials; no one -suspected that he was penetrating one of nature’s greatest secrets. -“What would you have?” merrily said his old friend, Jules Vercel; “it -amuses him!” Of those twenty vessels, opened some distance away from any -dwelling, eight yielded organized bodies. - -Pasteur went on to Salins and climbed Mount Poupet, 850 metres above the -sea-level. Out of twenty vessels opened, only five were altered. Pasteur -would have liked to charter a balloon in order to prove that the higher -you go the fewer germs you find, and that certain zones absolutely pure -contain none at all. It was easier to go into the Alps. - -He arrived at Chamonix on September 20, and engaged a guide to make the -ascent of the Montanvert. The very next morning this novel sort of -expedition started. A mule carried the case of thirty-three vessels, -followed very closely by Pasteur, who watched over the precious burden -and walked alongside of precipices supporting the case with one hand so -that it should not be shaken. - -When the first experiments were started an incident occurred. Pasteur -has himself related this fact in his report to the Académie. “In order -to close again the point of the flasks after taking in the air, I had -taken with me an eolipyle spirit-lamp. The dazzling whiteness of the ice -in the sunlight was such that it was impossible to distinguish the jet -of burning alcohol, and as moreover that was slightly moved by the wind, -it never remained on the broken glass long enough to hermetically seal -my vessel. All the means I might have employed to make the flame visible -and consequently directable would inevitably have given rise to causes -of error by spreading strange dusts into the air. I was therefore -obliged to bring back to the little inn of Montanvert, unsealed, the -flasks which I had opened on the glacier.” - -The inn was a sort of hut, letting in wind and rain. The thirteen open -vessels were exposed to all the dusts in the room where Pasteur slept; -nearly all of them presented alterations. - -In the meanwhile the guide was sent to Chamonix where a tinker undertook -to modify the lamp in view of the coming experiment. - -The next morning, twenty flasks, which have remained celebrated in the -world of scientific investigators, were brought to the Mer de Glace. -Pasteur gathered the air with infinite precautions; he used to enjoy -relating these details to those people who call everything easy. After -tracing with a steel point a line on the glass, careful lest dusts -should become a cause of error, he began by heating the neck and fine -point of the bulb in the flame of the little spirit-lamp. Then raising -the vessel above his head, he broke the point with steel nippers, the -long ends of which had also been heated in order to burn the dusts which -might be on their surface and which would have been driven into the -vessel by the quick inrush of the air. Of those twenty flasks, closed -again immediately, only one was altered. “If all the results are -compared that I have obtained until now,” he wrote, on March 5, 1880, -when relating this journey to the Académie, “it seems to me that it can -be affirmed that the dusts suspended in atmospheric air are the -exclusive origin, the necessary condition of life in infusions.” - -And in an unnoticed little sentence, pointing already then to the goal -he had in view, “What would be most desirable would be to push those -studies far enough to prepare the road for a serious research into the -origin of various diseases.” The action of those little beings, agents -not only of fermentation but also of disorganization and putrefaction, -already dawned upon him. - -While Pasteur was going from the Observatoire cellars to the Mer de -Glace, Pouchet was gathering air on the plains of Sicily, making -experiments on Etna, and on the sea. He saw everywhere, he wrote, “air -equally favourable to organic genesis, whether surcharged with detritus -in the midst of our populous cities, or taken on the summit of a -mountain, or on the sea, where it offers extreme purity. With a cubic -decimetre of air, taken where you like, I affirm that you can ever -produce legions of microzoa.” - -And the heterogenists proclaimed in unison that “everywhere, strictly -everywhere, air is constantly favourable to life.” Those who followed -the debate nearly all leaned towards Pouchet. “I am afraid,” wrote a -scientific journalist in _La Presse_ (1860), “that the experiments you -quote, M. Pasteur, will turn against you.... The world into which you -wish to take us is really too fantastic....” - -And yet some adversaries should have been struck by the efforts of a -mind which, while marching forward to establish new facts, was ever -seeking arguments against itself, and turned back to strengthen points -which seemed yet weak. In November, Pasteur returned to his studies on -fermentations in general and lactic fermentation in particular. -Endeavouring to bring into evidence the animated nature of the lactic -ferment, and to indicate the most suitable surroundings for the -self-development of that ferment, he had come across some complications -which hampered the purity and the progress of that culture. Then he had -perceived another fermentation, following upon lactic fermentation and -known as butyric fermentation. As he did not immediately perceive the -origin of this butyric acid--which causes the bad smell in rancid -butter--he ended by being struck by the inevitable coincidence between -the (then called) infusory animalculæ and the production of this acid. - -“The most constantly repeated tests,” he wrote in February, 1861, “have -convinced me that the transformation of sugar, mannite and lactic acid -into butyric acid is due exclusively to those Infusories, and they must -be considered as the real butyric ferment.” Those vibriones that Pasteur -described as under the shape of small cylindric rods with rounded ends, -sliding about, sometimes in a chain of three or four articles, he sowed -in an appropriate medium, as he sowed beer yeast. But, by a strange -phenomenon, “those infusory animalculæ,” he said, “live and multiply -indefinitely, without requiring the least quantity of air. And not only -do they live without air, but air actually kills them. It is sufficient -to send a current of atmospheric air during an hour or two through the -liquor where those vibriones were multiplying to cause them all to -perish and thus to arrest butyric fermentation, whilst a current of pure -carbonic acid gas passing through that same liquor hindered them in no -way. Thence this double proposition,” concluded Pasteur; “the butyric -ferment is an infusory; that infusory lives without free oxygen.” He -afterwards called anaërobes those beings which do not require air, in -opposition to the name of aërobes given to other microscopic beings who -require air to live. - -Biot, without knowing all the consequences of these studies, had not -been long in perceiving that he had been far too sceptical, and that -physiological discoveries of the very first rank would be the outcome of -researches on so-called spontaneous generation. He would have wished, -before he died, not only that Pasteur should be the unanimously selected -candidate for the 1861 Zecker prize in the Chemistry Section, but also -that his friend, forty-eight years younger than himself, should be a -member of the Institute. At the beginning of 1861, there was one vacancy -in the Botanical Section. Biot took advantage of the researches pursued -by Pasteur within the last three years, to say and to print that he -should be nominated as a candidate. “I can hear the commonplace -objection: he is a chemist, a physicist, not a professional botanist.... -But that very versatility, ever active and ever successful, should be a -title in his favour.... Let us judge of men by their works and not by -the destination more or less wide or narrow that they have marked out -for themselves. Pasteur made his début before the Académie in 1848, with -the remarkable treatise which contained by implication the resolution of -the paratartaric acid into its two components, right and left. He was -then twenty-six; the sensation produced is not forgotten. Since then, -during the twelve years which followed, he has submitted to your -appreciation twenty-one papers, the last ten relating to vegetable -physiology. All are full of new facts, often very unexpected, several -very far reaching, not one of which has been found inaccurate by -competent judges. If to-day, by your suffrage, you introduce M. Pasteur -into the Botanical Section, as you might safely have done for Théodore -de Saussure or Ingenhousz, you will have acquired for the Académie and -for that particular section an experimentalist of the same order as -those two great men.” - -Balard, who in this academic campaign made common cause with Biot, was -also making efforts to persuade several members of the Botanical -Section. He was walking one day in the Luxembourg with Moquin-Tandon, -pouring out, in his rasping voice, arguments in favour of Pasteur. -“Well,” said Moquin-Tandon, “let us go to Pasteur’s, and if you find a -botanical work in his library I shall put him on the list.” It was a -witty form given to the scruples of the botanists. Pasteur only had -twenty-four votes; Duchartre was elected. - -The study of a microscopic fungus, capable by itself of transforming -wine into vinegar, the bringing to light of the action of that -mycoderma, endowed with the power of taking oxygen from air and fixing -it upon alcohol, thus transforming the latter into acetic acid; the most -ingenious experiments to demonstrate the absolute and exclusive power of -the little plant, all gave reason to Biot’s affirmation that such skill -in the observation of inferior vegetables equalled any botanist’s claim. -Pasteur, showing that the interpretations of the causes which act in the -formation of vinegar were false, and that alone the microscopic fungus -did everything, was constantly dwelling on this power of the -infinitesimally small. “Mycoderma,” he said, “can bring the action of -combustion of the oxygen in air to bear on a number of organic materia. -If microscopic beings were to disappear from our globe, the surface of -the earth would be encumbered with dead organic matter and corpses of -all kinds, animal and vegetable. It is chiefly they who give to oxygen -its powers of combustion. Without them, life would become impossible -because death would be incomplete.” - -Pasteur’s ideas on fermentation and putrefaction were being adopted by -disciples unknown to him. “I am sending you,” he wrote to his father, “a -treatise on fermentation, which was the subject of a recent competition -at the Montpellier Faculty. This work is dedicated to me by its author, -whom I do not know at all, a circumstance which shows that my results -are spreading and exciting some attention. - -“I have only read the last pages, which have pleased me; if the rest is -the same, it is a very good _résumé_, entirely conceived in the new -direction of my labours, evidently well understood by this young doctor. - -“M. Biot is very well, only suffering a little from insomnia. He has, -fortunately for his health, finished that great account of my former -results which will be the greatest title I can have to the esteem of -scientists.” - -Biot died without having realized his last wish, which was to have -Pasteur for a colleague. It was only at the end of the year 1862 that -Pasteur was nominated by the Mineralogical Section for the seat of -Senarmont. This new candidature did not go without a hitch. In his study -on tartrates, Pasteur, as will be remembered, had discovered that their -crystalline forms were hemihedral. When he examined the characteristic -faces, he held the crystal in a particular way and said: “It is -hemihedral on the right side.” A German mineralogist, named -Rammelsberg, holding the crystal in the opposite direction, said: “It is -hemihedral on the left side.” It was a mere matter of conventional -orientation; nothing was changed in the scientific results announced by -Pasteur. But some adversaries made a weapon of that inverted crystal; -not a dangerous weapon, thought Pasteur at first, fancying that a few -words would clear the misunderstanding. But the campaign persisted, with -insinuations, murmurs, whisperings. When Pasteur saw this simple -difference in the way the crystal was held stigmatised as a cause of -error, he desired to cut short this quarrel made in Germany. He then had -with him no longer Raulin, but M. Duclaux, who was beginning his -scientific life. M. Duclaux remembers one day when Pasteur, seeing that -incontrovertible arguments were required, sent for a cabinet maker with -his tools. He superintended the making of a complete wooden set of the -crystalline forms of tartrates, a gigantic set, such as Gulliver might -have seen in Brobdingnag if he had studied geometrical forms in that -island. A coating of coloured paper finished the work; green paper -marked the hemihedral face. A member of the Philomathic Society, Pasteur -asked the Society to give up the meeting of November 8, 1862, to the -discussion of that subject. Several of his colleagues vainly endeavoured -to dissuade him from that intention; Pasteur hearkened to no one. He -took with him his provision of wooden crystals, and gave a vivid and -impassioned lecture. “If you know the question,” he asked his -adversaries, “where is your conscience? If you know it not, why meddle -with it?” And with one of his accustomed sudden turns, “What is all -this?” he added. “One of those incidents to which we all, more or less, -are exposed by the conditions of our career; no bitterness remains -behind. Of what account is it in the presence of those mysteries, so -varied, so numerous, that we all, in divers directions, are working to -clear? It is true I have had recourse to an unusual means of defending -myself against attacks not openly published, but I think that means was -safe and loyal, and deferential towards you. And,” he added, thinking of -Biot and Senarmont, “will you have my full confession? You know that I -had during fifteen years the inestimable advantage of the intercourse of -two men who are no more, but whose scientific probity shone as one of -the beacons of the Académie des Sciences. Before deciding on the course -I have now followed, I questioned my memory and endeavoured to revive -their advice, and it seemed to me that they would not have disowned me.” - -M. Duclaux said about this meeting: “Pasteur has since then won many -oratorical victories. I do not know of a greater one than that deserved -by that acute and penetrating improvisation. He was still much heated as -we were walking back to the Rue d’Ulm, and I remember making him laugh -by asking him why, in the state of mind he was in, he had not concluded -by hurling his wooden crystals at his adversaries’ heads.” - -On December 8, 1862, Pasteur was elected a member of the Académie des -Sciences; out of sixty voters he received thirty-six suffrages. - -The next morning, when the gates of the Montparnasse cemetery were -opened, a woman walked towards Biot’s grave with her hands full of -flowers. It was Mme. Pasteur who was bringing them to him who lay there -since February 5, 1862, and who had loved Pasteur with so deep an -affection. - -A letter picked up at a sale of autographs, one of the last Biot wrote, -gives a finishing touch to his moral portrait. It is addressed to an -unknown person discouraged with this life. “Sir,--The confidence you -honour me with touches me. But I am not a physician of souls. However, -in my opinion, you could not do better than seek remedies to your moral -suffering in work, religion, and charity. A useful work taken up with -energy and persevered in will revive by occupation the forces of your -mind. Religious feelings will console you by inspiring you with -patience. Charity manifested to others will soften your sorrows and -teach you that you are not alone to suffer in this life. Look around -you, and you will see afflicted ones more to be pitied than yourself. -Try to ease their sufferings; the good you will do to them will fall -back upon yourself and will show you that a life which can thus be -employed is not a burden which cannot, which must not be borne.” - -On his entering the Académie des Sciences, Balard and Dumas advised -Pasteur to let alone his wooden crystals and to continue his studies on -ferments. He undertook to demonstrate that “the hypothesis of a -phenomenon of mere contact is not more admissible than the opinion which -placed the ferment character exclusively in dead albuminoid matter.” -Whilst continuing his researches on beings which could live without air, -he tried, as he went along, à propos of spontaneous generation, to find -some weak point in his work. Until now the liquids he had used, however -alterable they were, had been brought up to boiling point. Was there not -some new and decisive experiment to make? Could he not study organic -matter as constituted by life and expose to the contact of air deprived -of its germs some fresh liquids, highly putrescible, such as blood and -urine? Claude Bernard, joining in these experiments of Pasteur’s, -himself took some blood from a dog. This blood was sealed up in a glass -phial, with every condition of purity, and the phial remained in a stove -constantly heated up to 30°C. from March 3 until April 20, 1862, when -Pasteur laid it on the Académie table. The blood had suffered no sort of -putrefaction; neither had some urine treated in the same way. “The -conclusions to which I have been led by my first series of experiments,” -said Pasteur before the Académie, “are therefore applicable in all cases -to organic substances.” - -While studying putrefaction, which is itself but a fermentation applied -to animal materia, while showing the marvellous power of the -infinitesimally small, he foresaw the immensity of the domain he had -conquered, as will be proved by the following incident. Some time after -the Académie election, in March, 1863, the Emperor, who took an interest -in all that took place in the small laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm, desired -to speak with Pasteur. J. B. Dumas claimed the privilege of presenting -his former pupil, and the interview took place at the Tuileries. -Napoleon questioned Pasteur with a gentle, slightly dreamy insistence. -Pasteur wrote the next day: “I assured the Emperor that all my ambition -was to arrive at the knowledge of the causes of putrid and contagious -diseases.” - -In the meanwhile, the chapter on ferments was not yet closed; Pasteur -was attracted by studies on wine. At the beginning of the 1863 holidays, -just before starting for Arbois, he drew up this programme with one of -his pupils: “From the 20th to the 30th (August) preparation in Paris of -all the vessels, apparatus, products, that we must take. September 1, -departure for the Jura; installation; purchase of the products of a -vineyard. Immediate beginning of tests of all kinds. We shall have to -hurry; grapes do not keep long.” - -Whilst he was preparing this vintage tour, which he intended to make -with three “Normaliens,” Duclaux, Gernez and Lechartier, the three -heterogenists, Pouchet, Joly and Musset, proposed to use that same time -in fighting Pasteur on his own ground. They started from -Bagnères-de-Luchon followed by several guides and taking with them all -kinds of provisions and some little glass flasks with a slender pointed -neck. They crossed the pass of Venasque without incident, and decided to -go further, to the Rencluse. Some isard-stalkers having come towards the -strange-looking party, they were signalled away; even the guides were -invited to stand aside. It was necessary to prevent any dusts from -reaching the bulbs, which were thus opened at 8 p.m. at a height of -2,083 metres. But eighty-three metres higher than the Montanvert did not -seem to them enough, they wished to go higher. “We shall sleep on the -mountain,” said the three scientists. Fatigue and bitter cold, they -withstood everything with the courage inspired by a problem to solve. -The next morning they climbed across that rocky chaos, and at last -reached the foot of one of the greatest glaciers of the Maladetta, 3,000 -metres above the sea-level. “A very deep narrow crevasse,” says Pouchet, -“seemed to us the most suitable place for our experiments.” Four phials -(filled with a decoction of hay) were opened and sealed again with -precautions that Pouchet considered as exaggerated. - -Pouchet, in his merely scientific report, does not relate the return -journey, yet more perilous than the ascent. At one of the most dangerous -places, Joly slipped, and would have rolled into a precipice, but for -the strength and presence of mind of one of the guides. All three at -last came back to Luchon, forgetful of dangers run, and glorying at -having reached 1,000 metres higher than Pasteur. They triumphed when -they saw alteration in their flasks! “Therefore,” said Pouchet, “the air -of the Maladetta, and of high mountains in general, is not incapable of -producing alteration in an eminently putrescible liquor; therefore -heterogenia or the production of a new being devoid of parents, but -formed at the expense of ambient organic matter, is for us a reality.” - -The Academy of Sciences was taking more and more interest in this -debate. In November, 1863, Joly and Musset expressed a wish that the -Academy should appoint a Commission, before whom the principal -experiments of Pasteur and of his adversaries should be repeated. On -this occasion Flourens expressed his opinion thus: “I am blamed in -certain quarters for giving no opinion on the question of spontaneous -generation. As long as my opinion was not formed, I had nothing to say. -It is now formed, and I give it: M. Pasteur’s experiments are decisive. -If spontaneous generation is real, what is required to obtain -animalculæ? Air and putrescible liquor. M. Pasteur puts air and -putrescible liquor together and nothing happens. Therefore spontaneous -generation is not. To doubt further is to misunderstand the question.” - -Already in the preceding year, the Académie itself had evidenced its -opinion by giving Pasteur the prize of a competition proposed in these -terms: “To attempt to throw some new light upon the question of -so-called spontaneous generation by well-conducted experiments.” -Pasteur’s treatise on _Organized Corpuscles existing in Atmosphere_ had -been unanimously preferred. Pasteur might have entrenched himself behind -the suffrages of the Academy, but begged it, in order to close those -incessant debates, to appoint the Commission demanded by Joly and -Musset. - -The members of the Commission were Flourens, Dumas, Brongniart, -Milne-Edwards, and Balard. Pasteur wished that the discussion should -take place as soon as possible, and it was fixed for the first fortnight -in March. But Pouchet, Joly and Musset asked for a delay on account of -the cold. “We consider that it might compromise, perhaps prevent, our -results, to operate in a temperature which often goes below zero even in -the south of France. How do we know that it will not freeze in Paris -between the first and fifteenth of March?” They even asked the -Commission to adjourn experiments until the summer. “I am much -surprised,” wrote Pasteur, “at the delay sought by Messrs. Pouchet, Joly -and Musset; it would have been easy with a stove to raise the -temperature to the degree required by those gentlemen. For my part I -hasten to assure the Academy that I am at its disposal, and that in -summer, or in any other season, I am ready to repeat my experiments.” - -Some evening scientific lectures had just been inaugurated at the -Sorbonne; such a subject as spontaneous generation was naturally on the -programme. When Pasteur entered the large lecture room of the Sorbonne -on April 7, 1864, he must have been reminded of the days of his youth, -when crowds came, as to a theatrical performance, to hear J. B. Dumas -speak. Dumas’ pupil, now a master, in his turn found a still greater -crowd invading every corner. Amongst the professors and students, such -celebrities as Duruy, Alexandre Dumas senior, George Sand, Princess -Mathilde, were being pointed out. Around them, the inevitable “smart” -people who must see everything and be seen everywhere, without whom no -function favoured by fashion would be complete; in short what is known -as the “Tout Paris.” But this “Tout Paris” was about to receive a novel -impression, probably a lasting one. The man who stood before this -fashionable audience was not one of those speakers who attempt by an -insinuating exordium to gain the good graces of their hearers; it was a -grave-looking man, his face full of quiet energy and reflective force. -He began in a deep, firm voice, evidently earnestly convinced of the -greatness of his mission as a teacher: “Great problems are now being -handled, keeping every thinking man in suspense; the unity or -multiplicity of human races; the creation of man 1,000 years or 1,000 -centuries ago, the fixity of species, or the slow and progressive -transformation of one species into another; the eternity of matter; the -idea of a God unnecessary. Such are some of the questions that humanity -discusses nowadays.” - -He had now, he continued, entered upon a subject accessible to -experimentation, and which he had made the object of the strictest and -most conscientious studies. Can matter organize itself? Can living -beings come into the world without having been preceded by beings -similar to them? After showing that the doctrine of spontaneous -generation had gradually lost ground, he explained how the invention of -the microscope had caused it to reappear at the end of the seventeenth -century, “in the face of those beings, so numerous, so varied, so -strange in their shapes, the origin of which was connected with the -presence of all dead vegetable and animal matter in a state of -disorganization.” He went on to say how Pouchet had taken up this study, -and to point out the errors that this new partisan of an old doctrine -had committed, errors difficult to recognize at first. With perfect -clearness and simplicity, Pasteur explained how the dusts which are -suspended in air contain germs of inferior organized beings and how a -liquid preserved, by certain precautions, from the contact of these -germs can be kept indefinitely, giving his audience a glimpse of his -laboratory methods. - -“Here,” he said, “is an infusion of organic matter, as limpid as -distilled water, and extremely alterable. It has been prepared to-day. -To-morrow it will contain animalculæ, little infusories, or flakes of -mouldiness. - -“I place a portion of that infusion into a flask with a long neck, like -this one. Suppose I boil the liquid and leave it to cool. After a few -days, mouldiness or animalculæ will develop in the liquid. By boiling, I -destroyed any germs contained in the liquid or against the glass; but -that infusion being again in contact with air, it becomes altered, as -all infusions do. Now suppose I repeat this experiment, but that, before -boiling the liquid, I draw (by means of an enameller’s lamp) the neck of -the flask into a point, leaving, however, its extremity open. This being -done, I boil the liquid in the flask, and leave it to cool. Now the -liquid of this second flask will remain pure not only two days, a month, -a year, but three or four years--for the experiment I am telling you -about is already four years old, and the liquid remains as limpid as -distilled water. What difference is there, then, between those two -vases? They contain the same liquid, they both contain air, both are -open! Why does one decay and the other remain pure? The only difference -between them is this: in the first case, the dusts suspended in air and -their germs can fall into the neck of the flask and arrive into contact -with the liquid, where they find appropriate food and develop; thence -microscopic beings. In the second flask, on the contrary, it is -impossible, or at least extremely difficult, unless air is violently -shaken, that dusts suspended in air should enter the vase; they fall on -its curved neck. When air goes in and out of the vase through diffusions -or variations of temperature, the latter never being sudden, the air -comes in slowly enough to drop the dusts and germs that it carries at -the opening of the neck or in the first curves. - -“This experiment is full of instruction; for this must be noted, that -everything in air save its dusts can easily enter the vase and come into -contact with the liquid. Imagine what you choose in the -air--electricity, magnetism, ozone, unknown forces even, all can reach -the infusion. Only one thing cannot enter easily, and that is dust, -suspended in air. And the proof of this is that if I shake the vase -violently two or three times, in a few days it contains animalculæ or -mouldiness. Why? because air has come in violently enough to carry dust -with it. - -“And, therefore, gentlemen, I could point to that liquid and say to you, -I have taken my drop of water from the immensity of creation, and I have -taken it full of the elements appropriated to the development of -inferior beings. And I wait, I watch, I question it, begging it to -recommence for me the beautiful spectacle of the first creation. But it -is dumb, dumb since these experiments were begun several years ago; it -is dumb because I have kept it from the only thing man cannot produce, -from the germs which float in the air, from Life, for Life is a germ and -a germ is Life. Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation -recover from the mortal blow of this simple experiment.” - -The public enthusiastically applauded these words, which ended the -lecture: - -“No, there is now no circumstance known in which it can be affirmed that -microscopic beings came into the world without germs, without parents -similar to themselves. Those who affirm it have been duped by illusions, -by ill-conducted experiments, spoilt by errors that they either did not -perceive or did not know how to avoid.” - -In the meanwhile, besides public lectures and new studies, Pasteur -succeeded in “administering” the Ecole Normale in the most complete -sense of the word. His influence was such that students acquired not a -taste but a passion for study; he directed each one in his own line, he -awakened their instincts. It was already through his wise inspiration -that five “Normaliens agrégés” should have the chance of the five -curators’ places; but his solicitude did not stop there. If some -disappointment befell some former pupil, still in that period of youth -which doubts nothing or nobody, he came vigorously to his assistance; he -was the counsellor of the future. A few letters will show how he -understood his responsibility. - -A Normalien, Paul Dalimier, received 1st at the _agrégation_ of Physics -in 1858, afterwards Natural History curator at the Ecole, and who, -having taken his doctor’s degree, asked to be sent to a Faculty, was -ordered to go to the Lycée of Chaumont. - -In the face of this almost disgrace he wrote a despairing letter to -Pasteur. He could do nothing more, he said, his career was ruined. “My -dear sir,” answered Pasteur, “I much regret that I could not see you -before your departure for Chaumont. But here is the advice which I feel -will be useful to you. Do not manifest your just displeasure; but -attract attention from the very first by your zeal and talent. In a -word, aggravate, by your fine discharge of your new duties, the -injustice which has been committed. The discouragement expressed in -your last letter is not worthy of a man of science. Keep but three -objects before your eyes: your class, your pupils and the work you have -begun.... Do your duty to the best of your ability, without troubling -about the rest.” - -Pasteur undertook the rest himself. He went to the Ministry to complain -of the injustice and unfairness, from a general point of view, of that -nomination. - -“Sir,” answered the Chaumont exile, “I have received your kind letter. -My deep respect for every word of yours will guarantee my intention to -follow your advice. I have given myself up entirely to my class. I have -found here a Physics cabinet in a deplorable state, and I have -undertaken to reorganise it.” - -He had not time to finish: justice was done, and Paul Dalimier was made -_maître des conférences_ at the Ecole Normale. He died at twenty-eight. - -The wish that masters and pupils should remain in touch with each other -after the three years at the Ecole Normale had already in 1859 inspired -Pasteur to write a report on the desirableness of an annual report -entitled, _Scientific Annals of the Ecole Normale_. - -The initiative of pregnant ideas often is traced back to France. But, -through want of tenacity, she allows those same ideas to fall into decay -and they are taken up by other nations, transplanted, developed, until -they come back unrecognized to their mother country. Germany had seen -the possibilities of such a publication as Pasteur’s projected _Annals_. -Renan wrote about that time to the editors of the _Revue Germanique_, a -Review intended to draw France and Germany together: “In France, nothing -is made public until achieved and ripened. In Germany, a work is given -out provisionally, not as a teaching, but as an incitement to think, as -a ferment for the mind.” - -Pasteur felt all the power of that intellectual ferment. In the volume -entitled _Centenary of the Ecole Normale_, M. Gernez has recalled -Pasteur’s enthusiasm when he spoke of those _Annals_. Was it not for -former pupils, away in the provinces, a means of collaborating with -their old masters and of keeping in touch with Paris? - -It was in June, 1864, that Pasteur presented the first number of this -publication to the Académie des Sciences. M. Gernez, who was highly -thought of by Pasteur, has not related in the _Centenary_ that the book -opened with some of his own researches on the rotatory power of certain -liquids and their steam. - -At that same time, the heterogenists had at last placed themselves at -the disposal of the Académie and were invited to meet Pasteur before the -Natural History Commission at M. Chevreul’s laboratory. “I affirm,” said -Pasteur, “that in any place it is possible to take up from the ambient -atmosphere a determined volume of air containing neither egg nor spore -and producing no generation in putrescible solutions.” The Commission -declared that, the whole contest bearing upon one simple fact, one -experiment only should take place. The heterogenists wanted to -recommence a whole series of experiments, thus reopening the discussion. -The Commission refused, and the heterogenists, unwilling to concede the -point, retired from the field, repudiating the arbiters that they had -themselves chosen. - -And yet Joly had written to the Académie, “If one only of our flasks -remains pure, we will loyally own our defeat.” A scientist who later -became Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, Jamin, wrote -about this conflict: “The heterogenists, however they may have coloured -their retreat, have condemned themselves. If they had been sure of the -fact--which they had solemnly engaged to prove or to own themselves -vanquished,--they would have insisted on showing it, it would have been -the triumph of their doctrine.” - -The heterogenists appealed to the public. A few days after their defeat, -Joly gave a lecture at the Faculty of Medicine. He called the trial, as -decided on by the Commission, a “circus competition”; he was applauded -by those who saw other than scientific questions in the matter. The -problem was now coming down from mountains and laboratories into the -arena of society discussions. If all comes from a germ, people said, -whence came the first germ? We must bow before that mystery, said -Pasteur; it is the question of the origin of all things, and absolutely -outside the domain of scientific research. But an invincible curiosity -exists amongst most men which cannot admit that science should have the -wisdom to content itself with the vast space between the beginning of -the world and the unknown future. Many people transform a question of -fact into a question of faith. Though Pasteur had brought into his -researches a solely scientific preoccupation, many people approved or -blamed him as the defender of a religious cause. - -Vainly had he said, “There is here no question of religion, philosophy, -atheism, materialism, or spiritualism. I might even add that they do not -matter to me as a scientist. It is a question of fact; when I took it up -I was as ready to be convinced by experiments that spontaneous -generation exists as I am now persuaded that those who believe it are -blindfolded.” - -It might have been thought that Pasteur’s arguments were in support of a -philosophical theory! It seemed impossible to those whose ideas came -from an ardent faith, from the influence of their surroundings, from -personal pride or from interested calculations to understand that a man -should seek truth for its own sake and with no other object than to -proclaim it. Hostilities were opened, journalists kept up the fire. A -priest, the Abbé Moigno spoke of converting unbelievers through the -proved non-existence of spontaneous generation. The celebrated novelist, -Edmond About, took up Pouchet’s cause with sparkling irony. “M. Pasteur -preached at the Sorbonne amidst a concert of applause which must have -gladdened the angels.” - -Thus, among the papers and reviews of that time we can follow the divers -ideas brought out by these discussions. Guizot, then almost eighty, -touched on this problem with the slightly haughty assurance of one -conscious of having given much thought to his beliefs and destiny. “Man -has not been formed through spontaneous generation, that is by a -creative and organizing force inherent in matter; scientific observation -daily overturns that theory, by which, moreover, it is impossible to -explain the first appearance upon the earth of man in his complete -state.” And he praised “M. Pasteur, who has brought into this question -the light of his scrupulous criticism.” - -Nisard was a wondering witness of what took place in the small -laboratory of the Ecole Normale. Ever preoccupied by the relations -between science and religion, he heard with some surprise Pasteur saying -modestly, “Researches on primary causes are not in the domain of -Science, which only recognizes facts and phenomena which it can -demonstrate.” - -Pasteur did not disinterest himself from the great problems which he -called the eternal subjects of men’s solitary meditations. But he did -not admit the interference of religion with science any more than that -of science with religion. - -His eagerness during a conflict was only equalled by his absolute -forgetfulness after the conflict was over. He answered some one who, -years later, reminded him of that past so full of attacks and praises. -“A man of science should think of what will be said of him in the -following century, not of the insults or the compliments of one day.” - -Pasteur, anxious to regain lost time, hurried to return to his studies -on wine. “Might not the diseases of wines,” he said at the Académie des -Sciences in January, 1864, “be caused by organized ferments, microscopic -vegetations, of which the germs would develop when certain circumstances -of temperature, of atmospheric variations, of exposure to air, would -favour their evolution or their introduction into wines?... I have -indeed reached this result that the alterations of wines are co-existent -with the presence and multiplication of microscopic vegetations.” Acid -wines, bitter wines, “ropy” wines, sour wines, he had studied them all -with a microscope, his surest guide in recognizing the existence and -form of the evil. - -As he had more particularly endeavoured to remedy the cause of the -acidity which often ruins the Jura red or white wines in the wood, the -town of Arbois, proud of its celebrated rosy and tawny wines, placed an -impromptu laboratory at his disposal during the holidays of 1864; the -expenses were all to be covered by the town. “This spontaneous offer -from a town dear to me for so many reasons,” answered Pasteur to the -Mayor and Town Council, “does too much honour to my modest labours, and -the way in which it is made covers me with confusion.” He refused it -however, fearing that the services he might render should not be -proportionate to the generosity of the Council. He preferred to camp out -with his curators in an old coffee room at the entrance of the town, and -they contented themselves with apparatus of the most primitive -description, generally made by some local tinker or shoeing smith. - -The problem consisted, in Pasteur’s view, in opposing the development of -organized ferments or parasitic vegetations, causes of the diseases of -wines. After some fruitless endeavours to destroy all vitality in the -germs of these parasites, he found that it was sufficient to keep the -wine for a few moments at a temperature of 50° C. to 60° C. “I have also -ascertained that wine was never altered by that preliminary operation, -and as nothing prevents it afterwards from undergoing the gradual -action of the oxygen in the air--the only cause, as I think, of its -improvement with age--it is evident that this process offers every -advantage.” - -It seems as if that simple and practical means, applicable to every -quality of wine, now only had to be tried. But not so. Every progress is -opposed by prejudice, petty jealousies, indolence even. A devoted -obstinacy is required in order to overcome this opposition. Pasteur’s -desire was that his country should benefit by his discovery. An -Englishman had written to him: “People are astonished in France that the -sale of French wines should not have become more extended here since the -Commercial Treaties. The reason is simple enough. At first we eagerly -welcomed those wines, but we soon had the sad experience that there was -too much loss occasioned by the diseases to which they are subject.” - -Pasteur was in the midst of those discussions, experimental sittings, -etc., when J. B. Dumas suddenly asked of him the greatest of sacrifices, -that of leaving the laboratory. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -1865--1870 - - -An epidemic was ruining in terrible proportions the industry of the -cultivation of silkworms. J. B. Dumas had been desired, as Senator, to -draw up a report on the wishes of over 3,500 proprietors in -sericicultural departments, all begging the public authorities to study -the question of the causes of the protracted epidemic. Dumas was all the -more preoccupied as to the fate of sericiculture that he himself came -from one of the stricken departments. He was born on July 14, 1800, in -one of the back streets of the town of Alais, to which he enjoyed -returning as a celebrated scientist and a dignitary of the Empire. He -gave much attention to all the problems which interested the national -prosperity and considered that the best judges in these matters were the -men of science. He well knew the conscientious tenacity--besides other -characteristics--which his pupil and friend brought into any -undertaking, and anxiously urged him to undertake this study. “Your -proposition,” wrote Pasteur in a few hurried lines, “throws me into a -great perplexity; it is indeed most flattering and the object is a high -one, but it troubles and embarrasses me! Remember, if you please, that I -have never even touched a silkworm. If I had some of your knowledge on -the subject I should not hesitate; it may even come within the range of -my present studies. However, the recollection of your many kindnesses to -me would leave me bitter regrets if I were to decline your pressing -invitation. Do as you like with me.” On May 17, 1865, Dumas wrote: “I -attach the greatest value to seeing your attention fixed on the question -which interests my poor country; the distress is beyond anything you can -imagine.” - -Before his departure for Alais, Pasteur had read an essay on the history -of the silkworm, published by one of his colleagues, Quatrefages, born -like Dumas in the Gard. Quatrefages attributed to an Empress of China -the first knowledge of the art of utilizing silk, more than 4,000 years -ago. The Chinese, in possession of the precious insect, had jealously -preserved the monopoly of its culture, even to the point of making it a -capital offence to take beyond the frontiers of the Empire the eggs of -the silkworm. A young princess, 2,000 years later, had the courage to -infringe this law for love of her betrothed, whom she was going to join -in the centre of Asia, and also through the almost equally strong desire -to continue her fairy-like occupation after her marriage. - -Pasteur appreciated the pretty legend, but was more interested in the -history of the acclimatizing of the mulberry tree. From Provence Louis -XI took it to Touraine: Catherine de Medici planted it in Orléanais. -Henry IV had some mulberry trees planted in the park at Fontainebleau -and in the Tuileries where they succeeded admirably. He also encouraged -a _Treatise on the Gathering of Silk_ by Olivier de Serres. This -earliest agricultural writer in France was much appreciated by the king, -in spite of the opposition of Sully, who did not believe in this new -fortune for France. Documentary evidence is lacking as to the -development of the silk industry. - -From 1700 to 1788, wrote Quatrefages, France produced annually about -6,000,000 kilogrammes of cocoons. This was decreased by one-half under -the Republic; wool replaced silk perhaps from necessity, perhaps from -affectation. - -Napoleon I restored that luxury. The sericicultural industry prospered -from the Imperial Epoch until the reign of Louis Philippe, to such an -extent as to reach in one year a total of 20,000,000 kilogrammes of -cocoons, representing 100,000,000 francs. The name of Tree of Gold given -to the mulberry, had never been better deserved. - -Suddenly all these riches fell away. A mysterious disease was destroying -the nurseries. “Eggs, worms, chrysalides, moths, the disease may -manifest itself in all the organs,” wrote Dumas in his report to the -Senate. “Whence does it come? how is it contracted? No one knows. But -its invasion is recognized by little brown or black spots.” It was -therefore called “corpuscle disease”; it was also designated as -“_gattine_” from the Italian _gattino_, kitten; the sick worms held up -their heads and put out their hooked feet like cats about to scratch. -But of all those names, that of “pébrine” adopted by Quatrefages was the -most general. It came from the patois word _pébré_ (pepper). The spots -on the diseased worms were, in fact, rather like pepper grains. - -The first symptoms had been noticed by some in 1845, by others in 1847. -But in 1849 it was a disaster. The South of France was invaded. In 1853, -seed had to be procured from Lombardy. After one successful year the -same disappointments recurred. Italy was attacked, also Spain and -Austria. Seed was procured from Greece, Turkey, the Caucasus, but the -evil was still on the increase; China itself was attacked, and, in 1864, -it was only in Japan that healthy seed could be found. - -Every hypothesis was suggested, atmospheric conditions, degeneration of -the race of silkworms, disease of the mulberry tree, etc.--books and -treatises abounded, but in vain. - -When Pasteur started for Alais (June 16, 1865), entrusted with this -scientific mission by the Minister of Agriculture, his mind saw but that -one point of interrogation, “What caused these fatal spots?” On his -arrival he sympathetically questioned the Alaisians. He received -confused and contradictory answers, indications of chimerical remedies; -some cultivators poured sulphur or charcoal powder on the worms, some -mustard meal or castor sugar; ashes and soot were used, quinine powders, -etc. Some cultivators preferred liquids, and syringed the mulberry -leaves with wine, rum or absinthe. Fumigations of chlorine, of coal tar, -were approved by some and violently objected to by others. Pasteur, more -desirous of seeking the origin of the evil than of making a census of -these remedies, unceasingly questioned the nursery owners, who -invariably answered that it was something like the plague or cholera. -Some worms languished on the frames in their earliest days, others in -the second stage only, some passed through the third and fourth -moultings, climbed the twig and spun their cocoon. The chrysalis became -a moth, but that diseased moth had deformed antennæ and withered legs, -the wings seemed singed. Eggs (technically called seed) from those moths -were inevitably unsuccessful the following year. Thus, in the same -nursery, in the course of the two months that a larva takes to become a -moth, the pébrine disease was alternately sudden or insidious: it burst -out or disappeared, it hid itself within the chrysalis and reappeared in -the moth or the eggs of a moth which had seemed sound. The discouraged -Alaisians thought that nothing could overcome pébrine. - -Pasteur did not admit such resignation. But he began by one aspect only -of the problem. He resolved to submit those corpuscles of the silkworm -which had been observed since 1849 to microscopical study. He settled -down in a small _magnanerie_ near Alais; two series of worms were being -cultivated. The first set was full grown; it came from some Japanese -seed guaranteed as sound, and had produced very fine cocoons. The -cultivator intended to keep the seed of the moths to compensate himself -for the failure of the second set, also of Japanese origin, but not -officially guaranteed. The worms of this second series were sickly and -did not feed properly. And yet these worms, seen through the microscope, -only exceptionally presented corpuscles; whilst Pasteur was surprised to -find some in almost every moth or chrysalis from the prosperous nursery. -Was it then elsewhere than in the worms that the secret of the pébrine -was to be found? - -Pasteur was interrupted in the midst of his experiments by a sudden -blow. Nine days after his arrival, a telegram called him to Arbois: his -father was very ill. He started, full of anguish, remembering the sudden -death of his mother before he had had time to reach her, and that of -Jeanne, his eldest daughter, who had also died far away from him in the -little house at Arbois. His sad presentiment oppressed him during the -whole of the long journey, and was fully justified; he arrived to find, -already in his coffin, the father he so dearly loved and whose name he -had made an illustrious one. - -In the evening, in the empty room above the tannery, Pasteur wrote: -“Dear Marie, dear children, the dear grandfather is no more; we have -taken him this morning to his last resting place, close to little -Jeanne’s. In the midst of my grief I have felt thankful that our little -girl had been buried there.... Until the last moment I hoped I should -see him again, embrace him for the last time ... but when I arrived at -the station I saw some of our cousins all in black, coming from Salins; -it was only then that I understood that I could but accompany him to the -grave. - -“He died on the day of your first communion, dear Cécile; those two -memories will remain in your heart, my poor child. I had a presentiment -of it when that very morning, at the hour when he was struck down, I was -asking you to pray for the grandfather at Arbois. Your prayers will -have been acceptable unto God, and perhaps the dear grandfather himself -knew of them and rejoiced with dear little Jeanne over Cécile’s piety. - -“I have been thinking all day of the marks of affection I have had from -my father. For thirty years I have been his constant care, I owe -everything to him. When I was young he kept me from bad company and -instilled into me the habit of working and the example of the most loyal -and best-filled life. He was far above his position both in mind and in -character.... You did not know him, dearest Marie, at the time when he -and my mother were working so hard for the children they loved, for me -especially, whose books and schooling cost so much.... And the touching -part of his affection for me is that it never was mixed with ambition. -You remember that he would have been pleased to see me the headmaster of -Arbois College? He foresaw that advancement would mean hard work, -perhaps detrimental to my health. And yet I am sure that some of the -success in my scientific career must have filled him with joy and pride; -his son! his name! the child he had guided and cherished! My dear -father, how thankful I am that I could give him some satisfaction! - -“Farewell, dearest Marie, dear children. We shall often talk of the dear -grandfather. How glad I am that he saw you all again a short time ago, -and that he lived to know little Camille. I long to see you all, but -must go back to Alais, for my studies would be retarded by a year if I -could not spend a few days there now. - -“I have some ideas on this disease, which is indeed a scourge for all -those southern departments. The one _arrondissement_ of Alais has lost -an income of 120,000,000 francs during the last fifteen years. M. Dumas -is a million times right; it must be seen to, and I am going to continue -my experiments. I am writing to M. Nisard to have the admission -examinations in my absence, which can easily be done.” - -Nisard wrote to him (June 19): “My dear friend, I heard of your loss, -and I sympathize most cordially with you.... Take all the time necessary -to you. You are away in the service of science, probably of humanity. -Everything will be done according to your precise indications. I foresee -no difficulty ... everything is going on well at the Ecole. In spite of -your reserve--which is a part of your talent--I see that you are on the -track, as M. Biot would have said, and that you will have your prey. -Your name will stand next to that of Olivier de Serres in the annals of -sericiculture.” - -On his return to Alais Pasteur went back to his observations with his -scientific ardour and his customary generous eagerness to lighten the -burden of others. He wrote in the introduction to his _Studies on -Silkworm Disease_ the following heartfelt lines-- - -“A traveller coming back to the Cévennes mountains after an absence of -fifteen years would be saddened to see the change wrought in that -countryside within such a short time. Formerly he might have seen robust -men breaking up the rock to build terraces against the side and up to -the summit of each mountain; then planting mulberry trees on these -terraces. These men, in spite of their hard work, were then bright and -happy, for ease and contentment reigned in their homes. - -“Now the mulberry plantations are abandoned, the ‘golden tree’ no longer -enriches the country, faces once beaming with health and good humour are -now sad and drawn. Distress and hunger have succeeded to comfort and -happiness.” - -Pasteur thought with sorrow of the sufferings of the Cévenol -populations. The scientific problem was narrowing itself down. Faced by -the contradictory facts that one successful set of cocoons had produced -corpuscled moths, while an apparently unsuccessful set of worms showed -neither corpuscles nor spots, he had awaited the last period of these -worms with an impatient curiosity. He saw, amongst those which had -started spinning, some which as yet showed no spots and no corpuscles. -But corpuscles were abundant in the chrysalides, those especially which -were in full maturity, on the eve of becoming moths; and none of the -moths were free from them. Perhaps the fact that the disease appeared in -the chrysalis and moth only explained the failures of succeeding series. -“It was a mistake,” wrote Pasteur (June 26, 1865), “to look for the -symptom, the corpuscle, exclusively in the eggs or the worms; either -might carry in themselves the germ of the disease, without presenting -distinct and microscopically visible corpuscles.” The evil developed -itself chiefly in the chrysalides and the moths, it was there that it -should chiefly be sought. There should be an infallible means of -procuring healthy seed by having recourse to moths free from -corpuscles. - -This idea was like a searchlight flashed into the darkness. Pasteur thus -formulated his hypothesis: “Every moth containing corpuscles must give -birth to diseased seed. If a moth only has a few corpuscles, its eggs -will provide worms without any, or which will only develop them towards -the end of their life. If the moth is much infected, the disease will -show itself in the earliest stages of the worm, either by corpuscles or -by other unhealthy symptoms.” - -Pasteur studied hundreds of moths under the microscope. Nearly all, two -or three couples excepted, were corpuscled, but that restricted quantity -was increased by a precious gift. Two people, who had heard Pasteur -ventilate his theories, brought him five moths born of a local race of -silkworms and nurtured in the small neighbouring town of Anduze in the -Turkish fashion, i.e. without any of the usual precautions consisting in -keeping the worms in nurseries heated at an equal temperature. -Everything having been tried, this system had also had its turn, without -any appreciable success. By a fortunate circumstance, four out of those -five moths were healthy. - -Pasteur looked forward to the study in comparisons that the following -spring would bring when worms were hatched both from the healthy and the -diseased seed. In the meanwhile, only a few of the Alaisians, including -M. Pagès, the Mayor, and M. de Lachadenède, really felt any confidence -in these results. Most of the other silkworm cultivators were disposed -to criticize everything, without having the patience to wait for -results. They expressed much regret that the Government should choose a -“mere chemist” for those investigations instead of some zoologist or -silkworm cultivator. Pasteur only said, “Have patience.” - -He returned to Paris, where fresh sorrow awaited him: Camille, his -youngest child, only two years old, was seriously ill. He watched over -her night after night, spending his days at his task in the laboratory, -and returning in the evening to the bedside of his dying child. During -that same period he was asked for an article on Lavoisier by J. B. -Dumas, who had been requested by the Government to publish his works. - -“No one,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur--“has read Lavoisier with more -attention than you have; no one can judge of him better.... The chance -which caused me to be born before you has placed me in communication -with surroundings and with men in whom I have found the ideas and -feelings which have guided me in this work. But, had it been yours, I -should have allowed no one else to be the first in drawing the world’s -attention to it. It is from this motive, also from a certain conformity -of tastes and of principles which has long made you dear to me, that I -now ask you to give up a few hours to Lavoisier.” - -“My dear and illustrious master,” answered Pasteur (July 18, 1865), “in -the face of your letter and its expressions of affectionate confidence, -I cannot refuse to submit to you a paper which you must promise to throw -away if it should not be exactly what you want. I must also ask you to -grant me much time, partly on account of my inexperience, and partly on -account of the fatigue both mental and bodily imposed on me by the -illness of our dear child.” - -Dumas replied: “Dear friend and colleague, I thank you for your kind -acquiescence in Lavoisier’s interests, which might well be your own, for -no one at this time represents better than you do his spirit and -method,--a method in which reasoning had more share than anything else. - -“The art of observation and that of experimentation are very distinct. -In the first case, the fact may either proceed from logical reasons or -be mere good fortune; it is sufficient to have some penetration and the -sense of truth in order to profit by it. But the art of experimentation -leads from the first to the last link of the chain, without hesitation -and without a blank, making successive use of Reason, which suggests an -alternative, and of Experience, which decides on it, until, starting -from a faint glimmer, the full blaze of light is reached. Lavoisier made -this art into a method, and you possess it to a degree which always -gives me a pleasure for which I am grateful to you. - -“Take your time. Lavoisier has waited seventy years! It is a century -since his first results were produced! What are weeks and months? - -“I feel for you with all my heart! I know how heartrending are those -moments by the deathbed of a suffering child. I hope and trust this -great sorrow will be spared you, as indeed you deserve that it should -be.” - -The promise made by Dumas to give to France an edition of Lavoisier’s -works dated very far back. It was in May, 1836, in one of his eloquent -lectures at the Collège de France, that Dumas had declared his intention -of raising a scientific monument to the memory of this, perhaps the -greatest of all French scientists. He had hoped that a Bill would be -passed by the Government of Louis Philippe decreeing that this edition -of Lavoisier’s works would be produced at the expense of the State. But -the usual obstacles and formalities came in the way. Governments -succeeded each other, and it was only in 1861 that Dumas obtained the -decree he wished for and that the book appeared. - -Certainly Pasteur knew and admired as much as any one the discoveries of -Lavoisier. But, in the presence of the series of labours accomplished, -in spite of many other burdens, during that life cut off in its prime by -the Revolutionary Tribunal (1792), labours collated for the first time -by Dumas, Pasteur was filled with a new and vivid emotion. His logic in -reasoning and his patience in observing nature had in no wise diminished -the impetuous generosity of his feelings; a beautiful book, a great -discovery, a brilliant exploit or a humble act of kindness would move -him to tears. Concerning such a man as Lavoisier, Pasteur’s curiosity -became a sort of worship. He would have had the history of such a life -spread everywhere. “Though one discovery always surpasses another, and -though the chemical and physical knowledge accumulated since his time -has gone beyond all Lavoisier’s dreams,” wrote Pasteur, “his work, like -that of Newton and a few other rare spirits, will remain ever young. -Certain details will age, as do the fashions of another time, but the -foundation, the method, constitute one of those great aspects of the -human mind, the majesty of which is only increased by years....” - -Pasteur’s article appeared in the _Moniteur_ and was much praised by the -celebrated critic Sainte Beuve, whose literary lectures were often -attended by Pasteur, between 1857 and 1861. The chronological order that -we are following in this history of Pasteur’s life allows us to follow -the ideas and feelings with which he lived his life of hard daily work -combined with daily devotion to others. Joys and sorrows can be -chronicled, thanks to the confidences of those who loved him. His fame -is indeed part of the future, but the tenderness which he inspired -revives the memories of the past. - -In September, 1865, little Camille died. Pasteur took the tiny coffin to -Arbois and went back to his work. A letter written in November alludes -to the depth of his grief. - -It was à propos of a candidature to the Académie des Sciences, Sainte -Beuve was asked to help that of a young friend of his, Charles Robin. -Robin occupied a professor’s chair specially created for him at the -_Faculté de Médecine_; he had made a deep microscopical study of the -tissues of living bodies, of cellular life, of all which constitutes -histology. He was convinced that outside his own studies, numerous -questions would fall more and more into the domain of experimentation, -and he believed that the faith in spiritual things could not “stand the -struggle against the spirit of the times, wholly turned to positive -things.” He did not, like Pasteur, understand the clear distinction -between the scientist on the one hand and the man of sentiment on the -other, each absolutely independent. Neither did he imitate the reserve -of Claude Bernard who did not allow himself to be pressed by any urgent -questioner into enrolment with either the believers or the unbelievers, -but answered: “When I am in my laboratory, I begin by shutting the door -on materialism and on spiritualism; I observe facts alone; I seek but -the scientific conditions under which life manifests itself.” Robin was -a disciple of Auguste Comte, and proclaimed himself a Positivist, a word -which for superficial people was the equivalent of materialist. The same -efforts which had succeeded in keeping Littré out of the Académie -Française in 1863 were now attempted in order to keep Robin out of the -Académie des Sciences in 1865. - -Sainte Beuve, whilst studying medicine, had been a Positivist; his quick -and impressionable nature had then turned to a mysticism which had -inspired him to pen some fine verses. He had now returned to his former -philosophy, but kept an open mind, however, criticism being for him not -the art of dictating, but of understanding, and he was absolutely averse -to irrelevant considerations when a candidature was in question. - -The best means with Pasteur, who was no diplomat, was to go straight to -the point. Sainte Beuve therefore wrote to him: “Dear Sir, will you -allow me to be indiscreet enough to solicit your influence in favour of -M. Robin, whose work I know you appreciate? - -“M. Robin does not perhaps belong to the same philosophical school as -you do; but it seems to me--from an outsider’s point of view--that he -belongs to the same scientific school. If he should differ -essentially--whether in metaphysics or otherwise--would it not be worthy -of a great scientist to take none but positive work into account? -Nothing more, nothing less. - -“Forgive me; I have much resented the injustice towards you of certain -newspapers, and I have sometimes asked myself if there were not some -simple means of showing up all that nonsense, and of disproving those -absurd and ill-intentioned statements. If M. Robin deserves to be of the -Académie why should he not attain to it through you?... - -“My sense of gratitude towards you for those four years during which you -have done me the honour of including such a man as you are in my -audience, also a feeling of friendship, are carrying me too far. I -intended to mention this to you the other day at the Princess’s; she had -wished me to do so, but I feel bolder with a pen....” - -The Princess in question was Princess Mathilde. Her salon, a rendezvous -of men of letters, men of science and artists, was a sort of second -Academy which consoled Théophile Gautier for not belonging to the other. -Sainte Beuve prided himself on being, so to speak, honorary secretary to -this accomplished and charming hostess. - -Pasteur answered by return of post. “Sir and illustrious colleague, I -feel strongly inclined towards M. Robin, who would represent a new -scientific element at the Academy--the microscope applied to the study -of the human organism. I do not trouble about his philosophical school -save for the harm it may do to his work.... I confess frankly, however, -that I am not competent on the question of our philosophical schools. Of -M. Comte I have only read a few absurd passages; of M. Littré I only -know the beautiful pages you were inspired to write by his rare -knowledge and some of his domestic virtues. My philosophy is of the -heart and not of the mind, and I give myself up, for instance, to those -feelings about eternity which come naturally at the bedside of a -cherished child drawing its last breath. At those supreme moments, there -is something in the depths of our souls which tells us that the world -may be more than a mere combination of phenomena proper to a mechanical -equilibrium brought out of the chaos of the elements simply through the -gradual action of the forces of matter. I admire them all, our -philosophers! We have experiments to straighten and modify our ideas, -and we constantly find that nature is other than we had imagined. They, -who are always guessing, how can they know!...” - -Sainte Beuve was probably not astonished at Pasteur’s somewhat hasty -epithet applied to Auguste Comte, whom he had himself defined as “an -obscure, abstruse, often diseased brain.” After Robin’s election he -wrote to his “dear and learned colleague”-- - -“I have not allowed myself to thank you for the letter, so beautiful, if -I may say so, so deep and so exalted in thought, which you did me the -honour of writing in answer to mine. Nothing now forbids me to tell you -how deeply I am struck with your way of thinking and with your action in -this scientific matter.” - -That “something in the depths of our souls” of which Pasteur spoke in -his letter to Sainte Beuve, was often perceived in his conversation; -absorbed as he was in his daily task, he yet carried in himself a -constant aspiration towards the Ideal, a deep conviction of the reality -of the Infinite and a trustful acquiescence in the Mystery of the -universe. - -During the last term of the year 1865, he turned from his work for a -time in order to study cholera. Coming from Egypt, the scourge had -lighted on Marseilles, then on Paris, where it made in October more than -two hundred victims per day; it was feared that the days of 1832 would -be repeated, when the deaths reached twenty-three per 1,000. Claude -Bernard, Pasteur, and Sainte Claire Deville went into the attics of the -Lariboisière hospital, above a cholera ward. - -“We had opened,” said Pasteur, “one of the ventilators communicating -with the ward; we had adapted to the opening a glass tube surrounded by -a refrigerating mixture, and we drew the air of the ward into our tube, -so as to condense into it as many as we could of the products of the air -in the ward.” - -Claude Bernard and Pasteur afterwards tried blood taken from patients, -and many other things; they were associated in those experiments, which -gave no result. Henri Sainte Claire Deville once said to Pasteur, -“Studies of that sort require much courage.” “What about duty?” said -Pasteur simply, in a tone, said Deville afterwards, worth many sermons. -The cholera did not last long; by the end of the autumn all danger had -disappeared. - -Napeoleon the Third loved science, and found in it a sense of assured -stability which politics did not offer him. He desired Pasteur to come -and spend a week at the Palace of Compiègne. - -The very first evening a grand reception took place. The diplomatic -world was represented by M. de Budberg, ambassador of Russia, and the -Prussian ambassador, M. de Goltz. Among the guests were: Dr. Longet, -celebrated for his researches and for his _Treatise on Physiology_, a -most original physician, whose one desire was to avoid patients and so -have more time for pure science; Jules Sandeau, the tender and delicate -novelist, with his somewhat heavy aspect of a captain in the Garde -Nationals; Paul Baudry, the painter, then in the flower of his youth and -radiant success; Paul Dubois, the conscientious artist of the _Chanteur -Florentin_ exhibited that very year; the architect, Viollet le Duc, an -habitué of the palace. The Emperor drew Pasteur aside towards the -fireplace, and the scientist soon found himself instructing his -Sovereign, talking about ferments and molecular dissymmetry. - -Pasteur was congratulated by the courtiers on the favour shown by this -immediate confidential talk, and the Empress sent him word that she -wished him to talk with her also. Pasteur remembered this conversation, -an animated one, a little disconnected, chiefly about animalculæ, -infusories and ferments. When the guests returned to the immense -corridor into which the rooms opened, each with the name of the guests -on the door, Pasteur wrote to Paris for his microscope and for some -samples of diseased wines. - -The next morning a stag hunt was organized; riders in handsome costumes, -open carriages drawn by six horses and containing guests, entered the -forest; a stag was soon brought to bay by the hounds. In the evening, -after dinner, there was a torchlight procession in the great courtyard. -Amid a burst of trumpets, the footmen in state livery, standing in a -circle, held aloft the flaming torches. In the centre, a huntsman held -part of the carcase of the stag and waved it to and fro before the -greedy eyes of the hounds, who, eager to hurl themselves upon it, and -now restrained by a word, then let loose, and again called back all -trembling at their discomfiture, were at length permitted to rush upon -and devour their prey. - -The next day offered another item on the programme, a visit to the -castle of Pierrefonds, marvellously restored by Viollet le Duc at the -expense of the Imperial purse. Pasteur, who, like the philosopher, might -have said, “I am never bored but when I am being entertained,” made his -arrangements so that the day should not be entirely wasted. He made an -appointment for his return with the head butler, hoping to find a few -diseased wines in the Imperial cellar. That department, however, was so -well administered that he was only able to find seven or eight -suspicious-looking bottles. The tall flunkeys, who scarcely realized the -scientific interest offered by a basketful of wine bottles, watched -Pasteur more or less ironically as he returned to his room, where he had -the pleasure of finding his microscope and case of instruments sent from -the Rue d’Ulm. He remained upstairs, absorbed as he would have been in -his laboratory, in the contemplation of a drop of bitter wine revealing -the tiny mycoderma which caused the bitterness. - -In the meanwhile some of the other guests were gathered in the smoking -room, smilingly awaiting the Empress’s five o’clock tea, whilst others -were busy with the preparations for the performance of Racine’s -_Plaideurs_, which Provost, Regnier, Got, Delaunay, Coquelin, and -Mademoiselle Jouassain were going to act that very evening in the -theatre of the palace. - -On the Sunday, at 4 p.m., he was received privately by their Majesties, -for their instruction and edification. He wrote in a letter to a friend: -“I went to the Emperor with my microscope, my wine samples, and all my -paraphernalia. When I was announced, the Emperor came up to meet me and -asked me to come in. M. Conti, who was writing at a table, rose to leave -the room, but was invited to stay. Then he fetched the Empress, and I -began to show their Majesties various objects under the microscope and -to explain them; it lasted a whole hour.” - -The Empress had been much interested, and wished that her five o’clock -friends--who were waiting in the room where tea was served--should also -acquire some notions of these studies. She merrily took up the -microscope, laughing at her new occupation of laboratory attendant, and -arrived thus laden in the drawing-room, much to the surprise of her -privileged guests. Pasteur came in behind her, and gave a short and -simple account of a few general ideas and precise discoveries. - -In the same way, the preceding week, Le Verrier[25] had spoken of his -planet, and Dr. Longet had given a lecture on the circulation of the -blood. That butterfly world of the Court, taking a momentary interest in -scientific things, did not foresee that the smallest discovery made in -the poor laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm would leave a more lasting -impression than the fêtes of the Tuileries of Fontainebleau and of -Compiègne. - -In the course of their private interview, Napoleon and Eugénie -manifested some surprise that Pasteur should not endeavour to turn his -discoveries and their applications to a source of legitimate profit. “In -France,” he replied, “scientists would consider that they lowered -themselves by doing so.” - -He was convinced that a man of pure science would complicate his life, -the order of his thoughts, and risk paralysing his inventive faculties, -if he were to make money by his discoveries. For instance, if he had -followed up the industrial results of his studies on vinegar, his time -would have been too much and too regularly occupied, and he would not -have been free for new researches. - -“My mind is free,” he said. “I am as full of ardour for the new question -of silkworm disease as I was in 1863, when I took up the wine question.” - -What he most wished was to be able to watch the growth of the silkworms -from the very first day, and to pursue without interruption this serious -study in which the future of France was interested. That, and the desire -to have one day a laboratory adequate to the magnitude of his works were -his only ambitions. On his return to Pam he obtained leave to go back to -Alais. - -“My dear Raulin,” wrote Pasteur to his former pupil in January, 1866. “I -am again entrusted by the Minister of Agriculture with a mission for the -study of silkworm disease, which will last at least five months, from -February 1 to the end of June. Would you care to join me?” - -Raulin excused himself; he was then preparing, with his accustomed slow -conscientiousness, his doctor’s thesis, a work afterwards considered by -competent judges to be a masterpiece. - -“I must console myself,” wrote Pasteur, expressing his regrets, “by -thinking that you will complete your excellent thesis.” - -One of Raulin’s fellow students at the Ecole Normale, M. Gernez, was now -a professor at the Collège Louis le Grand. His mind was eminently -congenial to Pasteur’s. Duruy, then Minister of Public Instruction, was -ever anxious to smooth down all difficulties in the path of science: he -gave a long leave of absence to M. Gernez, in order that he might take -Raulin’s place. Another young _Normalien_, Maillot, prepared to join the -scientific party, much to his delight. The three men left Paris at the -beginning of February. They began by spending a few days in an hotel at -Alais, trying to find a suitable house where they would set up their -temporary laboratory. After a week or two in a house within the town, -too far, to be convenient, from the restaurant where they had their -meals, Maillot discovered a lonely house at the foot of the Mount of the -Hermitage, a mountain once covered with flourishing mulberry trees, but -now abandoned, and growing but a few olive trees. - -This house, at Pont Gisquet, not quite a mile from Alais, was large -enough to hold Pasteur, his family and his pupils; a laboratory was soon -arranged in an empty orangery. - -“Then began a period of intense work,” writes M. Gernez. “Pasteur -undertook a great number of trials, which he himself followed in their -minutest details; he only required our help over similar operations by -which he tested his own. The result was that above the fatigues of the -day, easily borne by us strong young men, he had to bear the additional -burden of special researches, importunate visitors, and an equally -importunate correspondence, chiefly dealing out criticisms....” - -Madame Pasteur, who had been detained in Paris for her children’s -education, set out for Alais with her two daughters. Her mother being -then on a visit to the rector of the Chambéry Academy, M. Zevort, she -arranged to spend a day or two in that town. But hardly had she arrived -when her daughter Cécile, then twelve years old, became ill with typhoid -fever. Madame Pasteur had the courage not to ask her husband to leave -his work and come to her; but her letters alarmed him, and the anxious -father gave up his studies for a few days and arrived at Chambéry. The -danger at that time seemed averted, and he only remained three days at -Chambéry. Cécile, apparently convalescent, had recovered her smile, that -sweet, indefinable smile which gave so much charm to her serious, almost -melancholy face. She smiled thus for the last time at her little sister -Marie-Louise, about the middle of May, lying on a sofa by a sunny -window. - -On May 21, her doctor, Dr. Flesschutt, wrote to Pasteur: “If the -interest I take in the child were not sufficient to stimulate my -efforts, the mother’s courage would keep up my hopes and double my -ardent desire for a happy issue.” Cécile died on May 23 after a sudden -relapse. Pasteur only arrived at Chambéry in time to take to Arbois the -remains of the little girl, which were buried near those of his mother, -of his two other daughters, Jeanne and Camille, and of his father, -Joseph Pasteur. The little cemetery indeed represented a cup of sorrows -for Pasteur. - -“Your father has returned from his sad journey to Arbois,” wrote Madame -Pasteur from Chambéry to her son who was at school in Paris. “I did -think of going back to you, but I could not leave your poor father to go -back to Alais alone after this great sorrow.” Accompanied by her who was -his greatest comfort, and who gave him some of her own courage, Pasteur -came back to the Pont Gisquet and returned to his work. M. Duclaux in -his turn joined the hard-working little party. - -At the beginning of June, Duruy, with the solicitude of a Minister who -found time to be also a friend, wrote affectionately to Pasteur-- - -“You are leaving me quite in the dark, yet you know the interest I take -in your work. Where are you? and what are you doing? Finding out -something I feel certain....” - -Pasteur answered, “Monsieur le Ministre, I hasten to thank you for your -kind reminder. My studies have been associated with sorrow; perhaps your -charming little daughter, who used to play sometimes at M. Le Verrier’s, -will remember Cécile Pasteur among other little girls of her age that -she used to meet at the Observatoire. My dear child was coming with her -mother to spend the Easter holidays with me at Alais, when, during a -few days’ stay at Chambéry, she was seized with an attack of typhoid -fever, to which she succumbed after two months of painful suffering. I -was only able to be with her for a few days, being kept here by my work, -and full of deceiving hopes for a happy issue from that terrible -disease. - -“I am now wholly wrapped up in my studies, which alone take my thoughts -from my deep sorrow. - -“Thanks to the facilities which you have put in my way, I have been able -to collect a quantity of experimental observations, and I think I -understand on many points this disease which has been ruining the South -for fifteen or twenty years. I shall be able on my return to propose to -the Commission of Sericiculture a practical means of fighting the evil -and suppressing it in the course of a few years. - -“I am arriving at this result that there is no silkworm disease. There -is but an exaggeration of a state of things which has always existed, -and it is not difficult, in my view, to return to the former situation, -even to improve on it. The evil was sought for in the worm and even in -the seed; that was something, but my observations prove that it develops -chiefly in the chrysalis, especially in the mature chrysalis, at the -moment of the moth’s formation, on the eve of the function of -reproduction. The microscope then detects its presence with certitude, -even when the seed and the worm seem very healthy. The practical result -is this: you have a nursery full; it has been successful or it has not; -you wish to know whether to smother the cocoons or whether to keep them -for reproduction. Nothing is simpler. You hasten the development of -about 100 moths through an elevation of temperature, and you examine -these moths through the microscope, which will tell you what to do. - -“The sickly character is then so easy to detect that a woman or a child -can do it. If the cultivator should be a peasant, without the material -conditions required for this study, he can do this: instead of throwing -away the moths after they have laid their eggs, he can bottle a good -many of them in brandy and send them to a testing office or to some -experienced person who will determine the value of the seed for the -following year.” - -The Japanese Government sent some cases of seed supposed to be healthy -to Napoleon III, who distributed them in the silkworm growing -departments. Pasteur, in the meanwhile, was stating the results he had -arrived at, and they were being much criticized. In order to avoid the -pébrine, which was indeed the disease caused by the corpuscles so -clearly visible through the microscope, he averred that no seed should -be used that came from infected moths. In order to demonstrate the -infectious character of the pébrine he would give to some worms meals of -leaves previously contaminated by means of a brush dipped in water -containing corpuscles. The worms absorbed the food, and the disease -immediately appeared and could be found in the chrysalides and moths -from those worms. - -“I hope I am in the right road--close to the goal, perhaps, but I have -not yet reached it,” wrote Pasteur to his faithful Chappuis; “and as -long as the final proof is not acquired complications and errors are to -be feared. Next year, the growth of the numerous eggs I have prepared -will obviate my scruples, and I shall be sure of the value of the -preventive means I have indicated. It is tiresome to have to wait a year -before testing observations already made; but I have every hope of -success.” - -While awaiting the renewal of the silkworm season, he was busy editing -his book on wine, full of joy at contributing to the national riches -through practical application of his observations. It was, in fact, -sufficient to heat the wines by the simple process already at that time -known in Austria as _pasteurisation_, to free them from all germs of -disease and make them suitable for keeping and for exportation. He did -not accord much attention to the talk of old gourmets who affirmed that -wines thus “mummified” could not mellow with age, being convinced on the -contrary that the most delicate wines could only be improved by heating. -“The ageing of wines,” he said, “is due, not to fermentation, but to a -slow oxidation which is favoured by heat.” - -He alluded in his book to the interest taken by Napoleon III in those -researches which might be worth millions to France. He also related how -the Imperial solicitude had been awakened, and acknowledged gratitude -for this to General Favé, one of the Emperor’s aides de camp. - -The General, on reading the proofs, declared that his name must -disappear. Pasteur regretfully gave in to his scruples, but wrote the -following words on the copy presented to General Favé: “General, this -book contains a serious omission--that of your name: it would be an -unpardonable one had it not been made at your own request, according to -your custom of keeping your good works secret. Without you, these -studies on wine would not exist; you have helped and encouraged them. -Leave me at least the satisfaction of writing that name on the first -page of this copy, of which I beg you to accept the homage, while -renewing the expression of my devoted gratitude.” - -Another incident gives us an instance of Pasteur’s kindness of heart. In -the year 1866 Claude Bernard suffered from a gastric disease so serious -that his doctors, Rayer and Davaine, had to admit their impotence. -Bernard was obliged to leave his laboratory and retire to his little -house at St. Julien (near Villefranche), his birthplace. But the charm -of his recollections of childhood was embittered by present sadness. His -mind full of projects, his life threatened in its prime, he had the -courage, a difficult thing to unselfish people, of resolutely taking -care of himself. But preoccupied solely with his own diet, his own body -now a subject for experiments, he became a prey to a deep melancholia. -Pasteur, knowing to what extent moral influences react on the physique, -had the idea of writing a review of his friend’s works, and published it -in the _Moniteur Universel_ of November 7, 1866, under the following -title: _Claude Bernard: the Importance of his Works, Teaching and -Method_. He began thus: “Circumstances have recently caused me to -re-peruse the principal treatises which have founded the reputation of -our great physiologist, Claude Bernard. - -“I have derived from them so great a satisfaction, and my admiration for -his talent has been confirmed and increased to such an extent that I -cannot resist the somewhat rash desire of communicating my -impressions....” - -Amongst Claude Bernard’s discoveries, Pasteur chose that which seemed to -him most instructive, and which Claude Bernard himself appreciated most: -“When M. Bernard became in 1854 a candidate for the Académie des -Sciences, his discovery of the glycogenic functions of the liver was -neither the first nor the last among those which had already placed him -so high in the estimation of men of science; yet it was by that one that -he headed his list of the claims which could recommend him to the -suffrages of the illustrious body. That preference on the part of the -master decides me in mine.” - -Claude Bernard had begun by meditating deeply on the disease known as -diabetes and which is characterized, as everybody knows, by a -superabundance of sugar in the whole of the organism, the urine often -being laden with it. But how is it, wondered Claude Bernard, that the -quantity of sugar expelled by a diabetic patient can so far surpass that -with which he is provided by the starchy or sugary substances which form -part of his food? How is it that the presence of sugary matter in the -blood and its expulsion through urine are never completely arrested, -even when all sugary or starchy alimentation is suppressed? Are there in -the human organism sugar-producing phenomena unknown to chemists and -physiologists? All the notions of science were contrary to that mode of -thinking; it was affirmed that the vegetable kingdom only could produce -sugar, and it seemed an insane hypothesis to suppose that the animal -organism could fabricate any. Claude Bernard dwelt upon it however, his -principle in experimentation being this: “When you meet with a fact -opposed to a prevailing theory, you should adhere to the fact and -abandon the theory, even when the latter is supported by great -authorities and generally adopted.” - -This is what he imagined, summed up in a few words by Pasteur-- - -“Meat is an aliment which cannot develop sugar by the digestive process -known to us. Now M. Bernard having fed some carnivorous animals during a -certain time exclusively with meat, he assured himself, with his precise -knowledge of the most perfect means of investigation offered him by -chemistry, that the blood which enters the liver by the portal vein and -pours into it the nutritive substances prepared and rendered soluble by -digestion is absolutely devoid of sugar; whilst the blood which issues -from the liver by the hepatic veins is always abundantly provided with -it.... M. Claude Bernard has also thrown full light on the close -connection which exists between the secretion of sugar in the liver and -the influence of the nervous system. He has demonstrated, with a rare -sagacity, that by acting on some determined portion of that system it -was possible to suppress or exaggerate at will the production of sugar. -He has done more still; he has discovered within the liver the existence -of an absolutely new substance which is the natural source whence this -organ draws the sugar that it produces.” - -Pasteur, starting from this discovery of Claude Bernard’s, spoke of the -growing close connection between medicine and physiology. Then, with his -constant anxiety to incite students to enthusiasm, he recommended them -to read the lectures delivered by Bernard at the Collège de France. -Speaking of the _Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine_, -Pasteur wrote: “A long commentary would be necessary to present this -splendid work to the reader; it is a monument raised to honour the -method which has constituted Physical and Chemical Science since Galileo -and Newton, and which M. Bernard is trying to introduce into physiology -and pathology. Nothing so complete, so profound, so luminous has ever -been written on the true principles of the difficult art of -experimentation.... This book will exert an immense influence on medical -science, its teaching, its progress, its language even.” Pasteur took -pleasure in adding to his own tribute praise from other sources. He -quoted, for instance, J. B. Dumas’ answer to Duruy, who asked him, “What -do you think of this great physiologist?” “He is not a great -physiologist; he is Physiology itself.” “I have spoken of the man of -science,” continued Pasteur. “I might have spoken of the man in everyday -life, the colleague who has inspired so many with a solid friendship, -for I should seek in vain for a weak point in M. Bernard; it is not to -be found. His personal distinction, the noble beauty of his physiognomy, -his gentle kindliness attract at first sight; he has no pedantry, none -of a scientist’s usual faults, but an antique simplicity, a perfectly -natural and unaffected manner, while his conversation is deep and full -of ideas....” Pasteur, after informing the public that the graver -symptoms of Bernard’s disease had now disappeared, ended thus: “May the -publicity now given to these thoughts and feelings cheer the illustrious -patient in his enforced idleness, and assure him of the joy with which -his return will be welcomed by his friends and colleagues.” - -The very day after this article reached him (November 19, 1860) Bernard -wrote to Pasteur: “My dear friend,--I received yesterday the _Moniteur_ -containing the superb article you have written about me. Your great -praise indeed makes me proud, though I feel I am yet very far from the -goal I would reach. If I return to health, as I now hope I may do, I -think I shall find it possible to pursue my work in a more methodical -order and with more complete means of demonstration, better indicating -the general idea towards which my various efforts converge. In the -meanwhile it is a very precious encouragement to me to be approved and -praised by a man such as you. Your works have given you a great name, -and have placed you in the first rank among experimentalists of our -time. The admiration which you profess for me is indeed reciprocated; -and we must have been born to understand each other, for true science -inspires us both with the same passion and the same sentiments. - -“Forgive me for not having answered your first letter; but I was really -not equal to writing the notice you wanted. I have deeply felt for you -in your family sorrow; I have been through the same trial, and I can -well understand the sufferings of a tender and delicate soul such as -yours.” - -Henri Sainte Claire Deville, who was as warm-hearted as he was witty, -had, on his side, the ingenious idea of editing an address of collective -wishes for Claude Bernard, who answered: “My dear friend,--You are -evidently as clever in inventing friendly surprises as in making great -scientific discoveries. It was indeed a most charming idea, and one for -which I am very grateful to you--that of sending me a collective letter -from my friends. I shall carefully preserve that letter: first, because -the feelings it expresses are very dear to me; and also because it is a -collection of illustrious autographs which should go down to posterity. -I beg you will transmit my thanks to our friends and colleagues, E. -Renan, A. Maury, F. Ravaisson and Bellaguet. Tell them how much I am -touched by their kind wishes and congratulations on my recovery. It is, -alas, not yet a cure, but I hope I am on a fair way to it. - -“I have received the article Pasteur has written about me in the -_Moniteur_; that article paralysed the vasomotor nerves of my -sympathetic system, and caused me to blush to the roots of my hair. I -was so amazed that I don’t know what I wrote to Pasteur; but I did not -dare say to him that he had wrongly exaggerated my merits. I know he -believes all that he writes, and I am happy and proud of his opinion, -because it is that of a scientist and experimentalist of the very first -rank. Nevertheless, I cannot help thinking that he has seen me through -the prism of his kindly heart, and that I do not deserve such excessive -praise. I am more than thankful for all the marks of esteem and -friendship which are showered upon me. They make me cling closer to -life, and feel that I should be very foolish not to take care of myself -and continue to live amongst those who love me, and who deserve my love -for all the happiness they give me. I intend to return to Paris some -time this month, and, in spite of your kind advice, I should like to -take up my Collège de France classes again this winter. I hope to be -allowed not to begin before January. But we shall talk of all this in -Paris. I remain your devoted and affectionate friend.” - -To end this academic episode, we will quote from Joseph Bertrand’s -letter of thanks to Pasteur, who had sent him the article: “...The -public will learn, among other things, that the eminent members of the -Academy admire and love each other sometimes with no jealousy. This was -rare in the last century, and, if all followed your example, we should -have over our predecessors one superiority worth many another.” - -Thus Pasteur showed himself a man of sentiment as well as a man of -science; the circle of his affections was enlarging, as was the scope of -his researches, but without any detriment to the happy family life of -his own intimate circle. That little group of his family and close -friends identified itself absolutely with his work, his ideas and his -hopes, each member of it willingly subordinating his or her private -interests to the success of his investigations. He was at that time -violently attacked by his old adversaries as well as his new -contradictors. Pouchet announced everywhere that the question of -spontaneous generation was being taken up again in England, in Germany, -in Italy and in America. Joly, Pouchet’s inseparable friend, was about -to make some personal studies and to write some general considerations -on the new silkworm campaign. Pasteur, who had confidently said, “The -year 1867 must be the last to bear the complaints of silkworm -cultivators!” went back to Alais in January, 1867. But, before leaving -Paris, Pasteur wrote out for himself a list of various improvements and -reforms which he desired to effect in the administration of the Ecole -Normale, showing that his interest in the great school had by no means -abated, in spite of his necessary absence. He brought with him his wife -and daughter, and Messrs. Gernez and Maillot; M. Duclaux was to come -later. The worms hatched from the eggs of healthy moths and those from -diseased ones were growing more interesting every day; they were in -every instance exactly what Pasteur had prophesied they would be. But -besides studying his own silkworms, he liked to see what was going on -in neighbouring _magnaneries_. A neighbour in the Pont Gisquet, a -cultivator of the name of Cardinal, had raised with great success a -brood originating from the famous Japanese seed. He was disappointed, -however, in the eggs produced by the moths, and Pasteur’s microscope -revealed the fact that those moths were all corpuscled, in spite of -their healthy origin. Pasteur did not suspect that origin, for the worms -had shown health and vigour through all their stages of growth, and -seemed to have issued from healthy parents. But Cardinal had raised -another brood, the produce of unsound seed, immediately above these -healthy worms. The excreta from this second brood could fall on to the -frames of those below them, and the healthy worms had become -contaminated. Pasteur demonstrated that the pébrine contagion might take -place in one or two different ways: either from direct contact between -the worms on the same frame, or by the soiling of the food from the very -infectious excreta. The remedy for the pébrine seemed now found. “The -corpuscle disease,” said Pasteur, “is as easily avoided as it is easily -contracted.” But when he thought he had reached his goal a sudden -difficulty rose in his way. Out of sixteen broods of worms which he had -raised, and which presented an excellent appearance, the sixteenth -perished almost entirely immediately after the first moulting. “In a -brood of a hundred worms,” wrote Pasteur, “I picked up fifteen or twenty -dead ones every day, black and rotting with extraordinary rapidity.... -They were soft and flaccid like an empty bladder. I looked in vain for -corpuscles; there was not a trace of them.” - -Pasteur was temporarily troubled and discouraged. But he consulted the -writings of former students of silkworm diseases, and, when he -discovered vibriones in those dead worms, he did not doubt that he had -under his eyes a well characterized example of the flachery disease--a -disease independent and distinct from the pébrine. He wrote to Duruy, -and acquainted him with the results he had obtained and the obstacles he -encountered. Duruy wrote back on April 9, 1867-- - -“Thank you for your letter and the good news it contains. - -“Not very far from you, at Avignon, a statue has been erected to the -Persian who imported into France the cultivation of madder; what then -will not be done for the rescuer of two of our greatest industries! Do -not forget to inform me when you have mastered the one or two lame -facts which still stand in the way. As a citizen, as head of the -Université, and, if I may say so, as your friend, I wish I could follow -your experiments day by day. - -“You know that I should like to found a special college at Alais. Please -watch for any useful information on that subject. We will talk about it -on your return. - -“I am obliged to M. Gernez for his assiduous and intelligent -collaboration with you.” - -This letter from the great Minister is all the more interesting that it -is dated from the eve of the day when the law on the reorganization of -primary teaching was promulgated. - -The introduction into the curriculum of historical and geographical -notions; the inauguration of 10,000 schools and 30,000 adult classes; -the transformation of certain flagging classical colleges into technical -training schools; a constant struggle to include the teaching of girls -in Université organization; reforms and improvements in general -teaching; the building of laboratories, etc., etc.--into the -accomplishment of all these projects Duruy carried his bold and -methodical activity. No one was more suited than he to the planning out -of a complete system of national education. He and Pasteur were indeed -fitted to understand each other, for each had in the same degree those -three forms of patriotism: love for the land, memories for the past, and -hero worship. - -In May, 1867, Pasteur received at Alais the news that a grand prize -medal of the 1867 exhibition was conferred upon him for his works on -wines. He hastened to write to Dumas-- - -“My dear master, ... Nothing has surprised me more--or so -agreeably,--than the news of this Exhibition prize medal, which I was -far from expecting. It is a new proof of your kindness, for I feel sure -that I have to thank you for originating such a favour. I shall do all I -can to make myself worthy of it by my perseverance in putting all -difficulties aside from the subject I am now engaged in, and in which -the light is growing brighter every day. If that flachery disease had -not come to complicate matters, everything would be well by now. I -cannot tell you how absolutely sure I now feel of my conclusions -concerning the corpuscle disease. I could say a great deal about the -articles of Messrs. Béchamp, Estor and Balbiani, but I will follow your -advice and answer nothing....” - -Dumas had been advising Pasteur not to waste his time by answering his -adversaries and contradictors. Pasteur’s system was making way; ten -microscopes were set up, here and there, in the town of Alais; most seed -merchants were taking up the examination of the dead moths, and the -Pont-Gisquet colony had samples brought in daily for inspection. “I have -already prevented many failures for next year,” he wrote to Dumas (June, -1867), “but I always beg as a favour that a little of the condemned seed -may be raised, so as to confirm the exactness of my judgment.” - -His system was indeed quite simple; at the moment when the moths leave -their cocoons and mate with each other, the cultivator separates them -and places each female on a little square of linen where it lays its -eggs. The moth is afterwards pinned up in a corner of the same square of -linen, where it gradually dries up; later on, in autumn or even in -winter, the withered moth is moistened in a little water, pounded in a -mortar, and the paste examined with a microscope. If the least trace of -corpuscles appears the linen is burnt, together with the seed which -would have perpetuated the disease. - -Pasteur came back to Paris to receive his medal; perhaps his presence -was not absolutely necesary, but he did not question the summons he -received. He always attached an absolute meaning to words and to things, -not being one of those who accept titles and homage with an inward and -ironical smile. - -The pageant of that distribution of prizes was well worth seeing, and -July 1, 1867, is now remembered by many who were children at that time. -Paris afforded a beautiful spectacle; the central avenue of the -Tuileries garden, the Place de la Concorde, the Avenue des Champs -Elysées, were lined along their full length by regiments of infantry, -dragoons, Imperial Guards, etc., etc., standing motionless in the bright -sunshine, waiting for the Emperor to pass. The Imperial carriage, drawn -by eight horses, escorted by the Cent-Gardes in their pale blue uniform, -and by the Lancers of the Household, advanced in triumphant array. -Napoleon III sat next to the Empress, the Prince Imperial and Prince -Napoleon facing them. From the Palais de l’Elysée, amidst equally -magnificent ceremonial, the Sultan Abdul-Aziz and his son arrived; then -followed a procession of foreign princes: the Crown Prince of Prussia, -the Prince of Wales, Prince Humbert of Italy, the Duke and Duchess of -Aosta, the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, all of whom have since borne a -part in European politics. They entered the Palais de l’Industrie and -sat around the throne. From the ground to the first floor an immense -stand was raised, affording seats for 17,000 persons. The walls were -decorated with eagles bearing olive branches, symbolical of strength and -peace. The Emperor in his speech dwelt upon these hopes of peace, whilst -the Empress in white satin, wearing a diadem, and surrounded by -white-robed princesses, brightly smiled at these happy omens. - -On their names being called out, the candidates who had won Grand -Prizes, and those about to be promoted in the Legion of Honour, went up -one by one to the throne. Marshal Vaillant handed each case to the -Emperor, who himself gave it to the recipient. This old Field-Marshal, -with his rough bronzed face, who had been a captain in the retreat from -Moscow and was now a Minister of Napoleon III, seemed a natural and -glorious link between the First and the Second Empires. He was born at -Dijon in humble circumstances, of which he was somewhat proud, a very -cultured soldier, interested in scientific things, a member of the -Institute. The names of certain members of the Legion of Honour promoted -to a higher rank, such as Gérôme and Meissonier, that of Ferdinand de -Lesseps, rewarded for the achievement of the Suez Canal, excited great -applause. Pasteur was called without provoking an equal curiosity: his -scientific discoveries, in spite of their industrial applications, being -as yet known but to a few. “I was struck,” writes an eye-witness, “with -his simplicity and gravity; the seriousness of his life was visible in -his stern, almost sad eyes.” - -At the end of the ceremony, when the Imperial procession left the Palais -de l’Industrie, an immense chorus, accompanied by an orchestra, sang -_Domine salvum fac imperatorem_. - -On his return to his study in the Rue d’Ulm, Pasteur again took up the -management of the scientific studies of the Ecole Normale. But an -incident put an end to his directorship, while bringing perturbation -into the whole of the school. Sainte Beuve was the indirect cause of -this small revolution. The Senate, of which he was a member, had had to -examine a protest from 102 inhabitants of St. Etienne against the -introduction into their popular libraries of the works of Voltaire, J. -J. Rousseau, Balzac, E. Renan, and others. The committee had approved -this petition in terms which identified the report with the petition -itself. Sainte Beuve, too exclusively literary in his tastes, and too -radical in his opinions to be popular in the Senate, rose violently -against this absolute and arbitrary judgment, forgetting everything but -the jeopardy of free opinions before the excessive and inquisitorial -zeal of the Senate. His speech was very unfavourably received, and one -of his colleagues, M. Lacaze, aged sixty-eight, challenged him to a -duel. Sainte Beuve, himself then sixty-three years old, refused to enter -into what he called “the summary jurisprudence which consists in -strangling a question and suppressing a man within forty-eight hours.” - -The students of the Ecole Normale deputed one of their number to -congratulate Sainte Beuve on his speech, and wrote the following -letter-- - -“We have already thanked you for defending freedom of thought when -misjudged and attacked; now that you have again pleaded for it, we beg -you to receive our renewed thanks. - -“We should be happy if the expression of our grateful sympathy could -console you for this injustice. Courage is indeed required to speak in -the Senate in favour of the independence and the rights of thought; but -the task is all the more glorious for being more difficult. Addresses -are now being sent from everywhere; you will forgive the students of the -Ecole Normale for having followed the general lead and having sent their -address to M. Sainte Beuve.” - -This letter was published in a newspaper. Etienne Arago published it -without remembering the Université by-laws which forbade every sort of -political manifestation to the students. It had given pleasure to Sainte -Beuve, the pleasure that elderly men take in the applause of youth; but -he soon became uneasy at the results of this noisy publicity. - -Nisard, the Director of the school, could not very well tolerate this -breach of discipline. In spite of the entreaties of Sainte Beuve, the -student who had signed the letter was provisionally sent back to his -family. His comrades revolted at this and imperiously demanded his -immediate restoration. Pasteur attempted to pacify them by speaking to -them, but failed utterly; his influence was very great over his own -pupils, the students on the scientific side, but the others, the -“_littéraires_,” were the most violent on this question, and he was not -diplomatic and conciliating enough to bring them round. They rose in a -body, marched to the door, and the whole school was soon parading the -streets. “Before such disorder,” concluded the _Moniteur_, relating the -incident (July 10), “the authorities were obliged to order an immediate -closure. The school will be reconstituted and the classes will reopen on -October 15.” - -Both the literary and the political world were temporarily agitated; the -Minister was interviewed. M. Thiers wrote to Pasteur on July 10: “My -dear M. Pasteur,--I have been talking with some members of the Left, and -I am certain or almost certain, that the Ecole Normale affair will be -smoothed over in the interest of the students. M. Jules Simon intends to -work in that direction; keep this information for yourself, and do the -best you can on your side.” - -At the idea that the Ecole was about to be reconstituted, that is, that -the three great chiefs, Nisard, Pasteur and Jacquinet, would be changed, -deep regret was manifested by Pasteur’s scientific students. One of -them, named Didon, expressed it in these terms: “If your departure from -the school is not definitely settled, if it is yet possible to prevent -it, all the students of the Ecole will be only too happy to do -everything in their power.... As for me, it is impossible to express my -gratitude towards you. No one has ever shown me so much interest, and -never in my life shall I forget what you have done for me.” - -Pasteur’s interest in young men, his desire to excite in them scientific -curiosity and enthusiasm, were now so well known that Didon and several -others who had successfully passed the entrance examinations both for -the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Normale, had chosen to enter the -latter in order to be under him; by the _Normaliens_ of the scientific -section, he was not only understood and admired, but beloved, almost -worshipped. - -Sainte Beuve, who continued to be much troubled at the consequences of -his speech, wrote to the Minister of Public Instruction in favour of the -rusticated student. Duruy thought so much of Sainte Beuve that the -student, instead of being exiled to some insignificant country school, -was made professor of _seconde_ in the college of Sens. But it was -specified that in the future no letter should be written, no public -responsibility taken in the name of the Ecole without the authorization -of the Director. - -Nisard left; Dumas had just been made President of the Monetary -Commission, thus leaving vacant a place as Inspector-General of Higher -Education. Duruy, anxious to do Pasteur justice, thought this post most -suitable to him as it would allow him to continue his researches. The -decree was about to be signed, when Balard, professor of chemistry at -the Faculty of Sciences, applied for the post. Pasteur wrote -respectfully to the Minister of Public Instruction (July 31): “Your -Excellency must know that twenty years ago, when I left the Ecole -Normale, I was made a curator, thanks to M. Balard, who was then a -professor at the Ecole Normale. A grateful pupil cannot enter into -competition with a revered master, especially for a post where -considerations of age and experience should have great weight.” - -When Pasteur spoke of his masters, dead or living, Biot or Senarmont, -Dumas or Balard, it might indeed have been thought that to them alone he -owed it that he was what he was. He was heard on this occasion, and -Balard obtained the appointment. - -Nisard was succeeded by M. F. Bouillier, whose place as -Inspector-General of Secondary Education devolved on M. Jacquinet. The -directorship of scientific studies was given to Pasteur’s old and -excellent friend, the faithful Bertin. After teaching in Alsace for -eighteen years, he had become _maître des conférences_ at the Ecole -Normale in 1866, and also assistant of Regnault at the Collège de -France. It had only been by dint of much persuasion that Pasteur had -enticed him to Paris. “What is the good?” said the unambitious Bertin; -“beer is not so good in Paris as in Strasburg.... Pasteur does not -understand life; he is a genius, that is all!” But, under this apparent -indolence, Bertin was possessed of the taste for and the art of -teaching; Pasteur knew this, and, when Bertin was appointed, Pasteur’s -fears for the scientific future of his beloved Ecole were abated. Duruy, -much regretting the break of Pasteur’s connection with the great school, -offered him the post of _maître des conférences_, besides the chair of -chemistry which Balard’s appointment had left vacant at the Sorbonne. -But Pasteur declined the tempting offer; he knew the care and trouble -that his public lectures cost him, and felt that the two posts would be -beyond his strength; if his time were taken up by that double task it -would be almost impossible for him to pursue his private researches, -which under no circumstances would he abandon. - -He carried his scruples so far as to give up his chemistry professorship -at the School of Fine Arts, where he had been lecturing since 1863. He -had endeavoured in his lessons to draw the attention of his artist -pupils, who came from so many distant places, to the actual principles -of Science. “Let us always make application our object,” he said, “but -resting on the stern and solid basis of scientific principles. Without -those principles, application is nothing more than a series of recipes -and constitutes what is called routine. Progress with routine is -possible, but desperately slow.” - -Another reason prevented him from accepting the post offered him at the -Ecole Normale; this was that the tiny pavilion which he had made his -laboratory was much too small and too inconvenient to accommodate the -pupils he would have to teach. The only suitable laboratory at the Ecole -was that of his friend, Henri Sainte Claire Deville, and Pasteur was -reluctant to invade it. He had a great affection for his brilliant -colleague, who was indeed a particularly charming man, still youthful in -spite of his forty-nine summers, active, energetic, witty. “I have no -wit,” Pasteur would say quite simply. Deville was a great contrast to -his two great friends, Pasteur and Claude Bernard, with their grave -meditative manner. He enjoyed boarding at the Ecole and having his meals -at the students’ table, where his gaiety brightened and amused -everybody, effacing the distance between masters and pupils and yet -never losing by this familiar attitude a particle of the respect he -inspired. - -Sometimes, however, when preoccupied with the heavy expenses of his -laboratory, he would invite himself to lunch with Duruy, from whom--as -from the Emperor or any one else--he usually succeeded in coaxing what -he wanted. The general state of things connected with higher education -was at that time most deplorable. The Sorbonne was as Richelieu had left -it--the Museum was sadly inadequate. At the Collège de France, it was -indeed impossible to call by the name of laboratory the narrow, damp and -unhealthy cellars, which Claude Bernard called “scientists’ graves,” and -where he had contracted the long illness from which he was only just -recovering. - -Duruy understood and deplored this penury, but his voice was scarcely -heard in cabinet councils, the other Ministers being absorbed in -politics. Pasteur, whose self-effacing modesty disappeared when the -interests of science were in question, presented to Napoleon, through -the medium of his enlightened aide de camp, General Favé, the following -letter, a most interesting one, for, in it, possibilities of future -discoveries are hinted at, which later became accomplished facts. - -“Sire,--My researches on fermentations and on microscopic organisms have -opened to physiological chemistry new roads, the benefit of which is -beginning to be felt both by agricultural industries and by medical -studies. But the field still to be explored is immense. My great desire -would be to explore it with a new ardour, unrestrained by the -insufficiency of material means. - -“I should wish to have a spacious laboratory, with one or two outhouses -attached to it, which I could make use of when making experiments -possibly injurious to health, such as might be the scientific study of -putrid and infectious diseases. - -“How can researches be attempted on gangrene, virus or inoculations, -without a building suitable for the housing of animals, either dead or -alive? Butchers’ meat in Europe reaches an exorbitant price, in Buenos -Ayres it is given away. How, in a small and incomplete laboratory, can -experiments be made, and various processes tested, which would -facilitate its transport and preservation? The so-called ‘splenic fever’ -costs the Beauce[26] about 4,000,000 francs annually; it would be -indispensable to go and spend some weeks in the neighbourhood of -Chartres during several consecutive summers, and make minute -observations. - -“These researches and a thousand others which correspond in my mind to -the great act of transformation after death of organic matter, and the -compulsory return to the ground and atmosphere of all which has once -been living, are only compatible with the installation of a great -laboratory. The time has now come when experimental science should be -freed from its bonds....” - -The Emperor wrote to Duruy the very next day, desiring that Pasteur’s -wish should be acceded to. Duruy gladly acquiesced and plans began to be -drawn out. Pasteur, who scarcely dared believe in these bright hopes, -was consulted about the situation, size, etc., of the future building, -and looked forward to obtaining the help of Raulin, his former pupil, -when he had room enough to experiment on a larger scale. The proposed -site was part of the garden of the Ecole Normale, where the pavilion -already existing could be greatly added to. - -In the meanwhile Pasteur was interviewed by the Mayor and the President -of the Chamber of Commerce of Orleans, who begged him to come to Orleans -and give a public lecture on the results of his studies on vinegar. He -consented with pleasure, ever willing to attempt awakening the interest -of the public in his beloved Science--“Science, which brings man nearer -to God.” - -It was on the Monday, November 11, at 7.30 p.m., that Pasteur entered -the lecture room at Orleans. A great many vinegar manufacturers, some -doctors, apothecaries, professors, students, even ladies, had come to -hear him. An account in a contemporary local paper gives us a -description of the youngest member of the Académie des Sciences as he -appeared before the Orleans public. He is described as of a medium -height, his face pale, his eyes very bright through his glasses, -scrupulously neat in his dress, with a tiny Legion of Honour rosette in -his button hole. - -He began his lecture with the following simple words: “The Mayor and the -President of the Chamber of Commerce having heard that I had studied the -fermentation which produces vinegar, have asked me to lay before the -vinegar makers of this town the results of my work. I have hastened to -comply with their request, fully sharing in the desire which instigated -it, that of being useful to an industry which is one of the sources of -the fortune of your city and of your department.” - -He tried to make them understand scientifically the well known fact of -the transformation of wine into vinegar. He showed that all the work -came from a little plant, a microscopic fungus, the _mycoderma aceti_. -After exhibiting an enlarged picture of that mycoderma, Pasteur -explained that the least trace of that little vinegar-making plant, sown -on the surface of any alcoholic and slightly acid liquid, was sufficient -to produce a prodigious extension of it; in summer or artificial heat, -said Pasteur, a surface of liquid of the same area as the Orleans -Lecture room could be covered in forty-eight hours. The mycodermic veil -is sometimes smooth and hardly visible, sometimes wrinkled and a little -greasy to the touch. The fatty matter which accompanies the development -of the plant keeps it on the surface, air being necessary to the plant; -it would otherwise perish and the acetification would be arrested. Thus -floating, the mycoderma absorbs oxygen from the air and fixes it on the -alcohol, which becomes transformed into acetic acid. - -Pasteur explained all the details in his clear powerful voice. Why, in -an open bottle, does wine left to itself become vinegar? Because, thanks -to the air, and to the mycoderma aceti (which need never be sown, being -ever mixed with the invisible dusts in the air), the chemical -transformation of wine into vinegar can take place. Why does not a full, -closed bottle become acetified? Because the mycoderma cannot multiply in -the absence of air. Wine and air heated in the same vessel will not -become sour, the high temperature having killed the germs of mycoderma -aceti both in the wine itself and in the dusts suspended in the air. -But, if a vessel containing wine previously heated is exposed to the -free contact of ordinary air, the wine may become sour, for, though the -germs in the wine have been killed, other germs may fall into it from -the air and develop. - -Finally, if pure alcoholized water does not become acetified, though -germs can drop into it from the air, it is because it does not offer to -those germs the food necessary to the plant--food which is present in -wine but not in alcoholized water. But if a suitable aliment for the -little plant is added to the water, acetification takes place. - -When the acetification is complete, the mycoderma, if not submerged, -continues to act, and, when not arrested in time, its oxidating power -becomes dangerous; having no more alcohol to act upon, it ends by -transforming acetic acid itself into water and carbonic acid gas, and -the work of death and destruction is thus achieved. - -Speaking of that last phase of the mycoderma aceti, he went on to -general laws--laws of the universe by which all that has lived must -disappear. “It is an absolute necessity that the matter of which living -beings are formed should return after their death to the ground and to -the atmosphere in the shape of mineral or gaseous substances, such as -steam, carbonic acid gas, ammoniac gas or nitrogen--simple principles -easily displaced by movements of the atmosphere and in which life is -again enabled to seek the elements of its indefinite perpetuity. It is -chiefly through acts of fermentation and slow combustion that this law -of dissolution and return to a gaseous state is accomplished.” - -Coming back to his special subject, he pointed out to vinegar -manufacturers the cause of certain failures and the danger of certain -errors. - -It was imagined for instance that some microscopic beings, anguillulæ, -of which Pasteur projected an enlarged wriggling image on the screen, -and which were to be found in the tubs of some Orleans vinegar works, -were of some practical utility. Pasteur explained their injurious -character: as they require air to live, and as the mycoderma, in order -to accomplish its work, is equally dependent on oxygen, a struggle takes -place between the anguillulæ and the mycoderma. If acetification is -successful, if the mycoderma spreads and invades everything, the -vanquished anguillulæ are obliged to take refuge against the sides of -the barrel, from which their little living army watches the least -accidental break of the veil. Pasteur, armed with a magnifying glass, -had many times witnessed the struggle for life which takes place between -the little fungi and the tiny animals, each fighting for the surface of -the liquid. Sometimes, gathering themselves into masses, the anguillulæ -succeed in sinking a fragment of the mycodermic veil and victoriously -destroying the action of the drowned plants. - -Pasteur related all this in a vivid manner, evidently happy that his -long and delicate laboratory researches should now pass into the domain -of industry. He had been pleased to find that some Orleans wine -merchants heated wine according to his advice in order to preserve it; -and he now informed them that the temperature of 55° C. which killed -germs and vegetations in wine could be applied with equal success to -vinegar after it was produced. The active germs of the mycoderma aceti -were thus arrested at the right moment, the anguillulæ were killed and -the vinegar remained pure and unaltered. “Nothing,” concluded Pasteur, -“is more agreeable to a man who has made science his career than to -increase the number of discoveries, but his cup of joy is full when the -result of his observations is put to immediate practical use.” - -This year 1867 marks a specially interesting period in Pasteur’s life. -At Alais he had shown himself an incomparable observer, solely -preoccupied with the silkworm disease, thinking, speaking of nothing -else. He would rise long before anyone else so as to begin earlier the -study of the experiments he had started, and would give his thought and -attention to some detail for hours at a time. After this minute -observation he would suddenly display a marvellous ingenuity in varying -tests, foreseeing and avoiding causes of error, and at last, after so -many efforts, a clear and decisive experiment would come, as it had done -in the cases of spontaneous generation and of ferments. - -The contrasts in his mind had their parallel in his character: this -usually thoughtful, almost dreamy man, absorbed in one idea, suddenly -revealed himself a man of action if provoked by some erroneous newspaper -report or some illogical statement, and especially when he heard of some -unscrupulous silkworm seed merchant sowing ruin in poor _magnaneries_ -for the sake of a paltry gain. When, on his return to Paris, he found -himself mixed up with the small revolution in the Ecole Normale, he was -seen to efface himself modestly before his masters when honours and -titles came in question. Now he had interrupted his researches in order -to do a kindness to the people of Orleans, who, practical as they were, -and perhaps a little disdainful of laboratory theories, had been -surprised to find him as careful of the smallest detail as they -themselves were. - -He was then in the full maturity of his forty-five years. His great -intuition, his imagination, which equalled any poet’s, often carried him -to a summit whence an immense horizon lay before him; he would then -suddenly doubt this imagination, resolutely, with a violent effort, -force his mind to start again along the path of experimental method, -and, surely and slowly, gathering proofs as he went, he would once more -reach his exalted and general ideas. This constant struggle within -himself was almost dramatic; the words “Perseverance in Effort,” which -he often used in the form of advice to others, or as a programme for his -own work, seemed to bring something far away, something infinite before -his dreamy eyes. - -At the end of the year, an obstacle almost arrested the great -experiments he contemplated. He heard that the promises made to him were -vanishing away, the necessary credit having been refused for the -building of the new laboratory. And this, Pasteur sadly reflected, when -millions and millions of francs were being spent on the Opera house! -Wounded in his feelings, both as a scientist and a patriot, he prepared -for the _Moniteur_, then the official paper, an article destined to -shake the culpable indifference of public authorities. - -“...The boldest conceptions,” he wrote, “the most legitimate -speculations can be embodied but from the day when they are consecrated -by observation and experiment. Laboratories and discoveries are -correlative terms; if you suppress laboratories, Physical Science will -become stricken with barrenness and death; it will become mere powerless -information instead of a science of progress and futurity; give it back -its laboratories, and life, fecundity and power will reappear. Away from -their laboratories, physicists and chemists are but disarmed soldiers on -a battlefield. - -“The deduction from these principles is evident: if the conquests useful -to humanity touch your heart--if you remain confounded before the -marvels of electric telegraphy, of anæsthesia, of the daguerreotype and -many other admirable discoveries--if you are jealous of the share your -country may boast in these wonders--then, I implore you, take some -interest in those sacred dwellings meaningly described as -_laboratories_. Ask that they may be multiplied and completed. They are -the temples of the future, of riches and of comfort. There humanity -grows greater, better, stronger; there she can learn to read the works -of Nature, works of progress and universal harmony, while humanity’s own -works are too often those of barbarism, of fanaticism and of -destruction. - -“Some nations have felt the wholesome breath of truth. Rich and large -laboratories have been growing in Germany for the last thirty years, and -many more are still being built; at Berlin and at Bonn two palaces, -worth four million francs each, are being erected for chemical studies. -St. Petersburg has spent three and a half million francs on a -Physiological Institute; England, America, Austria, Bavaria have made -most generous sacrifices. Italy too has made a start. - -“And France? - -“France has not yet begun....” He mentioned the sepulchre-like cellar -where the great physiologist, Claude Bernard, was obliged to live; “and -where?” wrote Pasteur. “In the very establishment which bears the name -of the mother country, the Collège de France!” The laboratory of the -Sorbonne was no better--a damp, dark room, one metre below the level of -the street. He went on, demonstrating that the provincial Faculties were -as destitute as those of Paris. “Who will believe me when I affirm that -the budget of Public Instruction provides not a penny towards the -progress of physical science in laboratories, that it is through a -tolerated administrative fiction that some scientists, considered as -professors, are permitted to draw from the public treasury towards the -expenses of their own work, some of the allowance made to them for -teaching purposes.” - -The manuscript was sent to the _Moniteur_ at the beginning of January, -1868. It had lately been publishing mild articles on Mussulman -architecture, then on herring fishing in Norway. The official whose -business it was to read over the articles sent to the paper literally -jumped in his chair when he read this fiery denunciation; he declared -those pages must be modified, cut down; the Administration could not be -attacked in that way, especially by one of its own functionaries! M. -Dalloz, the editor of the paper, knew that Pasteur would never consent -to any alterations; he advised him to show the proofs to M. Conti, -Napoleon III’s secretary. - -“The article cannot appear in the _Moniteur_, but why not publish it in -booklet form?” wrote M. Conti to Pasteur after having shown these -revelations to the Emperor. Napoleon, talking to Duruy the next day, -January 9, showed great concern at such a state of things. “Pasteur is -right,” said Duruy, “to expose such deficiencies; it is the best way to -have them remedied. Is it not deplorable, almost scandalous, that the -official world should be so indifferent on questions of science?” - -Duruy felt his combative instincts awakening. How many times, in spite -of his good humour and almost Roman intrepidity, he had asked himself -whether he would ever succeed in causing his ideas on higher education -to prevail with his colleagues, the other Ministers, who, carried away -by their daily discussions, hardly seemed to realize that the true -supremacy of a nation does not reside in speeches, but in the silent and -tenacious work of a few men of science and of letters. Pasteur’s article -entitled _Science’s Budget_ appeared first in the _Revue des cours -scientifiques_, then as a pamphlet. Pasteur, not content with this, -continued his campaign by impetuous speeches whenever the opportunity -offered. On March 10, he saw himself nearing his goal, and wrote to -Raulin: “There is now a marked movement in favour of Science; I think I -shall succeed.” - -Six days later, on March 16, whilst the Court was celebrating the -birthday of the Prince Imperial, Napoleon III, who, on reading Pasteur’s -article, had expressed his intention of consulting not only Pasteur, -but also Milne-Edwards, Claude Bernard, and Henri Sainte Claire Deville, -asked the four scientists to his study to meet Rouher, Marshal Vaillant -and Duruy, perhaps the three men of the Empire who were best qualified -to hear them. The Emperor in his slow, detached manner, invited each of -his guests to express his opinion on the course to follow. All agreed in -regretting that pure science should be given up. When Rouher said that -it was not to be wondered at that the reign of applied science should -follow that of pure science, “But if the sources of applications are -dried up!” interposed the Emperor hastily. Pasteur, asked to express his -opinion (he had brought with him notes of what he wished to say), -recalled the fact that the Natural History Museum and the Ecole -Polytechnique, which had had so great a share in the scientific movement -of the early part of the century, were no longer in that heroic period. -For the last twenty years the industrial prosperity of France had -induced the cleverest Polytechnicians to desert higher studies and -theoretical science, though the source of all applications was to be -found in theory. The Ecole Polytechnique was obliged now to recruit its -teaching staff outside, chiefly among Normaliens. What was to be done to -train future scientists? This: to maintain in Paris, during two or three -years, five or six graduates chosen from the best students of the large -schools as curators or preparation masters, doing at the Ecole -Polytechnique and other establishments what was done at the Ecole -Normale. Thanks to that special institution, science and higher teaching -would have a reserve of men who would become an honour to their country. -Next, and this was the second point, no less important than the first, -scientists should be given resources better appropriated to the pursuit -of their work; as in Germany, for instance, where a scientist would -leave one university for another on the express condition that a -laboratory should be built for him, “a laboratory,” said Pasteur, -“usually magnificent, not in its architecture (though sometimes that is -the case, a proof of the national pride in scientific glory), but in the -number and perfection of its appliances. Besides,” he added, “foreign -scientists have their private homes adjoining their laboratories and -collections,” indeed a most pressing inducement to work. - -Pasteur did not suggest that a scientist should give up teaching; he -recognized, on the contrary, that public teaching forces him to embrace -in succession every branch of the science he teaches. “But let him not -give too frequent or too varied lectures! they paralyze the faculties,” -he said, being well aware of the cost of preparing classes. He wished -that towns should be interested in the working and success of their -scientific establishments. The Universities of Paris, of Lyons, of -Strasburg, of Montpellier, of Lille, of Bordeaux, and of Toulouse, -forming as a whole the University of France, should be connected to the -neighbourhood which they honour in the same way that German universities -are connected with their surroundings. - -Pasteur had the greatest admiration for the German system: popular -instruction liberally provided, and, above it, an intellectually -independent higher teaching. Therefore, when the University of Bonn -resolved in that year, 1868, to offer him as a great homage the degree -of M.D. on account of his works on micro-organisms, he was proud to see -his researches rated at their proper value by a neighbouring nation. He -did not then suspect the other side of German nature, the military side, -then very differently preoccupied. Those preoccupations were pointed out -to the French Government in a spirit of prophecy, and with some -patriotic anguish, by two French officers, General Ducrot, commanding -since 1865 the 6th Military Division, whose headquarters were at -Strasburg, and Colonel Baron Stoffel, military attaché in Prussia since -1866. Their warnings were so little heeded that some Court intrigues -were even then on foot to transfer General Ducrot from Strasburg to -Bourges, so that he might no longer worry people with his monomania of -Prussian ambition. - -On March 10, the evening of the day when the Emperor decided upon making -improvements, and when Duruy felt assured, thanks to the promised -allowances, that he could soon offer to French professors “the necessary -appliances with which to compete with their rivals beyond the Rhine,” -Pasteur started for Alais, where his arrival was impatiently awaited, -both by partisans and adversaries of his experiments on silkworm -disease. He would much have liked to give the results of his work in his -inaugural lecture at the Sorbonne. “But,” he wrote to Duruy, “these are -but selfishly sentimental reasons, which must be outweighed by the -interest of my researches.” - -On his arrival he found to his joy that those who had practised seeding -according to his rigorous prescriptions had met with complete success. -Other silkworm cultivators, less well advised, duped by the decoying -appearances of certain broods, had not taken the trouble to examine -whether the moths were corpuscled; they were witnesses and victims of -the failure Pasteur had prophesied. He now looked upon pébrine as -conquered; but flachery remained, more difficult to prevent, being -greatly dependent upon the accidents which traverse the life of a -silkworm. Some of those accidents happen in spite of all precautions, -such as a sudden change of temperature or a stormy day; but at least the -leaves of the mulberry tree could be carefully kept from fermentation, -or from contamination by dusts in the nurseries. Either of those two -causes was sufficient to provoke a fatal disorder in silkworms, the -feeding of which is so important that they increase to fifteen thousand -times their own weight during the first month of their life. Accidental -flachery could therefore be avoided by hygienic precautions. In order to -prevent it from becoming hereditary, Pasteur--who had pointed out that -the micro-organism which causes it develops at first in the intestinal -canal of the worm and then becomes localized in the digestive cavity of -the chrysalis--advised the following means of producing a healthy strain -of silkworms: “This means,” writes M. Gernez, Pasteur’s assiduous -collaborator in these studies, “does not greatly complicate operations, -and infallibly ensures healthy seed. It consists in abstracting with the -point of a scalpel a small portion of the digestive cavity of a moth, -then mixing it with a little water and examining it with a microscope. -If the moths do not contain the characteristic micro-organism, the -strain they come from may unhesitatingly be considered as suitable for -seeding. The flachery micro-organism is as easily recognized as the -pébrine corpuscle.” - -The seed merchants, made uneasy by these discoveries which so gravely -jeopardized their industry, spread the most slanderous reports about -them and made themselves the willing echo of every imposture, however -incredible. M. Laurent wrote to his daughter, Madame Pasteur, in a -letter dated from Lyons (June 6): “It is being reported here that the -failure of Pasteur’s process has excited the population of your -neighbourhood so much that he has had to flee from Alais, pursued by -infuriated inhabitants throwing stones after him.” Some of these legends -lingered in the minds of ignorant people. - -Important news came from Paris to Pasteur in July, and on the 27th he -was able to write to Raulin: “The building of my laboratory is going to -be begun! the orders are given, and the money found. I heard this two -days ago from the Minister.” 30,000 francs had been allowed for the work -by the Minister of Public Instruction, and an equal sum was promised by -the Minister of the Emperor’s household. Duruy was preparing at the same -time a report on two projected decrees concerning laboratories for -teaching purposes and for research. “The laboratory for research,” wrote -Duruy, “will not be useful to the master alone, but more so even to the -students, thus ensuring the future progress of science. Students already -provided with extensive theoretical knowledge will be initiated in the -_teaching laboratories_ into the handling of instruments, elementary -manipulations, and what I may call classical practice; this will gather -them around eminent masters, from whom they will learn the art of -observation and methods of experiment.... It is with similar -institutions that Germany has succeeded in obtaining the great -development of experimental science which we are now watching with an -anxious sympathy.” - -Pasteur returned to Paris with his enthusiastic mind overflowing with -plans of all kinds of research. He wanted to be there when the builders -began their work on the narrow space in the Rue d’Ulm. He wrote to -Raulin on August 10, asking his opinion as he would that of an -architect; then went on to say, planning out his busy holidays: “I shall -leave Paris on the 16th with my wife and children to spend three weeks -at the seaside, at St. George’s, near Bordeaux. If you were free at the -end of the month, or at the beginning of September, I wish you could -accompany me to Toulon, where experiments on the heating of wines will -be made by the Minister of the Navy. Great quantities of heated and of -non-heated wine are to be sent to Gabon so as to test the process; at -present our colonial crews have to drink mere vinegar. A commission of -very enlightened men is formed and has begun studies with which it seems -satisfied.... See if you can join me at Bordeaux, where I shall await a -notice from the chairman of the Commission, M. de Lapparent, director of -naval construction at the Ministry of Marine.” - -The Commission mentioned by Pasteur had been considering for the last -two years the expediency of applying the heating process to wines -destined for the fleet and to the colonies. A first trial was made at -Brest on the contents of a barrel of 500 litres, half of which was -heated. Then the two wines were sealed in different barrels and placed -in the ship _Jean Bart_, which remained away from the harbour for ten -months. When the vessel returned, the Commission noted the limpidity and -mellowness of the heated wine, adding in the official report that the -wine had acquired the attractive colour peculiar to mature wines. The -non-heated wine was equally limpid, but it had an astringent, almost -acid flavour. It was still fit to drink, said the report, but it were -better to consume it rapidly, as it would soon be entirely spoilt. -Identical results were observed in some bottles of heated and non-heated -wines at Rochefort and Orleans. - -M. de Lapparent now organized a decisive experiment, to take place under -Pasteur’s superintendence. The frigate _la Sibylle_ started for a tour -round the world with a complete cargo of heated wine. Pasteur, who -returned to Arbois for a short rest before going back to Paris, wrote -from there to his early confidant, Chappuis (September 21, 1868): “I am -quite satisfied with my experiments at Toulon and with the success of -the Navy tests. We heated 650 hectolitres in two days; the rapidity of -this operation lends itself to quick and considerable commissariat -arrangements. Those 650 hectolitres will be taken to the West Coast of -Africa, together with 50 hectolitres of the same wine non-heated. If the -trial succeeds, that is to say if the 650 hectolitres arrive and can be -kept without alteration, and if the 50 hectolitres become spoilt (I feel -confident after the experiments I have made that such will be the -result), the question will be settled, and, in the future, all the wine -for the Navy will be ensured against disease by a preliminary heating. -The expense will not be more than five centimes per hectolitre. The -result of these experiments will have a great influence on the trade, -ever cautious and afraid of innovations. Yet we have seen, at Narbonne -in particular, some heating practised on a large scale by several -merchants who have spoken to me very favourably about it. The -exportation of our French wines will increase enormously, for at present -our ordinary table wines lend themselves to trade with England and other -countries beyond seas, but only by means of a strong addition of -alcohol, which raises their price and tampers with their hygienic -qualities.” - -The experiments were successful. Pasteur’s life was now over full. He -returned to Paris at the beginning of October, and threw himself into -his work, his classes at the Sorbonne, the organization of his -laboratory, some further polemics on the subject of silkworm disease, -and projected experiments for the following year. This accumulation of -mental work brought about extreme cerebral tension. - -As soon as he saw M. Gernez, he spoke to him of the coming campaign of -sericiculture, of his desire to reduce his adversaries to silence by -heaping proof upon proof. Nothing could relieve him from that absorbing -preoccupation, not even the gaiety of Bertin, who, living on the same -floor at the Ecole Normale, often used to come in after dinner and try -to amuse him. - -On Monday, October 19, Pasteur, though suffering from a strange tingling -sensation of the left side, had a great desire to go and read to the -Academié des Sciences a treatise by Salimbeni, an Italian, who, having -studied and verified Pasteur’s results, declared that the best means of -regenerating the culture of silkworms was due to the French scientist. -This treatise, the diploma of the Bonn University, the Rumford medal -offered by the English, all those testimonials from neighbouring nations -were infinitely agreeable to Pasteur, who was proud to lay such homage -before the shrine of France. On that day, October 19, 1868, a date which -became a bitter memory to his family and friends--in spite of an -alarming shivering fit which had caused him to lie down immediately -after lunch instead of working as usual--he insisted on going to the -Academy sitting at half past two. - -Mme. Pasteur, vaguely uneasy, made a pretext of some shopping beyond the -Quai Conti and accompanied him as far as the vestibule of the Institute. -As she was turning back, she met Balard, who was coming up with the -quick step of a young man, stopped him and asked him to walk back with -Pasteur, and not to leave him before reaching his own door, though -indeed it seemed a curious exchange of parts to ask Balard at sixty -years of age to watch over Pasteur still so young. Pasteur read -Salimbeni’s paper in his usual steady voice, remained until the end of -the sitting and walked back with Balard and Sainte Claire Deville. He -dined very lightly and went to bed at nine o’clock; he had hardly got -into bed when he felt himself attacked by the strange symptoms of the -afternoon. He tried to speak, but in vain; after a few moments he was -able to call for assistance. Mme. Pasteur sent at once for Dr. Godélier, -an intimate friend of the family, an army surgeon, Clinical Professor at -the Ecole du Val-de-Grâce[27]; and Pasteur, paralysed one moment and -free again the next, explained his own symptoms during the intervals of -the dark struggle which endangered his life. - -The cerebral hæmorrhage gradually brought about absence of movement -along the entire left side. When the next morning Dr. Noël Gueneau de -Mussy, going his regulation round of the Ecole Normale students, came -into his room and said, so as not to alarm him, “I heard you were -unwell, and thought I would come to see you,” Pasteur smiled the sad -smile of a patient with no illusions. Drs. Godélier and Gueneau de Mussy -decided to call Dr. Andral in consultation, and went to fetch him at -three o’clock at the Académie de Médecine. Somewhat disconcerted by the -singular character of this attack of hemiplegia, Andral prescribed the -application of sixteen leeches behind the ears; blood flowed abundantly, -and Dr. Godélier wrote in the evening bulletin (Tuesday): “Speech -clearer, some movements of the paralysed limbs; intelligence perfect.” -Later, at ten o’clock: “Complains of his paralysed arm.” “It is like -lead; if it could only be cut off!” groaned Pasteur. About 2 a.m. Mme -Pasteur thought all hope was gone. The hastily written bulletin reads -thus: “Intense cold, anxious agitation, features depressed, eyes -languid.” The sleep which followed was as the sleep of death. - -At dawn Pasteur awoke from this drowsiness. “Mental faculties still -absolutely intact,” wrote M. Godélier at 12.30 on Wednesday, October 21. -“The cerebral lesion, whatever it may be, is not worse; there is an -evident pause.” Two hours later the words, “Mind active,” were followed -by the startling statement, “Would willingly talk science.” - -While these periods of calm, agitation, renewed hopes, and despair were -succeeding each other in the course of those thirty-six hours, Pasteur’s -friends hastened to his bedside. He said to Henri Sainte Claire Deville, -one of the first to come: “I am sorry to die; I wanted to do much more -for my country.” Sainte Claire Deville, trying to hide his grief under -apparent confidence, answered, “Never fear; you will recover, you will -make many more marvellous discoveries, you will live happy days; I am -your senior, you will survive me. Promise me that you will pronounce my -funeral oration.... I wish you would; you would say nice things of me,” -he added between tears and smiles. - -Bertin, Gernez, Duclaux, Baulin, Didon, then a curator at the Ecole -Normale, Professor Auguste Lamy, the geologist Marcou (the two latter -being Franche-comté friends), all claimed the privilege of helping Mme. -Pasteur and M. Godélier in nursing one who inspired them all, not merely -with an admiring and devoted affection, but with a feeling of tenderness -amounting almost to a cult. - -A private letter from a cousin, Mme. Cribier, gives an idea of those -dark days (October 26, 1868): “The news is rather good this morning; the -patient was able to sleep for a few hours last night, which he had not -yet done. He had been so restless all day that M. Godélier felt uneasy -about him and ordered complete silence in the whole flat; it was only in -the study which is farthest away from the bedroom, and which has padded -doors, that one was allowed to talk. That room is full from morning till -night. All scientific Paris comes to inquire anxiously after the -patient; intimate friends take it in turns to watch by him. Dumas, the -great chemist, was affectionately insisting on taking his turn -yesterday. Every morning the Emperor and Empress send a footman for -news, which M. Godélier gives him in a sealed envelope. In fact, every -mark of sympathy is given to poor Marie, and I hope that the worst may -be spared her in spite of the alarming beginning. His mind seems so -absolutely untouched, and he is still so young, that with rest and care -he might yet be able to do some work. His stroke is accompanied by -symptoms which are now occupying the attention of the whole Academy of -Medicine. Paralysis always comes abruptly, whilst for M. Pasteur, it -came in little successive fits, twenty or thirty perhaps, and was only -complete at the end of twenty-four hours, which completely disconcerted -the doctors who watched him, and delayed their having recourse to an -active treatment. It seems that this fact is observed for the first -time, and is puzzling the whole Faculty.” - -M. Pasteur’s mind remained clear, luminous, dominating his prostrate -body; he was evidently afraid that he should die before having -thoroughly settled the question of silkworm diseases. “One night that I -was alone with him,” relates M. Gernez, who hardly left his bedside -during that terrible week, “after endeavouring in vain to distract his -thoughts, I despairingly gave up the attempt and allowed him to express -the ideas which were on his mind; finding, to my surprise, that they had -his accustomed clearness and conciseness, I wrote what he dictated -without altering a word, and the next day I brought to his illustrious -colleague, Dumas--who hardly credited his senses--the memorandum which -appeared in the report of the Académie on October 26, 1868, a week after -the stroke which nearly killed him! It was a note on a very ingenious -process for discovering in the earlier tests those eggs which are -predisposed to flachery.” - -The members of the Academy were much cheered by the reading of this -note, which seemed to bring Pasteur back into their midst. - -The building of the laboratory had been begun, and hoardings erected -around the site. Pasteur, from his bed, asked day by day, “How are they -getting on?” But his wife and daughter, going to the window of the -dining-room which overlooked the Ecole Normale garden, only brought him -back vague answers, for, as a matter of fact, the workmen had -disappeared from the very first day of Pasteur’s illness. All that could -be seen was a solitary labourer wheeling a barrow aimlessly about, -probably under the orders of some official who feared to alarm the -patient. - -As Pasteur was not expected to recover, the trouble and expense were -deemed unnecessary. Pasteur soon became aware of this, and one day that -General Favé had come to see him he gave vent to some bitter feelings as -to this cautious interruption of the building works, saying that it -would have been simpler and more straightforward to state from the -beginning that the work was suspended in the expectation of a probable -demise. - -Napoleon was informed of this excess of zeal, not only by General Favé, -but by Sainte Claire Deville, who was a guest at Compiègne at the -beginning of November, 1868. He wrote to the Minister of Public -Instruction-- - -“My dear M. Duruy,--I have heard that--unknown to you probably--the men -who were working at M. Pasteur’s laboratory were kept away from the very -day he became ill; he has been much affected by this circumstance, -which seemed to point to his non-recovery. I beg you will issue orders -that the work begun should be continued. Believe in my sincere -friendship.--Napoleon.” - -Duruy immediately sent on this note to M. du Mesnil, whose somewhat long -title was that of “Chief of the Division of Academic Administration of -Scientific Establishments and of Higher Education.” M. du Mesnil -evidently repudiated the charge for himself or for his Minister, for he -wrote in a large hand, on the very margin of the Imperial autograph-- - -“M. Duruy gave no orders and had to give none. It is at his solicitation -that the works were undertaken, but it is the _Direction of Civic -Buildings_ alone which _can_ have interrupted them; the fact should be -verified.” - -M. de Cardaillac, head of the Direction of Civic Buildings, made an -inquiry and the building was resumed. - -It was only on November 30 that Pasteur left his bed for the first time -and spent an hour in his armchair. He clearly analyzed to himself his -melancholy condition, stricken down as he was by hemiplegia in his -forty-sixth year; but having noticed that his remarks saddened his wife -and daughter, he spoke no more about his illness, and only expressed his -anxiety not to be a trouble, a burden, he said, to his wife, his son and -daughter, and the devoted friends who helped to watch him at night. - -In the daytime each offered to read to him. General Favé, whose active -and inquiring mind was ever on the alert, brought him on one of his -almost daily visits an ideal sick man’s book, easy to read and offering -food for meditation. It was the translation of an English book called -_Self-Help_,[28] and it consisted in a series of biographies, histories -of lives illustrating the power of courage, devotion or intelligence. -The author, glad to expound a discovery, to describe a masterpiece, to -relate noble enterprises, to dwell upon the prodigies which energy can -achieve, had succeeded in making a homogeneous whole of these -unconnected narratives, a sort of homage to Willpower. - -Pasteur agreed with the English writer in thinking that the supremacy of -a nation resides in “the sum total of private virtues, activities and -energy.” His thoughts rose higher still; men of science could wish for a -greater glory than that of contributing to the fame and fortune of -their country, they might aspire to originating vast benefits to the -whole of humanity. - -It was indeed a sad and a sublime spectacle, that of the contrast -between that ardent, soaring soul and that patient helpless body. It was -probably when thinking of those biographies--some of them too succinct, -to his mind, Jenner’s for instance--that Pasteur wrote: “From the life -of men whose passage is marked by a trace of durable light, let us -piously gather up every word, every incident likely to make known the -incentives of their great soul, for the education of posterity.” He -looked upon the cult of great men as a great principle of national -education, and believed that children, as soon as they could read, -should be made acquainted with the heroic or benevolent souls of great -men. In his pious patriotism he saw a secret of strength and of hope for -a nation in its reverence for the memories of the great, a sacred and -intimate bond between the visible and the invisible worlds. His soul was -deeply religious. During his illness--a time when the things of this -world assume their real proportions--his mind rose far beyond this -earth. The Infinite appeared to him as it did to Pascal, and with the -same rapture; he was less attracted by Pascal, when, proud and -disdainful, he exposes man’s weakness for humiliation’s sake, than when -he declares that “Man is produced but for Infinity,” and “he finds -constant instruction in progress.” Pasteur believed in material progress -as well as in moral improvement; he invariably marked in the books he -was reading--Pascal, Nicole and others--those passages which were both -consoling and exalting. - -In one of his favourite books, _Of the Knowledge of God and of Self_, he -much appreciated the passage where Bossuet ascribes to human nature “the -idea of an infinite wisdom, of an absolute power, of an infallible -rectitude, in one word, the idea of perfection.” Another phrase in the -same book seemed to him applicable to experimental method as well as to -the conduct of life: “The greatest aberration of the mind consists in -believing a thing because it is desirable.” - -With December, joy began to return to the Ecole Normale: the laboratory -was progressing and seemed an embodiment of renewed hopes of further -work. M. Godélier’s little bulletins now ran: “General condition most -satisfactory. Excellent morale; the progress evidenced daily by the -return of action in the paralysed muscles inspires the patient with -great confidence. He is planning out his future sericiculture campaign, -receives many callers without too much fatigue, converses brightly and -often dictates letters.” - -One visit was a great pleasure to Pasteur--that of the Minister, his -cordial friend, Duruy, who brought him good news of the future of Higher -Education. The augmented credit which was granted in the 1869 budget -would make it possible to rebuild other laboratories besides that of the -Ecole Normale, and also to create in other places new centres of study -and research. After so many efforts and struggles, it was at last -possible to foresee the day when chemistry, physics, physiology, natural -history and mathematics would each have an independent department in a -great province, which should be called the Practical School of Higher -Studies. There would be no constraint, no hard and fast rules, no -curriculum but that of free study: young men who were attracted to pure -science, and others who preferred practical application, would find a -congenial career before them as well as those who desired to give -themselves up to teaching. It can well be imagined with what delight -Pasteur heard these good tidings. - -The bulletins continued to be favourable: “(December 15): Progress slow -but sure: he has walked from his bed to his armchair with some -assistance. (December 22): he has gone into the dining-room for dinner, -leaning on a chair. (29th): he has walked a few steps without support.” - -Pasteur saw in his convalescence but the returning means of working, and -declared himself ready to start again for the neighbourhood of Alais at -once, instead of taking the few months’ rest he was advised to have. - -He urged that, after certain moths and chrysalides, had been examined -through a microscope, complete certainty would be acquired as to the -condition of their seed, and that perfect seed would therefore become -accessible to all tradesmen both great and small; would it not be absurd -and culpable to let reasons of personal health interfere with saving so -many poor people from ruin? - -His family had to give way, and on January 18, exactly three months -after his paralytic stroke, he was taken to the _Gare de Lyon_ by his -wife and daughter and M. Gernez. He then travelled, lying on the -cushions of a _coupé_ carriage, as far as Alais, and drove from Alais to -St. Hippolyte le Fort, where tests were being made on forced silkworms -by the agricultural society of Le Vigan. - -The house he came into was cold and badly arranged. M. Gernez improvised -a laboratory, with the assistance of Maillot and Raulin, who had -followed their master down. From his sofa or from his bed, Pasteur -directed certain experiments on the forced specimens. M. Gernez writes: -“The operations, of which we watched the phases through the microscope, -fully justified his anticipations; and he rejoiced that he had not given -up the game.” In the world of the Institute his departure was blamed by -some and praised by others; but Pasteur merely considered that one man’s -life is worthless if not useful to others. - -Dumas wrote to him early in February: “My dear friend and colleague,--I -have been thinking of you so much! I dread fatigue for you, and wish I -could spare it you, whilst hoping that you may successfully achieve your -great and patriotic undertaking. I have hesitated to write to you for -fear you should feel obliged to answer. However, I should like to have -direct news of you, as detailed as possible, and, besides that, I should -be much obliged if you could send me a line to enlighten me on the two -following points-- - -“1. When are you going back to Alais? And when will your Alais broods be -near enough to their time to be most interesting to visit? - -“2. What should I say to people who beg for healthy seed as if my -pockets were full of it? I tell them it is too late; but if you could -tell me a means of satisfying them, I should be pleased, particularly in -the case of General Randon and M. Husson. The Marshal (Vaillant) is full -of solicitude for you, and we never meet but our whole conversation -turns upon you. With me, it is natural. With him less so, perhaps, but -anyhow, he thinks of you as much as is possible, and this gives me a -great deal of pleasure.... Please present to Madame Pasteur our united -compliments and wishes. We wish the South could have the virtues of -Achilles’ lance--of healing the wounds it has caused.--Yours -affectionately.” - -Pasteur was reduced to complete helplessness through having slipped and -fallen on the stone floor of his uncomfortable house, and was obliged to -dictate the following letter-- - -“My dear master,--I thank you for thinking of the poor invalid. I am -very much in the same condition as when I left Paris, my progress -having been retarded by a fall on my left side. Fortunately, I sustained -no fracture, but only bruises, which were naturally painful and very -slow to disappear. - -“There are now no remaining traces of that accident, and I am as I was -three weeks ago. The improvement in the movements of the leg and arm -appears to have begun again, but with excessive slowness. I am about to -have recourse to electricity, under the advice and instructions of Dr. -Godélier, by means of a small Ruhmkorff apparatus which he has kindly -sent me. My brain is still very weak. - -“This is how my days are spent: in the morning my three young friends -come to see me, and I arrange the day’s work. I get up at twelve, after -having my breakfast in bed, and having had the newspaper read to me. If -fine, I then spend an hour or two in the little garden of this house. -Usually, if I am feeling pretty well, I dictate to my dear wife a page, -or more frequently half a page, of a little book I am preparing, and in -which I intend to give a short account of the whole of my observations. -Before dinner, which I have alone with my wife and my little girl in -order to avoid the fatigue of conversation, my young collaborators bring -me a report of their work. About seven or half past, I always feel -terribly tired and inclined to sleep twelve consecutive hours; but I -invariably wake at midnight, not to sleep again until towards morning, -when I doze again for an hour or two. What makes me hope for an ultimate -cure is the fact that my appetite keeps good, and that those short hours -of sleep appear to be sufficient. You see that on the whole I am doing -nothing rash, being moreover rigorously watched by my wife and little -daughter. The latter pitilessly takes books, pens, papers and pencils -away from me with a perseverance which causes me joy and despair. - -“It is because I know your affection for your pupils that I venture to -give you so many details. I will now answer the other questions in your -letter. - -“I shall be at Alais from April 1; that will be the time when they will -begin hatching seed for the industrial campaign, which will consequently -be concluded about May 20 at the latest. Seeding will take place during -June, more or less early according to departments. It is indeed very -late to obtain seed, especially indigenous seed prepared according to my -process. I had foreseen that I should receive demands at the last -moment, and that I should do well to put by a few ounces; but, about -three weeks ago, our energetic Minister wrote to ask me for some seed to -distribute to schoolmasters, and I promised him what I had. However I -will take some from his share and send you several lots of five grammes. -The director of a most interesting Austrian establishment has also -ordered two ounces, saying he is convinced of the excellence of my -method. His establishment is a most interesting experimental -_magnanerie_, founded in a handsome Illyrian property. Lastly, I have -also promised two ounces to M. le Comte de Casabianca. One of my young -men is going out to his place in Corsica to do the seeding. - -“I was much touched by what you tell me of Marshal Vaillant’s kind -interest in my health, and also by his kind thought in informing me of -the encouragement given to my studies by the Society of Agriculture. I -wish the cultivators of your South had a little of his scientific and -methodical spirit. - -“Madame Pasteur joins with me in sending you and your family, dear -master, the expression of my gratitude and affectionate devotion.” - -The normal season for the culture of silkworms was now aproaching, and -Pasteur was impatient to accumulate the proofs which would vouch for the -safety of his method; this had been somewhat doubted by the members of -the Lyons Silks Commission, who possessed an experimental nursery. Most -of those gentlemen averred that too much confidence should not be placed -in the micrographs. “Our Commission,” thus ran their report of the -preceding year, “considers the examination of corpuscles as a useful -indication which should be consulted, but of which the results cannot be -presented as a fact from which absolute consequences can be deducted.” - -“They _are_ absolute,” answered Pasteur, who did not admit reservations -on a point which he considered as invulnerable. - -On March 22, 1869, the Commission asked Pasteur for a little guaranteed -healthy seed. Pasteur not only sent them this, but also sample lots, of -which he thus predicted the future fate:-- - -1. One lot of healthy seed, which would succeed; - -2. One lot of seed, which would perish exclusively from the corpuscle -disease known as pébrine or gattine; 3. One lot of seed, which would -perish exclusively from the flachery disease; - -4. One lot of seeds, which would perish partly from corpuscle disease -and partly from flachery. - -“It seems to me,” added Pasteur, “that the comparison between the -results of those different lots will do more to enlighten the Commission -on the certainty of the principles I have established than could a mere -sample of healthy seed. - -“I desire that this letter should be sent to the Commission at its next -meeting, and put down in the minutes.” - -The Commission accepted with pleasure these unexpected surprise boxes. - -About the same time one of his assistants, Maillot, started for Corsica -at M. de Casabianca’s request. He took with him six lots of healthy seed -to Vescovato, a few miles from Bastia. - -The rest of the colony returned to the Pont Gisquet, near Alais, that -mulberry-planted retreat, where, according to Pasteur, everything was -conducive to work. Pasteur now looked forward to his definitive victory, -and, full of confidence, organized his pupils’ missions. M. Duclaux, who -was coming to the Pont Gisquet to watch the normal broods, would -afterwards go into the Cévennes to verify the seedings made on the -selection system. M. Gernez was to note the results of some seedings -made by Pasteur himself the preceding year at M. Raibaud-Lange’s, at -Paillerols, near Digne (Basses Alpes). Raulin alone would remain at the -Pont Gisquet to study some points of detail concerning the flachery -disease. So many results ought surely to reduce contradictors to -silence! - -“My dear friend and colleague,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur, “I need not tell -you with what anxiety we are watching the progress of your precious -health and of your silkworm campaign. I shall certainly be at Alais at -the end of the week, and I shall see, under your kind direction, all -that may furnish me with the means of guiding public opinion. You have -quacks to fight and envy to conquer, probably a hopeless task; the best -is to march right through them, Truth leading the way. It is not likely -that they will be converted or reduced to silence.” - -Whilst these expeditions were being planned, a letter from M. Gressier, -the Minister of Agriculture, arrived very inopportunely. M. Gressier was -better versed in _sub rosâ_ ministerial combinations than in seeding -processes, and he asked Pasteur to examine three lots of seeds sent to -him by a Mademoiselle Amat, of Brives-la-Gaillarde, who was celebrated -in the department of the Corrèze for her good management of silkworms. -This _magnanarelle_, having had some successful results, was begging his -Excellency to accord to those humble seeds his particular consideration, -and to have them developed with every possible care. - -At the same time she was sending samples of the same seeds to various -places in the Gard, the Bouches du Rhône, etc., etc. - -M. Gressier (April 20) asked Pasteur to examine them and to give him a -detailed report. Pasteur answered four days afterwards in terms which -were certainly not softened by the usual administrative precautions-- - -“Monsieur le Ministre, ... these three sorts of seed are worthless. If -they are developed, even in very small nurseries, they will in every -instance succumb to corpuscle disease. If my seeding process had been -employed, it would not have required ten minutes to discover that -Mademoiselle Amat’s cocoons, though excellent for spinning purposes, -were absolutely unfit for reproduction. My seeding process gives the -means of recognizing those broods which are suitable for seed, whilst -opposing the production of the infected eggs which year by year flood -the silkworm cultivating departments. - -“I shall be much obliged, Monsieur le Ministre, if you will kindly -inform the Prefect of the Corrèze of the forecasts which I now impart to -you, and if you will ask _him_ to report to you the results of -Mademoiselle Amat’s three lots. - -“For my part, I feel so sure of what I now affirm, that I shall not even -trouble to test, by hatching them, the samples which you have sent me. I -have thrown them into the river....” - -J. B. Dumas had come to Alais, Messrs. Gernez and Duclaux now returned -from their expeditions. In two hundred broods, each of one or two ounces -of seed, coming from three different sources and hatched in various -localities, not one failure was recorded. The Lyons Commission, which -had made a note of Pasteur’s bold prognosis, found it absolutely -correct; the excellence of the method was acknowledged by all who had -conscientiously tried it. Now that the scourge was really conquered, -Pasteur imagined that all he had to do was to set up a table of the -results sent to him. But, from the south of France and from Corsica, -jealousies were beginning their work of undermining; pseudo-scientists -in their vanity proclaimed that everything was illusory that was outside -their own affirmations, and the seed merchants, willing to ruin -everybody rather than jeopardize their miserable interests, “did not -hesitate (we are quoting M. Gernez) to perpetrate the most odious -falsehoods.” - -Instead of being annoyed, saddened, often indignant as he was, Pasteur -would have done more wisely to look back upon the history of most great -discoveries and of the initial difficulties which beset them. But he -could not look upon such things philosophically; stupidity astonished -him and he could not easily bring himself to believe in bad faith. His -friends in Alais society, M. de Lachadenède, M. Despeyroux, professor of -chemistry, might have reminded him, in their evening conversations, of -the difficulties ever encountered in the service of mankind. The -prejudice against potatoes, for instance, had lasted three hundred -years. When they were brought over from Peru in the fifteenth century, -it was asserted that they caused leprosy; in the seventeenth century, -that accusation was recognized to be absurd, but it was said that they -caused fever. One century later, in 1771, the Besançon Academy of -Medicine having opened a competition for the answer to the following -question of general interest: “What plants can be used to supplement -other foods in times of famine?” a military apothecary, named -Parmentier, competed and proved victoriously that the potato was quite -harmless. After that, he began a propagandist campaign in favour of -potatoes. But prejudice still subsisted in spite of his experimental -fields and of the dinners in the menu of which potatoes held a large -place. Louis XVI had then an inspiration worthy of Henry IV; he appeared -in public, wearing in his buttonhole Parmentier’s little mauve flower, -and thus glorified it in the eyes of the Court and of the crowd. - -But such comparisons had no weight with Pasteur; he was henceforth sure -of his method and longed to see it adopted, unable to understand why -there should be further discussions now that the silkworm industry was -saved and the bread of so many poor families assured. He was learning to -know all the bitterness of sterile polemics, and the obstacles placed -one by one in the way of those who attempt to give humanity anything new -and useful. Fortunately he had what so many men of research have lacked, -the active and zealous collaboration of pupils imbued with his -principles, and the rarer and priceless blessing of a home life mingling -with his laboratory life. His wife and his daughter, a mere child, -shared his sericiculture labours; they had become _magnanarelles_ equal -to the most capable in Alais. Another privilege was the advocacy of some -champions quite unknown to him. Those who loved science and who -understood that it would now become, thanks to Pasteur, an important -factor in agricultural and sericicultural matters hailed his -achievements with joy. For instance, a letter was published on July 8, -1869, in the _Journal of Practical Agriculture_ by a cultivator who had -obtained excellent results by applying Pasteur’s method; the letter -concluded as follows: “We should be obliged, if, through the columns of -your paper, you would express to M. Pasteur our feelings of gratitude -for his laborious and valuable researches. We firmly hope that he will -one day reap the fruit of his arduous labours, and be amply compensated -for the passionate attacks of which he is now the object.” - -“Monsieur Pasteur,” once said the Mayor of Alais, Dr. Pagès, “if what -you are showing me becomes verified in current practice, nothing can -repay you for your work, but the town of Alais will raise a golden -statue to you.” - -Marshal Vaillant began to take more and more interest in this question, -which was not darkened, in his eyes at least, by the dust of polemics. -The old soldier, always scrupulously punctual at the meetings of the -Institute and of the Imperial and Central Society of Agriculture, had -amused himself by organizing a little silkworm nursery on the Pasteur -system, in his own study, in the very centre of Paris. These -experiments, in the Imperial palace might have reminded an erudite -reader of Olivier de Serres’ _Théâtre d’Agriculture_ of the time when -the said Olivier de Serres planted mulberry trees in the Tuileries -gardens at Henry IV’s request, and when, according to the old -agricultural writer, a house was arranged at the end of the gardens -“accommodated with all things necessary as well for the feeding of the -worms as for the preparation of silk.” - -The Marshal, though calling himself the most modest of sericicultors, -had been able to appreciate the safety of a method which produced the -same results in Paris as at the Pont Gisquet; the octogenarian veteran -dwelt with complacency on the splendid condition of his silkworms in all -their phases from the minute worm hatched from the seed-like egg to the -splendid cocoon of white or yellow silk. - -It occurred to Vaillant to suggest a decisive experiment in favour of -Pasteur and of the silkworm industry. The Prince Imperial owned in -Illyria, about six leagues from Trieste, a property called Villa -Vicentina. One of Napoleon’s sisters, Elisa Bonaparte, had lived -peacefully there after the fall of the first Empire, and had left it to -her daughter, Princess Baciocchi, who bequeathed it to the Prince -Imperial, with the rest of her fortune. Vines and mulberry trees grew -plentifully on that vast domain, but the produce of cocoons was nil, -pébrine and flachery having devastated the place. Marshal Vaillant, -Minister of the Emperor’s Household, desired to render the princely -property once again productive and, at the same time, to give his -colleague of the Institute an opportunity of “definitely silencing the -opposition created by ignorance and jealousy.” In a letter dated October -9, he requested Pasteur to send out 900 ounces of seed to Villa -Vicentina, a large quantity, for one ounce produced, on an average, -thirty kilogrammes of cocoons. Six days later the Marshal wrote to M. -Tisserand, the director of the Crown agricultural establishments, who -knew Villa Vicentina: “I have suggested to the Emperor that M. Pasteur -should be offered a lodging at Villa Vicentina; the Emperor acquiesces -in the most gracious manner. Tell me whether that is possible.” - -M. Tisserand, heartily applauding the Marshal’s excellent idea, -described the domain and the dwelling house, Villa Elisa, a white -Italian two-storied house, situated amongst lawns and trees in a park of -sixty hectares. “It would indeed be well,” continued M. Tisserand, “that -M. Pasteur should find peace, rest, and a return of the health he has so -valiantly compromised in his devotion to his country, in the midst of -the lands which will be the first to profit by the fruit of his splendid -discoveries and where his name will be blessed before long.” - -Pasteur started three weeks later with his family; the long journey had -to be taken in short stages, the state of his health still being very -precarious. He stopped at Alais on the way, in order to fetch the -selected seed, and on November 25, at 9 p.m., he reached Villa -Vicentina. The fifty tenants of the domain did not suspect that the new -arrival would bring back with him the prosperity of former years. -Raulin, the “temporizer,” joined his master a few weeks later. - -This was a period not of rest, but of a great calm, with regular work -under a pure sky. Whilst waiting for hatching time, Pasteur continued to -dictate to his wife the book he had mentioned to J. B. Dumas in a letter -from St. Hippolyte le Fort. But the projected little book was changing -its shape and growing into a two-volume work full of facts and -documents. It was ready to publish by April, 1870. - -When the moment for hatching the seed had arrived, Pasteur distributed -twenty-five ounces among the tenants and kept twenty-five ounces for -himself. An incident disturbed these days of work: a steward, who had by -him an old box of Japanese seed, sold this suspicious seed with the -rest. The idea that confiding peasants had thus been swindled sent -Pasteur beside himself; in his violent anger he sent for this steward, -overwhelmed him with reproaches and forbade him ever to show his face -before him again. - -“The Marshal,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur, “has told me of the swindles you -have come across and which have upset you so much. Do not worry -unreasonably; if I were you I would merely insert a line in a local -paper: ‘M. Pasteur is only answerable for the seeds he himself sells to -cultivators.’” Those cultivators soon were duly edified. The results of -the seeding process were represented by a harvest of cocoons which -brought in, after all expenses were paid, a profit of 22,000 francs, the -first profit earned by the property for ten years. This was indeed an -Imperial present from Pasteur; the Emperor was amazed and delighted. - -The Government then desired to do for Pasteur what had been done for -Dumas and Claude Bernard, that is, give him a seat in the Senate. His -most decided partisan was the competitor that several political -personages suggested against him: Henri Sainte Claire Deville. Deville -wrote to Mme. Pasteur in June: “You must know that if Pasteur becomes a -Senator, and Pasteur alone, you understand--for they cannot elect two -chemists at once!--it will be a triumph for your friend--a triumph and -an unmixed pleasure.” - -The projected decree was one of eighteen then in preparation. The final -list--the last under the Empire--where Emile Augier was to represent -French literature was postponed from day to day. - -Pasteur left Villa Vicentina on July 6, taking with him the gratitude of -the people whose good genius he had been for nearly eight months. In -northern Italy, as well as in Austria, his process of cellular seeding -was now applied with success. - -Before returning to France he went to Vienna and then to Munich: he -desired to talk with the German chemist, Liebig, the most determined of -his adversaries. He thought it impossible that Liebig’s ideas on -fermentation should not have been shaken and altered in the last -thirteen years. Liebig could not still be affirming that the presence of -decomposing animal or vegetable matter should be necessary to -fermentation! That theory had been destroyed by a simple and decisive -experiment of Pasteur’s: he had sown a trace of yeast in water -containing but sugar and mineral crystallized salts, and had seen this -yeast multiply itself and produce a regular alcoholic fermentation. - -Since all nitrogenized organic matter (constituting the ferment, -according to Liebig) was absent, Pasteur considered that he thus proved -the life of the ferment and the absence of any action from albuminoid -matter in a stage of decomposition. The death phenomenon now appeared as -a life phenomenon. How could Liebig deny the independent existence of -ferments in their infinite littleness and their power of destroying and -transforming everything? What did he think of all these new ideas? would -he still write, as in 1845: “As to the opinion which explains -putrefaction of animal substances by the presence of microscopic -animalculæ, it may be compared to that of a child who would explain the -rapidity of the Rhine current by attributing it to the violent movement -of the numerous mill wheels of Mayence?” - -Since that ingeniously fallacious paragraph, many results had come to -light. Perhaps Liebig, who in 1851 hailed J. B. Dumas as a master, had -now come to Dumas’ point of view respecting the fruitfulness of the -Pastorian theory. That theory was extended to diseases; the infinitely -small appeared as disorganizers of living tissues. The part played by -the corpuscles in the contagious and hereditary pébrine led to many -reflections on the contagious and hereditary element of human diseases. -Even the long-postponed transmission of certain diseases was becoming -clearer now that, within the vibrio of flachery, other corpuscles were -found, germs of the flachery disease, ready to break out from one year -to another. - -To convince Liebig, to bring him to acknowledge the triumph of those -ideas with the pleasure of a true _savant_, such was Pasteur’s desire -when he entered Liebig’s laboratory. The tall old man, in a long frock -coat, received him with kindly courtesy; but when Pasteur, who was eager -to come to the object of his visit, tried to approach the delicate -subject, Liebig, without losing his amenity, refused all discussion, -alleging indisposition. Pasteur did not insist, but promised himself -that he would return to the charge. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -1870--1872 - - -Pasteur, on his return, spent forty-eight hours in Strasburg, which was -for him full of memories of his laborious days at the Faculty of that -town, between 1848 and 1854, at a time when rivalry already existed -between France and Germany, a generous rivalry of moral and intellectual -effort. He then heard for the first time of the threatening war; all his -hopes of progress founded on peace, through scientific discoveries, -began to crumble away, and his disappointment was embittered by the -recollection of many illusions. - -Never was more cruel rebuff given to the generous efforts of a policy of -sentiment: after having laid the foundation of the independence and -unity of Italy, France had sympathized with Germany’s desire for unity, -and few of the counsellors, or even the adversaries of the Empire, would -not have defended this idea, which was supposed to lead to civilization. -During that period of anxious waiting (beginning of July, 1870), when -the most alarming news was daily published in Strasburg, it did not -occur to any one to look back upon quotations from papers only a few -years old, though in that very town a pamphlet might have been found, -written by Edmond About in 1860, and containing the following words-- - -“Let Germany become united! France has no dearer or more ardent desire, -for she loves the German nation with a disinterested friendship. France -is not alarmed at seeing the formation of an Italian nation of -26,000,000 men in the South; she need not fear to see 32,000,000 Germans -found a great people on the Eastern frontier.” - -Proud to be first to proclaim the rights of nations; influenced by -mingled feelings of kindliness, trustfulness, optimism and a certain -vanity of disinterestedness, France, who loves to be loved, imagined -that the world would be grateful for her international sociability, and -that her smiles were sufficient to maintain peace and joy in Europe. - -Far from being alarmed by certain symptoms in her neighbours, she -voluntarily closed her eyes to the manœuvres of the Prussian troops, her -ears to the roar of the artillery practice constantly heard across her -eastern frontier; in 1863 patrols of German cavalry had come as far as -Wissemburg. But people thought that Germany was “playing soldiers.” -Duruy, who shared at that time the general delusion, wrote in some -traveller’s notes published in 1864: “We have had your German Rhine, and -though you have garnished it with bristling fortresses and cannon -turning France-wards, we do not wish to have it again, ... for the time -for conquests is past. Conquests shall only now be made with the free -consent of nations. Too much blood has been poured into the Rhine! What -an immense people would arise if they who were struck down by the sword -along its banks could be restored to life!” - -After the thunderclap of Sadowa, the French Government, believing, in -its infatuation, that it was entitled to a share of gratitude and -security, asked for the land along the Rhine as far as Mayence; this -territorial aggrandizement might have compensated for Prussia’s -redoubtable conquests. The refusal was not long in coming. The Rhenish -provinces immediately swarmed with Prussian troops. The Emperor, awaking -from his dream, hesitating to make war, sent another proposition to -Prussia: that the Rhenish provinces should become a buffer State. The -same haughty answer was returned. France then hoped for the cession of -Luxemburg, a hope all the more natural in that the populations of -Luxemburg were willing to vote for annexation to France, and such a -policy would have been in accordance with the rights of nations. But -this request, apparently entertained at first by Prussia, was presently -hampered by intrigues which caused its rejection. Duped, not even -treated as an arbiter, but merely as a contemptible witness, France -dazzled herself for a moment with the brilliant Exhibition of 1867. But -it was a last and splendid flash; the word which is the bane of nations -and of sovereigns, “to-morrow,” was on the lips of the ageing Emperor. -The reform in the French army, which should have been bold and -immediate, was postponed and afterwards begun jerkily and -unmethodically. Prussia however affected to be alarmed. Then irritation -at having been duped, the evidence of a growing peril, a lingering hope -in the military fortune of France--everything conspired to give an -incident, provoked by Prussia, the proportions of a _casus belli_. But, -in spite of so many grievances, people did not yet believe in this -sudden return to barbarism. The Imperial policy had indeed been blindly -inconsistent; after opening a wide prospect of unity before the German -people it had been thought possible to say “No further than the Main,” -as if the impetuous force of a popular movement could be arrested after -once being started. France suddenly opened her eyes to her danger and to -the failure of her policy. But if a noble sentiment of generosity had -been mingled with the desire to increase her territory without shedding -a drop of blood, she had had the honour of being in the vanguard of -progress. Were great ideas of peace and human brotherhood about to be -engulfed in a war which would throw Europe into an era of violence and -brutality? - -Pasteur, profoundly saddened, could not bear to realize that his ideal -of the peaceful and beneficent destiny of France was about to vanish; he -left Strasburg--never to return to it--a prey to the most sombre -thoughts. - -When he returned to Paris, he met Sainte Claire Deville, who had come -back from a scientific mission in Germany, and who had for the first -time lost his brightness and optimism. The war appeared to him -absolutely disastrous. He had seen the Prussian army, redoubtable in its -skilful organization, closing along the frontier; the invasion was -certain, and there was nothing to stay it. Everything was lacking in -France, even in arsenals like Strasburg. At Toul, on the second line of -fortifications, so little attention was paid to defence that the -Government had thought that the place could be used as a dépôt for the -infantry and cavalry reserves, who could await there the order for -crossing the Rhine. - -“Ah! my lads, my poor lads!” said Sainte Claire Deville to his Ecole -Normale students, “it is all up with us!” And he was seen, between two -experiments, wiping his eyes with the comer of his laboratory apron. - -The students, with the ordinary confidence of youth, could not believe -that an invasion should be so imminent. However, in spite of the -privilege which frees _Normaliens_ from any military service in exchange -for a ten years’ engagement at the University, they put patriotic duty -above any future University appointments, and entered the ranks as -private soldiers. Those who had been favoured by being immediately -incorporated in a battalion of _chasseurs à pied_ the dépôt of which was -at Vincennes, spent their last evening--their vigil as they called -it--in the drawing-room of the sub-director of the Ecole, Bertin. Sainte -Claire Deville and Pasteur were there, also Duruy, whose three sons had -enlisted. Pasteur’s son, aged eighteen, was also on the eve of his -departure. - -Every one of the students at the Ecole Normale enlisted, some as -_chasseurs à pied_, some in a line regiment, others with the marines, in -the artillery, even with the _franc tireurs_. Pasteur wished to be -enrolled in the _garde nationale_ with Duruy and Bertin, but he had to -be reminded that a half-paralysed man was unfit for service. After the -departure of all the students, the Ecole Normale fell into the silence -of deserted houses. M. Bouillier, the director, and Bertin decided to -turn it into an ambulance, a sort of home for the _Normaliens_ who were -stationed in various quarters of Paris. - -Pasteur, unable to serve his country except by his scientific -researches, had the firm intention of continuing his work; but he was -overwhelmed by the reverses which fell upon France, the idea of the -bloodshed and of his invaded country oppressed him like a monomania. - -“Do not stay in Paris,” Bertin said to him, echoed by Dr. Godélier. “You -have no right to stay; you would be a useless mouth during the siege,” -he added, almost cheerfully, earnestly desiring to see his friend out of -harm’s way. Pasteur allowed himself to be persuaded, and started for -Arbois on September 5, his heart aching for the sorrows of France. - -Some notes and letters enable us to follow him there, in the daily -detail of his life, amongst his books, his plans of future work, and now -and then his outbursts of passionate grief. He tried to return to the -books he loved, to feel over again the attraction of “all that is great -and beautiful” to quote a favourite phrase. He read at that time -Laplace’s _Exposition du Système du Monde_, and even copied out some -fragments, general ideas, concurring with his own. The vision of a -Galileo or a Newton rising through a series of inductions from -“particular phenomena to others more far-reaching, and from those to the -general laws of Nature,” on this earth, “itself so small a part of the -solar system, and disappearing entirely in the immensity of the heavens, -of which that system is but an unimportant corner,”--that vision -enveloped Pasteur with the twofold feeling with which every man must be -imbued: humility before the Great Mystery, and admiration for those who, -raising a corner of the veil, prove that genius is divinely inspired. -Such reading helped Pasteur through the sad time of anxious waiting, and -he would repeat as in brighter days, “_Laboremus_.” - -But sometimes, when he was sitting quietly with his wife and daughter, -the trumpet call would sound, with which the Arbois crier preceded the -proclaiming of news. Then everything was forgotten, the universal order -of things of no account, and Pasteur’s anguished soul would concentrate -itself on that imperceptible comer of the universe, France, his -suffering country. He would go downstairs, mix with groups standing on -the little bridge across the Cuisance, listen breathlessly to the -official communication, and sadly go back to the room where the memories -of his father only emphasized the painful contrast with the present -time. In the most prominent place hung a large medallion of General -Bonaparte, by the Franc-Comtois Huguenin, the habit of authority visible -in the thin energetic face; then a larger effigy in bronzed plaster of -Napoleon in profile, in a very simple uniform; by the mantelpiece a -lithograph of the little King of Rome with his curly head; on the -bookshelves, well within reach, books on the Great Epoch, read over and -over again by the old soldier who had died in the humble room which -still reflected some of the Imperial glory. - -That glory, that legend had enveloped the childhood and youth of -Pasteur, who, as he advanced in life, still preserved the same -enthusiasm. His imagination pictured the Emperor, calm in the midst of -battles, or reviewing his troops surrounded by an escort of field -marshals, entering as a sovereign a capital not his own, then -overwhelmed by numbers at Waterloo, and finally condemned to exile and -inactivity, and dying in a long drawn agony. Glorious or lugubrious, -those visions came back to him with poignant insistency in those days of -September, 1870. What was Waterloo compared to Sedan! The departure for -St. Helena had the grandeur of the end of an epic; it seemed almost -enviable by the side of that last episode of the Second Empire, when -Napoleon III, vanquished, spared by the death which he wooed, left Sedan -by the Donchery road to enter the cottage where Bismarck was to inform -him of the rendezvous given by the King of Prussia. - -The Emperor had now but a shadow of power, having made the Empress -Regent before he left Paris; it was therefore not the sword of France, -but his own, that he was about to surrender. But he thought he might -hope that the King of Prussia would show clemency to the French army and -people, having many times declared that he made war on the Emperor and -not on France. - -“Can it be credited,” said Bismarck, speaking afterwards of that -interview, “that he actually believed in our generosity!” The chancellor -added, speaking of that somewhat protracted _tête-à-tête_, “I felt as I -used to in my youth, when my partner in a cotillon was a girl to whom I -did not quite know what to say, and whom nobody would fetch away for a -turn!” - -Napoleon III and the King of Prussia met in the Château of Bellevue, in -the neighbourhood of Sedan, opposite a peninsula henceforth known by the -sad name of “Camp of Misery.” The Emperor looked for the last time upon -his 83,000 soldiers, disarmed, starving, waiting in the mud for the -Prussian escort which was to convey them as prisoners far beyond the -Rhine. Wilhelm did not even pronounce the word peace. - -Jules Favre, taking possession on September 6 of the department of -Foreign Affairs, recalled to the diplomatic agents the fall of the -Empire and the words of the King of Prussia; then in an unaccustomed -outburst of eloquence exclaimed: “Does the King of Prussia wish to -continue an impious struggle which will be as fatal to him as to us? -Does he wish to give to the world in the nineteenth century the cruel -spectacle of two nations destroying each other and forgetful of human -feelings, of reason and of science, heaping up ruin and death? Let him -then assume the responsibility before the world and before posterity!” -And then followed the celebrated phrase with which he has been violently -and iniquitously reproached, and which expressed the unanimous sentiment -of France: “We will not concede one inch of our territory nor a stone of -our fortifications.” - -Bismarck refused the interview Jules Favre asked of him (September 10), -under the pretext that the new Government was irregular. The enemy was -coming nearer and nearer to Paris. The French city was resolved to -resist; thousands upon thousands of oxen were being corralled in the -Bois de Boulogne; poor people from the suburbs were coming to take -refuge in the city. On the Place de la Concorde, the statue which -represents the city of Strasburg was covered with flowers and flags, -and seemed to incarnate the idea of the _Patrie_ itself. - -Articles and letters came to Arbois in that early September, bringing an -echo of the sorrows of Paris. Pasteur was then reading the works of -General Foy, wherein he found thoughts in accordance with his own, -occasionally copying out such passages as the following: “Right and -Might struggle for the world; Right, which constitutes and preserves -Society; Might, which overcomes nations and bleeds them to death.” - -General Foy fought for France during twenty-five years, and, writing in -1820, recalled with a patriotic shudder the horrors of foreign -invasions. Long after peace was signed, by a chance meeting in a street -in Paris, General Foy found himself face to face with Wellington. The -sight was so odious to him that he spoke of this meeting in the -_Chambre_ with an accent of sorrowful humiliation which breathed the -sadness of Waterloo over the whole assembly. Pasteur could well -understand the long continued vibration of that suffering chord, he, who -never afterwards could speak without a thrill of sorrow of that war -which Germany, in defiance of humanity, was inexcusably pursuing. - -It was the fourth time in less than a hundred years that a Prussian -invasion overflowed into France. But instead of 42,000 Prussians, -scattered in 1792 over the sacred soil of the _Patrie_--Pasteur -pronounced the word with the faith and tenderness of a true son of -France--there were now 518,000 men to fight 285,000 French. - -The thought that they had been armed in secret for the conquest of -neighbouring lands, the memory of France’s optimism until that -diplomatic incident, invented so that France might stumble over it, and -the inaction of Europe, inspired Pasteur with reflections which he -confided to his pupil Raulin. “What folly, what blindness,” he wrote -(September 17), “there are in the inertia of Austria, Russia, England! -What ignorance in our army leaders of the respective forces of the two -nations! We _savants_ were indeed right when we deplored the poverty of -the department of Public Instruction! The real cause of our misfortunes -lies there. It is not with impunity--as it will one day be recognized, -too late--that a great nation is allowed to lose its intellectual -standard. But, as you say, if we rise again from those disasters, we -shall again see our statesmen lose themselves in endless discussions on -forms of government and abstract political questions instead of going to -the root of the matter. We are paying the penalty of fifty years’ -forgetfulness of science, of its conditions of development, of its -immense influence on the destiny of a great people, and of all that -might have assisted the diffusion of light.... I cannot go on, all this -hurts me. I try to put away all such memories, and also the sight of our -terrible distress, in which it seems that a desperate resistance is the -only hope we have left. I wish that France may fight to her last man, to -her last fortress. I wish that the war may be prolonged until the -winter, when, the elements aiding us, all these Vandals may perish of -cold and distress. Every one of my future works will bear on its title -page the words: ‘Hatred to Prussia. Revenge! revenge!’” - -There is a passage in the Psalms where the captives of Israel, led to -Babylonian rivers, weep at the memory of Jerusalem. After swearing never -to forget their country, they wish their enemies every misfortune, and -hurl this last imprecation at Babylon: “Blessed shall he be that taketh -thy children and throweth them against the stones.”[29] One of the most -Christlike souls of our time, Henri Perreyve, speaking of Poland, of -vanquished and oppressed nations, quoted this Psalm and exclaimed: “O -Anger, man’s Anger, how difficult it is to drive thee out of man’s -heart! and how irresistible are the flames kindled by the insolence of -injustice!” Those flames were kindled in the soul of Pasteur, full as it -was of human tenderness, and they burst out in that sobbing cry of -despair. - -On that 17th of September, the day before Paris was invested, Jules -Favre made another attempt to obtain peace. He published an account of -that interview which took place at the Château of Ferrières, near Meaux; -this printed account reached every town in France, and was read with -grief and anger. - -Jules Favre had deluded himself into thinking that victorious Prussia -would limit its demands to a war indemnity, probably a formidable one. -But Bismarck, besides the indemnity, intended to take a portion of -French soil, and claimed Strasburg first of all. “It is the key of the -house; I must have it.” And with Strasburg he wanted the whole -Department of the _Haut-Rhin_, that of the _Bas-Rhin_, Metz, and a part -of the Department of _Moselle_. Jules Favre, characteristically French, -exhausted his eloquence in putting sentiment into politics, spoke of -European rights, of the right of the people to dispose of themselves, -tried to bring out the fact that a brutal annexation was in direct -opposition to the progress of civilization. “I know very well,” said -Bismarck, “that they (meaning the Alsatians and Lorrainers) do not want -us; they will give us a deal of trouble, but we must annex them.” In the -event of a future war Prussia was to have the advantage. All this was -said with an authoritative courtesy, an insolent tranquillity, through -which contempt for men was visible, evidently the best means of -governing them in Bismarck’s eyes. As Jules Favre was pleading the cause -of heroic Strasburg, whose long resistance was the admiration of Paris, -“Strasburg will now fall into our hands,” said Bismarck coldly; “it is -but a question for engineers; therefore I request that the garrison -should surrender as prisoners of war.” - -Jules Favre “leapt in his grief”--the words are his--but King Wilhelm -exacted this condition. Jules Favre, almost breaking down, turning away -to hide the tears that welled into his eyes, ended the interview with -these words: “It is an indefinite struggle between two nations who -should go hand in hand.” - -Traces of this patriotic anguish are to be found in one of Pasteur’s -notebooks, as well as a circular addressed by Jules Favre to the -diplomatic representatives in answer to certain points disputed by -Bismarck. Pasteur admiringly took note of the following passage: “I know -not what destinies Fate has in store for us. But I do feel most deeply -that if I had to choose between the present situation of France and that -of Prussia, I should decide for the former. Better far our sufferings, -our perils, our sacrifices, than the cruel and inflexible ambition of -our foe.” - -“We must preserve hope until the end,” wrote Pasteur after reading the -above, “say nothing to discourage each other, and wish ardently for a -prolonged struggle. Let us think of hopeful things; Bazaine may save -us.”... How many French hearts were sharing that hope at the very time -when Bazaine was preparing to betray Metz, his troops and his flag! - -“Should we not cry: ‘Happy are the dead!’” wrote Pasteur a few days -after the news burst upon France of that army lost without being allowed -to fight, of that city of Metz, the strongest in France, surrendered -without a struggle! - -Through all Pasteur’s anxieties about the war, certain observations, -certain projected experiments resounded in his mind like the hours that -a clock strikes, unheeded but not unheard, in a house visited by death. -He could not put them away from him, they were part of his very life. - -Any sort of laboratory work was difficult for him in the tanner’s house, -which had remained the joint property of himself and his sister. His -brother-in-law had continued Joseph Pasteur’s trade. Pasteur applied his -spirit of observation to everything around him, and took the opportunity -of studying the fermentation of tan. He would ask endless questions, -trying to discover the scientific reason of every process and every -routine. Whilst his sister was making bread he would study the raising -of the crust, the influence of air in the kneading of the dough, and his -imagination rising as usual from a minor point to the greatest problems, -he began to seek for a means of increasing the nutritive powers of -bread, and consequently of lowering its price. - -The _Salut Public_ of December 20 contained a notice on that very -subject, which Pasteur transcribed. The Central Commission of Hygiene -which included among its members Sainte Claire Deville, Wurtz, -Bouchardat and Trélat, had tried, when dealing with this question of -bread (a vital one during the siege), to prove to the Parisians that -bread is the more wholesome for containing a little bran. “With what -emotion,” wrote Pasteur, “I have just read all those names dear to -science, greater now before their fellow-citizens and before posterity. -Why could I not share their sufferings and their dangers!” He would have -added “and their work” if some of the Académie des Sciences reports had -reached him. - -The history of the Academy during the war is worthy of brief mention. -Moreover it was too deeply interesting to Pasteur, too constantly in his -thoughts, not to be considered as forming part of his biography. - -During the first period, the Academy, imagining, like the rest of -France, that there was no doubt of a favourable issue of the war, -continued its purely scientific task. When the first defeats were -announced, the habitual communications ceased, and the Academy, unable -to think of anything but the war, held sittings of three-quarters of an -hour or even less. - -One of the correspondents of the Institute, the surgeon Sédillot, who -was in Alsace at the head of an ambulance corps, and who himself -performed as many as fifteen amputations in one day, addressed two -noteworthy letters to the President of the Academy. Those letters mark a -date in the history of surgery, and show how restricted was then in -France the share of some of Pasteur’s ideas at the very time when in -other countries they were adopted and followed. Lister, the celebrated -English surgeon, having, he said, meditated on Pasteur’s theory of -germs, and proclaimed himself his follower, convinced that complications -and infection of wounds were caused by their giving access to living -organisms and infectious germs, elements of trouble, often of death, had -already in 1867 inaugurated a method of treatment. He attempted the -destruction of germs floating in air by means of a vaporizer filled with -a carbolic solution, then isolated and preserved the wound from the -contact of the air. Sponges, drainage tubes, etc., were subjected to -minute precautions; in one word, he created antisepsis. Four months -before the war he had propounded the principles which should guide -surgeons, but it occurred to no one in France, in the first battles, to -apply the new method. “The horrible mortality amongst the wounded in -battle,” writes Sédillot, “calls for the attention of all the friends of -science and humanity. The surgeon’s art, hesitating and disconcerted, -pursues a doctrine whose rules seem to flee before research.... Places -where there are wounded are recognizable by the fetor of suppuration and -gangrene.” - -Hundreds and thousands of wounded, their faces pale, but full of hope -and desire to live, succumbed between the eighth and tenth day to -gangrene and erysipelas. Those failures of the surgery of the past are -plain to us now that the doctrine of germs has explained everything; -but, at that time, such an avowal of impotence before the mysterious -_contagium sui generis_, which, the doctors averred, eluded all -research, and such awful statistics of mortality embittered the anguish -of defeat. - -The Academy then attempted to take a share in the national co-operation -by making a special study of any subject which interested the public -health and defence. A sitting on methods of steering balloons was -succeeded by another on various means of preserving meat during the -siege. Then came an anxious inquiry into modes of alimentation of -infants. At the end of October there were but 20,000 litres of milk per -day to be procured in the whole of Paris, and the healthy were implored -to abstain from it. It was a question of life and death for young -children, and already many little coffins were daily to be seen on the -road to the cemetery. - -Thus visions of death amongst soldiers in their prime and children in -their infancy hung over the Academy meeting hall. It was at one of those -mournful sittings, on a dark autumn afternoon, that Chevreul, an -octogenarian member of the Institute, who, like Pasteur, had believed in -civilization and in the binding together of nations through science, art -and letters, looking at the sacks of earth piled outside the windows to -save the library from the bursting shells, exclaimed in loud desolate -tones-- - -“And yet we are in the nineteenth century, and a few months ago the -French did not even think of a war which has put their capital into a -state of siege and traced around its walls a desert zone where he who -sowed does not reap! And there are public universities where they teach -the Beautiful, the True, and the Right.” - -“Might goes before Right,” Bismarck said. A German journalist invented -another phrase which went the round of Europe: “the psychological moment -for bombardment.” On January 5, one of the first Prussian shells sank -into the garden of the Ecole Normale; another burst in the very -ambulance of the Ecole. Bertin, the sub-director, rushed through the -suffocating smoke and ascertained that none of the patients was hurt; he -found the breech between two beds. The miserable patients dragged -themselves downstairs to the lecture rooms on the ground floor, not a -much safer refuge. - -From the heights of Châtillon the enemy’s batteries were bombarding all -the left bank of the Seine, the Prussians, regardless of the white flags -bearing the red cross of Geneva, were aiming at the Val-de-Grâce and the -Panthéon. “Where is the Germany of our dreams?” wrote Paul de St. Victor -on January 9, “the Germany of the poets? Between her and France an abyss -of hatred has opened, a Rhine of blood and tears that no peace can ever -bridge over.” - -On that same date, Chevreul read the following declaration to the -Academy of Science-- - - The Garden of Medicinal Plants, founded in Paris - by an edict of King Louis XIII, - dated January, 1826, - Converted into the Museum of Natural History - by a decree of the Convention on June 10, 1793, - was Bombarded, - under the reign of Wilhelm I King of - Prussia, Count von Bismarck, Chancellor, - by the Prussian army, during the night - of January 8-9, 1871. - It had until then been respected by all parties - and all powers, national or - foreign. - -Pasteur, on reading this protest, regretted more than ever that he had -not been there to sign it. It then occurred to him that he too might -give vent to the proud plaint of the vanquished from his little house at -Arbois. He remembered with a sudden bitterness the diploma he had -received from the University of Bonn. Many years had passed since the -time in the First Empire when one of the 110 French Departments had been -that of Rhine and Moselle, with Coblentz as its _préfecture_ and Bonn -and Zimmern as _sous-préfectures_. When, in 1815, Prussia’s iron hand -seized again those Rhenish provinces which had become so French at -heart, the Prussian king and his ministers hit upon the highly politic -idea of founding a University on the picturesque banks of the Rhine, -thus morally conquering the people after reducing them by force. That -University had been a great success and had become most prosperous. The -Strasburg Faculty under the Second Empire, with its few professors and -its general penury, seemed very poor compared to the Bonn University, -with its fifty-three professors and its vast laboratories of chemistry, -physics and medicine, and even a museum of antiquities. Pasteur and -Duruy had often exchanged remarks on that subject. But that rivalry -between the two Faculties was of a noble nature, animated as it was by -the great feeling that science is superior to national distinctions. -King Wilhelm had once said, “Prussia’s conquests must be of the moral -kind,” and Pasteur had not thought of any other conquests. - -When in 1868 the University of Bonn conferred upon him the diploma of -Doctor of Medicine, saying that “by his very penetrating experiments, he -had much contributed to the knowledge of the history of the generation -of micro-organisms, and had happily advanced the progress of the science -of fermentations,” he had been much pleased at this acknowledgment of -the future opened to medical studies by his work, and he was proud to -show the Degree he had received. - -“Now,” he wrote (January 18, 1871), to the Head of the Faculty of -Medicine, after recalling his former sentiments, “now the sight of that -parchment is odious to me, and I feel offended at seeing my name, with -the qualification of _Virum clarissimum_ that you have given it, placed -under a name which is henceforth an object of execration to my country, -that of _Rex Gulielmus_. - -“While highly asseverating my profound respect for you, Sir, and for the -celebrated professors who have affixed their signatures to the decision -of the members of your Order, I am called upon by my conscience to ask -you to efface my name from the archives of your Faculty, and to take -back that diploma, as a sign of the indignation inspired in a French -scientist by the barbarity and hypocrisy of him who, in order to satisfy -his criminal pride, persists in the massacre of two great nations.” -Pasteur’s protest ended with these words-- - -“Written at Arbois (Jura) on January 18, 1871, after reading the mark of -infamy inscribed on the forehead of your King by the illustrious -director of the Museum of Natural History M. Chevreul.” - -“This letter will not have much weight with a people whose principles -differ so totally from those that inspire us,” said Pasteur, “but it -will at least echo the indignation of French scientists.” - -He made a collection of stories, of episodes, and letters, which fell in -his way; amongst other things we find an open letter from General Chanzy -to the commandant of the Prussian troops at Vendôme, denouncing the -insults, outrages, and inexcusable violence of the Prussians towards the -inhabitants of St. Calais, who had shown great kindness to the enemy’s -sick and wounded. - -“You respond by insolence, destruction and pillage to the generosity -with which we treat your prisoners and wounded. I indignantly protest, -in the name of humanity and of the rights of men, which you trample -under foot.” - -Pasteur also gathered up tales of bravery, of heroism, and of -resignation--that form of heroism so often illustrated by women--during -the terrible siege of Paris. And, from all those things, arose the -psychology of war in its two aspects: in the invading army a spirit of -conquest carried to oppression, and even apart from the thrilling -moments of battle, giving to hatred and cruelty a cold-blooded sanction -of discipline; in the vanquished nation, an irrepressible revolt, an -intoxication of sacrifice. Those who have not seen war do not know what -love of the mother country means. - -France was the more loved that she was more oppressed; she inspired her -true sons with an infinite tenderness. Sully-Prudhomme, the poet of -pensive youth, renouncing his love for Humanity in general, promised -himself that he would henceforth devote his life to the exclusive love -of France. A greater poet than he, Victor Hugo, wrote at that time the -first part of his _Année Terrible_, with its mingled devotion and -despair. - -The death of Henri Regnault was one of the sad episodes of the war. This -brilliant young painter--he was only twenty-seven years of age--enlisted -as a _garde nationale_, though exempt by law from any military service -through being a laureate of the _prix de Rome_.[30] He did his duty -valiantly, and on January 19, at the last sortie attempted by the -Parisians, at Buzenval, the last Prussian shot struck him in the -forehead. The Académie des Sciences, at its sitting of January 23, -rendered homage to him whose coffin enclosed such dazzling prospects and -some of the glory of France. The very heart of Paris was touched, and a -great sadness was felt at the funeral procession of the great artist who -seemed an ideal type of all the youth and talent so heroically -sacrificed--and all in vain--for the surrender of Paris had just been -officially announced. - -Regnault’s father, the celebrated physicist, a member of the Institute, -was at Geneva when he received this terrible blow. Another grief--not -however comparable to the despair of a bereaved parent--befell him--an -instance of the odious side of war, not in its horrors, its pools of -blood and burnt dwellings, but in its premeditated cruelty. Regnault had -left his laboratory utensils in his rooms at the Sèvres porcelain -manufactory, of which he was the manager. Everything was apparently left -in the same place, not a window was broken, no locks forced; but a -Prussian, evidently an expert, had been there. “Nothing seemed changed,” -writes J. B. Dumas, “in that abode of science, and yet everything was -destroyed; the glass tubes of barometers, thermometers, etc., were -broken; scales and other similar instruments had been carefully knocked -out of shape with a hammer.” In a corner was a heap of ashes; they were -the registers, notes, manuscripts, all Regnault’s work of the last ten -years. “Such cruelty,” exclaimed J. B. Dumas, “is unexampled in history. -The Roman soldier who butchered Archimedes in the heat of the onslaught -may be excused--he did not know him; but with what sacrilegious meanness -could such a work of destruction as this be accomplished!!!” - -On the very day when the Académie des Sciences was condoling with Henri -Regnault’s sorrowing father, Pasteur, anxious at having had no news of -his son, who had been fighting before Héricourt, determined to go and -look for him in the ranks of the Eastern Army Corps. By Poligny and -Lons-le-Saulnier, the roads were full of stragglers from the various -regiments left several days behind, their route completely lost, who -begged for bread as they marched, barely covered by the tattered -remnants of their uniforms. The main body of the army was on the way to -Besançon, a sad procession of French soldiers, hanging their heads under -the cold grey sky and tramping painfully in the snow. - -Bourbaki, the general-in-chief, a hero of African battlefields, was -becoming more and more unnerved by the combinations of this war. Whilst -the Minister, in a dispatch from Bordeaux, had ordered him to move back -towards Dôle, to prevent the taking of Dijon, then to hurry to Nevers or -Joigny, where 20,000 men would be ready to be incorporated, Bourbaki, -overwhelmed by the lamentable spectacle under his eyes, could see no -resource for his corps but a last line of retreat, Pontarlier. - -It was among that stream of soldiers that Pasteur attempted to find his -son. His old friend and neighbour, Jules Vercel, saw him start, -accompanied by his wife and daughter, on Tuesday, January 24, in a half -broken down old carriage, the last that was left in the town. After -journeying for some hours in the snow, the sad travellers spent the -night in a little wayside inn near Montrond; the old carriage with its -freight of travelling boxes stood on the roadside like a gipsy’s -caravan. The next morning they went on through a pine forest where the -deep silence was unbroken save by the falling masses of snow from the -spreading branches. They slept at Censeau, the next day at Chaffois, and -it was only on the Friday that they reached Pontarlier, by roads made -almost impracticable by the snow, the carriage now a mere wreck. - -The town was full of soldiers, some crouching round fires in the street, -others stepping across their dead horses and begging for a little straw -to lie on. Many had taken refuge in the church and were lying on the -steps of the altar; a few were attempting to bandage their frozen feet, -threatened with gangrene. - -Suddenly the news spread that the general-in-chief, Bourbaki, had shot -himself through the brain. This did not excite much surprise. He had -telegraphed two days before to the Minister of War: “You cannot have an -idea of the sufferings that the army has endured since the beginning of -December. It is martyrdom to be in command at such a time,” he added -despairingly. - -“The retreat from Moscow cannot have been worse than this,” said Pasteur -to a staff officer, Commandant Bourboulon, a nephew of Sainte Claire -Deville, whom he met in the midst of those horrors and who could give -him no information as to his son’s battalion of _Chasseurs_. “All that I -can tell you,” said a soldier anxiously questioned by Mme. Pasteur, “is -that out of the 1,200 men of that battalion there are but 300 left.” As -she was questioning another, a soldier who was passing stopped: -“Sergeant Pasteur? Yes, he is alive; I slept by him last night at -Chaffois. He has remained behind; he is ill. You might meet him on the -road towards Chaffois.” - -The Pasteurs started again on the road followed the day before. They had -barely passed the Pontarlier gate when a rough cart came by. A soldier -muffled in his great coat, his hands resting on the edge of the cart, -started with surprise. He hurried down, and the family embraced without -a word, so great was their emotion. - -The capitulation of starving Paris and the proposed armistice are -historical events still present in the memory of men who were then -beginning to learn the meaning of defeat. The armistice, which Jules -Favre thought would be applied without restriction to all the army -corps, was interpreted by Bismarck in a peculiar way. He and Jules Favre -between them had drawn up a protocol in general terms; it had been -understood in those preliminary confabulations that, before drawing up -the limits of the neutral zone applicable to the Eastern Army Corps, -some missing information would be awaited, the respective positions of -the belligerents being unknown. The information did not come, and Jules -Favre in his imprudent trustfulness supposed that the delimitation -would be done on the spot by the officers in command. When he heard that -the Prussian troops were continuing their march eastwards, he complained -to Bismarck, who answered that “the incident cannot have compromised the -Eastern Army Corps, as it already was completely routed when the -armistice was signed.” This calculated reserve on Bismarck’s part was -eminently characteristic of his moral physiognomy, and this encounter -between the two Ministers proved once again the inferiority--when great -interests are at stake--of emotional men to hard-hearted business men; -however it must be acknowledged that Bismarck’s statement was founded on -fact. The Eastern Corps could have fought no more; its way was blocked. -Without food, without clothes, in many cases without arms, nothing -remained to the unfortunate soldiers but the refuge offered by -Switzerland. - -Pasteur went to Geneva with his son, who, after recovering from the -illness caused by fatigue and privation, succeeded in getting back to -France to rejoin his regiment in the early days of February. Pasteur -then went on to Lyons and stayed there with his brother-in-law, M. Loir, -Dean of the Lyons Faculty of Science. He intended to go back to Paris, -but a letter from Bertin dated February 18 advised him to wait. “This is -the present state of the Ecole: south wing: pulled down; will be built -up again; workmen expected. Third year dormitory: ambulance occupied by -eight students. Science dormitory and drawing classroom: ambulance -again, forty patients. Ground floor classroom: 120 artillery-men. -Pasteur laboratory: 210 _gardes nationaux_, refugees from Issy. You had -better wait.” Bertin added, with his indomitable good humour, speaking -of the bombardment: “The first day I did not go out, but I took my -bearings and found the formula: in leaving the school, walk close along -the houses on my left; on coming back, keep close to them on my right; -with that I went out as usual. The population of Paris has shown -magnificent resignation and patience.... In order to have our revenge, -everything will have to be rebuilt from the top to the bottom, the top -especially.” - -Pasteur also thought that reforms should begin from the top. He prepared -a paper dated from Lyons, and entitled “Why France found no superior men -in the hours of peril.” Amongst the mistakes committed, one in -particular had been before his mind for twenty years, ever since he left -the Ecole Normale: “The forgetfulness, disdain even, that France had -had for great intellectual men, especially in the realm of exact -science.” This seemed the more sad to him that things had been very -different at the end of the eighteenth century. Pasteur enumerated the -services rendered by science to his threatened country. If in 1792 -France was able to face danger on all sides, it was because Lavoisier, -Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau, Chaptal, Berthollet, etc., discovered new -means of extracting saltpetre and manufacturing gunpowder; because Monge -found a method of founding cannon with great rapidity; and because the -chemist Clouet invented a quick system of manufacturing steel. Science, -in the service of patriotism, made a victorious army of a perturbed -nation. If Marat, with his slanderous and injurious insinuations, had -not turned from their course the feelings of the mob, Lavoisier never -would have perished on the scaffold. The day after his execution, -Lagrange said: “One moment was enough for his head to fall, and 200 -years may not suffice to produce such another.” Monge and Berthollet, -also denounced by Marat, nearly shared the same fate: “In a week’s time -we shall be arrested, tried, condemned and executed,” said Berthollet -placidly to Monge, who answered with equal composure, thinking only of -the country’s defence, “All I know is that my gun factories are working -admirably.” - -Bonaparte, from the first, made of science what he would have made of -everything--a means of reigning. When he started for Egypt, he desired -to have with him a staff of scientists, and Monge and Berthollet -undertook to organize that distinguished company. Later, when Bonaparte -became Napoleon I, he showed, in the intervals between his wars, so much -respect for the place due to science as to proclaim the effacement of -national rivalry when scientific discoveries were in question. Pasteur, -when studying this side of the Imperial character, found in some pages -by Arago on Monge that, after Waterloo, Napoleon, in a conversation he -had with Monge at the Elysée, said, “Condemned now to command armies no -longer, I can see but Science with which to occupy my mind and my -soul....” - -Alluding to the scientific supremacy of France during the early part of -the nineteenth century, Pasteur wrote: “All the other nations -acknowledged our superiority, though each could take pride in some great -men: Berzelius in Sweden, Davy in England, Volta in Italy, other eminent -men in Germany and Switzerland; but in no country were they as numerous -as in France....” He added these regretful lines: “A victim of her -political instability, France has done nothing to keep up, to propagate -and to develop the progress of science in our country; she has merely -obeyed a given impulse; she has lived on her past, thinking herself -great by the scientific discoveries to which she owed her material -prosperity, but not perceiving that she was imprudently allowing the -sources of those discoveries to become dry, whilst neighbouring nations, -stimulated by her past example, were diverting for their own benefit the -course of those springs, rendering them fruitful by their works, their -efforts and their sacrifices. - -“Whilst Germany was multiplying her universities, establishing between -them the most salutary emulation, bestowing honours and consideration on -the masters and doctors, creating vast laboratories amply supplied with -the most perfect instruments, France, enervated by revolutions, ever -vainly seeking for the best form of government, was giving but careless -attention to her establishments for higher education.... - -“The cultivation of science in its highest expression is perhaps even -more necessary to the moral condition than to the material prosperity of -a nation. - -“Great discoveries--the manifestations of thought in Art, in Science and -in Letters, in a word the disinterested exercise of the mind in every -direction and the centres of instruction from which it radiates, -introduce into the whole of Society that philosophical or scientific -spirit, that spirit of discernment, which submits everything to severe -reasoning, condemns ignorance and scatters errors and prejudices. They -raise the intellectual level and the moral sense, and through them the -Divine idea itself is spread abroad and intensified.” - -At the very time when Pasteur was preoccupied with the desire of -directing the public mind towards the principles of truth, justice and -sovereign harmony, Sainte Claire Deville, speaking of the Academy, -expressed similar ideas, proclaiming that France had been vanquished by -science and that it was now time to free scientific bodies from the -tyranny of red tape. Why should not the Academy become the centre of all -measures relating to science, independently of government offices or -officials? - -J. B. Dumas took part in the discussion opened by Sainte Claire Deville, -and agreed with his suggestions. He might have said more, however, on a -subject which he often took up in private: the utility of pure science -in daily experience. With his own special gift of generalization, he -could have expounded the progress of all kinds due to the workers who, -by their perseverance in resolving difficult problems, have brought -about so many precious and unexpected results. Few men in France -realized at that time that laboratories could be the vestibule of farms, -factories, etc.; it was indeed a noble task, that of proving that -science was intended to lighten the burden of humanity, not merely to be -applied to devastation, carnage, and hatred. - -Pasteur was in the midst of these philosophical reflections when he -received the following answer from the principal of the Faculty of -Medicine of Bonn: - -“Sir, the undersigned, now Principal of the Faculty of Medicine of Bonn, -is requested to answer the insult which you have dared to offer to the -German nation in the sacred person of its august Emperor, King Wilhelm -of Prussia, by sending you the expression of its _entire -contempt_.”--DR. MAURICE NAUMANN. - -“P.S.--Desiring to keep its papers _free from taint_, the Faculty -herewith returns your screed.” - -Pasteur’s reply contained the following: “I have the honour of informing -you, Mr. Principal, that there are times when the expression of contempt -in a Prussian mouth is equivalent for a true Frenchman to that of _Virum -clarissimum_ which you once publicly conferred upon me.” - -After invoking in favour of Alsace-Lorraine, Truth, of Justice, and the -laws of humanity, Pasteur added in a postscript-- - -“And now, Mr. Principal, after reading over both your letter and mine, I -sorrow in my heart to think that men who like yourself and myself have -spent a lifetime in the pursuit of truth and progress, should address -each other in such a fashion, founded on my part on such actions. This -is but one of the results of the character your Emperor has given to -this war. You speak to me of _taint_. Mr. Principal, taint will rest, -you may be assured, until far-distant ages, on the memory of those who -began the bombardment of Paris when capitulation by famine was -inevitable, and who continued this act of savagery after it had become -evident to all men that it would not advance by one hour the surrender -of the heroic city.” - -Whilst Pasteur thus felt those simple and strong impressions as a -soldier or the man in the street might do, the creative power of his -nature was urging him to great and useful achievements. He wrote from -Lyons in March to M. Duclaux-- - -“My head is full of splendid projects; the war sent my brain to grass, -but I now feel ready for further work. Perhaps I am deluding myself; -anyhow I will try.... Oh! why am I not rich, a millionaire? I would say -to you, to Raulin, to Gernez, to Van Tieghem, etc., come, we will -transform the world by our discoveries. How fortunate you are to be -young and strong! Why can I not begin a new life of study and work! -Unhappy France, beloved country, if I could only assist in raising thee -from thy disasters!” - -A few days later, in a letter to Raulin, this desire for devoted work -was again expressed almost feverishly. He could foresee, in the dim -distance, secret affinities between apparently dissimilar things. He had -at that time returned to the researches which had absorbed his youth -(because those studies were less materially difficult to organize), and -he could perceive laws and connections between the facts he had observed -and those of the existence of which he felt assured. - -“I have begun here some experiments in crystallization which will open a -great prospect if they should lead to positive results. You know that I -believe that there is a cosmic dissymmetric influence which presides -constantly and naturally over the molecular organization of principles -immediately essential to life; and that, in consequence of this, the -species of the three kingdoms, by their structure, by their form, by the -disposition of their tissues, have a definite relation to the movements -of the universe. For many of those species, if not for all, the sun is -the _primum movens_ of nutrition; but I believe in another influence -which would affect the whole organization, for it would be the cause of -the molecular dissymmetry proper to the chemical components of life. I -want to be able by experiment to grasp a few indications as to the -nature of this great cosmic dissymmetrical influence. It must, it may be -electricity, magnetism.... And, as one should always proceed from the -simple to the complex, I am now trying to crystallize double racemate of -soda and ammonia under the influence of a spiral solenoid. - -“I have various other forms of experiment to attempt. If one of them -should succeed, we shall have work for the rest of our lives, and in -one of the greatest subjects man could approach, for I should not -despair of arriving by this means at a very deep, unexpected and -extraordinary modification of the animal and vegetable species. - -“Good-bye, my dear Raulin. Let us endeavour to distract our thoughts -from human turpitudes by the disinterested search after truth.” - -In a little notebook where he jotted down some intended experiments we -find evidence of those glimpses of divination in a few summary lines: -“Show that life is in the germ, that it has been but in a state of -transmission since the origin of creation. That the germ possesses -possibilities of development, either of intelligence and will, or--and -in the same way--of physical organs. Compare these possibilities with -those possessed by the germ of chemical species which is in the chemical -molecule. The possibilities of development in the germ of the chemical -molecule consist in crystallization, in its form, in its physical and -chemical properties. Those properties are in power in the germ of the -molecule in the same way as the organs and tissues of animals and plants -are in their respective germs. Add: nothing is more curious than to -carry the comparison of living species with mineral species into the -study of the wounds of either, and of their healing by means of -nutrition--a nutrition coming from within in living beings, and from -without through the medium of crystallization in the others. Here detail -facts....” - -In that same notebook, Pasteur, after writing down the following -heading, “Letter to prepare on the species in connection with molecular -dissymmetry,” added, “I could write that letter to Bernard. I should say -that being deprived of a laboratory by the present state of France, I am -going to give him the preconceived ideas that I shall try to experiment -upon when better times come. There is no peril in expressing ideas _a -priori_, when they are taken as such, and can be gradually modified, -perhaps even completely transformed, according to the result of the -observation of facts.” - -He once compared those preconceived ideas with searchlights guiding the -experimentalist, saying that they only became dangerous when they became -fixed ideas. - -Civil war had now come, showing, as Renan said, “a sore under the sore, -an abyss below the abyss.” What were the hopes and projects of Pasteur -and of Sainte Claire Deville now that the very existence of the divided -country was jeopardized under the eyes of the Prussians? The world of -letters and of science, helpless amidst such disorders, had dispersed; -Saint Claire Deville was at Gex, Dumas at Geneva. Some were wondering -whether lectures could not be organized in Switzerland and in Belgium as -they had been under the Empire, thus spreading abroad the influence of -French thought. Examples might be quoted of men who had served the glory -of their country in other lands, such as Descartes, who took refuge in -Holland in order to continue his philosophic meditations. Pasteur might -have been tempted to do likewise. Already, before the end of the war, an -Italian professor of chemistry, Signor Chiozza, who had applied -Pasteur’s methods to silkworms in the neighbourhood of Villa Vicentina, -got the Italian Government to offer him a laboratory and the direction -of a silkworm establishment. Pasteur refused, and a deputy of Pisa, -Signor Toscanelli, hearing of this, obtained for Pasteur the offer of -what was better still--a professor’s chair of Chemistry applied to -Agriculture at Pisa; this would give every facility for work and all -laboratory resources. “Pisa,” Signor Chiozza said, “is a quiet town, a -sort of Latin quarter in the middle of the country, where professors and -students form the greater part of the population. I think you would be -received with the greatest cordiality and quite exceptional -consideration ... I fear that black days of prolonged agitation are in -store for France.” - -Pasteur’s health and work were indeed valuable to the whole world, and -Signor Chiozza’s proposition seemed simple and rational. Pasteur was -much divided in his mind: his first impulse was to renew his refusal. He -thought but of his vanquished country, and did not wish to forsake it. -But was it to his country’s real interests that he should remain a -helpless spectator of so many disasters? Was it not better to carry -French teaching abroad, to try and provoke in young Italian students -enthusiasm for French scientists, French achievements? He might still -serve his beloved country in that quiet retreat, amidst all those -facilities for continuous work. He thought of writing to Raulin, who had -relations in Italy, and who might follow his master. Finally, he was -offered very great personal advantages, a high salary--and this -determined his refusal, for, as he wrote to Signor Chiozza, “I should -feel that I deserved a deserter’s penalty if I sought, away from my -country in distress, a material situation better than it can offer me.” - -“Nevertheless allow me to tell you, Sir (he wrote to Signor Toscanelli, -refusing his offer), in all sincerity, that the memory of your offer -will remain in the annals of my family as a title of nobility, as a -proof of Italy’s sympathy for France, as a token of the esteem accorded -to my work. And as far as you, M. le Député, are concerned it will -remain in my eyes a brilliant proof of the way in which public men in -Italy regard science and its grandeur.” - -And now what was Pasteur to do--he who could not live away from a -laboratory? In April, 1871, he could neither go back to Paris and the -Commune nor to Arbois, now transformed into a Prussian dépôt. It seemed, -indeed, from the letters he received that his fellow citizens were now -destined but to feed and serve a victorious foe, whose exactions were -all the more rigorous that the invasion of the town on January 25 had -been preceded by an attempt at resistance on the part of the -inhabitants. On that morning, a few French soldiers who were seeking -their regiments and a handful of _franc tireurs_ had posted themselves -among the vines. About ten o’clock a first shot sounded in the distance; -in a turn of the sinuous Besançon road, when the Prussian vanguard had -appeared, a Zouave--who the day before was begging from door to door, -shaking with ague, and who had taken refuge in the village of Montigny, -two kilometres from Arbois--had in despair fired his last cartridge. A -squad of Prussians left the road and rushed towards the smoke of the -gun. The soldier was seized, shot down on the spot, and mutilated with -bayonets. Whilst the main column continued their advance towards the -town, detachments explored the vines on either side of the road, -shooting here and there. An old man who, with a courageous indifference, -was working in his vineyard was shot down at his work. A little -pastrycook’s boy, nicknamed Biscuit by the Arboisians, who, led by -curiosity; had come down from the upper town to the big poplar trees at -the entrance of Arbois, suddenly staggered, struck by a Prussian bullet. -He was just able to creep back to the first house, his eyes already -dimmed by death. - -Those were but the chances of war, but other crueller episodes thrilled -Pasteur to the very depths of his soul. Such things are lost in history, -just as a little blood spilt disappears in a river, but, for the -witnesses and contemporaries of the facts, the trace of blood remains. -An incident will help the reader to understand the lasting indignation -the war excited in Pasteur. - -One of the Prussian sergeants, who, after the shot fired at Montigny, -were leading small detachments of soldiers, thought that a house on the -outskirts of Arbois, in the faubourg of Verreux, looked as if it might -shelter _franc tireurs_. He directed his men towards it and the house -was soon reached. - -It was now twelve o’clock, all fighting had ceased, and the first -Prussians who had arrived were masters of the town. Others were arriving -from various directions; a heavy silence reigned over the town. The -mayor, M. Lefort, led by a Prussian officer who covered him with a -revolver whenever he addressed him, was treated as a hostage responsible -for absolute submission. Every door in the small Town Hall was opened in -succession in order to see that there were no arms hidden. The mayor was -each time made to pass first, so that he should receive the shot in case -of a surprise. In the library, three flags, which General Delort had -brought back from the Rhine campaign when he was a captain in the -cavalry and given to his native town, were torn down and the general’s -bust overturned. - -The sergeant, violently entering the suspected house with his men, found -a whole family peacefully sitting down to their dinner--the husband, -wife, a son of nineteen, and two young daughters. The invaders made no -search nor asked any questions of those poor people, who had probably -done nothing worse than to offer a few glasses of wine to French -soldiers as they passed. The sergeant did not even ask the name of the -master of the house (Antoine Ducret, aged fifty-nine), but seized him by -his coat and ordered his men to seize the son too. The woman, who rushed -to the door in her endeavour to prevent her husband and her son from -being thus taken from her, was violently flung to the end of the room, -her trembling daughters crouching around her as they listened to the -heavy Prussian boots going down the wooden stairs. There is a public -drinking fountain not far from the house; Ducret was taken there and -placed against a wall. He understood, and cried out, “Spare my son!!” -“What do you say?” said the sergeant to the boy. “I will stay with my -father,” he answered simply. The father, struck by two bullets at close -range, fell at the feet of his son, who was shot down immediately -afterwards. The two corpses, afterwards mutilated with bayonets, -remained lying by the water side; the neighbours succeeded in preventing -the mother and her two daughters from leaving their house until the -bodies had been placed in a coffin. On the tombs of Antoine and Charles -Ducret the equivocal inscription was placed “Fell at Arbois, January 25, -1871, under Prussian fire.” For the honour of humanity, a German -officer, having heard these details, offered the life of the sergeant to -Ducret’s widow; but she entertained no thoughts of revenge. “His death -would not give them back to me,” she said. - -Pasteur could not become resigned to the humiliation of France, and, -tearing his thoughts from the nightmare of the war and the Commune, he -dwelt continually on the efforts that would be necessary to carry out -the great task of raising the country once again to its proper rank. In -his mind it was the duty of every one to say, “In what way can I be -useful?” Each man should strive not so much to play a great part as to -give the best of his ability. He had no patience with those who doubt -everything in order to have an excuse for doing nothing. - -He had indeed known dark moments of doubt and misgivings, as even the -greatest minds must do, but notwithstanding these periods of -discouragement he was convinced that science and peace will ultimately -triumph over ignorance and war. In spite of recent events, the bitter -conditions of peace which tore unwilling Alsace and part of Lorraine -away from France, the heavy tax of gold and of blood weighing down -future generations, the sad visions of young men in their prime cut down -on the battlefield or breathing their last in hospitals all to no -apparent purpose; in spite of all these sad memories he was persuaded -that thinkers would gradually awaken in the nations ideas of justice and -of concord. - -He had now for nine years been following with a passionate interest some -work begun in his own laboratory by Raulin, his first curator. Some of -the letters he wrote to Raulin during those nine years give us a faint -idea of the master that Pasteur was. It had been with great regret that -Raulin had left the laboratory in obedience to the then laws of the -University in order to take up active work at the Brest college, and -Pasteur’s letters (December, 1862) brought him joy and encouragement: -“Keep up your courage, do not allow the idleness of provincial life to -disturb you. Teach your pupils to the very best of your ability and give -up your leisure to experiments; this was M. Biot’s advice to myself.” -When in July, 1863, he began to fear that Raulin might allow imagination -to lead him astray in his work, he repeatedly advised him to state -nothing that could not be proved: “Be very strict in your deductions”; -then, apparently, loth to damp the young man’s ardour: “I have the -greatest confidence in your judgment; do not take too much heed of my -observations.” - -In 1863 Pasteur asked Raulin to come with him, Gernez and Duclaux, to -Arbois for some studies on wines, etc., but Raulin, absorbed in the -investigations he had undertaken, refused; in 1865 he refused to come to -Alais, still being completely wrapt up in the same work. Pasteur -sympathized heartily with his pupil’s perseverance, and, when Raulin was -at last able to announce to his master the results so long sought after, -Pasteur hurried to Caen, where Raulin was now professor of Physics, and -returned full of enthusiasm. His modesty in all that concerned himself -now giving way to delighted pride, he spoke of Raulin’s discoveries to -every one. Yet they concerned an apparently unimportant subject--a -microscopical fungus, a simple mucor, whose spores, mingled with -atmospheric germs, develop on bread moistened with vinegar or on a slice -of lemon; yet no precious plant ever inspired more care or solicitude -than that _aspergillus niger_, as it is called. Raulin, inspired by -Pasteur’s studies on cultures in an artificial medium, that is, a medium -exclusively composed of defined chemical substances, resolved to find -for this plant a typical medium capable of giving its maximum -development to the aspergillus niger. Some of his comrades looked upon -this as upon a sort of laboratory amusement; but Raulin, ever a man of -one idea, looked upon the culture of microscopic vegetation as a step -towards a greater knowledge of vegetable physiology, leading to the -development of artificial manure production, and from that to the -rational nutrition of the human organisms. He started from the -conditions indicated by Pasteur for the development of mucedinæ in -general and in particular for a mucor which has some points of -resemblance with the aspergillus niger, the _penicillium glaucum_, which -spreads a bluish tint over mouldy bread, jam, and soft cheeses. Raulin -began by placing pure spores of aspergillus niger on the surface of a -saucer containing everything that seemed necessary to their perfect -growth, in a stove heated to a temperature of 20°C.; but in spite of -every care, after forty days had passed, the tiny fungus was languishing -and unhealthy. A temperature of 30° did not seem more successful; and -when the stove was heated to above 38° the result was the same. At 35°, -with a moist and changing atmosphere, the result was favourable--very -fortunately for Raulin, for the principal of the college, an -economically minded man, did not approve of burning so much gas for such -a tiny fungus and with such poor results. This want of sympathy excited -Raulin’s solemn wrath and caused him to meditate dark projects of -revenge, such as ignoring his enemy in the street on some future -occasion. In the meanwhile he continued his slow and careful -experiments. He succeeded at last in composing a liquid, technically -called Raulin’s liquid, in which the aspergillus niger grew and -flourished within six or even three days. Eleven substances were -necessary: water, candied sugar, tartaric acid, nitrate of ammonia, -phosphate of ammonia, carbonate of potash, carbonate of magnesia, -sulphate of ammonia, sulphate of zinc, sulphate of iron, and silicate of -potash. He now studied the part played by each of those elements, -varying his quantities, taking away one substance and adding another, -and obtained some very curious results. For instance, the aspergillus -was extraordinarily sensitive to the action of zinc; if the quantity of -zinc was reduced by a few milligrams the vegetation decreased by -one-tenth. Other elements were pernicious; if Raulin added to his liquid -1/1600000 of nitrate of silver, the growth of the fungus ceased. -Moreover, if he placed the liquid in a silver goblet instead of a china -saucer, the vegetation did not even begin, “though,” writes M. Duclaux, -analysing this fine work of his fellow student, “it is almost impossible -to chemically detect any dissolution of the silver into the liquid. But -the fungus proves it by dying.” - -In this thesis, now a classic, which only appeared in 1870, Raulin -enumerated with joyful gratitude all that he owed to his illustrious -master--general views, principles and methods, suggestive ideas, advice -and encouragement--saying that Pasteur had shown him the road on which -he had travelled so far. Pasteur, touched by his pupil’s affection, -wrote to thank him, saying: “You credit me with too much; it is enough -for me that your work should be known as having been begun in my -laboratory, and in a direction the fruitfulness of which I was perhaps -the first to point out. I had only conceived hopes, and you bring us -solid realities.” - -In April, 1871, Pasteur, preoccupied with the future, and ambitious for -those who might come after him, wrote to Claude Bernard: “Allow me to -submit to you an idea which has occurred to me, that of conferring on my -dear pupil and friend Raulin the Experimental Physiology prize, for his -splendid work on the nutriment of mucors, or rather of a mucor, the -excellence of which work has not escaped you. I doubt if you can find -anything better. I must tell you that this idea occurred to me whilst -reading your admirable report on the progress of General Physiology in -France. If therefore my suggestion seems to you acceptable, you will -have sown the germ of it in my mind; if you disapprove of it I shall -make you partly responsible.” - -Claude Bernard hastened to reply: “You may depend upon my support for -your pupil M. Raulin. It will be for me both a pleasure and a duty to -support such excellent work and to glorify the method of the master who -inspired it.” - -In his letter to Claude Bernard, Pasteur had added these words: “I have -made up my mind to go and spend a few months at Royat with my family, so -as to be near my dear Duclaux. We shall raise a few grammes of silkworm -seed.” - -M. Duclaux was then professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Clermont -Ferrand, a short distance from Royat, and Pasteur intended to walk every -day to the laboratory of his former pupil. But M. Duclaux did not -countenance this plan; he meant to entertain his master and his master’s -family in his own house, 25, Rue Montlosier, where he could even have -one room arranged as a silkworm nursery. He succeeded in persuading -Pasteur, and they organized a delightful home life which recalled the -days at Pont Gisquet before the war. - -Pasteur was seeking the means of making his seed-selecting process -applicable to small private nurseries as well as to large industrial -establishments. The only difficulty was the cost of the indispensable -microscope; but Pasteur thought that each village might possess its -microscope, and that the village schoolmaster might be entrusted with -the examination of the moths. - -In a letter written in April, 1871, to M. Bellotti, of the Milan Civic -Museum, Pasteur, after describing in a few lines the simple process he -had taken five years to study, added-- - -“If I dared to quote myself, I would recall those words from my book-- - -“‘If I were a silkworm cultivator I never would raise seed from worms I -had not observed during the last days of their life, so as to satisfy -myself as to their vigour and agility just before spinning. The seed -chosen should be that which comes from worms who climbed the twigs with -agility, who showed no mortality from flachery between the fourth -moulting and climbing time, and whose freedom from corpuscles will have -been demonstrated by the microscope. If that is done, any one with the -slightest knowledge of silkworm culture will succeed in every case.’” - -Italy and Austria vied with each other in adopting the seed selected by -the Pasteur system. But it was only when Pasteur was on the eve of -receiving from the Austrian Government the great prize offered in 1868 -to “whoever should discover a preventive and curative remedy against -pébrine” that French sericicultors began to be convinced. The French -character offers this strange contrast, that France is often willing to -risk her fortune and her blood for causes which may be unworthy, whilst -at another moment, in everyday life, she shrinks at the least innovation -before accepting a benefit originated on her own soil. The French often -wait until other nations have adopted and approved a French discovery -before venturing to adopt it in their turn. - -Pasteur did not stop to look back and delight in his success, but -hastened to turn his mind to another kind of study. His choice of a -subject was influenced by patriotic motives. Germany was incontestably -superior to France in the manufacture of beer, and he conceived the -thought of making France a successful rival in that respect; in order to -enable himself to do so, he undertook to study the scientific mechanism -of beer manufacture. - -There was a brewery at Chamalières, between Clermont and Royat. Pasteur -began by visiting it with eager curiosity, inquiring into the minutest -details, endeavouring to find out the why and the wherefore of every -process, and receiving vague answers with much astonishment. M. Kuhn, -the Chamalières brewer, did not know much more about beer than did his -fellow brewers in general. Very little was known at that time about the -way it was produced; when brewers received complaints from their -customers, they procured yeast from a fresh source. In a book of -reference which was then much in use, entitled _Alimentary Substances: -the Means of Improving and Preserving them, and of Recognizing their -Alterations_, six pages were given up to beer by the author, M. Payen, a -member of the Institute. He merely showed that germinated barley, called -malt, was diluted, then heated and mixed with hops, thus forming -beer-wort, which was submitted, when cold, to alcoholic fermentation -through the yeast added to the above liquid. M. Payen conceded to beer -some nutritive properties, but added, a little disdainfully, “Beer, -perhaps on account of the pungent smell of hops, does not seem endowed -with stimulating properties as agreeable, or as likely to inspire such -bright and cheerful ideas, as the sweet and varied aroma of the good -wines of France.” - -In a paragraph on the alterations of beer--“_spontaneous_ -alterations”--M. Payen said that it was chiefly during the summer that -beer became altered. “It becomes acid, and even noticeably putrid, and -ceases to be fit to drink.” - -Pasteur’s hopes of making French beer capable of competing with German -beer were much strengthened by faith in his own method. He had, by -experimental proof, destroyed the theory of spontaneous generation; he -had shown that chance has no share in fermentations; the animated nature -and the specific characteristics of those ferments, the methods of -culture in appropriate media, were so many scientific points gained. The -difficulties which remained to be solved were the question of pure yeast -and the search for the causes of alteration which make beer thick, acid, -sour, slimy or putrid. Pasteur thought that these alterations were -probably due to the development of germs in the air, in the water, or on -the surface of the numerous utensils used in a brewery. - -As he advanced further and further into that domain of the infinitely -small which he had discovered, whether the subject was wine, vinegar, or -silkworms--this last study already opening before him glimpses of light -on human pathology--new and unexpected visions rose before his sight. - -Pasteur had formerly demonstrated that if a putrescible liquid, such as -beef broth for instance, after being previously boiled, is kept in a -vessel with a long curved neck, the air only reaching it after having -deposited its germs in the curves of the neck, does not alter it in any -way. He now desired to invent an apparatus which would protect the wort -against external dusts, against the microscopic germs ever ready to -interfere with the course of proper fermentation by the introduction of -other noxious ferments. It was necessary to prove that beer remains -unalterable whenever it does not contain the organisms which cause its -diseases. Many technical difficulties were in the way, but the brewers -of Chamalières tried in the most obliging manner to facilitate things -for him. - -This exchange of services between science and industry was in accordance -with Pasteur’s plan; though he had been prophesying for fourteen years -the great progress which would result from an alliance between -laboratories and factories, the idea was hardly understood at that time. -Yet the manufacturers of Lille and Orleans, the wine merchants and the -silkworm cultivators of the South of France, and of Austria and Italy, -might well have been called as enthusiastic witnesses to the advantages -of such a collaboration. - -Pasteur, happy to make the fortune of others, intended to organize, -against the danger of alterations in beer, some experiments which would -give to that industry solid notions resting on a scientific basis. “Dear -master,” wrote he to J. B. Dumas on August 4, 1871, from Clermont, “I -have asked the brewer to send you twelve bottles of my beer.... I hope -you will find it compares favourably even with the excellent beer of -Paris cafés.” There was a postscript to this letter, proving once more -Pasteur’s solicitude for his pupils. “A thousand thanks for your kind -welcome of Raulin’s work; Bernard’s support has also been promised him. -The Academy could not find a better recipient for the prize. It is quite -exceptional work.” - -Pasteur, ever full of praises for his pupil, also found excuses for him. -In spite of M. Duclaux’s pressing request, Raulin had again found -reasons to refuse an invitation to come to Auvergne for a few days. “I -regret very much that you did not come to see us,” wrote Pasteur to -Raulin, “especially on account of the beer.... Tell me what you think of -doing. When are you coming to Paris for good? I shall want you to help -me to arrange my laboratory, where everything, as you know, has still to -be done; it must be put into working order as soon as possible.” - -Pasteur would have liked Raulin to come with him to London in September, -1871, before settling down in Paris. - -The Chamalières brewery was no longer sufficient for Pasteur; he wished -to see one of those great English breweries which produce in one year -more than 100,000 hectolitres of beer. The great French _savant_ was -most courteously received by the managers of one of the most important -breweries in London, who offered to show him round the works where 250 -men were employed. But Pasteur asked for a little of the barm of the -porter which was flowing into a trough from the cask. He examined that -yeast with a microscope, and soon recognized a noxious ferment which he -drew on a piece of paper and showed to the bystanders, saying, “This -porter must leave much to be desired,” to the astonished managers, who -had not expected this sudden criticism. Pasteur added that surely the -defect must have been betrayed by a bad taste, perhaps already -complained of by some customers. Thereupon the managers owned that that -very morning some fresh yeast had had to be procured from another -brewery. Pasteur asked to see the new yeast, and found it incomparably -purer, but such was not the case with the barm of the other products -then in fermentation--_ale_ and _pale ale_. - -By degrees, samples of every kind of beer on the premises were brought -to Pasteur and put under the microscope. He detected marked beginnings -of disease in some, in others merely a trace, but a threatening one. The -various foremen were sent for; this scientific visit seemed like a -police inquiry. The owner of the brewery, who had been fetched, was -obliged to register, one after another, these experimental -demonstrations. It was only human to show a little surprise, perhaps a -little impatience of wounded feeling. But it was impossible to mistake -the authority of the French scientist’s words: “Every marked alteration -in the quality of the beer coincides with the development of -micro-organisms foreign to the nature of true beer yeast.” It would have -been interesting to a psychologist to study in the expression of -Pasteur’s hearers those shades of curiosity, doubt, and approbation, -which ended in the thoroughly English conclusion that there was profit -to be made out of this object lesson. - -Pasteur afterwards remembered with a smile the answers he received, -rather vague at first, then clearer, and, finally--interest and -confidence now obtained--the confession that there was in a corner of -the brewery a quantity of spoilt beer, which had gone wrong only a -fortnight after it was made, and was not drinkable. “I examined it with -a microscope,” said Pasteur, “and could not at first detect any ferments -of disease; but guessing that it might have become clear through a long -rest, the ferments now inert having dropped to the bottom of the -reservoirs, I examined the deposit at the bottom of the reservoirs. It -was entirely composed of filaments of disease unmixed with the least -globule of alcoholic yeast. The complementary fermentation of that beer -had therefore been exclusively a morbid fermentation.” - -When he visited the same brewery again, a week later, he found that not -only had a microscope been procured immediately, but the yeast of all -the beer then being brewed had been changed. - -Pasteur was happy to offer to the English, who like to call themselves -practical men, a proof of the usefulness of disinterested science, -persuaded as he was that the moral debt incurred to a French scientist -would in some measure revert to France herself. “We must make some -friends for our beloved France,” he would say. And if in the course of -conversation an Englishman gave expression to any doubt concerning the -future of the country, Pasteur, his grave and powerful face full of -energy, would answer that every Frenchman, after the horrible storm -which had raged for so many months, was valiantly returning to his daily -task, whether great or humble, each one thinking of retrieving the -national fall. - -Every morning, as he left his hotel to go to the various breweries which -he was now privileged to visit in their smallest details, he observed -this English people, knowing the value of time, seeing its own interests -in all things, consistent in its ideas and in its efforts, respectful of -established institutions and hierarchy; and he thought with regret how -his own countrymen lacked these qualities. But if the French are rightly -taxed with a feverish love of change, should not justice be rendered to -that generous side of the French character, so gifted, capable of so -much, and which finds in self-sacrifice the secret of energy, for whom -hatred is a real suffering? “Let us work!” Pasteur’s favourite phrase -ever ended those philosophical discussions. - -He wanted to do two years’ work in one, regardless of health and -strength. Beyond the diseases of beer, avoidable since they come from -outside, he foresaw the application of the doctrine of exterior germs to -other diseases. But he did not allow his imagination to run away with -him, and resolutely fixed his mind on his present object, which was the -application of science to the brewing industry. - -“The interest of those visits to English breweries,” wrote Pasteur to -Raulin, “and of the information I am able to collect (I hear that I -ought to consider this as a great favour) causes me to regret very much -that you should be in want of rest, for I am sure you would have been -charmed to acquire so much instruction _de visu_. Why should you not -come for a day or two if your health permits? Do as you like about that, -but in any case prepare for immediate work on my return. We need not -wait for the new laboratory; we can settle down in the old one and in a -Paris brewery.” - -When Pasteur returned to Paris, Bertin, who had not seen him since the -recent historic events, welcomed him with a radiant delight. School -friendships are like those favourite books which always open at the page -we prefer; time has no hold on certain affections; ever new, ever young, -they never show signs of age. Bertin’s love was very precious to -Pasteur, though the two friends were as different from each other as -possible. Pasteur, ever preoccupied, seemed to justify the Englishman -who said that genius consists in an infinite capacity for taking pains; -whilst Bertin, with his merry eyes, was the very image of a smiling -philosopher. In spite of his position as sub-director, which he most -conscientiously filled, he was not afraid to whistle or to sing popular -songs as he went along the passages of the Ecole Normale. He came round -to Pasteur’s rooms almost every evening, bringing with him joy, -lightness of heart, and a rest and relaxation for the mind, brightening -up his friend by his amusing way of looking at things in general, -and--at that time--beer in particular. - -Whilst Pasteur saw but pure yeast, and thought but of spores of disease, -ferments, and parasitic invasions, Bertin would dilate on certain cafés -in the Latin quarter, where, without regard to great scientific -principles, experts could be asked to pronounce between the beer on the -premises and laboratory beer, harmless and almost agreeable, but lacking -in the refinement of taste of which Bertin, who had spent many years in -Strasburg, was a competent judge. Pasteur, accustomed to an absolutely -infallible method, like that which he had invented for the seeding of -silkworms, heard Bertin say to him, “First of all, give me a good -_bock_, you can talk learnedly afterwards.” Pasteur acknowledged, -however, the improvements obtained by certain brewers, who, thanks to -the experience of years, knew how to choose yeast which gave a -particular taste, and also how to employ preventive measures against -accidental and pernicious ferments (such as the use of ice, or of hops -in a larger quantity). But, though laughing at Bertin’s jokes, Pasteur -was convinced that great progress in the brewer’s art would date from -his studies. - -He was now going through a series of experiments, buying at Bertin’s -much praised cafés samples of various famous beers--Strasburg, Nancy, -Vienna, Burton’s, etc. After letting the samples rest for twenty-four -hours he decanted them and sowed one drop of the deposit in vessels full -of pure wort, which he placed in a temperature of 20° C. After fifteen -or eighteen days he studied and tasted the yeasts formed in the wort, -and found them all to contain ferments of diseases. He sowed some pure -yeast in some other vessels, with the same precautions, and all the -beers of this series remained pure from strange ferments and free from -bad taste; they had merely become _flat_. - -He was eagerly seeking the means of judging how his laboratory tests -would work in practice. He spent some time at Tantonville, in Lorraine, -visiting an immense brewery, of which the owners were the brothers -Tourtel. Though very carefully kept, the brewery was yet not quite clean -enough to satisfy him. It is true that he was more than difficult to -please in that respect; a small detail of his everyday life revealed -this constant preoccupation. He never used a plate or a glass without -examining them minutely and wiping them carefully; no microscopic speck -of dust escaped his short-sighted eyes. Whether at home or with -strangers he invariably went through this preliminary exercise, in spite -of the anxious astonishment of his hostess, who usually feared that some -negligence had occurred, until Pasteur, noticing her slight dismay, -assured her that this was but an inveterate scientist’s habit. If he -carried such minute care into daily life, we can imagine how strict was -his examination of scientific things and of brewery tanks. - -After those studies at Tantonville with his curator, M. Grenet, Pasteur -laid down three great principles-- - -1. Every alteration either of the wort or of the beer itself depends on -the development of micro-organisms which are ferments of diseases. - -2. These germs of ferments are brought by the air, by the ingredients, -or by the apparatus used in breweries. - -3. Whenever beer contains no living germs it is unalterable. - -When once those principles were formulated and proved they were to -triumph over all professional uncertainties. And in the same way that -wines could be preserved from various causes of alteration by heating, -bottled beer could escape the development of disease ferments by being -brought to a temperature of 50° to 55°. The application of this process -gave rise to the new word “_pasteurized_” beer, a neologism which soon -became current in technical language. - -Pasteur foresaw the distant consequences of these studies, and wrote in -his book on beer-- - -“When we see beer and wine subjected to deep alterations because they -have given refuge to micro-organisms invisibly introduced and now -swarming within them, it is impossible not to be pursued by the thought -that similar facts may, _must_, take place in animals and in man. But if -we are inclined to believe that it is so because we think it likely and -possible, let us endeavour to remember, before we affirm it, that the -greatest disorder of the mind is to allow the will to direct the -belief.” - -This shows us once more the strange duality of this inspired man, who -associated in his person the faith of an apostle with the inquiring -patience of a scientist. - -He was often disturbed by tiresome discussions from the researches to -which he would gladly have given his whole time. The heterogenists had -not surrendered; they would not admit that alterable organic liquids -could be indefinitely preserved from putrefaction and fermentation when -in contact with air freed from dusts. - -Pouchet, the most celebrated of them, who considered that part of a -scientist’s duty consists in vulgarizing his discoveries, was preparing -for the New Year, 1872, a book called _The Universe: the Infinitely -Great and the Infinitely Small_. He enthusiastically recalled the -spectacle revealed at the end of the seventeenth century by the -microscope, which he compared to a sixth sense. He praised the -discoveries made in 1838 by Ehrenberg on the prodigious activity of -infusories, but he never mentioned Pasteur’s name, leaving entirely on -one side the immense work accomplished by the infinitely small and ever -active agents of putrefaction and fermentation. He owned that “a few -microzoa did fly about here and there,” but he called the theory of -germs a “ridiculous fiction.” - -At the same time Liebig, who, since the interview in July, 1870, had had -time to recover his health, published a long treatise disputing certain -facts put forward by Pasteur. - -Pasteur had declared that, in the process of vinegar-making known as the -German process, the chips of beech-wood placed in the barrels were but -supports for the _mycoderma aceti_. Liebig, after having, he said, -consulted at Munich the chief of one of the largest vinegar factories, -who did not believe in the presence of the mycoderma, affirmed that he -himself had not seen a trace of the fungus on chips which had been used -in that factory for twenty-five years. - -In order to bring this debate to a conclusion Pasteur suggested a very -simple experiment, which was to dry some of those chips rapidly in a -stove and to send them to Paris, where a commission, selected from the -members of the Académie des Sciences, would decide on this conflict. -Pasteur undertook to demonstrate to the Commission the presence of the -mycoderma on the surface of the chips. Or another means might be used: -the Munich vinegar maker would be asked to scald one of his barrels with -boiling water and then to make use of it again. “According to Liebig’s -theory,” said Pasteur, “that barrel should work as before, but I affirm -that no vinegar will form in it for a long time, not until new mycoderma -have grown on the surface of the chips.” In effect, the boiling water -would destroy the little fungus. With the usual clear directness which -increased the interest of the public in this scientific discussion, -Pasteur formulated once more his complete theory of acetification: “The -principle is very simple: whenever wine is transformed into vinegar, it -is by the action of the layer of _mycoderma aceti_ developed on its -surface.” Liebig, however, refused the suggested test. - -Immediately after that episode a fresh adversary, M. Frémy, a member of -the Académie des Sciences, began with Pasteur a discussion, which was -destined to be a long one, on the question of the origin of ferments. M. -Frémy alluded to the fact that he had given many years to that subject, -having published a notice on lactic fermentation as far back as 1841, -“at a time,” he said, “when our learned colleague--M. Pasteur--was -barely entering into science.”... “In the production of wine,” said M. -Frémy, “it is the juice of the fruit itself, which, put in contact with -air, gives birth to grains of yeast by the transformation of albuminous -matter, whilst M. Pasteur declares that the grains of yeast are produced -by germs.” According to M. Frémy, ferments did not come from atmospheric -dusts, but were created by organic bodies. And, inventing for his own -use the new word _hemiorganism_, M. Frémy explained the word and the -action by saying that there are some _hemiorganized_ bodies which, by -reason of the vital force with which they are endowed, go through -successive decompositions and give birth to new derivatives; thus are -ferments engendered. - -Another colleague, M. Trécul, a botanist and a genuine truth-seeking -_savant_, arose in his turn. He said he had witnessed a whole -transformation of microscopic species each into the other, and in -support of this theory he invoked the names of the three -inseparables--Pouchet, Musset and Joly. Himself a heterogenist, he had -in 1867 given a definition to which he willingly alluded: “Heterogenesis -is a natural operation by which life, on the point of abandoning an -organized body, concentrates its action on some particles of that body -and forms thereof beings quite different from that of the substance -which has been borrowed.” - -Old arguments and renewed negations were brought forward, and Pasteur -knew well that this was but a reappearance of the old quarrel; he -therefore answered by going straight to the point. At the Académie des -Sciences, on December 26, 1871, he addressed M. Trécul in these words: -“I can assure our learned colleague that he might have found in the -treatises I have published decisive answers to most of the questions he -has raised. I am really surprised to see him tackle the question of -so-called spontaneous generation, without having more at his disposal -than doubtful facts and incomplete observations. My astonishment was not -less than at our last sitting, when M. Frémy entered upon the same -debate with nothing to produce but superannuated opinions and not one -new positive fact.” - -In his passion for truth and his desire to be convincing Pasteur threw -out this challenge: “Would M. Frémy confess his error if I were to -demonstrate to him that the natural juice of the grape, exposed to the -contact of air, deprived of its germs, can neither ferment nor give -birth to organized yeasts?” This interpellation was perhaps more violent -than was usual in the meetings of the solemn Academy, but scientific -truth was in question. And Pasteur, recognizing the old arguments under -M. Frémy’s hemiorganism and M. Trécul’s transformations, referred his -two contradictors to the experiments by which he had proved that -alterable liquids, such as blood or urine, could be exposed to the -contact of air deprived of its germs without undergoing the least -fermentation or putrefaction. Had not this fact been the basis on which -Lister had founded “his marvellous surgical method”? And in the -bitterness given to his speech by his irritation against error, the -epithet “marvellous” burst out with a visible delight in rendering -homage to Lister. - -Pasteur, then in full possession of all the qualities of his genius, was -feeling the sort of fever known to great scientists, great artists, -great writers: the ardent desire of finding, of discovering something he -could leave to posterity. Interrupted by these belated contradictors -when he wanted to be going forward, he only restrained his impatience -with difficulty. - -His old master, Balard, appealed to him in the Académie itself (January -22, 1872), in the name of their old friendship, to disregard the attacks -of his adversaries, instead of wasting his time and his strength in -trying to convince them. He reminded him of all he had achieved, of the -benefits he had brought to the industries of wine, beer, vinegar, -silkworms, etc., and alluded to the possibility foreseen by Pasteur -himself of preserving mankind from some of the mysterious diseases which -were perhaps due to germs in atmospheric air. He ended by urging him to -continue his studies peacefully in the laboratory built for him, and to -continue the scientific education of young pupils who might one day -become worthy successors of Van Tieghem, Duclaux, Gernez, Raulin, -etc.... thus forming a whole generation of young scientists instructed -in Pasteur’s school. - -M. Duclaux wrote to him in the same sense: “I see very well what you may -lose in that fruitless struggle--your rest, your time and your health; I -try in vain to see any possible advantage.” - -But nothing stopped him; neither Balard’s public advice, his pupils’ -letters, even J. B. Dumas’ imploring looks. He could not keep himself -from replying. Sometimes he regretted his somewhat sharp language, -though--in his own words--he never associated it with feelings of -hostility towards his contradictors as long as he believed in their -good faith; what he wanted was that truth should have the last word. -“What _you_ lack, M. Frémy, is familiarity with a microscope, and you, -M. Trécul, are not accustomed to laboratories!” “M. Frémy is always -trying to displace the question,” said Pasteur, ten months after M. -Balard’s appeal. - -Whilst M. Frémy disputed, discussed, and filled the Académie with his -objections, M. Trécul, whose life was somewhat misanthropical and whose -usually sad and distrustful face was seen nowhere but at the Institute, -insisted slowly, in a mournful voice, on certain transformations of -divers cells or spores from one into the other. Pasteur declared that -those ideas of transformation were erroneous; but--and there lay the -interest of the debate--there was one of those transformations that -Pasteur himself had once believed possible: that of the _mycoderma -vini_, or wine flower, into an alcoholic ferment under certain -conditions of existence. - -A modification in the life of the mycoderma when submerged had led him -to believe in a transformation of the mycoderma cells into yeast cells. -It was on this question, which had been left in suspense, that the -debate with Trécul came to an end, leaving to the witnesses of it a most -vivid memory of Pasteur’s personality--inflexible when he held his -proofs, full of scruples and reserve when seeking those proofs, and -accepting no personal praise if scientific truth was not recognized and -honoured before everything else. - -On November 11 Pasteur said: “Four months ago doubts suddenly appeared -in my mind as to the truth of the fact in question, and which M. Trécul -still looks upon as indisputable.... In order to disperse those doubts I -have instituted the most numerous and varied experiments and I have not -succeeded through those four months in satisfying myself by irrefragable -proofs; I still have my doubts. Let this example show to M. Trécul how -difficult it is to conclude definitely in such delicate studies.” - -Pasteur studied the scientific point for a long time, for he never -abandoned a subject, but was ever ready to begin again after a failure. -He modified the disposition of his first tests, and by the use of -special vessels and slightly complicated apparatus succeeded in -eliminating the only imaginable cause of error--the possible fall, -during the manipulations, of exterior germs, that is, the fortuitous -sowing of yeast cells. After that he saw no more yeast and no more -active alcoholic fermentation; he had therefore formerly been the dupe -of a delusion. In his _Studies on Beer_ Pasteur tells of his error and -its rectification: “At a time when ideas on the transformations of -species are so readily adopted, perhaps because they dispense with -rigorous experimentation, it is somewhat interesting to consider that in -the course of my researches on microscopic plants in a state of purity I -once had occasion to believe in the transformation of one organism into -another, the transformation of the _mycoderma vini_ or _cerevisiae_ into -yeast, and that this time I was in error; I had not avoided the cause of -illusion which my confirmed confidence in the theory of germs had so -often led me to discover in the observations of others.” - -“The notion of species,” writes M. Duclaux, who was narrowly associated -with those experiments, “was saved for the present from the attacks -directed against it, and it has not been seriously contested since, at -least not on that ground.” - -Some failures are blessings in disguise. When discovering his mistake, -Pasteur directed his attention to a strange phenomenon. We find in his -book on beer--a sort of laboratory diary--the following details on his -observation of the growth of some mycoderma seed which he had just -scattered over some sweetened wine or beer-wort in small china saucers. - -“When the cells or articles of the mycoderma vini are in full -germinating and propagating activity in contact with air on a sweetened -substratum, they live at the expense of that sugar and other subjacent -materials absolutely like the animals who also utilize the oxygen in the -air while freeing carbonic acid gas, consuming this and that, and -correlatively increasing, regenerating themselves and creating new -materials. - -“Under those conditions not only does the mycoderma vini form no alcohol -appreciable by analysis, but if alcohol exists in the subjacent liquid -the mycoderma reduces it to water and carbonic acid gas by the fixation -of the oxygen in the air.” Pasteur, having submerged the mycoderma and -studied it to see how it would accommodate itself to the new conditions -offered to it, and whether it would die like an animal asphyxiated by -the sudden deprivation of oxygen, saw that life was continued in the -submerged cells, slow, difficult, of a short duration, but undoubtedly -life, and that this life was accompanied by alcoholic fermentation. This -time fermentation was due to the fungus itself. The mycoderma, -originally an aërobia--that is, a being to the life and development of -which air was necessary--became, after being submerged, an anaërobia, -that is, a creature living without air in the depths of the liquid, and -behaving after the manner of ferments. - -This extended the notions on aërobiæ and anaërobiæ which Pasteur had -formerly discovered whilst making researches concerning the vibrio which -is the butyric ferment, and those vibriones which are entrusted with the -special fermentation known as putrefaction. Between the aërobiæ who -require air to live and the anaërobiæ which perish when exposed to air, -there was a class of organisms capable of living for a time outside the -influence of air. No one had thought of studying the mouldiness which -develops so easily when in contact with air; Pasteur was curious to see -what became of it when submitted like the mycoderma to that unexpected -_régime_. He saw the penicillium, the aspergillus, the mucor-mucedo take -the character of ferments when living without air, or with a quantity of -air too small to surround their organs as completely as was necessary to -their aërobia-plant life. The mucor, when submerged and thus forced to -become an anaërobia, offers budding cells, and there again it seemed as -if they were yeast globules. “But,” said Pasteur, “this change of form -merely corresponds to a change of function, it is but a self-adaptation -to the new life of an anaërobia.” And then, generalizing again and -seeking for laws under the accumulation of isolated facts, he thought it -probable that ferments had, “but in a higher degree, a character common -to most mucors if not to all, and probably possessed more or less by all -living cells, viz., to be alternately aërobic or anaërobic, according to -conditions of environment.” - -Fermentation, therefore, no longer appeared as an isolated and -mysterious act; it was a general phenomenon, subordinate however to the -small number of substances capable of a decomposition accompanied by a -production of heat and of being used for the alimentation of inferior -beings outside the presence and action of air. Pasteur put the whole -theory into this concise formula, “Fermentation is life without air.” - -“It will be seen,” wrote M. Duclaux, “to what heights he had raised the -debate; by changing the mode of interpretation of known facts he brought -out a new theory.” - -But this new theory raised a chorus of controversy. Pasteur held to his -proofs; he recalled what he had published concerning the typical -ferment, the yeast of beer, an article inserted in the reports of the -Académie des Sciences for 1861, and entitled, _The Influence of Oxygen -on the Development of Yeast and on Alcoholic Fermentation_. In this -article Pasteur, à propos of the chemical action connected with -vegetable life, explained in the most interesting manner the two modes -of life of the yeast of beer. - -1. The yeast, placed in some sweet liquid in contact with air, -assimilates oxygen gas and develops abundantly; under those conditions, -it practically works for itself only, the production of alcohol is -insignificant, and the proportion between the weight of sugar absorbed -and that of the yeast is infinitesimal. 2. But, in its second mode of -life, if yeast is made to act upon sugar without the action of -atmospheric air, it can no longer freely assimilate oxygen gas, and is -reduced to abstracting oxygen from the fermentescible matter. - -“It seems therefore natural,” wrote Pasteur, “to admit that when yeast -is a ferment, acting out of the reach of atmospheric air, it takes -oxygen from sugar, that being the origin of its fermentative character.” -It is possible to put the fermentative power of yeast through divers -degrees of intensity by introducing free oxygen in variable quantities. - -After comparing the yeast of beer to an ordinary plant, Pasteur added -that “the analogy would be complete if ordinary plants had an affinity -for oxygen so strong as to breathe, by withdrawing that element from -unstable components, in which case they would act as ferments on those -substances.” He suggested that it might be possible to meet with -conditions which would allow certain inferior plants to live away from -atmospheric air in the presence of sugar, and to provoke fermentation of -that substance after the manner of beer yeast. - -He was already at that time scattering germs of ideas, with the -intention of taking them up later on and experimenting on them, or, if -time should fail him, willingly offering them to any attentive -scientist. These studies on beer had brought him back to his former -studies, to his great delight. - -“What a sacrifice I made for you,” he could not help saying to Dumas, -with a mixture of affection and deference, and some modesty, for he -apparently forgot the immense service rendered to sericiculture, “when I -gave up my studies on ferments for five whole years in order to study -silkworms!!!” - -No doubt a great deal of time was also wasted by the endless -discussions entered into by his scientific adversaries; but those -discussions certainly brought out and evidenced many guiding facts which -are now undisputed, as for instance the following--1. Ferments are -living beings. 2. There is a special ferment corresponding to each kind -of fermentation. 3. Ferments are not born spontaneously. - -Liebig and his partisans had looked upon fermentation as a phenomenon of -death; they had thought that beer yeast, and in general all animal and -vegetable matter in a state of putrefaction, extended to other bodies -its own state of decomposition. - -Pasteur, on the contrary, had seen in fermentation a phenomenon -correlative with life; he had provoked the complete fermentation of a -sweet liquid which contained mineral substances only, by introducing -into it a trace of yeast, which, instead of dying, lived, flourished and -developed. - -To those who, believing in spontaneous generation, saw in fermentations -but a question of chance, Pasteur by a series of experimental proofs had -shown the origin of their delusion by indicating the door open to germs -coming from outside. He had moreover taught the method of pure cultures. -Finally, in those recent renewals of old quarrels on the transformations -into each other of microscopic species, Pasteur, obliged by the -mycoderma vini to study closely its alleged transformation, which he had -himself believed possible, had thrown ample light on the only dark spot -of his luminous domain. - -“It is enough to think,” writes M. Duclaux concerning that long -discussion, “we have but to remember that those who denied the specific -nature of the germ would now deny the specific nature of disease, in -order to understand the darkness in which such opinions would have -confined microbian pathology; it was therefore important that they -should be uprooted from every mind.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -1873--1877 - - -Pasteur had glimpses of another world beyond the phenomena of -fermentation--the world of virus ferments. Two centuries earlier, an -English physicist, Robert Boyle, had said that he who could probe to the -bottom the nature of ferments and fermentation would probably be more -capable than any one of explaining certain morbid phenomena. These words -often recurred to the mind of Pasteur, who had, concerning the problem -of contagious diseases, those sudden flashes of light wherein genius is -revealed. But, ever insisting on experimental proofs, he constrained his -exalted imagination so as to follow calmly and patiently the road of -experimental method. He could not bear the slightest error, or even -hasty interpretation, in the praises addressed to him. One day, during -the period of the most ardent polemics, in the midst of the struggle on -spontaneous generation, a medical man named Déclat, who declared that -Pasteur’s experiments were “the glory of our century and the salvation -of future generations,” gave a lecture on “The Infinitesimally Small and -their Rôle in the World.” “After the lecture,” relates Dr. Déclat -himself, “M. Pasteur, whom I only knew by name, came to me, and, after -the usual compliments, condemned the inductions I had drawn from his -experiments. ‘The arguments,’ he said, ‘by which you support my -theories, are most ingenious, but not founded on demonstrated facts; -analogy is no proof.’” - -Pasteur used to speak very modestly of his work. He said, in a speech to -some Arbois students, that it was “through assiduous work, with no -special gift but that of perseverance joined to an attraction towards -all that is great and good,” that he had met with success in his -researches. He did not add that an ardent kindness of heart was ever -urging him forward. After the services rendered within the last ten -years to vinegar makers, silkworm cultivators, vine growers, and -brewers, he now wished to tackle what he had had in his mind since -1861--the study of contagious diseases. Thus, with the consistent logic -of his mind, showing him as it did the possibility of realizing in the -future Robert Boyle’s prophecy, he associated the secret power of his -feelings; not to give those feelings their share would be to leave one -side of his nature entirely in the shade. He had himself revealed this -great factor in his character when he had said, “It would indeed be a -grand thing to give the heart its share in the progress of science.” He -was ever giving it a greater share in his work. - -His sorrows had only made him incline the more towards the griefs of -others. The memory of the children he had lost, the mournings he had -witnessed, caused him to passionately desire that there might be fewer -empty places in desolate homes, and that this might be due to the -application of methods derived from his discoveries, of which he foresaw -the immense bearings on pathology. Beyond this, patriotism being for him -a ruling motive, he thought of the thousands of young men lost to France -every year, victims of the tiny germs of murderous diseases. And, at the -thought of epidemics and the heavy tax they levy on the whole world, his -compassion extended itself to all human suffering. - -He regretted that he was not a medical man, fancying that it might have -facilitated his task. It was true that, at every incursion on the domain -of Medicine, he was looked upon as a chemist--a _chymiaster_, some -said--who was poaching on the preserves of others. The distrust felt by -the physicians in the chemists was of a long standing. In the _Traité de -Thérapeutique_, published in 1855 by Trousseau and Pidoux, we find this -passage: “When a chemist has seen the chemical conditions of -respiration, of digestion, or of the action of some drug, he thinks he -has given the theory of those functions and phenomena. It is ever the -same delusion which chemists will never get over. We must make up our -minds to that, but let us beware of trying to profit by the precious -researches which they would probably never undertake if they were not -stimulated by the ambition of explaining what is outside their range.” -Pidoux never retrenched anything from two other phrases, also to be -found in that same treatise: “Between a physiological fact and a -pathological fact there is the same difference as between a mineral and -a vegetable”; and: “It is not within the power of physiology to explain -the simplest pathological affection.” Trousseau, on the other hand, was -endowed with the far-seeing intelligence of a great physician attentive -to the progress of science. He was greatly interested in Pasteur’s work, -and fully appreciated the possibilities opened by each of his -discoveries. - -Pasteur, with the simplicity which contrasted with his extraordinary -powers, supposed that, if he were armed with diplomas, he would have -greater authority to direct Medicine towards the study of the conditions -of existence of phenomena, and--correlatively to the traditional method -of observation, which consists in knowing and describing exactly the -course of the disease--to inspire practitioners with the desire to -prevent and to determine its cause. An unexpected offer went some way -towards filling what he considered as a blank. At the beginning of the -year 1873, a place was vacant in the section of the Free Associates of -the Academy of Medicine. He was asked to stand for it, and hastened to -accept. He was elected with a majority of only one vote, though he had -been first on the section’s list. The other suffrages were divided -between Messrs. Le Roy de Méricourt, Brochin, Lhéritier, and Bertillon. - -Pasteur, as soon as he was elected, promised himself that he would be a -most punctual academician. It was on a Tuesday in April that he attended -his first meeting. As he walked towards the desk allotted to him, his -paralyzed left leg dragging a little, no one among his colleagues -suspected that this quiet and unassuming new member would become the -greatest revolutionary ever known in Medicine. - -One thing added to Pasteur’s pleasure in being elected--the fact that he -would join Claude Bernard. The latter had often felt somewhat forlorn in -that centre, where some hostility was so often to be seen towards all -that was outside the Clinic. This was the time when the “princes of -science,” or those who were considered as such, were all physicians. -Every great physician was conscious of being a ruling power. The almost -daily habit of advising and counselling was added to that idea of -haughty or benevolent superiority to the rest of the world; and, -accustomed to dictate his wishes, the physician frequently adopted an -authoritative tone and became a sort of personage. “Have you noticed,” -said Claude Bernard to Pasteur with a smile under which many feelings -were hidden, “that, when a doctor enters a room, he always looks as if -he was going to say, ‘I have just been saving a fellow-man’?” - -Pasteur knew not those harmless shafts which are a revenge for prolonged -pomposity. Why need Claude Bernard trouble to wonder what So-and-so -might think? He had the consciousness of the work accomplished and the -esteem and admiration of men whose suffrage more than satisfied him. -Whilst Pasteur was already desirous of spreading in the Académie -Médecine the faith which inspired him, Claude Bernard remembered the -refractory state of mind of those who, at the time of his first lectures -on experimental physiology applied to medicine, affirmed that -“physiology can be of no practical use in medicine; it is but a _science -de luxe_ which could well be dispensed with.” He energetically defended -this _science de luxe_ as the very science of life. In his opening -lecture at the Museum in 1870, he said that “descriptive anatomy is to -physiology as geography to history; and, as it is not sufficient to -understand the topography of a country to know its history, so is it not -enough to know the anatomy of an organ to understand its functions.” -Méry, an old surgeon, familiarly compared anatomists to those errand -boys in large towns, who know the names of the streets and the numbers -of the houses, but do not know what goes on inside. There are indeed in -tissues and organs physico-chemical phenomena for which anatomy cannot -account. - -Claude Bernard was convinced that Medicine would gradually emerge from -quackery, and this by means of the experimental method, like all other -science. “No doubt,” he said, “we shall not live to see the blossoming -out of scientific medicine, but such is the fate of humanity; those that -sow on the field of science are not destined to reap the fruit of their -labours.” And so saying, Claude Bernard continued to sow. - -It is true that here and there flashes of light had preceded Pasteur; -but, instead of being guided by them, most doctors continued to advance -majestically in the midst of darkness. Whenever murderous diseases, -scourges of humanity, were in question, long French or Latin words were -put forward, such as “Epidemic genius,” _fatum, quid ignotum quid -divinum_, etc. _Medical constitution_ was also a useful word, elastic -and applicable to anything. - -When the Vale de Grâce physician, Villemin--a modest, gentle-voiced man, -who, under his quiet exterior, hid a veritable thirst for scientific -truth--after experimental researches carried on from 1865 to 1869, -brought the proof that tuberculosis is a disease which reproduces -itself, and cannot be reproduced but by itself; in a word, specific, -inoculable, and contagious, he was treated almost as a perturber of -medical order. - -Dr. Pidoux, an ideal representative of traditional medicine, with his -gold-buttoned blue coat and his reputation equally great in Paris and at -the Eaux-Bonnes, declared that the idea of specificity was a fatal -thought. Himself a pillar of the doctrine of diathesis and of the morbid -spontaneity of the organism, he exclaimed in some much applauded -speeches: “Tuberculosis! but that is the common result of a quantity of -divers external and internal causes, not the product of a specific agent -ever the same!” Was not this disease to be looked upon as “one and -multiple at the same time, bringing the same final conclusion, the -necrobiotic and infecting destruction of the plasmatic tissue of an -organ by a number of roads which the hygienist and physician must -endeavour to close?” Where would these specificity doctrines lead to? -“Applied to chronic diseases, these doctrines condemn us to the research -of specific remedies or vaccines, and all progress is arrested.... -Specificity immobilizes medicine.” These phrases were reproduced by the -medical press. - -The bacillus of tuberculosis had not been discovered by Villemin; it was -only found and isolated much later, in 1882, by Dr. Koch; but Villemin -suspected the existence of a virus. In order to demonstrate the -infectious nature of tuberculosis, he experimented on animals, -multiplying inoculations; he took the sputum of tuberculous patients, -spread it on cotton wool, dried it, and then made the cotton wool into a -bed for little guinea-pigs, who became tuberculous. Pidoux answered -these precise facts by declaring that Villemin was fascinated by -inoculation, adding ironically, “Then all we doctors have to do is to -set out nets to catch the sporules of tuberculosis, and find a vaccine.” - -That sudden theory of phthisis, falling from the clouds, resembled -Pasteur’s theory of germs floating in air. Was it not better, urged -Pidoux the heterogenist, to remain in the truer and more philosophical -doctrine of spontaneous generation? “Let us believe, until the contrary -is proved, that we are right, we partisans of the common etiology of -phthisis, partisans of the spontaneous tuberculous degeneration of the -organism under the influence of accessible causes, which we seek -everywhere in order to cut down the evil in its roots.” - -A reception somewhat similar to that given to Villemin was reserved for -Davaine, who, having meditated on Pasteur’s works on butyric ferment and -the part played by that ferment, compared it and its action with certain -parasites visible with a microscope and observed by him in the blood of -animals which had died of charbon disease. By its action and its rapid -multiplication in the blood, this agent endowed with life probably -acted, said Davaine, after the manner of ferments. The blood was -modified to that extent that it speedily brought about the death of the -infected animal. Davaine called those filaments found in anthrax -“bacteria,” and added, “They have a place in the classification of -living beings.” But what was that animated virus to many doctors? They -answered experimental proofs by oratorical arguments. - -At the very time when Pasteur took his seat at the Academy of Medicine, -Davaine was being violently attacked; his experiments on septicæmia were -the cause, or the pretext. But the mere tone of the discussions prepared -Pasteur for future battles. The theory of germs, the doctrine of virus -ferments, all this was considered as a complete reversal of acquired -notions, a heresy which had to be suppressed. A well-known surgeon, Dr. -Chassaignac, spoke before the Académie de Médecine of what he called -“laboratory surgery, which has destroyed very many animals and saved -very few human beings.” In order to remind experimentalists of the -distance between them and practitioners, he added: “Laboratory results -should be brought out in a circumspect, modest and reserved manner, as -long as they have not been sanctioned by long clinical researches, a -sanction without which there is no real and practical medical science.” -Everything, he said, could not be resolved into a question of bacteria! -And, ironically, far from realizing the truth of his sarcastic prophecy, -he exclaimed, “Typhoid fever, bacterization! Hospital miasma, -bacterization!” - -Every one had a word to say. Dr. Piorry, an octogenarian, somewhat -weighed down with the burden of his years and reputation, rose to speak -with his accustomed solemnity. He had found for Villemin’s experiments -the simple explanation that “the tuberculous matter seems to be no other -than pus, which, in consequence of its sojourn in the organs, has -undergone varied and numerous modifications”; and he now imagined that -one of the principal causes of fatal accidents due to septicæmia after -surgical operations was the imperfect ventilation of hospital wards. It -was enough, he thought, that putrid odours should not be perceptible, -for the rate of mortality to be decreased. - -It was then affirmed that putrid infection was not an organized ferment, -that inferior organisms had in themselves no toxic action, in fact, that -they were the result and not the cause of putrid alteration; whereupon -Dr. Bouillaud, a contemporary of Dr. Piorry, called upon their new -colleague to give his opinion on the subject. - -It would have been an act of graceful welcome to Pasteur, and a fitting -homage to the memory of the celebrated Trousseau, who had died five -years before, in 1867, if any member present had then quoted one of the -great practitioner’s last lectures at the Hôtel Dieu, wherein he -predicted a future for Pasteur’s works: - -“The great theory of ferments is therefore now connected with an organic -function; every ferment is a germ, the life of which is manifested by a -special secretion. It may be that it is so for morbid viruses; they may -be ferments, which, deposited within the organism at a given moment and -under determined circumstances, manifest themselves by divers products. -So will the variolous ferment produce variolic fermentation, giving -birth to thousands of pustules, and likewise the virus of glanders, that -of sheep pox, etc.... - -“Other viruses appear to act locally, but, nevertheless, they ultimately -modify the whole organism, as do gangrene, malignant pustula, contagious -erysipelas, etc. May it not be supposed, under such circumstances, that -the ferment or organized matter of those viruses can be carried about by -the lancet, the atmosphere or the linen bandages?” - -But it occurred to no one in the Academy to quote those forgotten words. - -Pasteur, answering Bouillaud, recalled his own researches on lactic and -butyric fermentations and spoke of his studies on beer. He stated that -the alteration of beer was due to the presence of filiform organisms; if -beer becomes altered, it is because it contains germs of organized -ferments. “The correlation is certain, indisputable, between the disease -and the presence of organisms.” He spoke those last words with so much -emphasis that the stenographer who was taking down the extempore -speeches underlined them. - -A few months later, on November 17, 1873, he read to the Academy a paper -containing further developments of his principles. “In order that beer -should become altered and become sour, putrid, slimy, ‘ropy,’ acid or -lactic, it is necessary that foreign organisms should develop within it, -and those organisms only appear and multiply when those germs are -already extant in the liquid mass.” It is possible to oppose the -introduction of those germs; Pasteur drew on the blackboard the diagram -of an apparatus which only communicated with the outer air by means of -tubes fulfilling the office of the sinuous necks of the glass vessels he -had used for his experiments on so-called spontaneous generation. He -entered into every detail, demonstrating that as long as pure yeast -alone had been sown, the security was absolute. “That which has been put -forward on the subject of a possible transformation of yeast into -bacteria, vibriones, _mycoderma aceti_ and vulgar mucors, or vice versa, -is mistaken.” - -He wrote in a private letter on the subject: “These simple and clear -results have cost me many sleepless nights before presenting themselves -before me in the precise form I have now given them.” - -But his own conviction had not yet penetrated the minds of his -adversaries, and M. Trécul was still supporting his hypothesis of -transformations, the so-called proofs of which, according to Pasteur, -rested on a basis of confused facts tainted with involuntary errors due -to imperfect experiments. - -In December, 1873, at a sitting of the Academy, he presented M. Trécul -with a few little flagons, in which he had sown some pure seed of -_penicillium glaucum_, begging him to accept them and to observe them at -his leisure, assuring him that it would be impossible to find a trace of -any transformation of the spores into yeast cells. - -“When M. Trécul has finished the little task which I am soliciting of -his devotion to the knowledge of truth,” continued Pasteur, “I shall -give him the elements of a similar work on the _mycoderma vini_; in -other words, I shall bring to M. Trécul some absolutely pure _mycoderma -vini_ with which he can reproduce his former experiments and recognize -the exactness of the facts which I have lately announced.” - -Pasteur concluded thus: “The Academy will allow me to make one last -remark. It must be owned that my contradictors have been peculiarly -unlucky in taking the occasion of my paper on the diseases of beer to -renew this discussion. How is it they did not understand that my process -for the fabrication of inalterable beer could not exist if beer wort in -contact with air could present all the transformations of which they -speak? And that work on beer, entirely founded as it is on the discovery -and knowledge of some microscopic beings, has it not followed my studies -on vinegar, on the mycoderma aceti and on the new process of -acetification which I have invented? Has not that work been followed by -my studies on the causes of wine diseases and the means of preventing -them, still founded on the discovery and knowledge of non-spontaneous -microscopic beings? Have not these last researches been followed by the -discovery of means to prevent the silkworm disease, equally deducted -from the study of non-spontaneous microscopic beings? - -“Are not all the researches I have pursued for seventeen years, at the -cost of many efforts, the product of the same ideas, the same -principles, pushed by incessant toil into consequences ever new? The -best proof that an observer is in the right track lies in the -uninterrupted fruitfulness of his work.” - -This fruitfulness was evidenced, not only by Pasteur’s personal labours, -but by those he inspired and encouraged. Thus, in that same period, M. -Gayon, a former student of the Ecole Normale, whom he had chosen as -curator, started on some researches on the alteration of eggs. He stated -that when an egg is stale, rotten, this is due to the presence and -multiplication of infinitesimally small beings; the germs of those -organisms and the organisms themselves come from the oviduct of the hen -and penetrate even into the points where the shell membrane and the -albumen are formed. “The result is,” concluded M. Gayon, “that, during -the formation of those various elements, the egg may or may not, -according to circumstances, gather up organisms or germs of organisms, -and consequently bear within itself, as soon as it is laid, the cause of -ulterior alterations. It will be seen at the same time that the number -of eggs susceptible of alteration may vary from one hen to another, as -well as between the eggs of one hen, for the organisms to be observed on -the oviduct rise to variable heights.” - -If the organisms which alter the eggs and cause them to rot “were -formed,” said Pasteur, “by the spontaneous self-organization of the -matter within the egg into those small beings, all eggs should putrefy -equally, whereas they do not.” At the end of M. Gayon’s thesis--which -had not taken so long as Raulin’s to prepare, only three years--we find -the following conclusion: “Putrefaction in eggs is correlative with the -development and multiplication of beings which are bacteria when in -contact with air and vibriones when away from the contact of air. Eggs, -from that point of view, do not depart from the general law discovered -by M. Pasteur.” - -Pasteur’s influence was now spreading beyond the Laboratory of -Physiological Chemistry, as the small laboratory at the Ecole Normale -was called. - -In the treatise he had published in 1862, criticizing the doctrine of -spontaneous generation, he had mentioned, among the organisms produced -by urine in putrefaction, the existence of a torulacea in very -small-grained chaplets. A physician, Dr. Traube, in 1864, had -demonstrated that Pasteur was right in thinking that ammoniacal -fermentation was due to this torulacea, whose properties were afterwards -studied with infinite care by M. Van Tieghem, a former student of the -Ecole Normale, who had inspired Pasteur with a deep affection. Pasteur, -in his turn, completed his own observations and assured himself that -this little organized ferment was to be found in every case of -ammoniacal urine. Finally, after proving that boracic acid impeded the -development of that ammoniacal ferment, he suggested to M. Guyon, the -celebrated surgeon, the use of boracic acid for washing out the bladder; -M. Guyon put the advice into practice with success, and attributed the -credit of it to Pasteur. - -In a letter written at the end of 1873, Pasteur wrote: “How I wish I had -enough health and sufficient knowledge to throw myself body and soul -into the experimental study of one of our infectious diseases!” He -considered that his studies on fermentations would lead him in that -direction; he thought that when it should be made evident that every -serious alteration in beer was due to the micro-organisms which find in -that liquid a medium favourable to their development, when it should be -seen that--in contradiction to the old ideas by which those alterations -are looked upon as spontaneous, inherent in those liquids, and depending -on their nature and composition--the cause of those diseases is not -interior but exterior, then would indeed be defeated the doctrine of -men like Pidoux, who à propos of diseases, said: “Disease is in us, of -us, by us,” and who, à propos of small-pox, even said that he was not -certain that it could only proceed from inoculation and contagion. - -Though the majority of physicians and surgeons considered that it was -waste of time to listen to “a mere chemist,” there was a small group of -young men, undergraduates, who, in their thirst for knowledge, assembled -at the Académie de Médecine every Tuesday, hoping that Pasteur might -bring out one of his communications concerning a scientific method -“which resolves each difficulty by an easily interpreted experiment, -delightful to the mind, and at the same time so decisive that it is as -satisfying as a geometrical demonstration, and gives an impression of -security.” - -Those words were written by one of those who came to the Académie -sittings, feeling that they were on the eve of some great revelations. -He was a clinical assistant of Dr. Béhier’s, and, busy as he was with -medical analysis, he was going over Pasteur’s experiments on -fermentations for his own edification. He was delighted with the -sureness of the Pastorian methods, and was impatient to continue the -struggle now begun. Enthusiasm was evinced in his brilliant eyes, in the -timbre of his voice, clear, incisive, slightly imperious perhaps, and in -his implacable desire for logic. Of solitary habits, with no ambition -for distinction or degrees, he worked unceasingly for sheer love of -science. The greatest desire of that young man of twenty-one, quite -unknown to Pasteur, was to be one day admitted, in the very humblest -rank, to the Ecole Normale laboratory. His name was Roux. - -Was not that medical student, that disciple lost in the crowd, an image -of the new generation hungering for new ideas, more convinced than the -preceding one had been of the necessity of proofs? Struck by the -unstable basis of medical theories, those young men divined that the -secret of progress in hospitals was to be found in the laboratories. -Medicine and surgery in those days were such a contrast to what they are -now that it seems as if centuries divided them. No doubt one day some -professor, some medical historian, will give us a full account of that -vast and immense progress. But, whilst awaiting a fully competent work -of that kind, it is possible, even in a book such as this (which is, -from many causes, but a hasty epitome of many very different things -spread over a very simple biography), to give to a reader unfamiliar -with such studies a certain idea of one of the most interesting chapters -in the history of civilization, affecting the preservation of -innumerable human lives. - -“A pin-prick is a door open to Death,” said the surgeon Velpeau. That -open door widened before the smallest operation; the lancing of an -abscess or a whitlow sometimes had such serious consequences that -surgeons hesitated before the slightest use of the bistoury. It was much -worse when a great surgical intervention was necessary, though, through -the irony of things, the immediate success of the most difficult -operations was now guaranteed by the progress of skill and the precious -discovery of anæsthesia. The patient, his will and consciousness -suspended, awoke from the most terrible operation as from a dream. But -at that very moment when the surgeon’s art was emboldened by being able -to disregard pain, it was arrested, disconcerted, and terrified by the -fatal failures which supervened after almost every operation. The words -pyæmia, gangrene, erysipelas, septicæmia, purulent infection, were -bywords in those days. - -In the face of those terrible consequences, it had been thought better, -about forty years ago, to discourage and even to prohibit a certain -operation, then recently invented and practised in England and America, -ovariotomy, “even,” said Velpeau, “if the reported cures be true.” In -order to express the terror inspired by ovariotomy, a physician went so -far as to say that it should be “classed among the attributes of the -executioner.” - -As it was supposed that the infected air of the hospitals might be the -cause of the invariably fatal results of that operation, the Assistance -Publique[31] hired an isolated house in the Avenue de Meudon, near -Paris, a salubrious spot. In 1863, ten women in succession were sent to -that house; the neighbouring inhabitants watched those ten patients -entering the house, and a short time afterwards their ten coffins being -taken away. In their terrified ignorance they called that house the -House of Crime. - -Surgeons were asking themselves whether they did not carry death with -them, unconsciously scattering virus and subtle poisons. - -Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, surgery had positively -retrograded; the mortality after operations was infinitely less in the -preceding centuries, because antisepsis was practised unknowingly, -though cauterizations by fire, boiling liquids and disinfecting -substances. In a popular handbook published in 1749, and entitled -_Medicine and Surgery for the Poor_, we read that wounds should be kept -from the contact of air; it was also recommended not to touch the wound -with fingers or instruments. “It is very salutary, when uncovering the -wound in order to dress it, to begin by applying over its whole surface -a piece of cloth dipped into hot wine or brandy.” Good results had been -obtained by the great surgeon Larrey, under the first Empire, by hot -oil, hot brandy, and unfrequent dressings. But, under the influence of -Broussais, the theory of inflammation caused a retrogression in surgery. -Then came forth basins for making poultices, packets of charpie (usually -made of old hospital sheets merely washed), and rows of pots of -ointment. It is true that, during the second half of the last century, a -few attempts were made to renew the use of alcoholized water for -dressings. In 1868, at the time when the mortality after amputation in -hospitals was over sixty per cent., Surgeon Léon Le Fort banished -sponges, exacted from his students scrupulous cleanliness and constant -washing of hands and instruments before every operation, and employed -alcoholized water for dressings. But though he obtained such -satisfactory results as to lower, in his wards at the Hôpital Cochin, -the average of mortality after amputations to twenty-four per cent., his -colleagues were very far from suspecting that the first secret for -preventing fatal results after operations consisted in a reform of the -dressings. - -Those who visited an ambulance ward during the war of 1870, especially -those who were medical students, have preserved such a recollection of -the sight that they do not, even now, care to speak about it. It was -perpetual agony, the wounds of all the patients were suppurating, a -horrible fetor pervaded the place, and infectious septicæmia was -everywhere. “Pus seemed to germinate everywhere,” said a student of that -time (M. Landouzy, who became a professor at the Faculty of Medicine), -“as if it had been sown by the surgeon.” M. Landouzy also recalled the -words of M. Denonvilliers, a surgeon of the Charité Hospital, whom he -calls “a splendid operator ... a virtuoso, and a dilettante in the art -of operating,” who said to his pupils: “When an amputation seems -necessary, think ten times about it, for too often, when we decide upon -an operation, we sign the patient’s death-warrant.” Another surgeon, who -must have been profoundly discouraged in spite of his youthful energy, -M. Verneuil, exclaimed: “There were no longer any precise indications, -any rational provisions; nothing was successful, neither abstention, -conservation, restricted or radical mutilation, early or postponed -extraction of the bullets, dressings rare or frequent, emollient or -excitant, dry or moist, with or without drainage; we tried everything in -vain!” During the siege of Paris, in the Grand Hôtel, which had been -turned into an ambulance, Nélaton, in despair at the sight of the death -of almost every patient who had been operated on, declared that he who -should conquer purulent infection would deserve a golden statue. - -It was only at the end of the war that it occurred to Alphonse -Guérin--(who to his intense irritation was so often confounded with -another surgeon, his namesake and opponent, Jules Guérin)--that “the -cause of purulent infection may perhaps be due to the germs or ferments -discovered by Pasteur to exist in the air.” Alphonse Guérin saw, in -malarial fever, emanations of putrefied vegetable matter, and, in -purulent infection, animal emanations, septic, and capable of causing -death. - -“I thought more firmly than over,” he declared, “that the miasms -emanating from the pus of the wounded were the real cause of this -frightful disease, to which I had the sorrow of seeing the wounded -succumb--whether their wounds were dressed with charpie and cerate or -with alcoholized and carbolic lotions, either renewed several times a -day or impregnating linen bandages which remained applied to the wounds. -In my despair--ever seeking some means of preventing these terrible -complications--I bethought me that the miasms, whose existence I -admitted, because I could not otherwise explain the production of -purulent infection--and which were only known to me by their deleterious -influence--might well be living corpuscles, of the kind which Pasteur -had seen in atmospheric air, and, from that moment, the history of -miasmatic poisoning became clearer to me. If,” I said, “miasms are -ferments, I might protect the wounded from their fatal influence by -filtering the air, as Pasteur did. I then conceived the idea of -cotton-wool dressings, and I had the satisfaction of seeing my -anticipations realized.” - -After arresting the bleeding, ligaturing the blood vessels and carefully -washing the wound with carbolic solution or camphorated alcohol, -Alphonse Guérin applied thin layers of cotton wool, over which he placed -thicker masses of the same, binding the whole with strong bandages of -new linen. This dressing looked like a voluminous parcel and did not -require to be removed for about twenty days. This was done at the St. -Louis Hospital to the wounded of the Commune from March till June, 1871. -Other surgeons learnt with amazement that, out of thirty-four patients -treated in that way, nineteen had survived operation. Dr. Reclus, who -could not bring himself to believe it, said: “We had grown to look upon -purulent infection as upon an inevitable and necessary disease, an -almost Divinely instituted consequence of any important operation.” - -There is a much greater danger than that of atmospheric germs, that of -the contagium germ, of which the surgeon’s hands; sponges and tools are -the receptacle, if minute and infinite precautions are not taken against -it. Such precautions were not even thought of in those days; charpie, -odious charpie, was left lying about on hospital and ambulance tables, -in contact with dirty vessels. It had, therefore, been sufficient to -institute careful washing of the wounds, and especially to reduce the -frequency of dressings, and so diminish the chances of infection to -obtain--thanks to a reform inspired by Pasteur’s labours--this precious -and unexpected remedy to fatalities subsequent to operations. In 1873, -Alphonse Guérin, now a surgeon at the Hôtel Dieu, submitted to Pasteur -all the facts which had taken place at the hospital St. Louis where -surgery was more “active,” he said, than at the Hôtel Dieu; he asked him -to come and see his cotton-wool dressings, and Pasteur gladly hastened -to accept the invitation. It was with much pleasure that Pasteur entered -upon this new period of visits to hospitals and practical discussions -with his colleagues of the Académie de Médecine. His joy at the thought -that he had been the means of awakening in other minds ideas likely to -lead to the good of humanity was increased by the following letter from -Lister, dated from Edinburgh, February 13, 1874, which is here -reproduced in the original-- - - “My dear Sir--allow me to beg your acceptance of a pamphlet, which - I send by the same post, containing an account of some - investigations into the subject which you have done so much to - elucidate, the germ theory of fermentative changes. I flatter - myself that you may read with some interest what I have written on - the organism which you were the first to describe in your _Mémoire - sur la fermentation appelée lactique_. - - “I do not know whether the records of British _Surgery_ ever meet - your eye. If so, you will have seen from time to time notices of - the antiseptic system of treatment, which I have been labouring for - the last nine years to bring to perfection. - - “Allow me to take this opportunity to tender you my most cordial - thanks for having, by your brilliant researches, demonstrated to me - the truth of the germ theory of putrefaction, and thus furnished me - with the principle upon which alone the antiseptic system can be - carried out. Should you at any time visit Edinburgh, it would, I - believe, give you sincere gratification to see at our hospital how - largely mankind is being benefited by your labours. - - “I need hardly add that it would afford me the highest - gratification to show you how greatly surgery is indebted to you. - - “Forgive the freedom with which a common love of science inspires - me, and - - “Believe me, with profound respect, - - “Yours very sincerely, - - “JOSEPH LISTER.” - - - -In Lister’s wards, the instruments, sponges and other articles used for -dressings were first of all purified in a strong solution of carbolic -acid. The same precautions were taken for the hands of the surgeon and -of his assistants. During the whole course of each operation, a -vaporizer of carbolic solution created around the wound an antiseptic -atmosphere; after it was over, the wound was again washed with the -carbolic solution. Special articles were used for dressing: a sort of -gauze, similar to tarlatan and impregnated with a mixture of resin, -paraffin and carbolic, maintained an antiseptic atmosphere around the -wound. Such was--in its main lines--Lister’s method. - -A medical student, M. Just Lucas-Championnière--who later on became an -exponent in France of this method, and who described it in a valuable -treatise published in 1876--had already in 1869, after a journey to -Glasgow, stated in the _Journal de médecine et de chirurgie pratique_ -what were those first principles of defence against gangrene--“extreme -and minute care in the dressing of wounds.” But his isolated voice was -not heard; neither was any notice taken of a celebrated lecture given by -Lister at the beginning of 1870 on the penetrating of germs into a -purulent centre and on the utility of antisepsis applied to clinical -practice. A few months before the war, Tyndall, the great English -physicist, alluded to this lecture in an article entitled “Dusts and -Diseases,” which was published by the _Revue des cours scientifiques_. -But the heads of the profession in France had at that time absolute -confidence in themselves, and nobody took any interest in the rumour of -success attained by the antiseptic method. Yet, between 1867 and 1869, -thirty-four of Lister’s patients out of forty had survived after -amputation. It is impossible on reading of this not to feel an immense -sadness at the thought of the hundreds and thousands of young men who -perished in ambulances and hospitals during the fatal year, and who -might have been saved by Lister’s method. In his own country, Lister had -also been violently criticized. “People turned into ridicule Lister’s -minute precautions in the dressing of wounds,” writes a competent judge, -Dr. Auguste Reaudin, a professor at the Geneva Faculty of Medicine, “and -those who lost nearly all their patients by poulticing them had nothing -but sarcasms for the man who was so infinitely superior to them.” -Lister, with his calm courage and smiling kindliness, let people talk, -and endeavoured year by year to perfect his method, testing it -constantly and improving it in detail. No one, however sceptical, whom -he invited to look at his results, could preserve his scepticism in the -face of such marked success. - -Some of his opponents thought to attack him on another point by denying -him the priority of the use of carbolic acid. Lister never claimed that -priority, but his enemies took pleasure in recalling that Jules Lemaire, -in 1860, had proposed the use of weak carbolic solution for the -treatment of open wounds, and that the same had been prescribed by Dr. -Déclat in 1861, and also by Maisonneuve, Demarquay and others. The fact -that should have been proclaimed was that Lister had created a surgical -method which was in itself an immense and beneficial progress; and -Lister took pleasure in declaring that he owed to Pasteur the principles -which had guided him. - -At the time when Pasteur received the letter above quoted, which gave -him deep gratification, people in France were so far from all that -concerned antisepsis and asepsis, that, when he advised surgeons at the -Académie de Médecine to put their instruments through a flame before -using them, they did not understand what he meant, and he had to -explain-- - -“I mean that surgical instruments should merely be put through a flame, -not really heated, and for this reason: if a sound were examined with a -microscope, it would be seen that its surface presents grooves where -dusts are harboured, which cannot be completely removed even by the most -careful cleansing. Fire entirely destroys those organic dusts; in my -laboratory, where I am surrounded by dust of all kinds, I never make use -of an instrument without previously putting it through a flame.” - -Pasteur was ever ready to help others, giving them willing advice or -information. In November, 1874, when visiting the Hôtel Dieu with -Messrs. Larrey and Gosselin, he had occasion to notice that a certain -cotton-wool dressing had been very badly done by a student in one of -Guérin’s wards. A wound on the dirty hand of a labouring man had been -bandaged with cotton wool without having been washed in any way. When -the bandaging was removed in the presence of Guérin, the pus exhaled a -repugnant odour, and was found to swarm with vibriones. Pasteur in a -sitting of the Académie des Sciences, entered into details as to the -precautions which are necessary to get rid of the germs originally -present on the surface of the wound or of the cotton wool; he declared -that the layers of cotton wool should be heated to a very high -temperature. He also suggested the following experiment: “In order to -demonstrate the evil influence of ferments and proto-organisms in the -suppuration of wounds, I would make two identical wounds on the two -symmetrical limbs of an animal under chloroform; on one of those wounds -I would apply a cotton-wool dressing with every possible precaution; on -the other, on the contrary, I would cultivate, so to speak, -micro-organisms abstracted from a strange sore, and offering, more or -less, a septic character. - -“Finally, I should like to cut open a wound on an animal under -chloroform in a very carefully selected part of the body--for the -experiment would be a very delicate one--and in absolutely pure air, -that is, air absolutely devoid of any kind of germs, afterwards -maintaining a pure atmosphere around the wound, and having recourse to -no dressing whatever. I am inclined to think that perfect healing would -ensue under such conditions, for there would be nothing to hinder the -work of repair and reorganization which must be accomplished on the -surface of a wound if it is to heal.” - -He explained in that way the advantage accruing to hygiene, in hospitals -and elsewhere, from infinite precautions of cleanliness and the -destroying of infectious germs. Himself a great investigator of new -ideas, he intended to compel his colleagues at the Académie de Médecine -to include the pathogenic share of the infinitesimally small among -matters demanding the attention of medicine and surgery. The struggle -was a long, unceasing and painful one. In February, 1875, his presence -gave rise to a discussion on ferments, which lasted until the end of -March. In the course of this discussion he recalled the experiments he -had made fifteen years before, describing how--in a liquid composed of -mineral elements, apart from the contact of atmospheric air and -previously raised to ebullition--vibriones could be sown and -subsequently seen to flourish and multiply, offering the sight of those -two important phenomena: life without air, and fermentation. - -“They are far behind us now,” he said; “they are now relegated to the -rank of chimeras, those theories of fermentation imagined by Berzelius, -Mitscherlich, and Liebig, and re-edited with an accompaniment of new -hypotheses by Messrs. Pouchet, Frémy, Trécul, and Béchamp. Who would now -dare to affirm that fermentations are contact phenomena, phenomena of -motion, communicated by an altering albuminoid matter, or phenomena -produced by semi-organized materia, transforming themselves into this or -into that? All those creations of fancy fall to pieces before this -simple and decisive experiment.” - -Pasteur ended up his speech by an unexpected attack on the pompous -etiquette of the Academy’s usual proceedings, urging his colleagues to -remain within the bounds of a scientific discussion instead of making -flowery speeches. He was much applauded, and his exhortation taken in -good part. His colleagues also probably sympathized with his irritation -in hearing a member of the assembly, M. Poggiale, formerly apothecary in -chief to the Val de Grâce, give a somewhat sceptical dissertation on -such a subject as spontaneous generation, saying disdainfully-- - -“M. Pasteur has told us that he had looked for spontaneous generation -for twenty years without finding it; he will long continue to look for -it, and, in spite of his courage, perseverance and sagacity, I doubt -whether he ever will find it. It is almost an unsolvable question. -However those who, like me, have no fixed opinion on the question of -spontaneous generation reserve the right of verifying, of sifting and of -disputing new facts, as they appear, one by one and wherever they are -produced.” - -“What!” cried Pasteur, wrathful whenever those great questions were -thoughtlessly tackled, “what! I have been for twenty years engaged in -one subject and I am not to have an opinion! and the right of verifying, -sifting, and disputing the facts is to belong to him who does nothing to -become enlightened but merely to read our works more or less -attentively, his feet on his study fender!!! - -“You have no opinion on spontaneous generation, my dear colleague; I can -well believe that, while regretting it. I am not speaking, of course, of -those sentimental opinions that everybody has, more or less, in -questions of this nature, for in this assembly we do not go in for -sentiment. You say that, in the present state of science, it is wiser to -have no opinion: well, I have an opinion, not a sentimental one, but a -rational one, having acquired a right to it by twenty years of assiduous -labour, and it would be wise in every impartial mind to share it. My -opinion--nay, more, my conviction--is that, in the present state of -science, as you rightly say, spontaneous generation is a chimera; and it -would be impossible for you to contradict me, for my experiments all -stand forth to prove that spontaneous generation is a chimera. What is -then your judgment on my experiments? Have I not a hundred times placed -organic matter in contact with pure air in the best conditions for it to -produce life spontaneously? Have I not practised on those organic -materia which are most favourable, according to all accounts, to the -genesis of spontaneity, such as blood, urine, and grape juice? How is it -that you do not see the essential difference between my opponents and -myself? Not only have I contradicted, proof in hand, every one of their -assertions, while they have never dared to seriously contradict one of -mine, but, for them, every cause of error benefits their opinion. For -me, affirming as I do that there are no spontaneous fermentations, I am -bound to eliminate every cause of error, every perturbing influence, I -can maintain my results only by means of most irreproachable -experiments; their opinions, on the contrary, profit by every -insufficient experiment and that is where they find their support.” - -Pasteur having been abruptly addressed by a colleague, who remarked that -there were yet many unexplained facts in connection with fermentation, -he answered by thus apostrophizing his adversaries-- - -“What is then your idea of the progress of Science? Science advances one -step, then another, and then draws back and meditates before taking a -third. Does the impossibility of taking that last step suppress the -success acquired by the two others? Would you say to an infant who -hesitated before a third step, having ventured on two previous ones; -‘Thy former efforts are of no avail; never shalt thou walk’? - -“You wish to upset what you call my theory, apparently in order to -defend another; allow me to tell you by what signs these theories are -recognized: the characteristic of erroneous theories is the -impossibility of ever foreseeing new facts; whenever such a fact is -discovered, those theories have to be grafted with further hypotheses in -order to account for them. True theories, on the contrary, are the -expression of actual facts and are characterized by being able to -predict new facts, a natural consequence of those already known. In a -word, the characteristic of a true theory is its fruitfulness.” - -“Science,” said he again at the following sitting of the Academy, -“should not concern itself in any way with the philosophical -consequences of its discoveries. If through the development of my -experimental studies I come to demonstrate that matter can organize -itself of its own accord into a cell or into a living being, I would -come here to proclaim it with the legitimate pride of an inventor -conscious of having made a great discovery, and I would add, if provoked -to do so, ‘All the worse for those whose doctrines or systems do not fit -in with the truth of the natural facts.’ - -“It was with similar pride that I defied my opponents to contradict me -when I said, ‘In the present state of science the doctrine of -spontaneous generation is a chimera.’ And I add, with similar -independence, ‘All the worse for those whose philosophical or political -ideas are hindered by my studies.’ - -“This is not to be taken to mean that, in my beliefs and in the conduct -of my life, I only take account of acquired science: if I would, I could -not do so, for I should then have to strip myself of a part of myself. -There are two men in each one of us: the scientist, he who starts with a -clear field and desires to rise to the knowledge of Nature through -observation, experimentation and reasoning, and the man of sentiment, -the man of belief, the man who mourns his dead children, and who cannot, -alas, prove that he will see them again, but who believes that he will, -and lives in that hope, the man who will not die like a vibrio, but who -feels that the force that is within him cannot die. The two domains are -distinct, and woe to him who tries to let them trespass on each other in -the so imperfect state of human knowledge.” - -And that separation, as he understood it, caused in him none of those -conflicts which often determine a crisis in a human soul. As a -scientist, he claimed absolute liberty of research; he considered, with -Claude Bernard and Littré, that it was a mistaken waste of time to -endeavour to penetrate primary causes; “we can only note correlations,” -he said. But, with the spiritual sentiment which caused him to claim for -the inner moral life the same liberty os for scientific research, he -could not understand certain givers of easy explanations who affirm that -matter has organized itself, and who, considering as perfectly simple -the spectacle of the Universe of which Earth is but an infinitesimal -part, are in no wise moved by the Infinite Power who created the worlds. -With his whole heart he proclaimed the immortality of the soul. - -His mode of looking upon human life, in spite of sorrows, of struggles, -of heavy burdens, had in it a strong element of consolation: “No effort -is wasted,” he said, giving thus a most virile lesson of philosophy to -those inferior minds who only see immediate results in the work they -undertake and are discouraged by the first disappointment. In his -respect for the great phenomenon of Conscience, by which almost all men, -enveloped as they are in the mystery of the Universe, have the -prescience of an Ideal, of a God, he considered that “the greatness of -human actions can be measured by the inspirations which give them -birth.” He was convinced that there are no vain prayers. If all is -simple to the simple, all is great to the great; it was through “the -Divine regions of Knowledge and of Light” that he had visions of those -who are no more. - -It was very seldom that he spoke of such things, though he was sometimes -induced to do so in the course of a discussion so as to manifest his -repugnance for vainglorious negations and barren irony; sometimes too he -would enter into such feelings when speaking to an assembly of young -men. - -Those discussions at the Academy of Medicine had the advantage of -inciting medical men to the research of the infinitesimally small, -described by the Annual Secretary Roger as “those subtle artisans of -many disorders in the living economy.” - -M. Roger, at the end of a brief account of his colleague’s work, wrote, -“To the signal services rendered by M. Pasteur to science and to our -country, it was but fair that a signal recompense should be given: the -National Assembly has undertaken that care.” - -That recompense, voted a few months previously, was the third national -recompense accorded to French scientists since the beginning of the -century. In 1837, Arago, before the Chamber of Deputies, and Gay Lussac, -before the Chamber of Peers, had obtained a glorious recognition of the -services rendered by Daguerre and Niepce. In 1845 another national -recompense was accorded, to M. Vicat, the engineer. In 1874, Paul Bert, -a member of the National Assembly, gladly reporting on the projected law -tending to offer a national recompense to Pasteur, wrote quoting those -precedents: - -“Such an assurance of gratitude, given by a nation to men who have made -it richer and more illustrious, honours it at least as much as it does -them....” Paul Bert continued by enumerating Pasteur’s discoveries, and -spoke of the millions Pasteur had assured to France, “without retaining -the least share of them for himself.” In sericiculture alone, the losses -in twenty years, before Pasteur’s interference, rose to 1,500 millions -of francs. - -“M. Pasteur’s discoveries, gentlemen,” concluded Paul Bert, “after -throwing a new light on the obscure question of fermentations and of the -mode of appearance of microscopic beings, have revolutionized certain -branches of industry, of agriculture, and of pathology. One is struck -with admiration when seeing that so many, and such divers results, -proceed--through an unbroken chain of facts, nothing being left to -hypothesis--from theoretical studies on the manner in which tartaric -acid deviates polarized light. Never was the famous saying, ‘Genius -consists in sufficient patience,’ more amply justified. The Government -now proposes that you should honour this admirable combination of -theoretical and practical study by a national recompense; your -Commission unanimously approves of this proposition. - -“The suggested recompense consists in a life annuity of 12,000 francs, -which is the approximate amount of the salary of the Sorbonne -professorship, which M. Pasteur’s ill health has compelled him to give -up. It is indeed small when compared with the value of the services -rendered, and your Commission much regrets that the state of our -finances does not allow us to increase that amount. But the Commission -agrees with its learned chairman (M. Marès) ‘that the economic and -hygienic results of M. Pasteur’s discoveries will presently become so -considerable that the French nation will desire to increase later on its -testimony of gratitude towards him and towards Science, of which he is -one of the most glorious representatives.’” - -Half the amount of the annuity was to revert to Pasteur’s widow. The -Bill was passed by 532 votes against 24. - -“Where is the government which has secured such a majority?” wrote -Pasteur’s old friend Chappuis, now Rector of the Grenoble Academy. The -value of the recompense was certainly much enhanced by the fact that the -Assembly, divided upon so many subjects, had been almost unanimous in -its feeling of gratitude towards him who had laboured so hard for -Science, for the country and for Humanity. - -“Bravo, my dear Pasteur: I am glad for you and for myself, and proud for -us all. Your devoted friend, Sainte Claire Deville.” - -“You are going to be a happy scientist,” wrote M. Duclaux, “for you can -already see, and you will see more and more, the triumph of your -doctrines and of your discoveries.” - -Those who imagined that this national recompense was the close of a -great chapter, perhaps even the last chapter of the book of his life, -gave him, in their well-meaning ignorance, some advice which highly -irritated him: they advised him to rest. It is true that his cerebral -hæmorrhage had left him with a certain degree of lameness and a slight -stiffness of the left hand, those external signs reminding him only too -well of the threatening possibility of another stroke; but his mighty -soul was more than ever powerful to master his infirm body. It was -therefore evident that Nisard, usually very subtle in his insight into -character, did not thoroughly understand Pasteur when he wrote to him, -“Now, dear friend, you must give up your energies to living for your -family, for all those who love you, and a little too for yourself.” - -In spite of his deep, even passionate tenderness for his family, Pasteur -had other desires than to limit his life to such a narrow circle. Every -man who knows he has a mission to fulfil feels that there are rays of a -light purer and more exalted than that proceeding from the hearth. As to -the suggestion that Pasteur should take care of his own health, it was -as useless as it would be to advise certain men to take care of that of -others. - -Dr. Andral had vainly said and written that he should forbid Pasteur any -assiduous labour. Pasteur considered that not to work was to lose the -object of living at all. If, however, a certain equilibrium was -established between the anxious solicitude of friends, the prohibitions -of medical advisers and the great amount of work which Pasteur insisted -on doing, it was owing to her who with a discreet activity watched in -silence to see that nothing outside his work should complicate Pasteur’s -life, herself his most precious collaborator, the confidante of every -experiment. - -Everything was subordinate to the laboratory; Pasteur never accepted an -invitation to those large social gatherings which are a tax laid by -those who have nothing to do on the time of those who are busy, -especially if they be celebrated. Pasteur’s name, known throughout the -world, was never mentioned in fashionable journals; he did not even go -to theatres. In the evening, after dinner, he usually perambulated the -hall and corridor of his rooms at the Ecole Normale, cogitating over -various details of his work. At ten o’clock, he went to bed, and at -eight the next morning, whether he had had a good night or a bad one, he -resumed his work in the laboratory. - -That regular life, preserving its even tenor through so many polemics -and discussions, was momentarily perturbed by politics in January, -1876. Pasteur, who, in his extraordinary, almost disconcerting modesty, -believed that a medical diploma would have facilitated his scientific -revolution, imagined--after the pressing overtures made to him by some -of his proud compatriots--that he would be able to serve more usefully -the cause of higher education if he were to obtain a seat at the Senate. - -He addressed from Paris a letter to the senatorial electors of the -department of Jura. “I am not a political man,” he said, “I am bound to -no party; not having studied politics I am ignorant of many things, but -I do know this, that I love my country and have served her with all my -strength.” Like many good citizens, he thought that a renewal of the -national grandeur and prosperity might be sought in a serious -experimental trial of the Republic. If honoured with the suffrages of -his countrymen, he would “represent in the Senate, Science in all its -purity, dignity and independence.” Two Jura newspapers, of different -opinions, agreed in regretting that Pasteur should leave “the peaceful -altitudes of science,” and come down into the Jura to solicit the -electors’ suffrages. - -In his answers to such articles, letters dictated to his son--who acted -as his secretary during that electoral campaign and accompanied him to -Lons-le-Saulnier, where they spent a week, published addresses, posters, -etc.--Pasteur invoked the following motto, “_Science et Patrie_.” Why -had France been victorious in 1792? “Because Science had given to our -fathers the material means of fighting.” And he recalled the names of -Monge, of Carnot, of Fourcroy, of Guyton de Morveau, of Berthollet, that -concourse of men of science, thanks to whom it had been possible--during -that grandiose epoch--to hasten the working of steel and the preparation -of leather for soldiers’ boots, and to find means of extracting -saltpetre for gunpowder from plaster rubbish, of making use of -reconnoitring balloons and of perfecting telegraphy. - -The senatorial electors numbered 650. Jules Grévy came to -Lons-le-Saulnier to support the candidature of MM. Tamisier and Thurel. -In a meeting which took place the day before the election he said, “You -will give them your suffrage to-morrow, and in so doing you will have -deserved well of the Republic and of France.” He mentioned, -incidentally, that “M. Pasteur’s character and scientific work entitle -him to universal respect and esteem; but Science has its natural place -at the Institute,” he added, insisting on the Senate’s political -attributes. Grévy’s intervention in favour of his two candidates was -decisive. M. Tamisier obtained 446 votes, M. Thurel 445, General Picard -113, M. Besson, a monarchist, 153, Pasteur 62 only. - -He had received on that very morning a letter from his daughter, wishing -him a failure--a bright, girlish letter, frankly expressing the opinion -that her father could be most useful to his country by confining himself -to laboratory work, and that politics would necessarily hinder such -work. - -It was easy to be absolutely frank with Pasteur, who willingly accepted -every truthful statement. No man was ever more beloved, more admired and -less flattered in his own home than he was. - -“What a wise judge you are, my dearest girl!” answered Pasteur the same -evening; “you are perfectly right. But I am not sorry to have seen all -this, and that your brother should have seen it; all knowledge is -useful.” - -That little incursion into the domain of politics was rendered -insignificant in Pasteur’s life by the fact that his long-desired object -was almost reached. Three months later, at the distribution of prizes of -the _Concours Général_, the Minister of Public Instruction pronounced a -speech, of which Pasteur preserved the text, underlining with his own -hand the following passages: “Soon, I hope, we shall see the Schools of -Medicine and of Pharmacy reconstructed; the Collège de France provided -with new laboratories; the Faculty of Medicine transferred and enlarged, -and the ancient Sorbonne itself restored and extended.” - -And while the Minister spoke of “those higher studies of Philosophy, of -History, of disinterested Science which are the glory of a nation and an -honour to the human mind ... which must retain the first rank to shed -their serene light over inferior studies, and to remind men of the true -goal and the true grandeur of human intelligence....” Pasteur could say -to himself that the great cause which he had pleaded since he was made -Dean of Faculty at Lille in 1854, which he had supported in 1868 and -again on the morrow of the war, was at last about to be won in 1876. - -He had a patriotic treat during the summer holidays of that same year. A -great international congress of sericiculture was gathered at Milan; -there were delegates from Russia, Austria, Italy and France, and -Pasteur represented France. He was accompanied by his former pupils, his -associates in his silkworm studies, Duclaux and Raulin, both of whom had -become professors at the Lyons Faculty of Sciences, and Maillot, who was -then manager of the silkworm establishment of Montpellier. The members -of the Congress had been previously informed of the programme of -questions, and each intending speaker was armed with facts and -observations. The open discussions allowed Duclaux, Raulin and Maillot -to demonstrate the strictness and perfection of the experimental method -which they had learned from their master and which they were teaching in -their turn. - -Excursions formed a delightful interlude; one on the lake of Como was an -enchantment. Then the French delegates were offered the pleasant -surprise of a visit to an immense seeding establishment in the -neighbourhood of Milan, which had been named after Pasteur. We have an -account of this visit in a letter to J. B. Dumas (September 17). - -“My dear Master ... I very much regret that you are not here: you would -have shared my satisfaction. I am dating my letter from Milan, but in -reality, the congress being ended, we are staying at Signor Susani’s -country house for a few days. Here, from July 4, sixty or seventy women -are busy for ten hours every day with microscopic examinations of -absolute accuracy. I never saw a better arranged establishment. 400,000 -moth cells are put under the microscope every day. The order and -cleanliness are admirable; any error is made impossible by the -organization of a second test following the first. - -“I felt, in seeing my name in large letters on the façade of that -splendid establishment, a joy which compensates for much of the -frivolous opposition I have encountered from some of my countrymen these -last few years; it is a spontaneous homage from the proprietor to my -studies. Many sericicultors do their seeding themselves, by selection, -or have it done by competent workers accustomed to the operation. The -harvest from that excellent seed depends on the climate only; in a -moderately favourable season the production often reaches fifty or -seventy kilogrammes per ounce of twenty-five grammes.” - -Signor Susani was looking forward to producing for that one year 30,000 -ounces of seed. In the presence of the prodigious activity of this -veritable factory--where, besides the microscope women, more than one -hundred persons were occupied in various ways, washing the mortars with -which the moths are pounded before being put under the microscopes, -cleansing the slides, etc.; in fact, doing those various delicate but -simple operations which had formerly been pronounced to be -impracticable--Pasteur’s thoughts went back to his experiments in the -Pont-Gisquet greenhouse, to the modest beginnings of his process, now so -magnificently applied in Italy. A month before this, J. B. Dumas, -presiding at a scientific meeting at Clermont Ferrand, had said-- - -“The future belongs to Science; woe to the nations who close their eyes -to this fact.... Let us call to our aid on this neutral and pacific -ground of Natural Philosophy, where defeats cost neither blood nor -tears, those hearts which are moved by their country’s grandeur; it is -by the exaltation of science that France will recover her prestige.” - -Those same ideas were expressed in a toast given by Pasteur in the name -of France at a farewell banquet, when the 300 members of the -Sericiculture Congress were present. - -“Gentlemen, I propose a toast--To the peaceful strife of Science. It is -the first time that I have the honour of being present on foreign soil -at an international congress; I ask myself what are the impressions -produced in me, besides these courteous discussions, by the brilliant -hospitality of the noble Milanese city, and I find myself deeply -impressed by two propositions. First, that Science is of no nationality; -and secondly, in apparent, but only in apparent, contradiction, that -Science is the highest personification of nationality. Science has no -nationality because knowledge is the patrimony of humanity, the torch -which gives light to the world. Science should be the highest -personification of nationality because, of all the nations, that one -will always be foremost which shall be first to progress by the labours -of thought and of intelligence. - -“Let us therefore strive in the pacific field of Science for the -pre-eminence of our several countries. Let us strive, for strife is -effort, strife is life when progress is the goal. - -“You Italians, try to multiply on the soil of your beautiful and -glorious country the Tecchi, the Brioschi, the Tacchini, the Sella, the -Cornalia.... You, proud children of Austria-Hungary, follow even more -firmly than in the past the fruitful impulse which an eminent statesman, -now your representative at the Court of England, has given to Science -and Agriculture. We, who are here present, do not forget that the first -sericiculture establishment was founded in Austria. As to you, Japanese, -may the cultivation of Science be numbered among the chief objects of -your care in the amazing social and political transformation of which -you are giving the marvellous spectacle to the world. We Frenchmen, -bending under the sorrow of our mutilated country, should show once -again that great trials may give rise to great thoughts and great -actions. - -“I drink to the peaceful strife of Science.” - -“You will find,” wrote Pasteur to Dumas, telling him of this toast, -which had been received with enthusiastic applause, “an echo of the -feelings with which you have inspired your pupils on the grandeur and -the destiny of Science in modern society.” - -The tender and delicate side of this powerful spirit was thus once again -apparent in this deference to his master in the midst of acclamations, -and in those deep and noble ideas expressed in the middle of a noisy -banquet. But it was chiefly in his private life that his -open-heartedness, his desire to love and to be loved, became apparent. -That great genius had a childlike heart, and the charm of this was -incomparable. - -He once said: “The recompense and the ambition of a scientist is to -conquer the approbation of his peers and of the masters whom he -venerates.” He had already known that recompense and could satisfy that -ambition. Dumas had known and appreciated him for thirty years; Lister -had proclaimed his gratitude; Tyndall--an indefatigable excursionist, -who loved to survey wide horizons, and who in his celebrated classes was -wont to make use of comparisons with altitudes and heights and -everything which opens a clear and vast outlook--had a great admiration -for the wide development of Pasteur’s work. Now, Pasteur’s experiments -had been strongly attacked by a young English physician, Dr. Bastian, -who had excited in the English and American public a bitter prejudice -against the results announced by Pasteur on the subject of spontaneous -generation. - -“The confusion and uncertainty,” wrote Tyndall to Pasteur, “have finally -become such that, six months ago, I thought that it would be rendering a -service to Science, at the same time as justice to yourself, if the -question were subjected to a fresh investigation. - -“Putting into practice an idea which I had entertained six years -ago--the details of which are set out in the article in the _British -Medical Journal_ which I had the pleasure to send you--I went over a -large portion of the ground on which Dr. Bastian had taken up his stand, -and refuted, I think, many of the fallacies which had misled the public. - -“The change which has taken place since then in the tone of the English -medical journals is quite remarkable, and I am disposed to think that -the general confidence of the public in the accuracy of Dr. Bastian’s -experiments has been considerably shaken. - -“In taking up these investigations, I have had the opportunity of -refreshing my memory about your labours; they have reawakened in me all -the admiration which I felt for them when I first read of them. I intend -to continue these investigations until I have dispersed all the doubts -which may have arisen as to the indisputable accuracy of your -conclusions.” - -And Tyndall added a paragraph for which Pasteur modestly substituted -asterisks in communicating this letter to the Academy. - -“For the first time in the history of Science we have the right to -cherish the sure and certain hope that, as regards epidemic diseases, -medicine will soon be delivered from quackery and placed on a real -scientific basis. When that day arrives, Humanity, in my opinion, will -know how to recognize that it is to you that will be due the largest -share of her gratitude.” - -Tyndall was indeed qualified to sign this passport to immortality. But -in the meanwhile a struggle was necessary, and Pasteur did not wish to -leave the burden of the discussion even on such shoulders as Tyndall’s! -Moreover he was interested in his opponent. - -“Dr. Bastian,” writes M. Duclaux, “had some tenacity, a fertile mind, -and the love, if not the gift, of the experimental method.” The -discussion was destined to last for months. In general (according to J. -B. Dumas’ calculation) “at the end of ten years, judgment on a great -thing is usually formed; it is by then an accomplished fact, an idea -adopted by Science or irrevocably repudiated.” Pasteur, on the morrow of -the Milan Congress, might feel that it had been so for the adoption of -his system of cellular seeding, but such was not the case in this -question of spontaneous generation. The quarrel had started again at the -Academy of Sciences and at the Academy of Medicine; it was now being -revived in England, and Bastian proposed to come himself and experiment -in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale. - -“For nearly twenty years,” said Pasteur, “I have pursued, without -finding it, a proof of life existing without an anterior and similar -life. The consequences of such a discovery would be incalculable; -natural science in general, and medicine and philosophy in particular, -would receive therefrom an impulse which cannot be foreseen. Therefore, -whenever I hear that this discovery has been made, I hasten to verify -the assertions of my fortunate rival. It is true that I hasten towards -him with some degree of mistrust, so many times have I experienced that, -in the difficult art of experimenting, the very cleverest stagger at -every step, and that the interpretation of facts is no less perilous.” - -Dr. Bastian operated on acid urine, boiled and neutralized by a solution -of potash heated to a temperature of 120° C. If, after the flask of -urine had cooled down, it was heated to a temperature of 50° C. in order -to facilitate the development of germs, the liquid in ten hours’ time -swarmed with bacteria. “Those facts prove spontaneous generation,” said -Dr. Bastian. - -Pasteur invited him to replace his boiled solution of potash by a -fragment of solid potash, after heating it to 110° C., in order to avoid -the bacteria germs which might be contained in the aqueous solution. -This question of the germs of inferior organisms possibly contained in -water was--during the course of that protracted discussion--studied by -Pasteur with the assistance of M. Joubert, Professor of Physics at the -Collège Rollin. Such germs were to be found even in the distilled water -of laboratories; it was sufficient that the water should be poured in a -thin stream through the air to become contaminated. Spring water, if -slowly filtered through a solid mass of ground, alone contained no -germs. - -There was also the question of the urine and that of the recipient. The -urine, collected by Dr. Bastian in a vase and placed into a retort, -neither of which had been put through a flame, might contain spores of a -bacillus called _bacillus subtilis_, which offer a great resistance to -the action of heat. Those spores do not develop in notably acid liquids, -but the liquid having been neutralized or rendered slightly alkaline by -the potash, the development of germs took place. The thing therefore to -be done was to collect the urine in a vase and introduce it into a -retort both of which had been put through a flame. After that, no -organisms were produced, as was stated in the thesis of M. Chamberland, -then a curator at the laboratory, and who took an active part in these -experiments. - -A chapter might well have been written by a moralist “On the use of -certain opponents”; for it was through that discussion with Bastian that -it was discovered how it was that--at the time of the celebrated -discussions on spontaneous generation--the heterogenists, Pouchet, Joly, -and Musset, operating as Pasteur did, but in a different medium, -obtained results apparently contradictory to Pasteur’s. If their flasks, -filled with a decoction of hay, almost constantly showed germs, whilst -Pasteur’s, full of yeast water, were always sterile, it was because the -hay water contained spores of the bacillus subtilis. The spores remained -inactive as long as the liquid was preserved from the contact of air, -but as soon as oxygen re-entered the flask they were able to develop. - -The custom of raising liquids to a temperature of 120° C. in order to -sterilize them dates from that conflict with Bastian. “But,” writes M. -Duclaux, “the heating to 120° of a flask half filled with liquid can -sterilize the liquid part only, allowing life to persist in those -regions which are not in contact with the liquid. In order to destroy -everything, the dry walls must be heated to 180° C.” - -A former pupil of the Ecole Normale, who had been a curator in Pasteur’s -laboratory since October, 1876, Boutroux by name, who witnessed all -these researches, wrote in his thesis: “The knowledge of these facts -makes it possible to obtain absolutely pure neutral culture mediums, -and, in consequence, to study as many generations as are required of one -unmixed micro-organism, whenever pure seed has been procured.” - -Pasteur has defined what he meant by putting tubes, cotton, vases, etc., -through a flame. “In order to get rid of the microscopic germs which the -dusts of air and of the water used for the washing of vessels deposit on -every object, the best means is to place the vessels (their openings -closed with pads of cotton wool) during half an hour in a gas stove, -heating the air in which the articles stand to a temperature of about -150° C. to 200° C. The vessels, tubes, etc., are then ready for use. The -cotton wool is enclosed in tubes or in blotting-paper.” - -What Pasteur had recommended to surgeons, when he advised them to pass -through a flame all the instruments they used, had become a current -practice in the laboratory; the least pad of cotton wool used as a -stopper was previously sterilized. Thus was an entirely new technique -rising fully armed and ready to repel new attacks and ensure new -victories. - -If Pasteur was so anxious to drive Dr. Bastian to the wall, it was -because he saw behind that so-called experiment on spontaneous -generation a cause of perpetual conflict with physicians and surgeons. -Some of them desired to repel purely and simply the whole theory of -germs. Others, disposed to admit the results of Pasteur’s researches, as -laboratory work, did not admit his experimental incursions on clinical -ground. Pasteur therefore wrote to Dr. Bastian in the early part of -July, 1877-- - -“Do you know why I desire so much to fight and conquer you? it is -because you are one of the principal adepts of a medical doctrine which -I believe to be fatal to progress in the art of healing--the doctrine of -the spontaneity of all diseases.... That is an error which, I repeat it, -is harmful to medical progress. From the prophylactic as well as from -the therapeutic point of view, the fate of the physician and surgeon -depends upon the adoption of the one or the other of these two -doctrines.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -1877--1879 - - -The confusion of ideas on the origin of contagious and epidemic diseases -was about to be suddenly enlightened; Pasteur had now taken up the study -of the disease known as charbon or splenic fever. This disease was -ruining agriculture; the French provinces of Beauce, Brie, Burgundy, -Nivernais, Berry, Champagne, Dauphiné and Auvergne, paid a formidable -yearly tribute to this mysterious scourge. In the Beauce, for instance, -twenty sheep out of every hundred died in one flock; in some parts of -Auvergne the proportion was ten or fifteen per cent., sometimes even -twenty-five, thirty-five, or fifty per cent. At Provins, at Meaux, at -Fontainebleau, some farms were called _charbon farms_; elsewhere, -certain fields or hills were looked upon as accursed and an evil spell -seemed to be thrown over flocks bold enough to enter those fields or -ascend those hills. Animals stricken with this disease almost always -died in a few hours; sheep were seen to lag behind the flock, with -drooping head, shaking limbs and gasping breath; after a rigor and some -sanguinolent evacuations, occurring also through the mouth and nostrils, -death supervened, often before the shepherd had had time to notice the -attack. The carcase rapidly became distended, and the least rent in the -skin gave issue to a flow of black, thick and viscid blood, hence the -name of _anthrax_ given to the disease. It was also called splenic -fever, because necropsy showed that the spleen had assumed enormous -dimensions; if that were opened, it presented a black and liquid pulp. -In some places the disease assumed a character of extreme virulence; in -the one district of Novgorod, in Russia, 56,000 head of cattle died of -splenic infection between 1867 and 1870. Horses, oxen, cows, sheep, -everything succumbed, as did also 528 persons, attacked by the contagion -under divers forms; a pin prick or a scratch is sufficient to inoculate -shepherds, butchers, knackers or farmers with the malignant pustule. - -Though a professor at the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Delafond, did -point out to his pupils as far back as 1838 that charbon blood contained -“little rods,” as he called them; it was only looked upon by himself and -them as a curiosity with no scientific importance. Davaine, when he--and -Rayer as well--recognized in 1850 those little filiform bodies in the -blood of animals dying of splenic fever, he too merely mentioned the -fact, which seemed to him of so little moment that he did not even -report it in the first notice of his works edited by himself. - -It was only eleven years later that Davaine--struck, as he himself -gladly acknowledged, by reading Pasteur’s paper on the butyric ferment, -the little cylindrical rods of which offer all the characteristics of -vibriones or bacteria--asked himself whether the filiform corpuscles -seen in the blood of the charbon victims might not act after the manner -of ferments and be the cause of the disease. In 1863, a medical man at -Dourdan, whose neighbour, a farmer, had lost twelve sheep of charbon in -a week, sent blood from one of these sheep to Davaine, who hastened to -inoculate some rabbits with this blood. He recognized the presence of -those little transparent and motionless rods which he called bacteridia -(a diminutive of bacterium, or rod-shaped vibriones). It might be -thought that the cause of the evil was found, in other words that the -relation between those bacteridia and the disease which had caused death -could not be doubted. But two professors of the Val de Grâce, Jaillard -and Leplat; refuted these experiments. - -They had procured, in the middle of the summer, from a knacker’s yard -near Chartres, a little blood from a cow which had died of anthrax, and -they inoculated some rabbits with it. The rabbits died, but without -presenting any bacteridia. Jaillard and Leplat therefore affirmed that -splenic fever was not an affection caused by parasites, that the -bacteridium was an epiphenomenon of the disease and could not be looked -upon as the cause of it. - -Davaine, on repeating Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments, found a new -interpretation; he alleged that the disease they had inoculated was not -anthrax. Then Jaillard and Leplat obtained a little diseased sheep’s -blood from M. Boutet, a veterinary surgeon at Chartres, and tried that -instead of cow’s blood. The result was identical: death ensued, but no -bacteridia. Were there then two diseases? - -Others made observations in their turn. It occurred to a young German -physician, Dr. Koch, who in 1876 was beginning his career in a small -village in Germany, to seek a culture medium for the bacteridium. A few -drops of aqueous humour, collected in the eyes of oxen or of rabbits, -seemed to him favourable. After a few hours of this nutrition the rods -seen under the microscope were ten or twenty times larger than at first; -they lengthened immoderately, so as to cover the whole slide of the -microscope, and might have been compared to a ball of tangled thread. -Dr. Koch examined those lengths, and after a certain time noticed little -spots here and there looking like a punctuation of spores. Tyndall, who -knew how to secure continuous attention by a variety of comparisons, -said at a scientific conference in Glasgow a few months later that those -little ovoid bodies were contained within the envelope of the filament -like peas in their pods. It is interesting to note that Pasteur, when he -studied, in connection with silkworm diseases, the mode of reproduction -of the vibriones of flachery, had seen them divide into spores similar -to shining corpuscles; he had demonstrated that those spores, like seeds -of plants, could revive after a lapse of years and continue their -disastrous work. The bacterium of charbon, or _bacillus anthracis_ as it -now began to be called, reproduced itself in the same way, and, when -inoculated by Dr. Koch into guinea-pigs, rabbits and mice, provoked -splenic fever as easily and inevitably as blood from the veins of an -animal that had died of the disease. Bacilli and spores therefore -yielded the secret of the contagion, and it seemed that the fact was -established, when Paul Bert, in January, 1877, announced to the _Société -de Biologie_ that it was “possible to destroy the bacillus anthracis in -a drop of blood by compressed oxygen, to inoculate what remained, and to -reproduce the disease and death without any trace of the bacteridium ... -Bacteridia,” he added, “are therefore neither the cause nor the -necessary effect of splenic fever, which must be due to a virus.” - -Pasteur tackled the subject. A little drop of the blood of an animal -which had died of anthrax--a microscopic drop--was laid, sown, after the -usual precautions to ensure purity, in a sterilized balloon which -contained neutral or slightly alkaline urine. The culture medium might -equally be common household broth, or beer-yeast water, either of them -neutralized by potash. After a few hours, a sort of flake was floating -in the liquid; the bacteridia could be seen, not under the shape of -short broken rods, but with the appearance of filaments, tangled like a -skein; the culture medium being highly favourable, they were rapidly -growing longer. A drop of that liquid, abstracted from the first vessel, -was sown into a second vessel, of which one drop was again placed into a -third, and so on, until the fortieth flask; the seed of each successive -culture came from a tiny drop of the preceding one. If a drop from one -of those flasks was introduced under the skin of a rabbit or guinea-pig, -splenic fever and death immediately ensued, with the same symptoms and -characteristics as if the original drop of blood had been inoculated. In -the presence of the results from those successive cultures, what became -of the hypothesis of an inanimate substance contained in the first drop -of blood? It was now diluted in a proportion impossible to imagine. It -would therefore be absurd, thought Pasteur, to imagine that the last -virulence owed its power to a virulent agent existing in the original -drop of blood; it was to the bacteridium, multiplied in each culture, -and to the bacteridium alone, that this power was due; the life of the -bacteridium had made the virulence. “Anthrax is therefore” Pasteur -declared, “the disease of the bacteridium, as trichinosis is the disease -of the trichina, as itch is the disease of its special acarus, with this -circumstance, however, that, in anthrax, the parasite can only be seen -through a microscope, and very much enlarged.” After the bacteridium had -presented those long filaments, within a few hours, two days at the -most, another spectacle followed; amidst those filaments, appeared the -oval shapes, the germs, spores or seeds, pointed out by Dr. Koch. Those -spores, sown in broth, reproduced in their turn the little packets of -tangled filaments, the bacteridia. Pasteur reported that “one single -germ of bacteridium in the drop which is sown multiplies during the -following hours and ends by filling the whole liquid with such a -thickness of bacteridia that, to the naked eye, it seems that carded -cotton has been mixed with the broth.” - -M. Chamberland, a pupil who became intimately associated with this work -on anthrax, has defined as follows what Pasteur had now achieved: “By -his admirable process of culture outside organism, Pasteur shows that -the rods which exist in the blood, and for which he has preserved the -name of bacteridia given them by Davaine, are living beings capable of -being indefinitely reproduced in appropriate liquids, after the manner -of a plant multiplied by successive cuttings. The bacterium does not -reproduce itself only under the filamentous form, but also through -spores or germs, after the manner of many plants which present two modes -of reproduction, by cuttings and by seeds.” The first point was -therefore settled. The ground suspected and indicated by Davaine was now -part of the domain of science, and preserved from any new attacks. - -Yet Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments remained to be explained: how had -they provoked death through the blood of a splenic fever victim and -found no bacteridia afterwards? It was then that Pasteur, guided, as -Tyndall expressed it, by “his extraordinary faculty of combining facts -with the reasons of those facts,” placed himself, to begin with, in the -conditions of Jaillard and Leplat, who had received, during the height -of the summer, some blood from a cow and a sheep which had died of -anthrax, that blood having evidently been abstracted more than -twenty-four hours before the experiment. Pasteur, who had arranged to go -to the very spot, the knacker’s yard near Chartres, and himself collect -diseased blood, wrote to ask that the carcases of animals which had died -of splenic fever should be kept for him for two or three days. - -He arrived on June 13, 1877, accompanied by the veterinary surgeon, M. -Boutet. Three carcases were awaiting him: that of a sheep which had been -dead sixteen hours, that of a horse whose death dated from the preceding -day, and that of a cow which must have been dead for two or three days, -for it had been brought from a distant village. The blood of the -recently diseased sheep contained bacteridia of anthrax only. In the -blood of the horse, putrefaction vibriones were to be found, besides the -bacteridia, and those vibriones existed in a still greater proportion in -the blood of the cow. The sheep’s blood, inoculated into guinea-pigs, -provoked anthrax with pure bacteridia; that of the cow and of the horse -brought a rapid death with no bacteridia. - -Henceforth what had happened in Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments, and -in the incomplete and uncertain experiments of Davaine, became simple -and perfectly clear to Pasteur, as well as the confusion caused by -another experimentalist who had said his say ten years after the -discussions of Jaillard, Leplat and Davaine. - -This was a Paris veterinary surgeon, M. Signol. He had written to the -Academy of Sciences that it was enough that a healthy animal should be -felled, or rather asphyxiated, for its blood, taken from the deeper -veins, to become violently virulent within sixteen hours. M. Signol -thought he had seen motionless bacteridia similar to the bacillus -anthracis; but those bacteridia, he said, were incapable of multiplying -in the inoculated animals. Yet the blood was so very virulent that -animals rapidly succumbed in a manner analogous to death by splenic -fever. A Commission was nominated to ascertain the facts; Pasteur was -made a member of it, as was also his colleague Bouillaud--still so quick -and alert, in spite of his eighty years, that he looked less like an old -man than like a wrinkled young man--and another colleague, twenty years -younger, Bouley, the first veterinary surgeon in France who had a seat -at the Institute. The latter was a tall, handsome man, with a somewhat -military appearance, and an expression of energetic good humour which -his disposition fully justified. He was eager to help in the propagation -of new ideas and discoveries, and soon, with eager enthusiasm, placed -his marked talents as a writer and orator at Pasteur’s disposal. - -On the day when the Commission met, M. Signol showed the carcase of a -horse, which he had sacrificed for this experiment, having asphyxiated -it when in excellent health. Pasteur uncovered the deep veins of the -horse and showed to Bouley, and also to Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland, -a long vibrio, so translucid as to be almost invisible, creeping, -flexible, and which, according to Pasteur’s comparison, slipped between -the globules of the blood as a serpent slips between high grasses; it -was the septic vibrio. From the peritoneum, where it swarms, that vibrio -passes into the blood a few hours after death; it represents the -vanguard of the vibriones of putrefaction. When Jaillard and Leplat had -asked for blood infected with anthrax, they had received blood which was -at the same time septic. It was septicæmia (so prompt in its action that -inoculated rabbits or sheep perish in twenty-four or thirty-six hours) -that had killed Jaillard and Leplat’s rabbits. It was also septicæmia, -provoked by this vibrio (or its germs, for it too has germs), that M. -Signol had unknowingly inoculated into the animals upon which he -experimented. Successive cultures of that septic vibrio enabled Pasteur -to show, as he had done for the bacillus anthracis, that one drop of -those cultures caused septicæmia in an animal. But, while the bacillus -anthracis is aërobic, the septic vibrio, being anaërobic, must be -cultivated in a vacuum, or in carbonic acid gas. And, cultivating those -bacteridia and those vibriones with at least as much care as a Dutchman -might give to rare tulips, Pasteur succeeded in parting the bacillus -anthracis and the septic vibrio when they were temporarily associated. -In a culture in contact with air, only bacteridia developed, in a -culture preserved from air, only the septic vibrio. - -What Pasteur called “the Paul Bert fact” now alone remained to be -explained; this also was simple. The blood Paul Bert had received from -Chartres was of the same quality as that which Jaillard and Leplat had -had; that is to say already septic. If filaments of bacillus anthracis -and of septic vibriones perish under compressed oxygen, such is not the -case with the germs, which are extremely tenacious; they can be kept for -several hours at a temperature of 70° C., and even of 95° C. Nothing -injures them, neither lack of air, carbonic acid gas nor compressed -oxygen. Paul Bert, therefore, killed filamentous bacteridia under the -influence of high pressure; but, as the germs were none the worse, those -germs revived the splenic fever. Paul Bert came to Pasteur’s laboratory, -ascertained facts and watched experiments. On June 23, 1877, he hastened -to the Société de Biologie and proclaimed his mistake, acting in this as -a loyal Frenchman, Pasteur said. - -In spite of this testimony, and notwithstanding the admiration conceived -for Pasteur by certain medical men--notably H. Gueneau de Mussy, who -published in that very year (1877) a paper on the theory of the -contagium germ and the application of that theory to the etiology of -typhoid fever--the struggle was being continued between Pasteur and the -current medical doctrines. In the long discussion which began at that -time in the Académie de Médecine on typhoid fever, some masters of -medical oratory violently attacked the germ theory, proclaiming the -spontaneity of living organism. Typhoid fever, they said, is engendered -by ourselves within ourselves. Whilst Pasteur was convinced that the day -would come--and that was indeed the supreme goal of his life work--when -contagious and virulent diseases would be effaced from the -preoccupations, mournings and anxieties of humanity, and when the -infinitesimally small, known, isolated and studied, would at last be -vanquished, his ideas were called Utopian dreams. - -The old professors, whose career had been built on a combination of -theories which they were pleased to call medical truth, dazed by such -startling novelties, endeavoured, as did Piorry, to attract attention to -their former writings. “It is not the disease, an abstract being,” said -Piorry, “which we have to treat, but the patient, whom we must study -with the greatest care by all the physical, chemical and clinical means -which Science offers.” - -The contagion which Pasteur showed, appearing clearly in the disorders -visible in the carcases of inoculated guinea-pigs, was counted as -nothing. As to the assimilation of a laboratory experiment on rabbits -and guinea-pigs to what occurred in human pathology, it may be guessed -that it was quite out of the question for men who did not even admit the -possibility of a comparison between veterinary medicine and the other. -It would be interesting to reconstitute these hostile surroundings in -order to appreciate the efforts of will required of Pasteur to enable -him to triumph over all the obstacles raised before him in the medical -and the veterinary world. - -The Professor of Alfort School, Colin, who had, he said, made 500 -experiments on anthrax within the last twelve years, stated, in a paper -of seventeen pages, read at the Academy of Medicine on July 31, that the -results of Pasteur’s experiments had not the importance which Pasteur -attributed to them. Among many other objections, one was considered by -Colin as a fatal one--the existence of a virulent agent situated in the -blood, besides the bacteridia. - -Bouley, who had just communicated to the Academy of Sciences some notes -by M. Toussaint, professor at the Toulouse veterinary school, whose -experiments agreed with those of Pasteur, was nevertheless a little -moved by Colin’s reading. He wrote in that sense to Pasteur, who was -then spending his holidays in the Jura. Pasteur addressed to him an -answer as vigorous as any of his replies at the Academy. - -“Arbois, August 18, 1877.--My dear colleague ... I hasten to answer your -letter. I should like to accept literally the honour which you confer -upon me by calling me ‘your master,’ and to give you a severe reprimand, -you faithless man, who would seem to have been shaken by M. Colin’s -reading at the Académie des Sciences, since you are still holding forth -on the possibility of a virulent agent, and since your uncertainties -seem to be appeased by a new notice, read by yourself, last Monday, at -the Académie des Sciences. - -“Let me tell you frankly that you have not sufficiently imbibed the -teaching contained in the papers I have read, in my own name and in that -of M. Joubert, at the Académie des Sciences and at the Academy of -Medicine. Can you believe that I should have read those papers if they -had wanted the confirmation you mention, or if M. Colin’s contradictions -could have touched them? You know what my situation is, in these grave -controversies; you know that, ignorant as I am of medical and veterinary -knowledge, I should immediately be taxed with presumption if I had the -boldness to speak without being armed for struggle and for victory! All -of you, physicians and veterinary surgeons, would quite reasonably fall -upon me if I brought into your debates a mere semblance of proof. - -“How is it that you have not noticed that M. Colin has travestied--I -should even say suppressed--because it hindered his theory, the -important experiment of the successive cultures of the bacteridium in -urine? - -“If a drop of blood, infected with anthrax, is mixed with water, with -pure blood or with humour from the eye, as was done by Davaine, Koch and -M. Colin himself, and some of that mixture is inoculated and death -ensues, doubt may remain in the mind as to the cause of virulence, -especially since Davaine’s well-known experiments on septicæmia. Our -experiment is very different....” - -And Pasteur showed how, from one artificial culture to another, he -reached the fiftieth, the hundredth, and how a drop of this hundredth -culture, identical with the first, could bring about death as certainly -as a drop of infected blood. - -Months passed, and--as Pasteur used to wish in his youth that it might -be--few passed without showing one step forward. In a private letter to -his old Arbois school-fellow, Jules Vercel, he wrote (February 11, -1878): “I am extremely busy; at no epoch of my scientific life have I -worked so hard or been so much interested in the results of my -researches, which will, I hope, throw a new and a great light on certain -very important branches of medicine and of surgery.” - - * * * * * - -In the face of those successive discoveries, every one had a word to -say. This accumulation of facts was looked down upon by that category of -people who borrow assurance from a mixture of ignorance and prejudice. -Others, on the other hand, amongst whom the greatest were to be found, -proclaimed that Pasteur’s work was immortal and that the word “theory” -used by him should be changed into that of “doctrine.” One of those who -thus spoke, with the right given by full knowledge, was Dr. Sédillot, -whose open and critical mind had kept him from becoming like the old men -described by Sainte Beuve as stopping their watch at a given time and -refusing to recognize further progress. He was formerly Director of the -Army Medical School at Strasburg, and had already retired in 1870, but -had joined the army again as volunteer surgeon. It will be remembered -that he had written from the Hagueneau ambulance to the Académie des -Sciences--of which he was a corresponding member--to call the attention -of his colleagues to the horrors of purulent infection, which defied his -zeal and devotion. - -No one followed Pasteur’s work with greater attention than this tall, -sad-looking old man of seventy-four; he was one of those who had been -torn away from his native Alsace, and he could not get over it. In -March, 1878, he read a paper to the Academy, entitled “On the Influence -of M. Pasteur’s Work on Medicine and Surgery.” - -Those discoveries, he said, which had deeply modified the state of -surgery, and particularly the treatment of wounds, could be traced back -to one principle. This principle was applicable to various facts, and -explained Lister’s success, and the fact that certain operations had -become possible, and that certain cases, formerly considered hopeless, -were now being recorded on all sides. Real progress lay there. -Sédillot’s concluding paragraph deserves to be handed down as a comment -precious from a contemporary: “We shall have seen the conception and -birth of a new surgery, a daughter of Science and of Art, which will be -one of the greatest wonders of our century, and with which the names of -Pasteur and Lister will remain gloriously connected.” - -In that treatise, Sédillot invented a new word to characterize all that -body of organisms and infinitely small vibriones, bacteria, bacteridia, -etc.; he proposed to designate them all under the generic term of -_microbe_. This word had, in Sédillot’s eyes, the advantage of being -short and of having a general signification. He however felt some -scruple before using it, and consulted Littré, who replied on February -26, 1878: “Dear colleague and friend, _microbe_ and _microbia_ are very -good words. To designate the animalculæe I should give the preference to -_microbe_, because, as you say, it is short, and because it leaves -microbia, a feminine noun, for the designation of the state of a -microbe.” - -Certain philologists criticized the formation of the word in the name of -the Greek language. Microbe, they said, means an animal with a short -life, rather than an infinitesimally small animal. Littré gave a second -testimonial to the word microbe-- - -“It is true,” he wrote to Sédillot, “that μιχρόβιος and μαχρόβιος -probably mean in Greek _short-lived_ and _long-lived_. But, as you -justly remark, the question is not what is most purely Greek, but what -is the use made in our language of the Greek roots. Now the Greek has -βίος, life, βιοῦν, to live, βιούς, living, the root of which may very -well figure under the form of _bi_, _bia_ with the sense _living_, in -_aërobia_, _anaërobia_ and _microbe_. I should advise you not to trouble -to answer criticisms, but let the word stand for itself, which it will -no doubt do.” Pasteur, by adopting it, made the whole world familiar -with it. - -Though during that month of March, 1878, Pasteur had had the pleasure of -hearing Sédillot’s prophetic words at the Académie des Sciences, he had -heard very different language at the Académie de Médecine. Colin of -Alfort, from the isolated corner where he indulged in this misanthropy, -had renewed his criticisms of Pasteur. As he spoke unceasingly of a -state of virulent anthrax devoid of bacteridia, Pasteur, losing -patience, begged of the Académie to nominate a Commission of -Arbitration. - -“I desire expressly that M. Colin should be urged to demonstrate what he -states to be the fact, for his assertion implies another, which is that -an organic matter, containing neither bacteridia nor germs of -bacteridia, produces within the body of a living animal the bacteridia -of anthrax. This would be the spontaneous generation of the bacillus -anthracis!” - -Colin’s antagonism to Pasteur was such that he contradicted him in every -point and on every subject. Pasteur having stated that birds, and -notably hens, did not take the charbon disease, Colin had hastened to -say that nothing was easier than to give anthrax to hens; this was in -July, 1877. Pasteur, who was at that moment sending Colin some samples -of bacteridia culture which he had promised him, begged that he would -kindly bring him in exchange a hen suffering from that disease, since it -could contract it so easily. - -Pasteur told the story of this episode in March, 1878; it was an amusing -interlude in the midst of those technical discussions. “At the end of -the week, I saw M. Colin coming into my laboratory, and, even before I -shook hands with him, I said to him: ‘Why, you have not brought me that -diseased hen?’--‘Trust me,’ answered M. Colin, ‘you shall have it next -week.’--I left for the vacation; on my return, and at the first meeting -of the Academy which I attended, I went to M. Colin and said, ‘Well, -where is my dying hen?’ ‘I have only just begun experimenting again,’ -said M. Colin; ‘in a few days I will bring you a hen suffering from -charbon.’--Days and weeks went by, with fresh insistence on my part and -new promises from M. Colin. One day, about two months ago, M. Colin -owned to me that he had been mistaken, and that it was impossible to -give anthrax to a hen. ‘Well, my dear colleague,’ I said to him, ‘I will -show you that it is possible to give anthrax to hens; in fact, I will -one day myself bring you at Alfort a hen which shall die of charbon.’ - -“I have told the Academy this story of the hen M. Colin had promised in -order to show that our colleague’s contradiction of our observations on -charbon had never been very serious.” - -Colin, after speaking about several other things, ended by saying: “I -regret that I have not until now been able to hand to M. Pasteur a hen -dying or dead of anthrax. The two that I had bought for that purpose -were inoculated several times with very active blood, but neither of -them has fallen ill. Perhaps the experiment might have succeeded -afterwards, but, one fine day, a greedy dog prevented that by eating up -the two birds, whose cage had probably been badly closed.” On the -Tuesday which followed this incident, the passers-by were somewhat -surprised to see Pasteur emerging from the Ecole Normale, carrying a -cage, within which were three hens, one of them dead. Thus laden, he -took a fiacre, and drove to the Académie de Médecine, where, on -arriving, he deposited this unexpected object on the desk. He explained -that the dead hen had been inoculated with charbon two days before, at -twelve o’clock on the Sunday, with five drops of yeast water employed as -a nutritive liquid for pure bacteridium germs, and that it had died on -the Monday at five o’clock, twenty-nine hours after the inoculation. He -also explained, in his own name, and in the names of Messrs. Joubert and -Chamberland, how in the presence of the curious fact that hens were -refractory to charbon, it had occurred to them to see whether that -singular and hitherto mysterious preservation did not have its cause in -the temperature of a hen’s body, “higher by several degrees than the -temperature of the body of all the animal species which can be decimated -by charbon.” - -This preconceived idea was followed by an ingenious experiment. In order -to lower the temperature of an inoculated hen’s body, it was kept for -some time in a bath, the water covering one-third of its body. When -treated in that way, said Pasteur, the hen dies the next day. “All its -blood, spleen, lungs, and liver are filled with bacilli anthracis -susceptible of ulterior cultures either in inert liquids or in the -bodies of animals. We have not met with a single exception.” - -As a proof of the success of the experiment, the white hen lay on the -floor of the cage. As people might be forthcoming, even at the Academy, -who would accuse the prolonged bath of having caused death, one of the -two living hens, a gray one, who was extremely lively, had been placed -in the same bath, at the same temperature and during the same time. The -third one, a black hen, also in perfect health, had been inoculated at -the same time as the white hen, with the same liquid, but with ten drops -instead of five, to make the comparative result more convincing; it had -not been subjected to the bath treatment. “You can see how healthy it -is,” said Pasteur; “it is therefore impossible to doubt that the white -hen died of charbon; besides, the fact is proved by the bacteridia which -fill its body.” - -A fourth experiment remained to be tried on a fourth hen, but the -Academy of Medicine did not care to hold an all-night sitting. Time -lacking, it was only done later, in the laboratory. Could a hen, -inoculated of charbon and placed in a bath, recover and be cured merely -by being taken out of its bath? A hen was taken, inoculated and held -down a prisoner in a bath, its feet fastened to the bottom of the tub, -until it was obvious that the disease was in full progress. The hen was -then taken out of the water, dried, and wrapped up in cotton wool and -placed in a temperature of 35° C. The bacteridia were reabsorbed by the -blood, and the hen recovered completely. - -This was, indeed, a most suggestive experiment, proving that the mere -fall of temperature from 42° C. (the temperature of hens) to 38° C. was -sufficient to cause a receptive condition; the hen, brought down by -immersion to the temperature of rabbits or guinea-pigs, became a victim -like them. - -Between Sédillot’s enthusiasm and Colin’s perpetual contradiction, many -attentive surgeons and physicians were taking a middle course, watching -for Pasteur’s results and ultimately accepting them with admiration. -Such was the state of mind of M. Lereboullet, an editor of the _Weekly -Gazette of Medicine and Surgery_, who wrote in an account of the -Académie de Médecine meeting that “those facts throw a new light on the -theory of the genesis and development of the bacillus anthracis. They -will be ascertained and verified by other experimentalists, and it seems -very probable that M. Pasteur, who never brings any premature or -conjectural assertion to the academic tribune, will deduce from them -conclusions of the greatest interest concerning the etiology of virulent -diseases.” - -But even to those who admired Pasteur as much as did M. Lereboullet, it -did not seem that such an important part should immediately be -attributed to microbes. Towards the end of his report (dated March 22, -1878) he reminded his readers that a discussion was open at the Académie -de Médecine, and that the surgeon, Léon Le Fort, did not admit the germ -theory in its entirety. M. Le Fort recognized “all the services rendered -to surgery by laboratory studies, chiefly by calling attention to -certain accidents of wounds and sores, and by provoking new researches -with a view to improving methods of dressing and bandaging.” “Like all -his colleagues at the Academy, and like our eminent master, M. -Sédillot,” added M. Lereboullet, “M. Le Fort renders homage to the work -of M. Pasteur; but he remains within his rights as a practitioner and -reserves his opinion as to its general application to surgery.” - -This was a mild way of putting it; M. Le Fort’s words were, “That -theory, in its applications to clinical surgery, is absolutely -inacceptable.” For him, the original purulent infection, though coming -from the wound, was born under the influence of general and local -phenomena _within_ the patient, and not _outside_ him. He believed that -the economy had the power, under various influences, to produce purulent -infection. A septic poison was created, born spontaneously, which was -afterwards carried to other patients by such medicines as the tools and -bandages and the hands of the surgeon. But, originally, before the -propagation of the contagium germ, a purulent infection was -spontaneously produced and developed. And, in order to put his teaching -into forcible words, M. Le Fort declared to the Académie de Médecine: “I -believe in the _interiority_ of the principle of purulent infection in -certain patients; that is why I oppose the extension to surgery of the -germ theory which proclaims the constant _exteriority_ of that -principle.” - -Pasteur rose, and with his firm, powerful voice, exclaimed: “Before the -Academy accepts the conclusion of the paper we have just heard, before -the application of the germ theory to pathology is condemned, I beg that -I may be allowed to make a statement of the researches I am engaged in -with the collaboration of Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland.” - -His impatience was so great that he formulated then and there some -headings for the lecture he was preparing, propositions on septicæmia or -putrid infection, on the septic vibrio itself, on the germs of that -vibrio carried by wind in the shape of dust, or suspended in water, on -the vitality of those germs, etc. He called attention to the mistakes -which might be made if, in that new acquaintance with microbes, their -morphologic aspect alone was taken account of. “The septic vibrio, for -instance, varies so much in its shape, length and thickness, according -to the media wherein it is cultivated, that one would think one was -dealing with beings specifically distinct from each other.” - -It was on April 30, 1878, that Pasteur read that celebrated lecture on -the germ theory, in his own name and in that of Messrs. Joubert and -Chamberland. It began by a proud exordium: “All Sciences gain by mutual -support. When, subsequently to my early communications on fermentations, -in 1857--1858, it was admitted that ferments, properly so called, are -living beings; that germs of microscopical organisms abound on the -surface of all objects in the atmosphere and in water; that the -hypothesis of spontaneous generation is a chimera; that wines, beer, -vinegar, blood, urine and all the liquids of the economy are preserved -from their common changes when in contact with pure air--Medicine and -Surgery cast their eyes towards these new lights. A French physician, M. -Davaine, made a first successful application of those principles to -medicine in 1863.” - -Pasteur himself, elected to the Académie des Sciences as a mineralogist, -proved by the concatenation of his studies within the last thirty years -that Science was indeed one and all embracing. Having thus called his -audience’s attention to the bonds which connect one scientific subject -with another, Pasteur proceeded to show the connection between his -yesterday’s researches on the etiology of Charbon to those he now -pursued on septicæmia. He hastily glanced back on his successful -cultures of the bacillus anthracis, and on the certain, indisputable -proof that the last culture acted equally with the first in producing -charbon within the body of animals. He then owned to the failure, at -first, of a similar method of cultivating the septic vibrio: “All our -first experiments failed in spite of the variety of culture media that -we used; beer-yeast water, meat broth, etc., etc....” - -He then expounded, in the most masterly manner: (1) the idea which had -occurred to him that this vibrio might be an exclusively anaërobic -organism, and that the sterility of the liquids might proceed from the -fact that the vibrio was killed by the oxygen held in a state of -solution by those liquids; (2) the similarity offered by analogous facts -in connection with the vibrio of butyric fermentation, which not only -lives without air, but is killed by air; (3) the attempts made to -cultivate the septic vibrio in a vacuum or in the presence of carbonic -acid gas, and the success of both those attempts; and, finally, as the -result of the foregoing, the proof obtained that the action of the air -kills the septic vibriones, which are then seen to perish, under the -shape of moving threads, and ultimately to disappear, as if burnt away -by oxygen. - -“If it is terrifying,” said Pasteur, “to think that life may be at the -mercy of the multiplication of those infinitesimally small creatures, it -is also consoling to hope that Science will not always remain powerless -before such enemies, since it is already now able to inform us that the -simple contact of air is sometimes sufficient to destroy them. But,” he -continued, meeting his hearers’ possible arguments, “if oxygen destroys -vibriones, how can septicæmia exist, as it does, in the constant -presence of atmospheric air? How can those facts be reconciled with the -germ theory? How can blood exposed to air become septic through the -dusts contained in air? All is dark, obscure and open to dispute when -the cause of the phenomena is not known; all is light when it is -grasped.” - -In a septic liquid exposed to the contact of air, vibriones die and -disappear; but, below the surface, in the depths of the liquid (one -centimetre of septic liquid may in this case be called depths), “the -vibriones are protected against the action of oxygen by their brothers, -who are dying above them, and they continue for a time to multiply by -division; they afterwards produce germs or spores, the filiform -vibriones themselves being gradually reabsorbed. Instead of a quantity -of moving threads, the length of which often extends beyond the field of -the microscope, nothing is seen but a dust of isolated, shiny specks, -sometimes surrounded by a sort of amorphous gangue hardly visible. Here -then is the septic dust, living the latent life of germs, no longer -fearing the destructive action of oxygen, and we are now prepared to -understand what seemed at first so obscure: the sowing of septic dust -into putrescible liquids by the surrounding atmosphere, and the -permanence of putrid diseases on the surface of the earth.” - -Pasteur continued from this to open a parenthesis on diseases -“transmissible, contagious, infectious, of which the cause resides -essentially and solely in the presence of microscopic organisms. It is -the proof that, for a certain number of diseases, we must for ever -abandon the ideas of spontaneous virulence, of contagious and infectious -elements suddenly produced within the bodies of men or of animals and -originating diseases afterwards propagated under identical shapes; all -those opinions fatal to medical progress and which are engendered -by the gratuitous hypotheses of the spontaneous generation of -albuminoid-ferment materia, of hemiorganism, of archebiosis, and many -other conceptions not founded on observation.” - -Pasteur recommended the following experiment to surgeons. After cutting -a fissure into a leg of mutton, by means of a bistoury, he introduced a -drop of septic vibrio culture; the vibrio immediately did its work. “The -meat under those conditions becomes quite gangrened, green on its -surface, swollen with gases, and is easily crushed into a disgusting, -sanious pulp.” And addressing the surgeons present at the meeting: “The -water, the sponge, the charpie with which you wash or dress a wound, lay -on its surface germs which, as you see, have an extreme facility of -propagating within the tissues, and which would infallibly bring about -the death of the patients within a very short time if life in their -limbs did not oppose the multiplication of germs. But how often, alas, -is that vital resistance powerless! how often do the patient’s -constitution, his weakness, his moral condition, the unhealthy -dressings, oppose but an insufficient barrier to the invasion of the -Infinitesimally Small with which you have covered the injured part! If I -had the honour of being a surgeon, convinced as I am of the dangers -caused by the germs of microbes scattered on the surface of every -object, particularly in the hospitals, not only would I use absolutely -clean instruments, but, after cleansing my hands with the greatest care -and putting them quickly through a frame (an easy thing to do with a -little practice), I would only make use of charpie, bandages, and -sponges which had previously been raised to a heat of 130° C. to 150° -C.; I would only employ water which had been heated to a temperature of -110° C. to 120° C. All that is easy in practice, and, in that way, I -should still have to fear the germs suspended in the atmosphere -surrounding the bed of the patient; but observation shows us every day -that the number of those germs is almost insignificant compared to that -of those which lie scattered on the surface of objects, or in the -clearest ordinary water.” - -He came down to the smallest details, seeing in each one an application -of the rigorous principles which were to transform Surgery, Medicine and -Hygiene. How many human lives have since then been saved by the dual -development of that one method! The defence against microbes afforded by -the substances which kill them or arrest their development, such as -carbolic acid, sublimate, iodoform, salol, etc., etc., constitutes -_antisepsis_; then the other progress, born of the first, the obstacle -opposed to the arrival of the microbes and germs by complete -disinfection, absolute cleanliness of the instruments and hands, of all -which is to come into contact with the patient; in one word, _asepsis_. - -It might have been prophesied at that date that Pasteur’s surprised -delight at seeing his name gratefully inscribed on the great Italian -establishment of sericiculture would one day be surpassed by his -happiness in living to see realized some of the progress and benefits -due to him, his name invoked in all operating theatres, engraved over -the doors of medical and surgical wards, and a new era inaugurated. - -A presentiment of the future deliverance of Humanity from those -redoubtable microscopic foes gave Pasteur a fever for work, a thirst for -new research, and an immense hope. But once again he constrained -himself, refrained from throwing himself into varied studies, and, -continuing what he had begun, reverted to his studies on splenic fever. - -The neighbourhood of Chartres being most afflicted, the Minister of -Agriculture, anticipating the wish of the Conseil Général of the -department of Eure et Loir, had entrusted Pasteur with the mission of -studying the causes of so-called spontaneous charbon, that which bursts -out unexpectedly in a flock, and of seeking for curative and preventive -means of opposing the evil. Thirty-six years earlier, the learned -veterinary surgeon, Delafond, had been sent to seek, particularly in the -Beauce country, the causes of the charbon disease. Bouley, a great -reader, said that there was no contrast more instructive than that which -could be seen between the reasoning method followed by Delafond and the -experimental method practised by Pasteur. It was in 1842 that Delafond -received from M. Cunin Gridaine, then Minister of Agriculture, the -mission of “going to study that malady on the spot, to seek for its -causes, and to examine particularly whether those causes did not reside -in the mode of culture in use in that part of the country.” Delafond -arrived in the Beauce, and, having seen that the disease struck the -strongest sheep, it occurred to him that it came from “an excess of -blood circulating in the vessels.” He concluded from that that there -might be a correlation between the rich blood of the Beauce sheep and -the rich nitrogenous pasture of their food. - -He therefore advised the cultivators to diminish the daily ration; and -he was encouraged in his views by noting that the frequency of the -disease diminished in poor, damp, or sandy soils. - -Bouley, in order to show up Delafond’s efforts to make facts accord with -his reasoning, added that to explain “a disease, of which the essence is -general plethora, becoming contagious and expressing itself by charbon -symptoms in man,” Delafond had imagined that the atmosphere of the pens, -into which the animals were crowded, was laden with evil gases and -putrefying emanations which produced an alteration of the blood “due at -the same time to a slow asphyxia and to the introduction through the -lungs of septic elements into the blood.” - -It would have been but justice to recall other researches connected -with Delafond’s name. In 1863, Delafond had collected some blood -infected with charbon, and, at a time when such experiments had hardly -been thought of, he had attempted some experiments on the development of -the bacteridium, under a watch glass, at the normal blood temperature. -He had seen the little rods grow into filaments, and compared them to a -“very remarkable mycelium.” “I have vainly tried to see the mechanism of -fructification,” added Delafond, “but I hope I still may.” Death struck -down Delafond before he could continue his work. - -In 1869 a scientific congress was held at Chartres; one of the questions -examined being this: “What has been done to oppose splenic fever in -sheep?” A veterinary surgeon enumerated the causes which contributed, -according to him, to produce and augment mortality by splenic fever: bad -hygienic conditions; tainted food, musty or cryptogamized; heated and -vitiated air in the crowded pens, full of putrid manure; paludic miasma -or effluvia; damp soil flooded by storms, etc., etc. A well-known -veterinary surgeon, M. Boutet, saw no other means to preserve what -remained of a stricken flock but to take it to another soil, which, in -contradiction with his colleague, he thought should be chosen cool and -damp. No conclusion could be drawn. The disastrous loss caused by -splenic fever in the Beauce alone was terrible; it was said to have -reached 20,000,000 francs in some particularly bad years. The migration -of the tainted flock seemed the only remedy, but it was difficult in -practice and offered danger to other flocks, as carcases of dead sheep -were wont to mark the road that had been followed. - -Pasteur, starting from the fact that the charbon disease is produced by -the bacteridium, proposed to prove that, in a department like that of -Eure et Loir, the disease maintained itself by itself. When an animal -dies of splenic fever in a field, it is frequently buried in the very -spot where it fell; thus a focus of contagion is created, due to the -anthrax spores mixed with the earth where other flocks are brought to -graze. Those germs, thought Pasteur, are probably like the germs of the -flachery vibrio, which survive from one year to another and transmit the -disease. He proposed to study the disease on the spot. - -It almost always happened that, when he was most anxious to give himself -up entirely to the study of a problem, some new discussion was started -to hinder him. He had certainly thought that the experimental power of -giving anthrax to hens had been fully demonstrated, and that that -question was dead, as dead as the inoculated and immersed hen. - -Colin, however, returned to the subject, and at an Academy meeting of -July 9 said somewhat insolently, “I wish we could have seen the -bacteridia of that dead hen which M. Pasteur showed us without taking it -out of its cage, and which he took away intact instead of making us -witness the necropsy and microscopical examination.” “I will take no -notice,” said Pasteur at the following meeting, “of the malevolent -insinuations contained in that sentence, and only consider M. Colin’s -desire to hold in his hands the body of a hen dead of anthrax, full of -bacteridia. I will, therefore, ask M. Colin if he will accept such a hen -under the following condition: the necropsy and microscopic examination -shall be made by himself, in my presence, and in that of one of our -colleagues of this Academy, designated by himself or by this Academy, -and an official report shall be drawn up and signed by the persons -present. So shall it be well and duly stated that M. Colin’s -conclusions, in his paper of May 14, are null and void. The Academy will -understand my insistence in rejecting M. Colin’s superficial -contradictions. - -“I say it here with no sham modesty: I have always considered that my -only right to a seat in this place is that given me by your great -kindness, for I have no medical or veterinary knowledge. I therefore -consider that I must be more scrupulously exact than any one else in the -presentations which I have the honour to make to you; I should promptly -lose all credit if I brought you erroneous or merely doubtful facts. If -ever I am mistaken, a thing which may happen to the most scrupulous, it -is because my good faith has been greatly surprised. - -“On the other hand, I have come amongst you with a programme to follow -which demands accuracy at every step. I can tell you my programme in two -words: I have sought for twenty years, and I am still seeking, -spontaneous generation properly so called. - -“If God permit, I shall seek for twenty years and more the spontaneous -generation of transmissible diseases. - -“In these difficult researches, whilst sternly deprecating frivolous -contradiction, I only feel esteem and gratitude towards those who may -warn me if I should be in error.” - -The Academy decided that the necropsy and microscopic examination of the -dead hen which Pasteur was to bring to Colin should take place in the -presence of a Commission composed of Pasteur, Colin, Davaine, Bouley, -and Vulpian. This Commission met on the following Saturday, July 20, in -the Council Chamber of the Academy of Medicine. M. Armand Moreau, a -member of the Academy, joined the five members present, partly out of -curiosity, and partly because he had special reasons for wishing to -speak to Pasteur after the meeting. - -Three hens were lying on the table, all of them dead. The first one had -been inoculated under the thorax with five drops of yeast water slightly -alkalized, which had been given as a nutritive medium to some bacteridia -anthracis; the hen had been placed in a bath at 25° C., and had died -within twenty-two hours. The second one, inoculated with ten drops of a -culture liquid, had been placed in a warmer bath, 30° C., and had died -in thirty-six hours. The third hen, also inoculated and immersed, had -died in forty-six hours. - -Besides those three dead hens, there was a living one which had been -inoculated in the same way as the first hen. This one had remained for -forty-three hours with one-third of its body immersed in a barrel of -water. When it was seen in the laboratory that its temperature had gone -down to 36° C., that it was incapable of eating and seemed very ill, it -was taken out of the tub that very Saturday morning, and warmed in a -stove at 42° C. It was now getting better, though still weak, and gave -signs of an excellent appetite before leaving the Academy council -chamber. - -The third hen, which had been inoculated with ten drops, was dissected -then and there. Bouley, after noting a serous infiltration at the -inoculation focus, showed to the judges sitting in this room, thus -suddenly turned into a testing laboratory, numerous bacteridia scattered -throughout every part of the hen. - -“After those ascertained results,” wrote Bouley, who drew up the report, -“M. Colin declared that it was useless to proceed to the necropsy of the -two other hens, that which had just been made leaving no doubt of the -presence of bacilli anthracis in the blood of a hen inoculated with -charbon and then placed under the conditions designated by M. Pasteur as -making inoculation efficacious. - -“The hen No. 2 has been given up to M. Colin to be used for any -examination or experiment which he might like to try at Alfort. - -“Signed: G. Colin, H. Bouley, C. Davaine, L. Pasteur, A. Vulpian.” - -“This is a precious autograph, headed as it is by M. Colin’s signature!” -gaily said Bouley. But Pasteur, pleased as he was with this conclusion, -which put an end to all discussion on that particular point, was already -turning his thoughts into another channel. The Academician who had -joined the members of the Commission was showing him a number of the -_Revue Scientifique_ which had appeared that morning, and which -contained an article of much interest to Pasteur. - -In October, 1877, Claude Bernard, staying for the last time at St. -Julien, near Villefranche, had begun some experiments on fermentations. -He had continued them on his return to Paris, alone, in the study which -was above his laboratory at the Collège de France. - -When Paul Bert, his favourite pupil, M. d’Arsonval, his curator, M. -Dastre, a former pupil, and M. Armand Moreau, his friend, came to see -him, he said to them in short, enigmatical sentences, with no comment or -experimental demonstration, that he had done some good work during the -vacation. “Pasteur will have to look out.... Pasteur has only seen one -side of the question.... I make alcohol without cells.... There is no -life without air....” - -Bernard’s and Pasteur’s seats at the Academy of Sciences were next to -each other, and they usually enjoyed interchanging ideas. Claude Bernard -had come to the November and December sittings, but, with a reticence to -which he had not accustomed Pasteur, he had made no allusion to his -October experiments. In January, 1878, he became seriously ill; in his -conversations with M. d’Arsonval, who was affectionately nursing him, -Claude Bernard talked of his next lecture at the Museum, and said that -he would discuss his ideas with Pasteur before handling the subject of -fermentations. At the end of January M. d’Arsonval alluded to these -incomplete revelations. “It is all in my head,” said Claude Bernard, -“but I am too tired to explain it to you.” He made the same weary answer -two or three days before his death. When he succumbed, on February 10, -1878, Paul Bert, M. d’Arsonval and M. Dastre thought it their duty to -ascertain whether their master had left any notes relative to the work -which embodied his last thoughts. M. d’Arsonval, after a few days’ -search, discovered some notes, carefully hidden in a cabinet in Claude -Bernard’s bedroom; they were all dated from the 1st to the 20th of -October, 1877; of November and December there was no record. Had he then -not continued his experiments during that period? Paul Bert thought that -these notes did not represent a work, not even a sketch, but a sort of -programme. “It was all condensed into a series of masterly conclusions,” -said Paul Bert, “which evidenced certitude, but there were no means of -discussing through which channel that certitude had come to his prudent -and powerful mind.” What should be done with those notes? Claude -Bernard’s three followers decided to publish them. “We must,” said Paul -Bert, “while telling the conditions under which the manuscript was -found, give it its character of incomplete notes, of confidences made to -itself by a great mind seeking its way, and marking its road -indiscriminately with facts and with hypotheses in order to arrive at -that feeling of certainty which, in the mind of a man of genius, often -precedes proof.” M. Berthelot, to whom the manuscript was brought, -presented these notes to the readers of the _Revue Scientifique_. He -pointed to their character, too abbreviated to conclude with a rigorous -demonstration, but he explained that several friends and pupils of -Claude Bernard had “thought that there would be some interest for -Science in preserving the trace of the last subjects of thought, however -incomplete, of that great mind.” - -Pasteur, after the experiment at the Académie de Médecine, hurried back -to his laboratory and read with avidity those last notes of Claude -Bernard. Were they a precious find, explaining the secrets Claude -Bernard had hinted at? “Should I,” said Pasteur, “have to defend my -work, this time against that colleague and friend for whom I professed -deep admiration, or should I come across unexpected revelations, -weakening and discrediting the results I thought I had definitely -established?” - -His reading reassured him on that point, but saddened him on the other -hand. Since Claude Bernard had neither desired nor even authorized the -publication of those notes, why, said Pasteur, were they not accompanied -by an experimental commentary? Thus Claude Bernard would have been -credited with what was good in his MSS., and he would not have been held -responsible for what was incomplete or defective. - -“As for me, personally,” wrote Pasteur in the first pages of his -_Critical Examination of a Posthumous Work of Claude Bernard on -Fermentation_, “I found myself cruelly puzzled; had I the right to -consider Claude Bernard’s MS. as the expression of his thought, and was -I free to criticize it thoroughly?” The table of contents and headings -of chapters in Claude Bernard’s incomplete MS. condemned Pasteur’s work -on alcoholic fermentation. The non-existence of life without air; the -ferment not originated by exterior germs; alcohol formed by a soluble -ferment outside life ... such were Claude Bernard’s conclusions. “If -Claude Bernard was convinced,” thought Pasteur, “that he held the key to -the masterly conclusions with which he ended his manuscript, what could -have been his motive in withholding it from me? I looked back upon the -many marks of kindly affection which he had given me since I entered on -a scientific career, and I came to the conclusion that the notes left by -Bernard were but a programme of studies, that he had tackled the -subject, and that, following in this a method habitual to him, he had, -the better to discover the truth, formed the intention of trying -experiments which might contradict my opinions and results.” - -Pasteur, much perplexed, resolved to put the case before his colleagues, -and did so two days later. He spoke of Bernard’s silence, his abstention -from any allusion at their weekly meetings. “It seems to me almost -impossible,” he said, “and I wonder that those who are publishing these -notes have not perceived that it is a very delicate thing to take upon -oneself, with no authorization from the author, the making public of -private notebooks! Which of us would care to think it might be done to -him!... Bernard must have put before himself that leading idea, that I -was in the wrong on every point, and taken that method of preparing the -subject he intended to study.” Such was also the opinion of those who -remembered that Claude Bernard’s advice invariably was that every theory -should be doubted at first and only trusted when found capable of -resisting objections and attacks. - -“If then, in the intimacy of conversation with his friends and the yet -more intimate secret of notes put down on paper and carefully put away, -Claude Bernard develops a plan of research with a view to judging of a -theory--if he imagines experiments--he is resolved not to speak about it -until those experiments have been clearly checked; we should therefore -not take from his notes the most expressly formulated propositions -without reminding ourselves that all that was but a project, and that he -meant to go once again through the experiments he had already made.” - -Pasteur declared himself ready to answer any one who would defend those -experiments which he looked upon as doubtful, erroneous, or wrongly -interpreted. “In the opposite case,” he said, “out of respect for Claude -Bernard’s memory, I will repeat his experiments before discussing them.” - -Some Academicians discoursed on these notes as on simple suggestions and -advised Pasteur to continue his studies without allowing himself to be -delayed by mere control experiments. Others considered these notes as -the expression of Claude Bernard’s thought. “That opinion,” said -Pasteur--man of sentiment as he was--“that opinion, however, does not -explain the enigma of his silence towards me. But why should I look for -that explanation elsewhere than in my intimate knowledge of his fine -character? Was not his silence a new proof of his kindness, and one of -the effects of our mutual esteem? Since he thought that he held in his -hands a proof that the interpretation I had given to my experiments was -fallacious, did he not simply wish to wait to inform me of it until the -time when he thought himself ready for a definite statement? I prefer to -attribute high motives to my friend’s actions, and, in my opinion, the -surprise caused in me by his reserve towards the one colleague whom his -work most interested should give way in my heart to feelings of pious -gratitude. However, Bernard would have been the first to remind me that -scientific truth soars above the proprieties of friendship, and that my -duty lies in discussing views and opinions in my turn with full -liberty.” - -Pasteur having made this communication to the Academy on July 22, -hastily ordered three glass houses, which he intended to take with him -into the Jura, “where I possess,” he told his colleagues, “a vineyard -occupying some thirty or forty square yards.” - -Two observations expounded in a chapter of his _Studies on Beer_ tend to -establish that yeast can only appear about the time when grapes ripen, -and that it disappears in the winter only to show itself again at the -end of the summer. Therefore “germs of yeast do not yet exist on green -grapes.” “We are,” he added, “at an epoch in the year when, by reason -of the lateness of vegetation due to a cold and rainy season, grapes -are still in the green stage in the vineyards of Arbois. If I choose -this moment to enclose some vines in almost hermetically closed glass -houses, I shall have in October during the vintage some vines bearing -ripe grapes without the exterior germs of wine yeast. Those grapes, -crushed with precautions which will not allow of the introduction of -yeast germs, will neither ferment nor produce wine. I shall give myself -the pleasure of bringing some back to Paris, to present them to the -Academy and to offer a few bunches to those of our colleagues who are -still able to believe in the spontaneous generation of yeast.” - -In the midst of the agitation caused by that posthumous work some said, -or only insinuated, that if Pasteur was announcing new researches on the -subject, it was because he felt that his work was threatened. - -“I will not accept such an interpretation of my conduct,” he wrote to J. -B. Dumas on August 4, 1878, at the very time when he was starting for -the Jura; “I have clearly explained this in my notice of July 22, when I -said I would make new experiments solely from respect to Bernard’s -memory.” - -As soon as Pasteur’s glass houses arrived, they were put up in the -little vineyard he possessed, two kilometres from Arbois. While they -were being put together, he examined whether the yeast germs were really -absent from the bunches of green grapes; he had the satisfaction of -seeing that it was so, and that the particular branches which were about -to be placed under glass did not bear a trace of yeast germs. Still, -fearing that the closing of the glass might be insufficient and that -there might thus be a danger of germs, he took the precaution, “while -leaving some bunches free, of wrapping a few on each plant with cotton -wool previously heated to 150° C.” - -He then returned to Paris and his studies on anthrax, whilst patiently -waiting for the ripening of his grapes. - -Besides M. Chamberland, Pasteur had enrolled M. Roux, the young man who -was so desirous of taking part in the work at the laboratory. He and M. -Chamberland were to settle down at Chartres in the middle of the summer. -A recent student of the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Vinsot, joined them -at his own request. M. Roux has told of those days in a paper on -_Pasteur’s Medical Work_: - -“Our guide was M. Boutet, who had unrivalled knowledge of the splenic -fever country, and we sometimes met M. Toussaint, who was studying the -same subject as we were. We have kept a pleasant memory of that campaign -against charbon in the Chartres neighbourhood. Early in the morning, we -would visit the sheepfolds scattered on that wide plateau of the Beauce, -dazzling with the splendour of the August sunshine; then necropsies took -place in M. Rabourdin’s knacker’s yard or in the farmyards. In the -afternoon, we edited our experiment notebooks, wrote to Pasteur, and -arranged for new experiments. The day was well filled, and how -interesting and salutary was that bacteriology practised in the open -air! - -“On the days when Pasteur came to Chartres, we did not linger over our -lunch at the Hôtel de France; we drove off to St. Germain, where M. -Maunoury had kindly put his farm and flocks at our disposal. During the -drive we talked of the week’s work and of what remained to be done. - -“As soon as Pasteur left the carriage he hurried to the folds. Standing -motionless by the gate, he would gaze at the lots which were being -experimented upon, with a careful attention which nothing escaped; he -would spend hours watching one sheep which seemed to him to be -sickening. We had to remind him of the time and to point out to him that -the towers of Chartres Cathedral were beginning to disappear in the -falling darkness before we could prevail upon him to come away. He -questioned farmers and their servants, giving much credit to the -opinions of shepherds, who on account of their solitary life, give their -whole attention to their flocks and often become sagacious observers.” - -When again at Arbois, on September 17, Pasteur began to write to the -Minister of Agriculture a note on the practical ideas suggested by this -first campaign. A few sheep, bought near Chartres and gathered in a -fold, had received, amongst the armfuls of forage offered them, a few -anthrax spores. Nothing had been easier than to bring these from the -laboratory, in a liquid culture of bacteria, and to scatter them on the -field where the little flock grazed. The first meals did not give good -scientific results, death was not easily provoked. But when the -experimental menu was completed by prickly plants, likely to wound the -sheep on their tongue or in their pharynx, such, for instance, as -thistles or ears of barley, the mortality began. It was perhaps not as -considerable as might have been wished for demonstration purposes, but -nevertheless it was sufficient to explain how charbon could declare -itself, for necropsy showed the characteristic lesions of the so-called -spontaneous splenic fever. It was also to be concluded therefrom that -the evil begins in the mouth, or at the back of the throat, supervening -on meals of infected food, alone or mixed with prickly plants likely to -cause abrasion. - -It was therefore necessary, in a department like that of Eure et Loir, -which must be full of anthrax germs,--particularly on the surface of the -graves containing carcases of animals which had fallen victims to the -disease,--that sheep farmers should keep from the food of their animals -plants such as thistles, ears of barley, and sharp pieces of straw; for -the least scratch, usually harmless to sheep, became dangerous through -the possible introduction of the germs of the disease. - -“It would also be necessary” wrote Pasteur, “to avoid all probable -diffusion of charbon germs through the carcases of animals dying of that -disease, for it is likely that the department of Eure et Loir contains -those germs in greater quantities than the other departments; splenic -fever having long been established there, it always goes on, dead -animals not being disposed of so as to destroy all germs of ulterior -contagion.” - -After finishing this report, Pasteur went to his little vineyard on the -Besançon road, where he met with a disappointment; his precious grapes -had not ripened, all the strength of the plant seemed to have gone to -the wood and leaves. But the grapes had their turn at the end of -September and in October, those bunches that were swathed in cotton wool -as well as those which had remained free under the glass; there was a -great difference of colour between them, the former being very pale. -Pasteur placed grapes from the two series in distinct tubes. On October -10, he compared the grapes of the glass houses, free or swathed, with -the neighbouring open-air grapes. “The result was beyond my -expectations; the tubes of open-air grapes fermented with grape yeast -after a thirty-six or forty-eight hours’ sojourn in a stove from 25° C. -to 30° C.; not one, on the contrary, of the numerous tubes of grapes -swathed in cotton wool entered into alcoholic fermentation, neither did -any of the tubes containing grapes ripened free under glass. It was the -experiment described in my _Studies on Beer_. On the following days I -repeated these experiments with the same results.” He went on to -another experiment. He cut some of the swathed bunches and hung them to -the vines grown in the open air, thinking that those bunches--exactly -similar to those which he had found incapable of fermentation--would -thus get covered with the germs of alcoholic ferments, as did the -bunches grown in the open air and their wood. After that, the bunches -taken from under the glass and submitted to the usual régime would -ferment under the influence of the germs which they would receive as -well as the others; this was exactly what happened. - -The difficulty now was to bring to the Académie des Sciences these -branches bearing swathed bunches of grapes; in order to avoid the least -contact to the grapes, these vine plants, as precious as the rarest -orchids, had to be held upright all the way from Arbois to Paris. -Pasteur came back to Paris in a coupé carriage on the express train, -accompanied by his wife and daughter, who took it in turns to carry the -vines. At last, they arrived safely at the Ecole Normale, and from the -Ecole Normale to the Institute, and Pasteur had the pleasure of bringing -his grapes to his colleagues as he had brought his hens. “If you crush -them while in contact with pure air,” he said, “I defy you to see them -ferment.” A long discussion then ensued with M. Berthelot, which was -prolonged until February, 1879. - -“It is a characteristic of exalted minds,” wrote M. Roux, “to put -passion into ideas.... For Pasteur, the alcoholic fermentation was -correlative with the life of the ferment; for Bernard and M. Berthelot, -it was a chemical action like any other, and could be accomplished -without the participation of living cells.” “In alcoholic fermentation,” -said M. Berthelot, “a soluble alcoholic ferment may be produced, which -perhaps consumes itself as its production goes on.” - -M. Roux had seen Pasteur try to “extract the soluble alcoholic ferment -from yeast cells by crushing them in a mortar, by freezing them until -they burst, or by putting them into concentrated saline solutions, in -order to force by osmose the succus to leave its envelope.” Pasteur -confessed that his efforts were vain. In a communication to the Académie -des Sciences on December 30, 1878, he said-- - -“It ever is an enigma to me that it should be believed that the -discovery of soluble ferments in fermentations properly so called, or of -the formation of alcohol by means of sugar, independently of cells -would hamper me. It is true--I own it without hesitation, and I am ready -to explain myself more lengthily if desired--that at present I neither -see the necessity for the existence of those ferments, nor the -usefulness of their action in this order of fermentations. Why should -actions of _diastase_, which are but phenomena of hydration, be confused -with those of organized ferments, or vice versâ? But I do not see that -the presence of those soluble substances, if it were ascertained, could -change in any way the conclusions drawn from my labours, and even less -so if alcohol were formed by electrolysis. - -“They agree with me who admit: - -“Firstly. That fermentations, properly so called, offer as an essential -condition the presence of microscopic organisms. - -“Secondly. That those organisms have not a spontaneous origin. - -“Thirdly. That the life of every organism which can exist away from free -oxygen is suddenly concomitant with acts of fermentation; and that it is -so with every cell which continues to produce chemical action without -the contact of oxygen.” - -When Pasteur related this discussion, and formed of it an appendix to -his book, _Critical Examination of a Posthumous Work of Claude Bernard -on Fermentations_, his painful feelings in opposing a friend who was no -more were so clearly evidenced that Sainte Claire Deville wrote to him -(June 9, 1879): “My dear Pasteur, I read a few passages of your new book -yesterday to a small party of professors and _savants_. We all were much -moved by the expressions with which you praise our dear Bernard, and by -your feelings of friendship and pure fraternity.” - -Sainte Claire Deville often spoke of his admiration for Pasteur’s -precision of thought, his forcible speech, the clearness of his -writings. As for J. B. Dumas, he called the attention of his colleagues -at the Académie Française to certain pages of that _Critical -Examination_. Though unaccustomed to those particular subjects, they -could not but be struck by the sagacity and ingenuity of Pasteur’s -researches, and by the eloquence inspired by his genius. A propos of -those ferment germs, which turn grape juice into wine, and from which he -had preserved his swathed bunches, Pasteur wrote-- - -“What meditations are induced by those results! It is impossible not to -observe that, the further we penetrate into the experimental study of -germs, the more we perceive sudden lights and clear ideas on the -knowledge of the causes of contagious diseases! Is it not worthy of -attention that, in that Arbois vineyard (and it would be true of the -million _hectares_ of vineyards of all the countries in the world), -there should not have been, at the time when I made the aforesaid -experiments, one single particle of earth which would not have been -capable of provoking fermentation by a grape yeast, and that, on the -other hand, the earth of the glass houses I have mentioned should have -been powerless to fulfil that office? And why? Because, at a given -moment, I covered that earth with some glass. The death, if I may so -express it, of a bunch of grapes thrown at that time on any vineyard, -would infallibly have occurred through the _saccharomyces_ parasites of -which I speak; that kind of death would have been impossible, on the -contrary, on the little space enclosed by my glass houses. Those few -cubic yards of air, those few square yards of soil, were there, in the -midst of a universal possible contagion, and they were safe from it.” - -And suddenly looking beyond those questions of yeast and vintage, -towards the germs of disease and of death: “Is it not permissible to -believe, by analogy, that a day will come when easily applied preventive -measures will arrest those scourges which suddenly desolate and terrify -populations; such as the fearful disease (yellow fever) which has -recently invaded Senegal and the valley of the Mississippi, or that -other (bubonic plague), yet more terrible perhaps, which has ravaged the -banks of the Volga.” - -Pasteur, with his quick answers, his tenacious refutations, was looked -upon as a great fighter by his colleagues at the Academy, but in the -laboratory, while seeking Claude Bernard’s soluble ferment, he tackled -subjects from which he drew conclusions which were amazing to -physicians. - -A worker in the laboratory had had a series of furuncles. Pasteur, whose -proverb was “Seek the microbe,” asked himself whether the pus of -furuncles might not have an organism, which, carried to and fro,--for it -may be said that a furuncle never comes alone--would explain the centre -of inflammation and the recurrence of the furuncles. After -abstracting--with the usual purity precautions--some pus from three -successive furuncles, he found in some sterilized broth a microbe, -formed of little rounded specks which clustered to the sides of the -culture vessel. The same was observed on a man whom Dr. Maurice Raynaud, -interested in those researches on furuncles, had sent to the laboratory, -and afterwards on a female patient of the Lariboisière Hospital, whose -back was covered with furuncles. Later on, Pasteur, taken by Dr. -Lannelongue to the Trousseau Hospital, where a little girl was about to -be operated on for that disease of the bones and marrow called -_osteomyelitis_, gathered a few drops of pus from the inside and the -outside of the bone, and again found clusters of microbes. Sown into a -culture liquid, this microbe seemed so identical with the furuncle -organism that “it might be affirmed at first sight,” said Pasteur, “that -osteomyelitis is the furuncle of bones.” - -The hospital now took as much place in Pasteur’s life as the laboratory. -“Chamberland and I assisted him in those studies,” writes M. Roux. “It -was to the Hôpital Cochin or to the Maternité that we went most -frequently, taking our culture tubes and sterilized pipets into the -wards or operating theatres. No one knows what feelings of repulsion -Pasteur had to overcome before visiting patients and witnessing -post-mortem examinations. His sensibility was extreme, and he suffered -morally and physically from the pains of others; the cut of the bistoury -opening an abscess made him wince as if he himself had received it. The -sight of corpses, the sad business of necropsies, caused him real -disgust; we have often seen him go home ill from those operating -theatres. But his love of science, his desire for truth were the -stronger; he returned the next day.” - -He was highly interested in the study of puerperal fever, which was -still enveloped in profound darkness. Might not the application of his -theories to the progress of surgery be realized in obstetrics? Could not -those epidemics be arrested which passed like scourges over lying-in -hospitals? It was still remembered with horror how, in the Paris -Maternity Hospital, between April 1 and May 10, 1856, 64 fatalities had -taken place out of 347 confinements. The hospital had to be closed, and -the survivors took refuge at the Lariboisière Hospital, where they -nearly all succumbed, pursued, it was thought, by the epidemic. - -Dr. Tarnier, a student residing at the Maternité during that disastrous -time, related afterwards how the ignorance of the causes of puerperal -fever was such that he was sometimes called away, by one of his chiefs, -from some post-mortem business, to assist in the maternity wards; nobody -being struck by the thought of the infection which might thus be carried -from the theatre to the bed of the patient. - -The discussion which arose in 1858 at the Académie de Médecine lasted -four months, and hypotheses of all kinds were brought forward. Trousseau -alone showed some prescience of the future by noticing an analogy -between infectious surgical accidents and infectious puerperal -accidents; the idea of a ferment even occurred to him. Years passed; -women of the lower classes looked upon the Maternité as the vestibule of -death. In 1864, 310 deaths occurred out of 1,350 confinement cases; in -1865, the hospital had to be closed. Works of cleansing and improvements -gave rise to a hope that the “epidemic genius” might be driven away. -“But, at the very beginning of 1866,” wrote Dr. Trélat, then -surgeon-in-chief at the Maternité, “the sanitary condition seemed -perturbed, the mortality rose in January, and in February we were -overwhelmed.” Twenty-eight deaths had occurred out of 103 cases. - -Trélat enumerated various causes, bad ventilation, neighbouring wards, -etc., but where was the origin of the evil? - -“Under the influence of causes which escape us,” wrote M. Léon Le Fort -about that time, “puerperal fever develops in a recently delivered -woman; she becomes a centre of infection, and, if that infection is -freely exercised, the epidemic is constituted.” - -Tarnier, who took Trélat’s place at the Maternité, in 1867, had been for -eleven years so convinced of the infectious nature of puerperal fever -that he thought but of arresting the evil by every possible means of -defence, the first of which seemed to him isolation of the patients. - -In 1874, Dr. Budin, then walking the hospitals, had noted in Edinburgh -the improvement due to antisepsis, thanks to Lister. Three or four years -later, in 1877 and 1878, after having seen that, in the various -maternity hospitals of Holland, Germany, Austria, Russia and Denmark, -antisepsis was practised with success, he brought his impressions with -him to Paris. Tarnier hastened to employ carbolic acid at the Maternité -with excellent results, and his assistant, M. Bar, tried sublimate. -While that new period of victory over fatal cases was beginning, Pasteur -came to the Académie de Médecine, having found, in certain puerperal -infections, a microbe in the shape of a chain or chaplet, which lent -itself very well to culture. - -“Pasteur,” wrote M. Roux, “does not hesitate to declare that that -microscopic organism is the most frequent cause of infection in recently -delivered women. One day, in a discussion on puerperal fever at the -Academy, one of his most weighty colleagues was eloquently enlarging -upon the causes of epidemics in lying-in hospitals; Pasteur interrupted -him from his place. ‘None of those things cause the epidemic; it is the -nursing and medical staff who carry the microbe from an infected woman -to a healthy one.’ And as the orator replied that he feared that microbe -would never be found, Pasteur went to the blackboard and drew a diagram -of the chain-like organism, saying: ‘There, that is what it is like!’ -His conviction was so deep that he could not help expressing it -forcibly. It would be impossible now to picture the state of surprise -and stupefaction into which he would send the students and doctors in -hospitals, when, with an assurance and simplicity almost disconcerting -in a man who was entering a lying-in ward for the first time, he -criticized the appliances, and declared that all the linen should be put -into a sterilizing stove.” - -Pasteur was not satisfied with offering advice and criticism, making for -himself irreconcilable enemies amongst those who were more desirous of -personal distinction than of the progress of Science. In order the -better to convince those who still doubted, he affirmed that, in a badly -infected patient--what he usually and sorrowfully called an _invaded_ -patient--he could bring the microbe into evidence by a simple pin prick -on the finger tip of the unhappy woman doomed to die the next day. - -“And he did so,” writes M. Roux. “In spite of the tyranny of medical -education which weighed down the public mind, some students were -attracted, and came to the laboratory to examine more closely those -matters, which allowed of such precise diagnosis and such confident -prognosis.” - -What struggles, what efforts, were necessary before it could be -instilled into every mind that a constant watch must be kept in the -presence of those invisible foes, ready to invade the human body through -the least scratch--that surgeons, dressers and nurses may become causes -of infection and propagators of death through forgetfulness! and before -the theory of germs and the all powerfulness of microbes could be put -under a full light à propos of that discussion on puerperal fever! - -But Pasteur was supported and inspired during that period, perhaps the -most fruitful of his existence, by the prescience that those notions -meant the salvation of human lives, and that mothers need no longer be -torn by death from the cradle of their new-born infants. - -“I shall force them to see; they will have to see!” he repeated with a -holy wrath against doctors who continued to talk, from their study or at -their clubs, with some scepticism, of those newly discovered little -creatures, of those ultra-microscopic parasites, trying to moderate -enthusiasm and even confidence. - -An experimental fact which occurred about that time was followed with -interest, not only by the Académie des Sciences, but by the general -public, whose attention was beginning to be awakened. A professor at the -Nancy Faculty, M. Feltz, had announced to the Académie des Sciences in -March, 1879, that, in the blood abstracted from a woman, who had died at -the Nancy Hospital of puerperal fever, he had found motionless -filaments, simple or articulated, transparent, straight or curved, which -belonged, he said, to the genus _leptothrix_. Pasteur, who in his -studies on puerperal fever had seen nothing of the kind, wrote to Dr. -Feltz, asking him to send him a few drops of that infected blood. After -receiving and examining the sample, Pasteur hastened to inform M. Feltz -that that leptothrix was no other than the bacillus anthracis. M. Feltz, -much surprised and perplexed, declared himself ready to own his error -and to proclaim it if he were convinced by examining blood infected by -charbon, and which, he said, he should collect wherever he could find -it. Pasteur desired to save him that trouble, and offered to send him -three little guinea-pigs alive, but inoculated, the one with the -deceased woman’s blood, the other with the bacteridia of -charbon-infected blood from Chartres, the third with some -charbon-infected blood from a Jura cow. - -The three rodents were inoculated on May 12, at three o’clock in the -afternoon, and arrived, living, at Nancy, on the morning of the -thirteenth. They died on the fourteenth, in the laboratory of M. Feltz, -who was thus able to observe them with particular attention until their -death. - -“After carefully examining the blood of the three animals after their -death, I was unable,” said M. Feltz, “to detect the least difference; -not only the blood, but the internal organs, and notably the spleen, -were affected in the same manner.”... “It is a certainty to my mind,” -he wrote to Pasteur, “that the contaminating agent has been the same in -the three cases, and that it was the bacteridium of what you call -anthrax.” - -There was therefore no such thing as a leptothrix puerperalis. And it -was at a distance, without having seen the patient, that Pasteur said: -“That woman died of charbon.” With an honourable straightforwardness, M. -Feltz wrote to the Académie des Sciences relating the facts. - -“It is doubly regrettable,” he concluded, “that I should not have known -charbon already last year, for, on the one hand, I might have diagnosed -the redoubtable complication presented by the case, and, on the other -hand, sought for the mode of contamination, which at present escapes me -almost completely.” All he had been able to find was that the woman, a -charwoman, lived in a little room near a stable belonging to a horse -dealer. Many animals came there; the stable might have contained -diseased ones; M. Feltz had been unable to ascertain the fact. “I must -end,” he added, “with thanks to M. Pasteur for the great kindness he has -shown me during my intercourse with him. Thanks to him, I was able to -convince myself of the identity between the bacillus anthracis and the -bacteridium found in the blood of a woman who presented all the symptoms -of grave puerperal fever.” - -At the time when that convincing episode was taking place, other -experiments equally precise were being undertaken concerning splenic -fever. The question was to discover whether it would be possible to find -germs of charbon in the earth of the fields which had been contaminated -purposely, fourteen months before, by pouring culture liquids over it. -It seemed beyond all probability that those germs might be withdrawn and -isolated from the innumerable other microbes contained in the soil. It -was done, however; 500 grammes of earth were mixed with water, and -infinitesimal particles of it isolated. The spore of the bacillus -anthracis resists a temperature of 80° C. or 90° C., which would kill -any other microbe; those particles of earth were accordingly raised to -that degree of heat and then injected into some guinea-pigs, several of -which died of splenic fever. It was therefore evident that flocks were -exposed to infection merely by grazing over certain fields in that land -of the Beauce. For it was sufficient that some infected blood should -have remained on the ground, for germs of bacteridia to be found there, -perhaps years later. How often was such blood spilt as a dead animal was -being taken to the knacker’s yard or buried on the spot! Millions of -bacteridia, thus scattered on and below the surface of the soil, -produced their spores, seeds of death ready to germinate. - -And yet negative facts were being opposed to these positive facts, and -the theory of spontaneity invoked! “It is with deep sorrow,” said -Pasteur at the Académie de Médecine on November 11, 1873, “that I so -frequently find myself obliged to answer thoughtless contradiction; it -also grieves me much to see that the medical Press speaks of these -discussions in apparent ignorance of the true principles of experimental -method.... - -“That aimlessness of criticism seems explicable to me, however, by this -circumstance--that Medicine and Surgery are, I think, going through a -crisis, a transition. There are two opposite currents, that of the old -and that of the new-born doctrine; the first, still followed by -innumerable partisans, rests on the belief in the spontaneity of -transmissible diseases; the second is the theory of germs, of the living -contagium with all its legitimate consequences....” - -The better to point out that difference between epochs, Pasteur -respectfully advised M. Bouillaud, who was taking part in the -discussion, to read over Littré’s _Medicine and Physicians_, and to -compare with present ideas the chapter on epidemics written in 1836, -four years after the cholera which had spread terror over Paris and over -France. “Poisons and venoms die out on the spot after working the evil -which is special to them,” wrote Littré, “and are not reproduced in the -body of the victim, but virus and miasmata are reproduced and -propagated. Nothing is more obscure to physiologists than those -mysterious combinations of organic elements; but there lies the dark -room of sickness and of death which we must try to open.” “Among -epidemic diseases,” said Littré in another passage equally noted by -Pasteur, “some occupy the world and decimate nearly all parts of it, -others are limited to more or less wide areas. The origin of the latter -may be sought either in local circumstances of dampness, of marshy -ground, of decomposing animal or vegetable matter, or in the changes -which take place in men’s mode of life.” - -“If I had to defend the novelty of the ideas introduced into medicine by -my labours of the last twenty years,” wrote Pasteur from Arbois in -September, 1879, “I should invoke the significant spirit of Littré’s -words. Such was then the state of Science in 1836, and those ideas on -the etiology of great epidemics were those of one of the most advanced -and penetrating minds of the time. I would observe, contrarily to -Littré’s opinion, that nothing proves the spontaneity of great -epidemics! As we have lately seen the phylloxera, imported from America, -invade Europe, so it might be that the causes of great pests were -originated, unknowingly to stricken countries, in other countries which -had had fortuitous contact with the latter. Imagine a microscopic being, -inhabiting some part of Africa and existing on plants, on animals, or -even on men, and capable of communicating a disease to the white race; -if brought to Europe by some fortuitous circumstance, it may become the -occasion of an epidemic....” - -And, writing later, about the same passage: “Nowadays, if an article had -to be written on the same subject, it would certainly be the idea of -living ferments and microscopic beings and germs which would be -mentioned and discussed as a cause. That is the great progress,” added -Pasteur with legitimate pride, “in which my labours have had so large a -share. But it is characteristic of Science and Progress that they go on -opening new fields to our vision; the scientist, who is exploring the -unknown, resembles the traveller who perceives further and higher -summits as he reaches greater altitudes. In these days, more infectious -diseases, more microscopic beings appear to the mind as things to be -discovered, the discovery of which will render a wonderful account of -pathological conditions and of their means of action and propagation, of -self-multiplication within and destruction of the organism. The point of -view is very different from Littré’s!!” - -On his return to Paris, Pasteur, his mind overflowing with ideas, had -felt himself impelled to speak again, to fight once more the fallacious -theory of the spontaneity of transmissible diseases. He foresaw the -triumph of the germ theory arising from the ruin of the old -doctrines--at the price, it is true, of many efforts, many struggles, -but those were of little consequence to him. - -The power of his mind, the radiating gifts that he possessed, were such -that his own people were more and more interested in the laboratory, -every one trying day by day to penetrate further into Pasteur’s -thoughts. His family circle had widened; his son and his daughter had -married, and the two new-comers had soon been initiated into past -results and recent experiments. He had, in his childhood and youth, been -passionately loved by his parents and sisters, and now, in his middle -age, his tenderness towards his wife and children was eagerly repaid by -the love they bore him. He made happiness around him whilst he gave -glory to France. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -1880--1882. - - -A new microbe now became the object of the same studies of culture and -inoculation as the bacillus anthracis. Readers of this book may have had -occasion to witness the disasters caused in a farmyard by a strange and -sudden epidemic. Hens, believed to be good sitters, are found dead on -their nests. Others, surrounded by their brood, allow the chicks to -leave them, giving them no attention; they stand motionless in the -centre of the yard, staggering under a deadly drowsiness. A young and -superb cock, whose triumphant voice was yesterday heard by all the -neighbours, falls into a sudden agony, his beak closed, his eyes dim, -his purple comb drooping limply. Other chickens, respited till the next -day, come near the dying and the dead, picking here and there grains -soiled with excreta containing the deadly germs: it is chicken cholera. - -An Alsatian veterinary surgeon of the name of Moritz had been the first -to notice, in 1869, some “granulations” in the corpses of animals struck -down by this lightning disease, which sometimes kills as many as ninety -chickens out of a hundred, those who survive having probably recovered -from a slight attack of the cholera. Nine years after Moritz, -Perroncito, an Italian veterinary surgeon, made a sketch of the microbe, -which has the appearance of little specks. Toussaint studied it, and -demonstrated that this microbe was indeed the cause of virulence in the -blood. He sent to Pasteur the head of a cock that had died of cholera. -The first thing to do, after isolating the microbe, was to try -successive cultures; Toussaint had used neutralized urine. This, though -perfect for the culture of the bacillus anthracis, proved a bad culture -medium for the microbe of chicken cholera; its multiplication soon -became arrested. If sown in a small flask of yeast water, equally -favourable to bacteridia, the result was worse still: the microbe -disappeared in forty-eight hours. - -“Is not that” said Pasteur--with the gift of comparison which made him -turn each failure into food for reflection--“an image of what we observe -when a microscopic organism proves to be harmless to a particular animal -species? It is harmless because it does not develop within the body, or -because its development does not reach the organs essential to life.” - -After trying other culture mediums, Pasteur found that the one which -answered best was a broth of chicken gristle, neutralized with potash -and sterilized by a temperature of 110° C. to 115° C. - -“The facility of multiplication of the micro-organism in that culture -medium is really prodigious,” wrote Pasteur in a duplicate communication -to the Academies of Sciences and of Medicine (February, 1880), entitled -_Of Virulent Diseases, and in particular that commonly called Chicken -Cholera_. “In a few hours, the most limpid broth becomes turgid and is -found to be full of little articles of an extreme tenuity, slightly -strangled in their middle and looking at first sight like isolated -specks; they are incapable of locomotion. Within a few days, those -beings, already so small, change into a multitude of specks so much -smaller, that the culture liquid, which had at first become turgid, -almost milky, becomes nearly clear again, the specks being of such -narrow diameter as to be impossible to measure, even approximately. - -“This microbe certainly belongs to quite another group than that of the -vibriones. I imagine that it will one day find a place with the still -mysterious virus, when the latter are successfully cultivated, which -will be soon, I hope.” - -Pasteur stated that the virulence of this microbe was such that the -smallest drop of recent culture, on a few crumbs, was sufficient to kill -a chicken. Hens fed in this way contracted the disease by their -intestinal canal, an excellent culture medium for the micro-organism, -and perished rapidly. Their infected excreta became a cause of contagion -to the hens which shared with them the laboratory cages. Pasteur thus -described one of these sick hens-- - -“The animal suffering from this disease is powerless, staggering, its -wings droop and its bristling feathers give it the shape of a ball; an -irresistible somnolence overpowers it. If its eyes are made to open, it -seems to awake from a deep sleep, and death frequently supervenes after -a dumb agony, before the animal has stirred from its place; sometimes -there is a faint fluttering of the wings for a few seconds.” - -Pasteur tried the effect of this microbe on guinea-pigs which had been -brought up in the laboratory, and found it but rarely mortal; in general -it merely caused a sore, terminating in an abscess, at the point of -inoculation. If this abscess were opened, instead of being allowed to -heal of its own accord, the little microbe of chicken cholera was to be -found in the pus, preserved in the abscess as it might be in a phial. - -“Chickens or rabbits,” remarked Pasteur, “living in the society of -guinea-pigs presenting these abscesses, might suddenly become ill and -die without any alteration being seen in the guinea-pigs’ health. It -would suffice for this purpose that those abscesses should open and drop -some of their contents on the food of the chickens and rabbits. - -“An observer witnessing those facts, and ignorant of the above-mentioned -cause, would be astonished to see hens and rabbits decimated without -apparent cause, and would believe in the spontaneity of the evil; for he -would be far from supposing that it had its origin in the guinea-pigs, -all of them in good health. How many mysteries in the history of -contagions will one day be solved as simply as this!!!” - -A chance, such as happens to those who have the genius of observation, -was now about to mark an immense step in advance and prepare the way for -a great discovery. As long as the culture flasks of chicken-cholera -microbe had been sown without interruption, at twenty-four hours’ -interval, the virulence had remained the same; but when some hens were -inoculated with an old culture, put away and forgotten a few weeks -before, they were seen with surprise to become ill and then to recover. -These unexpectedly refractory hens were then inoculated with some new -culture, but the phenomenon of resistance recurred. What had happened? -What could have attenuated the activity of the microbe? Researches -proved that oxygen was the cause; and, by putting between the cultures -variable intervals of days, of one, two or three months, variations of -mortality were obtained, eight hens dying out of ten, then five, then -only one out of ten, and at last, when, as in the first case, the -culture had had time to get stale, no hens died at all, though the -microbe could still be cultivated. - -“Finally,” said Pasteur, eagerly explaining this phenomenon, “if you -take each of these attenuated cultures as a starting-point for -successive and uninterrupted cultures, all this series of cultures will -reproduce the attenuated virulence of that which served as the -starting-point; in the same way non-virulence will reproduce -non-virulence.” - -And, while hens who had never had chicken-cholera perished when exposed -to the deadly virus, those who had undergone attenuated inoculations, -and who afterwards received more than their share of the deadly virus, -were affected with the disease in a benign form, a passing -indisposition, sometimes even they remained perfectly well; they had -acquired immunity. Was not this fact worthy of being placed by the side -of that great fact of vaccine, over which Pasteur had so often pondered -and meditated? - -He now felt that he might entertain the hope of obtaining, through -artificial culture, some vaccinating-virus against the virulent diseases -which cause great losses to agriculture in the breeding of domestic -animals, and, beyond that, the greater hope of preserving humanity from -those contagious diseases which continually decimate it. This invincible -hope led him to wish that he might live long enough to accomplish some -new discoveries and to see his followers step into the road he had -marked out. - -Strong in his experimental method which enabled him to produce proofs -and thus to demonstrate the truth; able to establish the connection -between a virulent and a microbian disease; finally, ready to reproduce -by culture, in several degrees of attenuation, a veritable vaccine, -could he not now force those of his opponents who were acting in good -faith to acknowledge the evidence of facts? Could he not carry all -attentive minds with him into the great movement which was about to -replace old ideas by new and precise notions, more and more accessible? - -Pasteur enjoyed days of incomparable happiness during that period of -enthusiasm, joys of the mind in its full power, joys of the heart in all -its expansion; for good was being done. He felt that nothing could -arrest the course of his doctrine, of which he said--“The breath of -Truth is carrying it towards the fruitful fields of the future.” He had -that intuition which makes a great poet of a great scientist. The -innumerable ideas surging through his mind were like so many bees all -trying to issue from the hive at the same time. So many plans and -preconceived ideas only stimulated him to further researches; but, when -he was once started on a road, he distrusted each step and only -progressed in the train of precise, clear and irrefutable experiments. - -A paper of his on the plague, dated April, 1880, illustrates his train -of thought. The preceding year the Academy of Medicine had appointed a -commission composed of eight members, to draw up a programme of research -relative to the plague. The scourge had appeared in a village situated -on the right bank of the Volga, in the district of Astrakhan. There had -been one isolated case at first, followed ten days later by another -death; the dread disease had then invaded and devoured the whole -village, going from house to house like an inextinguishable fire; 370 -deaths had occurred in a population of 1,372 inhabitants; thirty or -forty people died every day. In one of those sinister moments when men -forget everything in their desire to live, parents and relations had -abandoned their sick and dying among the unburied dead, with 20° C. of -frost!! The neighbouring villages were contaminated; but, thanks to the -Russian authorities, who had established a strict sanitary cordon, the -evil was successfully localized. Some doctors, meeting in Vienna, -declared that that plague was no other than the Black Death of the -fourteenth century, which had depopulated Europe. The old pictures and -sculptures of the time, which represent Death pressing into his -lugubrious gang children and old men, beggars and emperors, bear witness -to the formidable ravages of such a scourge. In France, since the -epidemic at Marseilles in 1720, it seemed as if the plague were but a -memory, a distant nightmare, almost a horrible fairy tale. Dr. Rochard, -in a report to the Académie de Médecine, recalled how the contagion had -burst out in May, 1720; a ship, having lost six men from the plague on -its journey, had entered Marseilles harbour. The plague, after an -insidious first phase, had raged in all its fury in July. - -“Since the plague is a disease,” wrote Pasteur (whose paper was a sort -of programme of studies), “the cause of which is absolutely unknown, it -is not illogical to suppose that it too is perhaps produced by a special -microbe. All experimental research must be guided by some preconceived -ideas, and it would probably be very useful to tackle the study of that -disease with the belief that it is due to a parasite. - -“The most decisive of all the proofs which can be invoked in favour of -the possible correlation between a determined affection and the presence -of a micro-organism, is that afforded by the method of cultures of -organisms in a state of purity; a method by which I have solved, within -the last twenty-two years, the chief difficulties relative to -fermentations properly so called; notably the important question, much -debated formerly, of the correlation which exists between those -fermentations and their particular ferments.” - -He then pointed out that if, after gathering either blood or pus -immediately before or immediately after the death of a plague patient, -one could succeed in discovering the micro-organism, and then in finding -for that microbe an appropriate culture medium, it would be advisable to -inoculate with it animals of various kinds, perhaps monkeys for -preference, and to look for the lesions capable of establishing -relations from cause to effect between that organism and the disease in -mankind. - -He did not hide from himself the great difficulties to be met with in -experimenting; for, after discovering and isolating the organism, there -is nothing to indicate _a priori_ to the experimentalist an appropriate -culture medium. Liquids which suit some microbes admirably are -absolutely unsuitable to others. Take, for instance, the microbe of -chicken-cholera, which will not develop in beer yeast; a hasty -experimentalist might conclude that the chicken-cholera is not produced -by a micro-organism, and that it is a spontaneous disease with unknown -immediate causes. “The fallacy would be a fatal one,” said Pasteur, “for -in another medium, say, for instance, in chicken-broth, there would be a -virulent culture.” - -In these researches on the plague, then, various mediums should be -tried; also the character, either aërobic or anaërobic, of the microbe -should be present to the mind. - -“The sterility of a culture liquid may come from the presence of air and -not from its own constitution; the septic vibrio, for instance, is -killed by oxygen in air. From this last circumstance it is plain that -culture must be made not only in the presence of air but also in a -vacuum or in the presence of pure carbonic acid gas. In the latter case, -immediately after sowing the blood or humour to be tested, a vacuum must -be made in the tubes, they must be sealed by means of a lamp, and left -in a suitable temperature, usually between 30° C. and 40° C.” Thus he -prepared landmarks for the guidance of scientific research on the -etiology of the plague. - - * * * * * - -Desiring as Pasteur did that the public in general should take an -interest in laboratory research, he sent to his friend Nisard the number -of the _Bulletin of the Académie de Médecine_ which contained a first -communication on chicken-cholera, and also his paper on the plague. - -“Read them if you have time,” he wrote (May 3, 1880): “they may interest -you, and _there should be no blanks in your education_. They will be -followed by others. - -“To-day at the Institute, and to-morrow at the Académie de Médecine, I -shall give a new lecture. - -“Do repeat to me every criticism you hear; I much prefer them to praise, -barren unless encouragement is wanted, which is certainly not my case; I -have a lasting provision of faith and fire.” - -Nisard answered on May 7: “My very dear friend, I am almost dazed with -the effort made by my ignorance to follow your ideas, and dazzled with -the beauty of your discoveries on the principal point, and the number of -secondary discoveries enumerated in your marvellous paper. You are right -not to care for barren praise; but you would wrong those who love you if -you found no pleasure in being praised by them when they have no other -means of acknowledging your notes. - -“I am reading the notice on chicken-cholera for the second time, and I -observe that the writer is following the discoverer, and that your -language becomes elevated, supple and coloured, in order to express the -various aspects of the subject. - -“It gives me pleasure to see the daily growth of your fame, and I am -indeed proud of enjoying your friendship.” - -Amidst his researches on a vaccine for chicken-cholera, the etiology of -splenic fever was unceasingly preoccupying Pasteur. Did the splenic -germs return to the surface of the soil, and how? One day, in one of his -habitual excursions with Messrs. Roux and Chamberland to the farm of St. -Germain, near Chartres, he suddenly perceived an answer to that enigma. -In a field recently harvested, he noticed a place where the colour of -the soil differed a little from the neighbouring earth. He questioned M. -Maunoury, the proprietor of the farm, who answered that sheep dead of -anthrax had been buried there the preceding year. Pasteur drew nearer, -and was interested by the mass of little earth cylinders, those little -twists which earthworms deposit on the ground. Might that be, he -wondered, the explanation of the origin of the germs which reappear on -the surface? Might not the worms, returning from their subterranean -journeys in the immediate neighbourhood of graves, bring back with them -splenic spores, and thus scatter the germs so exhumed? That would again -be a singular revelation, unexpected but quite simple, due to the germ -theory. He wasted no time in dreaming of the possibilities opened by -that preconceived idea, but, with his usual impatience to get at the -truth, decided to proceed to experiment. - -On his return to Paris Pasteur spoke to Bouley of this possible part of -germ carriers played by earthworms, and Bouley caused some to be -gathered which had appeared on the surface of pits where animals dead of -splenic fever had been buried some years before. Villemin and Davaine -were invited as well as Bouley to come to the laboratory and see the -bodies of these worms opened; anthrax spores were found in the earth -cylinders which filled their intestinal tube. - - * * * * * - -At the time when Pasteur revealed this pathogenic action of the -earthworm, Darwin, in his last book, was expounding their share in -agriculture. He too, with his deep attention and force of method, able -to discover the hidden importance of what seemed of little account to -second-rate minds, had seen how earthworms open their tunnels, and how, -by turning over the soil, and by bringing so many particles up to the -surface by their “castings,” they ventilate and drain the soil, and, by -their incessant and continuous work, render great services to -agriculture. These excellent labourers are redoubtable grave-diggers; -each of those two tasks, the one beneficent and the other full of -perils, was brought to light by Pasteur and Darwin, unknowingly to each -other. - -Pasteur had gathered earth from the pits where splenic cows had been -buried in July, 1878, in the Jura. “At three different times within -those two years,” he said to the Académie des Sciences and to the -Académie de Médecine in July, 1880, “the surface soil of those same pits -has presented charbon spores.” This fact had been confirmed by recent -experiments on the soil of the Beauce farm; particles of earth from -other parts of the field had no power of provoking splenic fever. - -Pasteur, going on to practical advice, showed how grazing animals might -find in certain places the germs of charbon, freed by the loosening by -rain of the little castings of earthworms. Animals are wont to choose -the surface of the pits, where the soil, being richer in humus, produces -thicker growth, and in so doing risk their lives, for they become -infected, somewhat in the same manner as in the experiments when their -forage was poisoned with a few drops of splenic culture liquid. Septic -germs are brought to the surface of the soil in the same way. - -“Animals,” said Pasteur, “should never be buried in fields intended for -pasture or the growing of hay. Whenever it is possible, burying-grounds -should be chosen in sandy or chalky soils, poor, dry, and unsuitable to -the life of earthworms.” - -Pasteur, like a general with only two aides de camp, was obliged to -direct the efforts of Messrs. Chamberland and Roux simultaneously in -different parts of France. Sometimes facts had to be checked which had -been over-hastily announced by rash experimentalists. Thus M. Roux went, -towards the end of the month of July, to an isolated property near -Nancy, called Bois le Duc Farm, to ascertain whether the successive -deaths of nineteen head of cattle were really, as affirmed, due to -splenic fever. The water of this pasture was alleged to be contaminated; -the absolute isolation of the herd seemed to exclude all idea of -contagion. After collecting water and earth from various points on the -estate M. Roux had returned to the laboratory with his tubes and pipets. -He was much inclined to believe that there had been septicæmia and not -splenic fever. - -M. Chamberland was at Savagna, near Lons-le-Saulnier, where, in order to -experiment on the contamination of the surface of pits, he had had a -little enclosure traced out and surrounded by an open paling in a meadow -where victims of splenic fever had been buried two years previously. -Four sheep were folded in this enclosure. Another similar fold, also -enclosing four sheep, was placed a few yards above the first one. This -experiment was intended to occupy the vacation, and Pasteur meant to -watch it from Arbois. - -A great sorrow awaited him there. “I have just had the misfortune of -losing my sister,” he wrote to Nisard at the beginning of August, “to -see whom (as also my parents’ and children’s graves) I returned yearly -to Arbois. Within forty-eight hours I witnessed life, sickness, death -and burial; such rapidity is terrifying. I deeply loved my sister, who, -in difficult times, when modest ease even did not reign in our home, -carried the heavy burden of the day and devoted herself to the little -ones of whom I was one. I am now the only survivor of my paternal and -maternal families.” - -In the first days of August, Toussaint, the young professor of the -Toulouse Veterinary School, declared that he had succeeded in -vaccinating sheep against splenic fever. One process of vaccination -(which consisted in collecting the blood of an animal affected with -charbon just before or immediately after death, defibrinating it and -then passing it through a piece of linen and filtering it through ten or -twelve sheets of paper) had been unsuccessful; the bacteridia came -through it all and killed instead of preserving the animal. Toussaint -then had recourse to heat to kill the bacteridia: “I raised,” he said, -“the defibrinated blood to a heat of 55° C. for ten minutes; the result -was complete. Five sheep inoculated with three cubic cent. of that -blood, and afterwards with very active charbon blood, have not felt it -in the least.” However, several successive inoculations had to be made. - -“All ideas of holidays must be postponed; we must set to work in Jura as -well as in Paris,” wrote Pasteur to his assistants. Bouley, who thought -that the goal was reached, did not hide from himself the difficulties of -interpretation of the alleged fact. He obtained from the Minister of -Agriculture permission to try at Alfort this so-called vaccinal liquid -on twenty sheep. - -“Yesterday,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law on August 13, “I went to -give M. Chamberland instructions so that I may verify as soon as -possible the Toussaint fact, which I will only believe when I have seen -it, seen it with my own eyes. I am having twenty sheep bought, and I -hope to be satisfied as to the exactitude of this really extraordinary -observation in about three weeks’ time. Nature may have mystified M. -Toussaint, though his assertions seem to attest the existence of a very -interesting fact.” - -Toussaint’s assertion had been hasty, and Pasteur was not long in -clearing up that point. The temperature of 55° C. prolonged for ten -minutes was not sufficient to kill the bacteridia in the blood; they -were but weakened and retarded in their development; even after fifteen -minutes’ exposure to the heat, there was but a numbness of the -bacteridium. Whilst these experiments were being pursued in the Jura and -in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale, the Alfort sheep were giving -Bouley great anxiety. One died of charbon one day after inoculation, -three two days later. The others were so ill that M. Nocard wanted to -sacrifice one in order to proceed to immediate necropsy; Bouley -apprehended a complete disaster. But the sixteen remaining sheep -recovered gradually and became ready for the counter test of charbon -inoculation. - -Whilst Pasteur was noting the decisive points, he heard from Bouley and -from Roux at the same time, that Toussaint now obtained his vaccinal -liquid, no longer by the action of heat, but by the measured action of -carbolic acid on splenic fever blood. The interpretation by weakening -remained the same. - -“What ought we to conclude from that result?” wrote Bouley to Pasteur. -“It is evident that Toussaint does not vaccinate as he thought, with a -liquid destitute of bacteridia, since he gives charbon with that liquid; -but that he uses a liquid in which the power of the bacteridium is -reduced by the diminished number and the attenuated activity. His -vaccine must then only be charbon liquid of which the intensity of -action may be weakened to the point of not being mortal to a certain -number of susceptible animals receiving it. But it may be a most -treacherous vaccine, in that it might be capable of recuperating its -power with time. The Alfort experiment makes it probable that the -vaccine tested at Toulouse and found to be harmless, had acquired in the -lapse of twelve days before it was tried at Alfort, a greater intensity, -because the bacteridium, numbed for a time by carbolic acid, had had -time to awaken and to swarm, in spite of the acid.” - -Whilst Toussaint had gone to Rheims (where sat the French Association -for the Advancement of Science) to state that it was not, as he had -announced, the liquid which placed the animal into conditions of -relative immunity and to epitomize Bouley’s interpretation, to wit, that -it was a bearable charbon which he had inoculated, Pasteur wrote rather -a severe note on the subject. His insisting on scrupulous accuracy in -experiment sometimes made him a little hard; though the process was -unreliable and the explanation inexact, Toussaint at least had the merit -of having noted a condition of transitory attenuation in the -bacteridium. Bouley begged Pasteur to postpone his communication out of -consideration for Toussaint. - -One of the sheep folded over splenic-fever pits had died on August 25, -its body, full of bacteridia, proving once more the error of those who -believed in the spontaneity of transmissible diseases. Pasteur informed -J. B. Dumas of this, and at the same time expressed his opinion on the -Toussaint fact. This letter was read at the Académie des Sciences. - -“Allow me, before I finish, to tell you another secret. I have hastened, -again with the assistance of Messrs. Chamberland and Roux, to verify the -extraordinary facts recently announced to the Academy by M. Toussaint, -professor at the Toulouse Veterinary School. - -“After numerous experiments leaving no room for doubt, I can assure you -that M. Toussaint’s interpretations should be gone over again. Neither -do I agree with M. Toussaint on the identity which he affirms as -existing between acute septicæmia and chicken-cholera; those two -diseases differ absolutely.” - -Bouley was touched by this temperate language after all the verifying -experiments made at the Ecole Normale and in the Jura. When relating the -Alfort incidents, and while expressing a hope that some vaccination -against anthrax would shortly be discovered, he revealed that Pasteur -had had “the delicacy of abstaining from a detailed criticism, so as to -leave M. Toussaint the care of checking his own results.” - -The struggle against virulent diseases was becoming more and more the -capital question for Pasteur. He constantly recurred to the subject, not -only in the laboratory, but in his home conversations, for he associated -his family with all the preoccupations of his scientific life. Now that -the oxygen of air appeared as a modifying influence on the development -of a microbe in the body of animals, it seemed possible that there might -be a general law applicable to every virus! What a benefit it would be -if the vaccine of every virulent disease could thus be discovered! And -in his thirst for research, considering that the scientific history of -chicken-cholera was more advanced than that of variolic and vaccinal -affections--the great fact of vaccination remaining isolated and -unexplained--he hastened on his return to Paris (September, 1880) to -press physicians on this special point--the relations between small-pox -and vaccine. “From the point of view of physiological experimentation,” -he said, “the identity of the variola virus with the vaccine virus has -never been demonstrated.” When Jules Guérin--a born fighter, still -desirous at the age of eighty to measure himself successfully with -Pasteur--declared that “human vaccine is the product of animal variola -(cow pox and horse pox) inoculated into man and humanised by its -successive transmissions on man,” Pasteur answered ironically that he -might as well say, “Vaccine is--vaccine.” - -Those who were accustomed to speak to Pasteur with absolute sincerity -advised him not to let himself be dragged further into those discussions -when his adversaries, taking words for ideas, drowned the debate in a -flood of phrases. Of what good were such debates to science, since those -who took the first place among veterinary surgeons, physicians and -surgeons, loudly acknowledged the debt which science owned to Pasteur? -Why be surprised that certain minds, deeply disturbed in their habits, -their principles, their influence, should feel some difficulty, some -anger even in abandoning their ideas? If it is painful to tenants to -leave a house in which they have spent their youth, what must it be to -break with one’s whole education? - -Pasteur, who allowed himself thus to be told that he lacked -philosophical serenity, acknowledged this good advice with an -affectionate smile. He promised to be calm; but when once in the room, -his adversaries’ attacks, their prejudices and insinuations, enervated -and irritated him. All his promises were forgotten. - -“To pretend to express the relation between human variola and vaccine by -speaking but of vaccine and its relations with cow pox and horse pox, -without even pronouncing the word small-pox, is mere equivocation, done -on purpose to avoid the real point of the debate.” Becoming excited by -Guérin’s antagonism, Pasteur turned some of Guérin’s operating processes -into ridicule with such effect that Guérin started from his place and -rushed at him. The fiery octogenarian was stopped by Baron Larrey; the -sitting was suspended in confusion. The following day, Guérin sent two -seconds to ask for reparation by arms from Pasteur. Pasteur referred -them to M. Béclard, Permanent Secretary to the Académie de Médicine, and -M. Bergeron, its Annual Secretary, who were jointly responsible for the -_Official Bulletin of the Academy_. “I am ready,” said Pasteur, “having -no right to act otherwise, to modify whatever the editors may consider -as going beyond the rights of criticism and legitimate defence.” - -In deference to the opinion of Messrs. Béclard and Bergeron, Pasteur -consented to terminate the quarrel by writing to the chairman of the -Academy that he had no intention of offending a colleague, and that in -all discussions of that kind, he never thought of anything but to defend -the exactitude of his own work. - -The _Journal de la Médecine et de la Chimie_, edited by M. -Lucas-Championnière, said à propos of this very reasonable letter--“We, -for our part, admire the meekness of M. Pasteur, who is so often -described as combative and ever on the warpath. Here we have a -scientist, who now and then makes short, substantial and extremely -interesting communications. He is not a medical man, and yet, guided by -his genius, he opens new paths across the most arduous studies of -medical science. Instead of being offered the tribute of attention and -admiration which he deserves, he meets with a raging opposition from -some quarrelsome individuals, ever inclined to contradict after -listening as little as possible. If he makes use of a scientific -expression not understood by everybody, or if he uses a medical -expression slightly incorrectly, then rises before him the spectre of -endless speeches, intended to prove to him that all was for the best in -medical science before it was assisted by the precise studies and -resources of chemistry and experimentation.... Indeed, M. Pasteur’s -expression of _equivocation_ seemed to us moderate!” - -How many such futile incidents, such vain quarrels, traverse the life of -a great man! Later on, we only see glory, apotheosis, and the statues in -public places; the demi-gods seemed to have marched in triumph towards a -grateful posterity. But how many obstacles and oppositions are there to -retard the progress of a free mind desirous of bringing his task to a -successful conclusion and incited by the fruitful thought of Death, ever -present to spirits preoccupied with interests of a superior order? -Pasteur looked upon himself as merely a passing guest of those homes of -intellect which he wished to enlarge and fortify for those who would -come after him. - -Confronted with the hostility, indifference and scepticism which he -found in the members of the Medical Academy, he once appealed to the -students who sat on the seats open to the public. - -“Young men, you who sit on those benches, and who are perhaps the hope -of the medical future of the country, do not come here to seek the -excitement of polemics, but come and learn Method.” - -His method, as opposed to vague conceptions and _a priori_ speculations, -went on fortifying itself day by day. Artificial attenuation, that is, -virus modified by the oxygen of air, which weakens and abates virulence; -vaccination by the attenuated virus--those two immense steps in advance -were announced by Pasteur at the end of 1880. But would the same process -apply to the microbe of charbon? That was a great problem. The vaccine -of chicken-cholera was easy to obtain; by leaving pure cultures to -themselves for a time in contact with air, they soon lost their -virulence. But the spores of charbon, very indifferent to atmospheric -air, preserved an indefinitely prolonged virulence. After eight, ten or -twelve years, spores found in the graves of victims of splenic fever -were still in full virulent activity. It was therefore necessary to turn -the difficulty by a culture process which would act on the -filament-shaped bacteridium before the formation of spores. What may now -be explained in a few words demanded long weeks of trials, tests and -counter tests. - -In neutralized chicken broth, the bacteridium can no longer be -cultivated at a temperature of 45° C.; it can still be cultivated easily -at a temperature of 42° C. or 43° C., but the spores do not develop. - -“At that extreme temperature,” explains M. Chamberland, “the bacteridia -yet live and reproduce themselves, but they never give any germs. -Thenceforth, when trying the virulence of the phials after six, eight, -ten or fifteen days, we have found exactly the same phenomena as for -chicken-cholera. After eight days, for instance, our culture, which -originally killed ten sheep out of ten, only kills four or five; after -ten or twelve days it does not kill any; it merely communicates to -animals a benignant malady which preserves them from the deadly form. - -“A remarkable thing is that the bacteridia whose virulence has been -attenuated may afterwards be cultivated in a temperature of 30° C. to -35° C., at which temperature they give germs presenting the same -virulence as the filaments which formed them.” - -Bouley, who was a witness of all these facts, said, in other words, that -“if that attenuated and degenerated bacteridium is translated to a -culture medium in a lower temperature, favourable to its activity, it -becomes once again apt to produce spores. But those spores born of -weakened bacteridia, will only produce bacteridia likewise weakened in -their swarming faculties.” - -Thus is obtained and enclosed in inalterable spores a vaccine ready to -be sent to every part of the world to preserve animals by vaccination -against splenic fever. - -On the day when he became sure of this discovery, Pasteur, returning to -his rooms from his laboratory, said to his family, with a deep -emotion--“Nothing would have consoled me if this discovery, which my -collaborators and I have made, had not been a French discovery.” - -He desired to wait a little longer before proclaiming it. Yet the cause -of the evil was revealed, the mode of propagation indicated, prophylaxis -made easy; surely, enough had been achieved to move attentive minds to -enthusiasm and to deserve the gratitude of sheep owners! - -So thought the _Society of French Agricultors_, when it decided, on -February 21, 1881, to offer to Pasteur a medal of honour. J. B. Dumas, -detained at the Académie des Sciences, was unable to attend the meeting. -He wrote to Bouley, who had been requested to enumerate Pasteur’s -principal discoveries at that large meeting--“I had desired to make -public by my presence my heartfelt concurrence in your admiration for -him who will never be honoured to the full measure of his merits, of his -services and of his passionate devotion to truth and to our country.” - -On the following Monday, Bouley said to Dumas, as they were walking to -the Académie des Sciences, “Your letter assures me of a small share of -immortality.” - -“See,” answered Dumas, pointing to Pasteur, who was preceding them, -“there is he who will lead us both to immortality.” - -On that Monday, February 28, Pasteur made his celebrated communication -on the vaccine of splenic fever and the whole graduated scale of -virulence. The secret of those returns to virulence lay entirely in some -successive cultures through the body of certain animals. If a weakened -bacteridium was inoculated into a guinea-pig a few days old it was -harmless; but it killed a new-born guinea-pig. - -“If we then go from one new-born guinea-pig to another,” said Pasteur, -“by inoculation of the blood of the first to the second, from the second -to a third, and so on, the virulence of the bacteridium--that is: its -adaptability to development within the economy--becomes gradually -strengthened. It becomes by degrees able to kill guinea-pigs three or -four days old, then a week, a month, some years old, then sheep -themselves; the bacteridium has returned to its original virulence. We -may affirm, without hesitation, though we have not had the opportunity -of testing the fact, that it would be capable of killing cows and -horses; and it preserves that virulence indefinitely if nothing is done -to attenuate it again. - -“As to the microbe of chicken-cholera, when it has lost its power of -action on hens, its virulence may be restored to it by applying it to -small birds such as sparrows or canaries, which it kills immediately. -Then by successive passages through the bodies of those animals, it -gradually assumes again a virulence capable of manifesting itself anew -on adult hens. - -“Need I add, that, during that return to virulence, by the way, -virus-vaccines can be prepared at every degree of virulence for the -bacillus anthracis and for the chicken-cholera microbe. - -“This question of the return to virulence is of the greatest interest -for the etiology of contagious diseases.” - -Since charbon does not recur, said Pasteur in the course of that -communication, each of the charbon microbes attenuated in the laboratory -constitutes a vaccine for the superior microbe. “What therefore is -easier than to find in those successive virus, virus capable of giving -splenic fever to sheep, cows and horses, without making them perish, and -assuring them of ulterior immunity from the deadly disease? We have -practised that operation on sheep with the greatest success. When the -season comes for sheep-folding in the Beauce, we will try to apply it on -a large scale.” - -The means of doing this were given to Pasteur before long; assistance -was offered to him by various people for various reasons; some desired -to see a brilliant demonstration of the truth; others whispered their -hopes of a signal failure. The promoter of one very large experiment was -a Melun veterinary surgeon, M. Rossignol. - -In the _Veterinary Press_, of which M. Rossignol was one of the editors, -an article by him might have been read on the 31st January, 1881, less -than a month before that great discovery on charbon vaccine, wherein he -expressed himself as follows: “Will you have some microbe? There is some -everywhere. Microbiolatry is the fashion, it reigns undisputed; it is a -doctrine which must not even be discussed, especially when its Pontiff, -the learned M. Pasteur, has pronounced the sacramental words, _I have -spoken_. The microbe alone is and shall be the characteristic of a -disease; that is understood and settled; henceforth the germ theory must -have precedence of pure clinics; the Microbe alone is true, and Pasteur -is its prophet.” - -At the end of March, M. Rossignol began a campaign, begging for -subscriptions, pointing out how much the cultivators of the Brie--whose -cattle suffered almost as much as that of the Beauce--were interested in -the question. The discovery, _if it were genuine_, should not remain -confined to the Ecole Normale laboratory, or monopolized by the -privileged public of the Académie des Sciences, who had no use for it. -M. Rossignol soon collected about 100 subscribers. Did he believe that -Pasteur and his little phials would come to a hopeless fiasco in a -farmyard before a public of old practitioners who had always been -powerless in the presence of splenic fever? Microbes were a subject for -ceaseless joking; people had hilarious visions of the veterinary -profession confined some twenty years hence in a model laboratory -assiduously cultivating numberless races, sub-races, varieties and -sub-varieties of microbes. - -It is probable that, if light comes from above, a good many -practitioners would not have been sorry to see a strong wind from below -putting out Pasteur’s light. - -M. Rossignol succeeded in interesting every one in this undertaking. -When the project was placed before the Melun Agricultural Society on the -2nd April, they hastened to approve of it and to accord their patronage. - -The chairman, Baron de la Rochette, was requested to approach Pasteur -and to invite him to organize public experiments on the preventive -vaccination of charbon in the districts of Melun, Fontainebleau and -Provins. - -“The noise which those experiments will necessarily cause,” wrote M. -Rossignol, “will strike every mind and convince those who may still be -doubting; the evidence of facts will have the result of ending all -uncertainty.” - -Baron de la Rochette was a typical old French gentleman; his whole -person was an ideal of old-time distinction and courtesy. Well up to -date in all agricultural progress, and justly priding himself, with the -ease of a great landowner, that he made of agriculture an art and a -science, he could speak in any surroundings with knowledge of his -subject and a winning grace of manner. When he entered the laboratory, -he was at once charmed by the simplicity of the scientist, who hastened -to accept the proposal of an extensive experiment. - -At the end of April, Pasteur wrote out the programme which was to be -followed near Melun at the farm of Pouilly le Fort. M. Rossignol had a -number of copies of that programme printed, and distributed them, not -only throughout the Department of Seine et Marne, but in the whole -agricultural world. This programme was so decidedly affirmative that -some one said to Pasteur, with a little anxiety: “You remember what -Marshal Gouyion St. Cyr said of Napoleon, that ‘he liked hazardous games -with a character of grandeur and audacity.’ It was neck or nothing with -him; you are going on in the same way!” - -“Yes,” answered Pasteur, who meant to compel a victory. - -And as his collaborators, to whom he had just read the precise and -strict arrangements he had made, themselves felt a little nervous, he -said to them, “What has succeeded in the laboratory on fourteen sheep -will succeed just as well at Melun on fifty.” - -This programme left him no retreat. The Melun Agricultural Society put -sixty sheep at Pasteur’s disposal; twenty-five were to be vaccinated by -two inoculations, at twelve or fifteen days’ interval, with some -attenuated charbon virus. Some days later those twenty-five and also -twenty-five others would be inoculated with some very virulent charbon -culture. - -“The twenty-five unvaccinated sheep will all perish,” wrote Pasteur, -“the twenty-five vaccinated ones will survive.” They would afterwards be -compared with the ten sheep which had undergone no treatment at all. It -would thus be seen that vaccination did not prevent sheep from returning -to their normal state of health after a certain time. - -Then came other prescriptions, for instance, the burying of the dead -sheep in distinct graves, near each other and enclosed within a paling. - -“In May, 1882,” added Pasteur, “twenty new sheep, that is, sheep never -before used for experimentation, will be shut within that paling.” - -And he predicted that the following year, 1882, out of those twenty-five -sheep fed on the grass of that little enclosure or on forage deposited -there, several would become infected by the charbon germs brought to -the surface by earthworms, and that they would die of splenic fever. -Finally, twenty-five other sheep might be folded in a neighbouring spot, -where no charbon victims had ever been buried, and under these -conditions none would contract the disease. - -M. de la Rochette having expressed a desire that cows should be included -in the programme, Pasteur answered that he was willing to try that new -experiment, though his tests on vaccine for cows were not as advanced as -those on sheep vaccine. Perhaps, he said, the results may not be as -positive, though he thought they probably would be. He was offered ten -cows; six were to be vaccinated and four not vaccinated. The experiments -were to begin on the Thursday, 5th May, and would in all likelihood -terminate about the first fortnight in June. - -At the time when M. Rossignol declared that all was ready for the fixed -time, an editor’s notice in the _Veterinary Press_ said that the -laboratory experiments were about to be repeated _in campo_, and that -Pasteur could thus “demonstrate that he had not been mistaken when he -affirmed before the astonished Academy that he had discovered the -vaccine of splenic fever, a preventative to one of the most terrible -diseases with which animals and even men could be attacked.” This notice -ended thus, with an unexpected classical reminiscence: “These -experiments are solemn ones, and they will become memorable if, as M. -Pasteur asserts, with such confidence, they confirm all those he has -already instituted. We ardently wish that M. Pasteur may succeed and -remain the victor in a tournament which has now lasted long enough. If -he succeeds, he will have endowed his country with a great benefit, and -his adversaries should, as in the days of antiquity, wreathe their brows -with laurel leaves and prepare to follow, chained and prostrate, the -chariot of the immortal Victor. But he must succeed: such is the price -of triumph. Let M. Pasteur not forget that the Tarpeian Rock is near the -Capitol.” - -On May 5 a numerous crowd arriving from Melun station or from the little -station of Cesson, was seen moving towards the yard of Pouilly le Fort -farm; it looked like a mobilisation of _Conseillers Généraux_, -agricultors, physicians, apothecaries, and especially veterinary -surgeons. Most of these last were full of scepticism--as was remarked by -M. Thierry, who represented the Veterinary Society of the Yonne, and one -of his colleagues, M. Biot, of Pont-sur-Yonne. They were exchanging -jokes and looks to the complete satisfaction of Pasteur’s adversaries. -They were looking forward to the last and most virulent inoculation. - -Pasteur, assisted not only by Messrs. Chamberland and Roux, but also by -a third pupil of the name of Thuillier, proceeded to the arrangement of -the subjects. At the last moment, two goats were substituted for two of -the sheep. - -Vaccination candidates and unvaccinated test sheep were divided under a -large shed. For the injection of the vaccinal liquid, Pravaz’s little -syringe was used; those who have experienced morphia injections know how -easily the needle penetrates the subcutaneous tissues. Each of the -twenty-five sheep received, on the inner surface of the right thigh, -five drops of the bacteridian culture which Pasteur called the first -vaccine. Five cows and one ox substituted for the sixth cow were -vaccinated in their turn, behind the shoulder. The ox and the cows were -marked on the right horn, and the sheep on the ear. - -Pasteur was, after this, asked to give a lecture on splenic fever in the -large hall of the Pouilly farm. Then, in clear, simple language, meeting -every objection half-way, showing no astonishment at ignorance or -prejudice, knowing perfectly well that many were really hoping for a -failure, he methodically described the road already travelled, and -pointed to the goal he would reach. For nearly an hour he interested and -instructed his mixed audience; he made them feel the genuineness of his -faith, and, besides his interest in the scientific problem, his desire -to spare heavy losses to cultivators. After the lecture, some, better -informed than others, were admiring the logical harmony of that career, -mingling with pure science results of incalculable benefit to the -public, an extraordinary alliance which gave a special moral physiognomy -to this man of prodigious labours. - -An appointment was made for the second inoculation. In the interval--on -May 6, 7, 8 and 9--Messrs. Chamberland and Roux came to Pouilly le Fort -to take the temperature of the vaccinated animals, and found nothing -abnormal. On May 17 a second inoculation was made with a liquid which, -though still attenuated, was more virulent than the first. If that -liquid had been inoculated to begin with it would have caused a -mortality of 50 per 100. - -“On Tuesday, May 31,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law, “the third and -last inoculation will take place--this time with fifty sheep and ten -cows. I feel great confidence--for the two first, on the 5th and the -17th, have been effected under the best conditions without any mortality -amongst the twenty-five vaccinated subjects. On June 5 at latest the -final result will be known, and should be twenty-five survivors out of -twenty-five vaccinated, and six cows. If the success is complete, this -will be one of the finest examples of applied science in this century, -consecrating one of the greatest and most fruitful discoveries.” - -This great experiment did not hinder other studies being pursued in the -laboratory. The very day of the second inoculation at Pouilly le Fort, -Mme. Pasteur wrote to her daughter, “One of the laboratory dogs seems to -be sickening for hydrophobia; it seems that that would be very lucky, in -view of the interesting experiment it would provide.” - -On May 25, another letter from Mme. Pasteur shows how deeply each member -of the family shared Pasteur’s preoccupations and hopes and was carried -away with the stream of his ideas: “Your father has just brought great -news from the laboratory. The new dog which was trephined and inoculated -with hydrophobia died last night after nineteen days’ incubation only. -The disease manifested itself on the fourteenth day, and this morning -the same dog was used for the trephining of a fresh dog, which was done -by Roux with unrivalled skill. All this means that we shall have as many -mad dogs as will be required for experiments, and those experiments will -become extremely interesting. - -“Next month one of the _master’s_ delegates will go to the south of -France to study the ‘rouget’ of swine, which ordinarily rages at this -time. - -“It is much hoped that the vaccine of that disease will be found.” - -The trephining of that dog had much disturbed Pasteur. He, who was -described in certain anti-vivisectionist quarters as a laboratory -executioner, had a great horror of inflicting suffering on any animal. - -“He could assist without too much effort,” writes M. Roux, “at a simple -operation such as a subcutaneous inoculation, and even then, if the -animal screamed at all, Pasteur was immediately filled with compassion, -and tried to comfort and encourage the victim, in a way which would have -seemed ludicrous if it had not been touching. The thought of having a -dog’s cranium perforated was very disagreeable to him; he very much -wished that the experiment should take place, and yet he feared to see -it begun. I performed it one day when he was out. The next day, as I was -telling him that the intercranial inoculation had presented no -difficulty, he began pitying the dog. ‘Poor thing! His brain is no doubt -injured, he must be paralysed!’ I did not answer, but went to fetch the -dog, whom I brought into the laboratory. Pasteur was not fond of dogs, -but when he saw this one, full of life, curiously investigating every -part of the laboratory, he showed the keenest pleasure, and spoke to the -dog in the most affectionate manner. Pasteur was infinitely grateful to -this dog for having borne trephining so well, thus lessening his -scruples for future trephining.” - -As the day was approaching for the last experiments at Pouilly le Fort, -excitement was increasing in the veterinary world. Every chance meeting -led to a discussion; some prudent men said “Wait.” Those that believed -were still few in number. - -One or two days before the third and decisive inoculation, the -veterinary surgeon of Pont-sur-Yonne, M. Biot, who was watching with a -rare scepticism the Pouilly le Fort experiments, met Colin on the road -to Maisons-Alfort. “Our conversation”--M. Biot dictated the relation of -this episode to M. Thierry, his colleague, also very sceptical and -expecting the Tarpeian Rock--“our conversation naturally turned on -Pasteur’s experiments. Colin said: ‘You must beware, for there are two -parts in the bacteridia-culture broth: one upper part which is inert, -and one deep part very active, in which the bacteridia become -accumulated, having dropped to the bottom because of their weight. The -vaccinated sheep will be inoculated with the upper part of the liquid, -whilst the others will be inoculated with the bottom liquid, which will -kill them.’” Colin advised M. Biot to seize at the last moment the phial -containing the virulent liquid and to shake it violently, “so as to -produce a perfect mixture rendering the whole uniformly virulent.” - -If Bouley had heard such a thing, he would have lost his temper, or he -would have laughed heartily. A year before this, in a letter to M. -Thierry, who not only defended but extolled Colin, Bouley had written: - -“No doubt Colin is a man of some value, and he has cleverly taken -advantage of his position of Chief of the Anatomy department at Alfort -to accomplish some important labours. But it is notable that his -negative genius has ever led him to try and demolish really great work. -He denied Davaine, Marey, Claude Bernard, Chauveau; now he is going for -Pasteur.” Bouley, to whom Colin was indebted for his situation at -Alfort, might have added, “And he calls me his persecutor!” But Biot -refused to believe in Colin’s hostility and only credited him with -scruples on the question of experimental physiology. Colin did not doubt -M. Pasteur’s bona fides, M. Biot said, but only his aptitude to conduct -experiments _in anima vili_. - -On May 31, every one was at the farm. M. Biot executed Colin’s -indications and shook the virulent tube with real veterinary energy. He -did more: still acting on advice from Colin, who had told him that the -effective virulence was in direct proportion to the quantity injected, -he asked that a larger quantity of liquid than had been intended should -be inoculated into the animals. A triple dose was given. Other -veterinary surgeons desired that the virulent liquid should be -inoculated alternatively into vaccinated and unvaccinated animals. -Pasteur lent himself to these divers requests with impassive -indifference and without seeking for their motives. - -At half-past three everything was done, and a rendezvous fixed for June -2 at the same place. The proportion between believers and unbelievers -was changing. Pasteur seemed so sure of his ground that many were saying -“He can surely not be mistaken.” One little group had that very morning -drunk to a _fiasco_. But, whether from a sly desire to witness a -failure, or from a generous wish to be present at the great scientific -victory, every man impatiently counted the hours of the two following -days. - -On June 4, Messrs. Chamberland and Roux went back to Pouilly le Fort to -judge of the condition of the patients. Amongst the lot of unvaccinated -sheep, several were standing apart with drooping heads, refusing their -food. A few of the vaccinated subjects showed an increase of -temperature; one of them even had 40° C. (104° Fahrenheit); one sheep -presented a slight œdema of which the point of inoculation was the -centre; one lamb was lame, another manifestly feverish, but all, save -one, had preserved their appetite. All the unvaccinated sheep were -getting worse and worse. “In all of them” noted M. Rossignol, -“breathlessness is at its maximum; the heaving of the sides is now and -then interrupted by groans. If the most sick are forced to get up and -walk, it is with great difficulty that they advance a few steps, their -limbs being so weak and vacillating.” Three had died by the time M. -Rossignol left Pouilly le Fort. “Everything leads me to believe,” he -wrote, “that a great number of sheep will succumb during the night.” - -Pasteur’s anxiety was great when Messrs. Chamberland and Roux returned, -having noticed a rise in the temperature of certain vaccinated subjects. -It was increased by the arrival of a telegram from M. Rossignol -announcing that he considered one sheep as lost. By a sudden reaction, -Pasteur, who had drawn up such a bold programme, leaving no margin for -the unexpected, and who the day before seemed of an imperturbable -tranquillity among all those sheep, the life or death of whom was about -to decide between an immortal discovery and an irremediable failure, now -felt himself beset with doubts and anguish. - -Bouley, who had that evening come to see his _master_, as he liked to -call him, could not understand this reaction--the result of too much -strain on the mind, said M. Roux, whom it did not astonish. Pasteur’s -emotional nature, strangely allied to his fighting temperament, was -mastering him. “His faith staggered for a time,” writes M. Roux, “as if -the experimental method could betray him.” The night was a sleepless -one. - -“This morning, at eight o’clock,” wrote Mme. Pasteur to her daughter, -“we were still very much excited and awaiting the telegram which might -announce some disaster. Your father would not let his mind be distracted -from his anxiety. At nine o’clock the laboratory was informed, and the -telegram handed to me five minutes later. I had a moment’s emotion, -which made me pass through all the colours of the rainbow. Yesterday, a -considerable rise of temperature had been noticed with terror in one of -the sheep; this morning that same sheep was well again.” - -On the arrival of the telegram Pasteur’s face lighted up; his joy was -deep, and he desired to share it immediately with his absent children. -Before starting for Melun, he wrote them this letter: - - “_June 2, 1881._ - -“It is only Thursday, and I am already writing to you; it is because a -great result is now acquired. A wire from Melun has just announced it. -On Tuesday last, 31st May, we inoculated all the sheep, vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, with very virulent splenic fever. It is not forty-eight -hours ago. Well, the telegram tells me that, when we arrive at two -o’clock this afternoon, all the non-vaccinated subjects will be dead; -eighteen were already dead this morning, and the others dying. As to the -vaccinated ones, they are all well; the telegram ends by the words -‘_stunning success_’; it is from the veterinary surgeon, M. Rossignol. - -“It is too early yet for a final judgment; the vaccinated sheep might -yet fall ill. But when I write to you on Sunday, if all goes well, it -may be taken for granted that they will henceforth preserve their good -health, and that the success will indeed have been startling. On -Tuesday, we had a foretaste of the final results. On Saturday and -Sunday, two sheep had been abstracted from the lot of twenty-five -vaccinated sheep, and two from the lot of twenty-five non-vaccinated -ones, and inoculated with a very virulent virus. Now, when on Tuesday -all the visitors arrived, amongst whom were M. Tisserand, M. Patinot, -the Prefect of Seine et Marne, M. Foucher de Careil, Senator, etc., we -found the two unvaccinated sheep dead, and the two others in good -health. I then said to one of the veterinary surgeons who were present, -‘Did I not read in a newspaper, signed by you, à propos of the virulent -little organism of saliva, “There! one more microbe; when there are 100 -we shall make a cross”?’ ‘It is true,’ he immediately answered, -honestly. ‘But I am a converted and repentant sinner.’ ‘Well,’ I -answered, ‘allow me to remind you of the words of the Gospel: Joy shall -be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and -nine just persons which need no repentance.’ Another veterinary surgeon -who was present said, ‘I will bring you another, M. Colin.’ ‘You are -mistaken,’ I replied. ‘M. Colin contradicts for the sake of -contradicting, and does not believe because he will not believe. You -would have to cure a case of neurosis, and you cannot do that!’ Joy -reigns in the laboratory and in the house. Rejoice, my dear children.” - -When Pasteur arrived, at two o’clock in the afternoon, at the farmyard -of Pouilly le Fort, accompanied by his young collaborators, a murmur of -applause arose, which soon became loud acclamation, bursting from all -lips. Delegates from the Agricultural Society of Melun, from medical -societies, veterinary societies, from the Central Council of Hygiene of -Seine et Marne, journalists, small farmers who had been divided in their -minds by laudatory or injurious newspaper articles--all were there. The -carcases of twenty-two unvaccinated sheep were lying side by side; two -others were breathing their last; the last survivors of the sacrificed -lot showed all the characteristic symptoms of splenic fever. All the -vaccinated sheep were in perfect health. - -Bouley’s happy face reflected the feelings which were so characteristic -of his attractive personality: enthusiasm for a great cause, devotion to -a great man. M. Rossignol, in one of those loyal impulses which honour -human nature, disowned with perfect sincerity his first hasty judgment; -Bouley congratulated him. He himself, many years before, had allowed -himself to judge too hastily, he said, of certain experiments of -Davaine’s, of which the results then appeared impossible. After having -witnessed these experiments, Bouley had thought it a duty to proclaim -his error at the Académie de Médecine, and to render a public homage to -Davaine. “That, I think,” he said, “is the line of conduct which should -always be observed; we honour ourselves by acknowledging our mistakes -and by rendering justice to neglected merit.” - -No success had ever been greater than Pasteur’s. The veterinary -surgeons, until then the most incredulous, now convinced, desired to -become the apostles of his doctrine. M. Biot spoke of nothing less than -of being himself vaccinated and afterwards inoculated with the most -active virus. Colin’s absence was much regretted. Pasteur was not yet -satisfied. “We must wait until the 5th of June,” he said, “for the -experiment to be complete, and the proof decisive.” - -M. Rossignol and M. Biot proceeded on the spot to the necropsy of two of -the dead sheep. An abundance of bacteridia was very clearly seen in the -blood through the microscope. - -Pasteur was accompanied back to the station by an enthusiastic crowd, -saluting him--with a luxury of epithets contrasting with former -ironies--as the immortal author of the magnificent discovery of splenic -fever vaccination, and it was decided that the farm of Pouilly le Fort -would henceforth bear the name of _Clos Pasteur_. - -The one remaining unvaccinated sheep died that same night. Amongst the -vaccinated lot one ewe alone caused some anxiety. She was pregnant, and -died on the 4th of June, but from an accident due to her condition, and -not from the consequences of the inoculation, as was proved by a -post-mortem examination. - -Amongst the cattle, those which had been vaccinated showed no sign -whatever of any disturbance; the others presented enormous œdemata. - -Pasteur wrote to his daughter: “Success is definitely confirmed; the -vaccinated animals are keeping perfectly well, the test is complete. On -Wednesday a report of the facts and results will be drawn up which I -shall communicate to the Académie des Sciences on Monday, and on Tuesday -to the Académie de Médecine.” - -And, that same day, he addressed a joyful telegram to Bouley, who, in -his quality of General Inspector of Veterinary Schools, had been obliged -to go to Lyons. Bouley answered by the following letter: - -“Lyons, June 5, 1881. Dearest Master, your triumph has filled me with -joy. Though the days are long past now when my faith in you was still -somewhat hesitating, not having sufficiently impregnated my mind with -your spirit, as long as the event--which has just been realized in a -manner so rigorously in conformity with your predictions--was still in -the future, I could not keep myself from feeling a certain anxiety, of -which you were yourself the cause, since I had seen you also a prey to -it, like all inventors on the eve of the day which reveals their glory. -At last your telegram, _for which I was pining_, has come to tell me -that the world has found you faithful to all your promises, and that you -have inscribed one more great date in the _annals of Science_, and -particularly in those of Medicine, for which you have opened a new era. - -“I feel the greatest joy at your triumph; in the first place, for you, -who are to-day receiving the reward of your noble efforts in the pursuit -of Truth; and--shall I tell you?--for myself too, for I have so -intimately associated myself with your work that I should have felt your -failure absolutely as if it had been personal to me. All my teaching at -the Museum consists in relating your labours and predicting their -fruitfulness.” - -Those experiments at Pouilly le Fort caused a tremendous sensation; the -whole of France burst out in an explosion of enthusiasm. Pasteur now -knew fame under its rarest and purest form; the loving veneration, the -almost worship with which he inspired those who lived near him or worked -with him, had become the feeling of a whole nation. - -On June 13, at the Académic des Sciences, he was able to state as -follows his results and their practical consequences: “We now possess -virus vaccines of charbon, capable of preserving from the deadly -disease, without ever being themselves deadly--living vaccines, to be -cultivated at will, transportable anywhere without alteration, and -prepared by a method which we may believe susceptible of being -generalized, since it has been the means of discovering the vaccine of -chicken-cholera. By the character of the conditions I am now -enumerating, and from a purely scientific point of view, the discovery -of the vaccine of anthrax constitutes a marked step in advance of that -of Jenner’s vaccine, since the latter has never been experimentally -obtained.” - -On all sides, it was felt that something very great, very unexpected, -justifying every sort of hope, had been brought forth. Ideas of research -were coming up. On the very morrow of the results obtained at Pouilly le -Fort, Pasteur was asked to go to the Cape to study a contagious disease -raging among goats. - -“Your father would like to take that long journey,” wrote Mme. Pasteur -to her daughter, “passing on his way through Senegal to gather some good -germs of pernicious fever; but I am trying to moderate his ardour. I -consider that the study of hydrophobia should suffice him for the -present.” - -He was at that time “at boiling point,” as he put it--going from his -laboratory work to the Academies of Sciences and Medicine to read some -notes; then to read reports at the Agricultural Society; to Versailles, -to give a lecture to an Agronomic Congress, and to Alfort to lecture to -the professors and students. His clear and well-arranged words, the -connection between ideas and the facts supporting them, the methodical -recital of experiments, allied to an enthusiastic view of the future and -its prospects--especially when addressing a youthful audience--deeply -impressed his hearers. Those who saw and heard him for the first time -were the more surprised that, in certain circles, a legend had formed -round Pasteur’s name. He had been described as of an irritable, -intolerant temper, domineering and authoritative, almost despotic; and -people now saw a man of perfect simplicity, so modest that he did not -seem to realize his own glory, pleased to answer--even to provoke--every -objection, only raising his voice to defend Truth, to exalt Work, and to -inspire love for France, which he wished to see again in the first rank -of nations. He did not cease to repeat that the country must regain her -place through scientific progress. Boys and youths--ever quick to -penetrate the clever calculations of those who seek their own interest -instead of accomplishing a duty--listened to him eagerly and, very soon -conquered, enrolled themselves among his followers. In him they -recognized the three rarely united qualities which go to form true -benefactors of humanity: a mighty genius, great force of character, and -genuine goodness. - -The Republican Government, desirous of recognizing this great discovery -of splenic fever vaccination, offered him the Grand Cordon of the Legion -of Honour. Pasteur put forward one condition; he wanted, at the same -time, the red ribbon for his two collaborators. “What I have most set my -heart upon is to obtain the Cross for Chamberland and Roux,” he wrote to -his son-in-law on June 26; “only at that price will I accept the Grand -Cross. They are taking such trouble! Yesterday they went to a place -fifteen kilometres from Senlis, to vaccinate ten cows and 250 sheep. On -Thursday we vaccinated 300 sheep at Vincennes. On Sunday they were near -Coulommiers. On Friday we are going to Pithiviers. What I chiefly wish -is that the discovery should be consecrated by an exceptional -distinction to two devoted young men, full of merit and courage. I wrote -yesterday to Paul Bert, asking him to intervene most warmly in their -favour.” - -One of Pasteur’s earliest friends, who, in 1862, had greeted with joy -his election to the Académie des Sciences, and who had never ceased to -show the greatest interest in the progress due to the experimental -method, entered the Ecole Normale laboratory with a beaming face. Happy -to bring good tidings, he took his share of them like the devoted, -hardworking, kindly man that he was. “M. Grandeau,” wrote Mme. Pasteur -to her children, “has just brought to the laboratory the news that Roux -and Chamberland have the Cross and M. Pasteur the Grand Cross of the -Legion of Honour. Hearty congratulations were exchanged in the midst of -the rabbits and guinea-pigs.” - - * * * * * - -Those days were darkened by a great sorrow. Henri Sainte Claire Deville -died. Pasteur was then reminded of the words of his friend in 1868: “You -will survive me, I am your senior; promise that you will pronounce my -funeral oration.” When formulating this desire, Sainte Claire Deville -had no doubt been desirous of giving another direction to the -presentiments of Pasteur, who believed himself death-stricken. But, -whether it was from a secret desire, or from an affectionate impulse, he -felt that none understood him better than Pasteur. Both loved Science -after the same manner; they gave to patriotism its real place; they had -hopes for the future of the human mind; they were moved by the same -religious feelings before the mysteries of the Infinite. - -Pasteur began by recalling his friend’s wish: “And here am I, before thy -cold remains, obliged to ask my memory what thou wert in order to repeat -it to the multitude crowding around thy coffin. But how superfluous! Thy -sympathetic countenance, thy witty merriment and frank smile, the sound -of thy voice remain with us and live within us. The earth which bears -us, the air we breathe, the elements, often interrogated and ever docile -to answer thee, could speak to us of thee. Thy services to Science are -known to the whole world, and every one who has appreciated the progress -of the human mind is now mourning for thee.” - -He then enumerated the scientist’s qualities, the inventive precision of -that eager mind, full of imagination, and at the same time the -strictness of analysis and the fruitful teaching so delightedly -recognized by those who had worked with him, Debray, Troost, Fouqué, -Grandeau, Hautefeuille, Gernez, Lechartier. Then, showing that, in -Sainte Claire Deville, the man equalled the scientist: - -“Shall I now say what thou wert in private life? Again, how superfluous! -Thy friends do not want to be reminded of thy warm heart. Thy pupils -want no proofs of thy affection for them and thy devotion in being of -service to them! See their sorrow. - -“Should I tell thy sons, thy five sons, thy joy and pride, of the -preoccupations of thy paternal and prudent tenderness? And can I speak -of thy smiling goodness to her, the companion of thy life, the mere -thought of whom filled thy eyes with a sweet emotion? - -“Oh! I implore thee, do not now look down upon thy weeping wife and -afflicted sons: thou wouldst regret this life too much! Wait for them -rather in those divine regions of knowledge and full light, where thou -knowest all now, where thou canst understand the Infinite itself, that -terrible and bewildering notion, closed for ever to man in this world, -and yet the eternal source of all Grandeur, of all Justice and all -Liberty.” - -Pasteur’s voice was almost stifled by his team, as had been that of J. -B. Dumas speaking at Péclet’s tomb. The emotions of savants are all the -deeper that they are not enfeebled, as in so many writers or speakers, -by the constant use of words which end by wearing out the feelings. - -Little groups slowly walking away from a country churchyard seem to take -with them some of the sadness they have been feeling, but the departure -from a Paris cemetery gives a very different impression. Life -immediately grasps again and carries away in its movement the mourners, -who now look as if they had been witnessing an incident in which they -were not concerned. Pasteur felt such bitter contrasts with all his -tender soul, he had a cult for dear memories; Sainte Claire Deville’s -portrait ever remained in his study. - - * * * * * - -The adversaries of the new discovery now had recourse to a new mode of -attack. The virus which had been used at Pouilly le Fort to show how -efficacious were the preventive vaccinations was, they said, a culture -virus--some even said a Machiavellian preparation of Pasteur’s. Would -vaccinated animals resist equally well the action of the charbon blood -itself, the really malignant and infallibly deadly blood? Those sceptics -were therefore impatiently awaiting the result of some experiments which -were being carried out near Chartres in the farm of Lambert. Sixteen -Beauceron sheep were joined to a lot of nineteen sheep brought from -Alfort and taken from the herd of 300 sheep vaccinated against charbon -three weeks before, on the very day of the lecture at Alfort. On July -16, at 10 o’clock in the morning, the thirty-five sheep, vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, were gathered together. The corpse of a sheep who had -died of charbon four hours before, in a neighbouring farm, was brought -into the field selected for the experiments. After making a post-mortem -examination and noting the characteristic injuries of splenic fever, ten -drops of the dead sheep’s blood were injected into each of the -thirty-five sheep, taking one vaccinated at Alfort and one -non-vaccinated Beauceron alternately. Two days later, on July 18, ten of -the latter were already dead, most of the others were prostrated. The -vaccinated sheep were perfectly well. - -While the ten dead sheep were being examined, two more died, and three -more on the 19th. Bouley, informed by the veterinary surgeon, Boutet, of -those successive incidents, wrote on the 20th to Pasteur: “My dear -Master, Boutet has just informed me of the Chartres event. All has been -accomplished according to the master’s words; your vaccinated sheep have -triumphantly come through the trial, and all the others save one are -dead. That result is of special importance in a country-side where -incredulity was being maintained in spite of all the demonstrations -made. It seems that the doctors especially were refractory. They said it -was too good to be true, and they counted on the strength of the natural -charbon to find your method in default. Now they are converted, Boutet -writes, and the veterinary surgeon too--one amongst others, whose brain, -it seems, was absolutely _iron-clad_--also the agricultors. There is a -general Hosannah in your honour.” - -After congratulating Pasteur on the Grand Cross, he added, “I was also -very glad of the reward you have obtained for your two young -collaborators, so full of your spirit, so devoted to your work and your -person, and whose assistance is so self-sacrificing and disinterested. -The Government has honoured itself by so happily crowning with that -distinction the greatness of the discovery in which they took part.” - -Henceforth, and for a time, systematic opposition ceased. Thousands and -thousands of doses were used of the new vaccine, which afterwards saved -millions to agriculture. - -A few days later, came a change in Pasteur’s surroundings. He was -invited by the Organizing Committee to attend the International Medical -Congress in London, and desired by the Government of the Republic to -represent France. - -On August 3, when he arrived in St. James’ Hall, filled to overflowing, -from the stalls to the topmost galleries, he was recognized by one of -the stewards, who invited him to come to the platform reserved for the -most illustrious members of the Congress. As he was going towards the -platform, there was an outburst of applause, hurrahs and acclamations. -Pasteur turned to his two companions, his son and his son-in-law, and -said, with a little uneasiness: “It is no doubt the Prince of Wales -arriving; I ought to have come sooner.” - -“But it is you that they are all cheering,” said the President of the -Congress, Sir James Paget, with his grave, kindly smile. - -A few moments later, the Prince of Wales entered, accompanying his -brother-in-law, the German Crown Prince. - -In his speech, Sir James Paget said that medical science should aim at -three objects: novelty, utility and charity. The only scientist named -was Pasteur; the applause was such that Pasteur, who was sitting behind -Sir James Paget, had to rise and bow to the huge assembly. - -“I felt very proud,” wrote Pasteur to Mme. Pasteur in a letter dated -that same day, “I felt inwardly very proud, not for myself--you know how -little I care for triumph!--but for my country, in seeing that I was -specially distinguished among that immense concourse of foreigners, -especially of Germans, who are here in much greater numbers than the -French, whose total, however, reaches two hundred and fifty. Jean -Baptiste and René were in the Hall; you can imagine their emotion. - -“After the meeting, we lunched at Sir James Paget’s house; he had the -Prussian Crown Prince on his right and the Prince of Wales on his left. -Then there was a gathering of about twenty-five or thirty guests in the -drawing-room. Sir James presented me to the Prince of Wales, to whom I -bowed, saying that I was happy to salute a friend to France. ‘Yes,’ he -answered, ‘a great friend.’ Sir James Paget had the good taste not to -ask me to be presented to the Prince of Prussia; though there is of -course room for nothing but courtesy under such circumstances, I could -not have brought myself to appear to wish to be presented to him. But he -himself came up to me and said, ‘M. Pasteur, allow me to introduce -myself to you, and to tell you that I had great pleasure in applauding -you just now,’ adding some more pleasant things.” - -In the midst of the unexpected meetings brought about by that Congress, -it was an interesting thing to see this son of a King and Emperor, the -heir to the German crown, thus going towards that Frenchman whose -conquests were made over disease and death. Of what glory might one day -dream this Prince, who became Frederic III! - -His tall and commanding stature, the highest position in the Prussian -army conferred on him by his father, King William, in a solemn letter -dated from Versailles, October, 1870--everything seemed to combine in -making a warlike man of this powerful-looking prince. And yet was it not -said in France that he had protested against certain barbarities, -coldly executed by some Prussian generals during that campaign of 1870? -Had he not considered the clauses of the Treaty of Frankfort as -Draconian and dangerous? If he had been sole master, would he have torn -Alsace away from France? What share would his coming reign bear in the -history of civilization?... Fate had already marked this Prince, only -fifty years old, for an approaching death. In his great sufferings, -before the inexorable death which was suffocating him, he was heroically -patient. His long agony began at San Remo, amongst the roses and -sunshine; he was an Emperor for less than one hundred days, and, on his -death-bed, words of peace, peace for his people, were on his lips. - -As Pasteur, coming to this Congress, was not only curious to see what -was the place held in medicine and surgery by the germ-theory, but also -desirous to learn as much as possible, he never missed a discussion and -attended every meeting. It was in a simple sectional meeting that -Bastian attempted to refute Lister. After his speech, the President -suddenly said, “I call on M. Pasteur,” though Pasteur had not risen. -There was great applause; Pasteur did not know English; he turned to -Lister and asked him what Bastian had said. - -“He said,” whispered Lister, “that microscopic organizations in disease -were formed by the tissues themselves.” - -“That is enough for me,” said Pasteur. And he then invited Bastian to -try the following experiment: - -“Take an animal’s limb, crush it, allow blood and other normal or -abnormal liquids to spread around the bones, only taking care that the -skin should neither be torn nor opened in any way, and I defy you to see -any micro-organism formed within that limb as long as the illness will -last.” - -Pasteur, desired to do so by Sir James Paget at one of the great General -Meetings of the Congress, gave a lecture on the principles which had led -him to the attenuation of virus, on the methods which had enabled him to -obtain the vaccines of chicken-cholera and of charbon, and, finally, on -the results obtained. “In a fortnight,” he said, “we vaccinated, in the -Departments surrounding Paris, nearly 20,000 sheep, and a great many -oxen, cows and horses.... - -“Allow me,” he continued, “not to conclude without telling you of the -great joy that I feel in thinking that it is as a member of the -International Medical Congress sitting in London that I have made known -to you the vaccination of a disease more terrible perhaps for domestic -animals than is small-pox for man. I have given to the word vaccination -an extension which I hope Science will consecrate as a homage to the -merit and immense services rendered by your Jenner, one of England’s -greatest men. It is a great happiness to me to glorify that immortal -name on the very soil of the noble and hospitable city of London!” - -“Pasteur was the greatest success of the Congress,” wrote the -correspondent of the _Journal des Débats_, Dr. Daremberg, glad as a -Frenchman and as a physician to hear the unanimous hurrahs which greeted -the delegate of France. “When M. Pasteur spoke, when his name was -mentioned, a thunder of applause rose from all benches, from all -nations. An indefatigable worker, a sagacious seeker, a precise and -brilliant experimentalist, an implacable logician, and an enthusiastic -apostle, he has produced an invincible effect on every mind.” - -The English people, who chiefly look in a great man for power of -initiative and strength of character, shared this admiration. One group -only, alone in darkness, away from the Congress, was hostile to the -general movement and was looking for an opportunity for direct or -indirect revenge; it was the group of anti-vaccinators and -anti-vivisectionists. The influence of the latter was great enough in -England to prevent experimentation on animals. At a general meeting of -the Congress, Virchow, the German scientist, spoke on the use of -experimenting in pathology. - -Already at a preceding Congress held in Amsterdam, Virchow had said amid -the applause of the Assembly: “Those who attack vivisection have not the -faintest idea of Science, and even less of the importance and utility of -vivisection for the progress of medicine.” But to this just argument, -the international leagues for the protection of animals--very powerful, -like everything that is founded on a sentiment which may be exalted--had -answered by combative phrases. The physiological laboratories were -compared to chambers of torture. It seemed as if, through caprice or -cruelty, quite uselessly at any rate, this and that man of science had -the unique desire of inflicting on bound animals, secured on a board, -sufferings of which death was the only limit. It is easy to excite pity -towards animals; an audience is conquered as soon as dogs are mentioned. -Which of us, whether a cherished child, a neglected old maid, a man in -the prime of his youth or a misanthrope weary of everything, has not, -holding the best place in his recollections, the memory of some example -of fidelity, courage or devotion given by a dog? In order to raise the -revolt, it was sufficient for anti-vivisectionists to evoke amongst the -ghosts of dog martyrs the oft-quoted dog who, whilst undergoing an -experiment, licked the hand of the operator. As there had been some -cruel abuses on the part of certain students, those abuses alone were -quoted. Scientists did not pay much heed to this agitation, partly a -feminine one: they relied on the good sense of the public to put an end -to those doleful declamations. But the English Parliament voted a Bill -prohibiting vivisection; and, after 1876, English experimentalists had -to cross the Channel to inoculate a guinea-pig. - -Virchow did not go into details; but, in a wide exposé of Experimental -Physiological Medicine, he recalled how, at each new progress of -Science--at one time against the dissection of dead bodies and now -against experiments on living animals--the same passionate criticisms -had been renewed. The Interdiction Bill voted in England had filled a -new Leipzig Society with ardour; it had asked the Reichstag in that same -year, 1881, to pass a law punishing cruelty to animals under pretext of -scientific research, by imprisonment, varying between five weeks and two -years, and deprivation of civil rights. Other societies did not go quite -so far, but asked that some of their members should have a right of -entrance and inspection into the laboratories of the Faculties. - -“He who takes more interest in animals than in Science and in the -knowledge of truth is not qualified to inspect officially things -pertaining to Science,” said Virchow. With an ironical gravity on his -quizzical wrinkled face, he added, “Where shall we be if a scientist who -has just begun a bonâ fide experiment finds himself, in the midst of his -researches, obliged to answer questions from a new-comer and afterwards -to defend himself before some magistrate for the crime of not having -chosen another method, other instruments, perhaps another experiment?... - -“We must prove to the whole world the soundness of our cause,” concluded -Virchow, uneasy at those “leagues” which grew and multiplied, and -scattered through innumerable lecture halls the most fallacious -judgments on the work of scientists. - -Pasteur might have brought him, to support his statements relative to -certain deviations of ideas and sentiments, numberless letters which -reached him regularly from England--letters full of threats, insults and -maledictions, devoting him to eternal torments for having multiplied his -crimes on the hens, guinea-pigs, dogs and sheep of the laboratory. Love -of animals carries some women to such lengths! - -It would have been interesting, if, after Virchow’s speech, some French -physician had in his turn related a series of facts, showing how -prejudices equally tenacious had had to be struggled against in France, -and how savants had succeeded in enforcing the certainty that there can -be no pathological science if Physiology is not progressing, and that it -can only progress by means of the experimental method. Claude Bernard -had expressed this idea under so many forms that it would almost have -been enough to give a few extracts from his works. - -In 1841, when he was Magendie’s curator, he was one day attending a -lesson on experimental physiology, when he saw an old man come in, whose -costume--a long coat with a straight collar and a hat with a very wide -brim--indicated a Quaker. - -“Thou hast no right,” he said, addressing Magendie, “to kill animals or -to make them suffer. Thou givest a wicked example and thou accustomest -thy fellow creatures to cruelty.” - -Magendie replied that it was a pity to look at it from that point of -view, and that a physiologist, when moved by the thought of making a -discovery useful to Medicine, and consequently useful to his fellow -creatures, did not deserve that reproach. - -“Your countryman Harvey,” said he, hoping to convince him, “would not -have discovered the circulation of the blood if he had not made some -experiments in vivisection. That discovery was surely worth the -sacrifice of a few deer in Charles the First’s Park?” - -But the Quaker stuck to his idea; his mission, he said, was to drive -three things from this world: war, hunting and shooting, and experiments -on live animals. Magendie had to show him out. - -Three years later, Claude Bernard, in his turn, was taxed with -barbarity by a Police Magistrate. In order to study the digestive -properties of gastric juice, it had occurred to him to collect it by -means of a cannula, a sort of silver tap which he adapted to the stomach -of live dogs. A Berlin surgeon, M. Dieffenbach, who was staying in -Paris, expressed a wish to see this application of a cannula to the -stomach. M. Pelouze, the chemist, had a laboratory in the Rue Dauphine; -he offered it to Claude Bernard. A stray dog was used as a subject for -the experiment and shut up in the yard of the house, where Claude -Bernard wished to keep a watch on him. But, as the treatment in no wise -hindered the dog from running about, the door of the yard was hardly -opened when he escaped, cannula and all. - -“A few days later,” writes Claude Bernard in the course of an otherwise -grave report concerning the progress of general physiology in France -(1867), “I was still in bed, early one morning, when I received a visit -from a man who came to tell men that the Police Commissary of the -Medicine School District wished to speak to me, and that I must go round -to see him. I went in the course of the day to the Police Commissariat -of the Rue du Jardinet; I found a very respectable-looking little old -man, who received me very coldly at first and without saying anything. -He took me into another room and showed me, to my great astonishment, -the dog on whom I had operated in M. Pelouze’s laboratory, asking me if -I confessed to having fixed that instrument in his stomach. I answered -affirmatively, adding that I was delighted to see my cannula, which I -thought I had lost. This confession, far from satisfying the Commissary, -apparently provoked his wrath, for he gave me an admonition of most -exaggerated severity, accompanied with threats for having had the -audacity to steal his dog to experiment on it. - -“I explained that I had not stolen his dog, but that I had bought it of -some individuals who sold dogs to physiologists, and who claimed to be -employed by the police in picking up stray dogs. I added that I was -sorry to have been the involuntary cause of the grief occasioned in his -household by the misadventure to the dog, but that the animal would not -die of it; that the only thing to do was to let me take away my silver -cannula and let him keep his dog. Those last words altered the -Commissary’s language and completely calmed his wife and daughter. I -removed my instrument and left, promising to return, which I did the -next and following days. The dog was perfectly cured in a day or two, -and I became a friend of the family, completely securing the -Commissary’s future protection. It was on that account that I soon after -set up my laboratory in his District, and for many years continued my -private classes of experimental physiology, enjoying the protection and -warnings of the Commissary and thus avoiding much unpleasantness, until -the time when I was at last made an assistant to Magendie at the Collège -de France.” - -The London Society for the Protection of Animals had the singular idea -of sending to Napoleon III complaints, almost remonstrances, on the -vivisection practised within the French Empire. The Emperor simply sent -on those English lamentations to the Academy of Medicine. The matter was -prolonged by academical speeches. In a letter addressed to M. Grandeau, -undated, but evidently written in August, 1863, Claude Bernard showed -some irritation, a rare thing with him. Declaring that he would not go -to the Academy and listen to the “nonsense” of “those who protect -animals in hatred of mankind” he gave his concluding epitome: “You ask -me what are the principal discoveries due to vivisection, so that you -can mention them as arguments for that kind of study. All the knowledge -possessed by experimental physiology can be quoted in that connection; -there is not a single fact which is not the direct and necessary -consequence of vivisection. From Galen, who, by cutting the laryngeal -nerves, learnt their use for respiration and the voice, to Harvey, who -discovered circulation; Pecquet and Aselli, the lymphatic vessels; -Haller, muscular irritability; Bell and Magendie, the nervous functions, -and all that has been learnt since the extension of that method of -vivisection, which is the only experimental method; in biology, all that -is known on digestion, circulation, the liver, the sympathetic system, -the bones, Development--all, absolutely all, is the result of -vivisection, alone or combined with other means of study.” - -In 1875, he again returned to this idea in his experimental medicine -classes at the Collège de France: “It is to experimentation that we owe -all our precise notions on the functions of the viscera and _a fortiori_ -on the properties of such organs as muscles, nerves, etc.” - -One more interesting quotation might have been offered to the members of -the Congress. A Swede had questioned Darwin on vivisection, for the -anti-vivisectionist propaganda was spreading on every side. Darwin, who, -like Pasteur, did not admit that useless suffering should be inflicted -on animals (Pasteur carried this so far that he would never, he said, -have had the courage to shoot a bird for sport)--Darwin, in a letter -dated April 14th, 1881, approved any measures that could be taken to -prevent cruelty, but he added: “On the other hand, I know that -physiology can make no progress if experiments on living animals are -suppressed, and I have an intimate conviction that to retard the -progress of physiology is to commit a crime against humanity.... Unless -one is absolutely ignorant of all that Science has done for humanity, -one must be convinced that physiology is destined to render incalculable -benefits in the future to man and even to animals. See the results -obtained by M. Pasteur’s work on the germs of contagious diseases: will -not animals be the first to profit thereby? How many lives have been -saved, how much suffering spared by the discovery of parasitic worms -following on experiments made by Virchow and others on living animals!” - -The London Congress marked a step on the road of progress. Besides the -questions which were discussed and which were capable of precise -solution, the scientific spirit showed itself susceptible of permeating -other general subjects. Instead of remaining the impassive Sovereign we -are wont to fancy her, Science--and this was proved by Pasteur’s -discoveries and their consequences, as Paget, Tyndall, Lister, and -Priestley loudly proclaimed--Science showed herself capable of -associating with pure research and perpetual care for Truth a deep -feeling of compassion for all suffering and an ever-growing thirst for -self-sacrifice. - -Pasteur’s speech at the London Medical Congress was printed at the -request of an English M.P. and distributed to all the members of the -House of Commons. Dr. H. Gueneau de Mussy, who had spent part of his -life in England, having followed the Orleans family into exile, wrote to -Pasteur on August 15, “I have been very happy in witnessing your -triumph; you are raising us up again in the eyes of foreign nations.” - -Applause was to Pasteur but a stimulus to further efforts. He was proud -of his discoveries, but not vain of the effect they produced; he said in -a private letter: “The _Temps_ again refers, in a London letter, to my -speech at the Congress. What an unexpected success!” - -Having heard that yellow fever had just been brought into the Gironde, -at the Pauillac lazaretto by the vessel _Condé_ from Senegal, Pasteur -immediately started for Bordeaux. He hoped to find the microbe in the -blood of the sick or the dead, and to succeed in cultivating it. M. Roux -hastened to join his master. - -If people spoke to Pasteur of the danger of infection, “What does it -matter?” he said. “Life in the midst of danger is _the_ life, the real -life, the life of sacrifice, of example, of fruitfulness.” - -He was vexed to find his arrival notified in the newspapers; it worried -him not to be able to work and to travel _incognito_. - -On September 17, he wrote to Mme. Pasteur: “...We rowed out to a great -transport ship which is lying in the Pauillac roads, having just -arrived. From our boat, we were able to speak to the men of the crew. -Their health is good, but they lost seven persons at St. Louis, two -passengers and five men of the crew. Save the captain and one engineer, -they are all Senegalese negroes on that ship. We have been near another -large steamboat, and yet another; their health is equally good.... - -“The most afflicted ship is the _Condé_, which is in quarantine in the -Pauillac roads, and near which we have not been able to go. She has lost -eighteen persons, either at sea or at the lazaretto....” - -No experiment could be attempted--the patients were convalescent. “But,” -he wrote the next day, “the _Richelieu_ will arrive between the 25th and -28th, I think with some passengers.... It is more than likely that there -will have been deaths during the passage, and patients for the -lazaretto. I am therefore awaiting the arrival of that ship with the -hope--God forgive a scientist’s passion!!--that I may attempt some -researches at the Pauillac lazaretto, where I will arrange things in -consequence. You may be sure I shall take every precaution. In the -meanwhile, what shall I do in Bordeaux? - -“I have made the acquaintance of the young librarian of the town -library, which is a few doors from the Hôtel Richelieu, in the Avenues -of Tourny. The library is opened to me at all hours: I am there even -now, alone and very comfortably seated, surrounded with more Littré -than I can possibly get through.” - -For some months, several members of the Académie Française--according to -the traditions of the Society which has ever thought it an honour to -number among its members scientists such as Cuvier, Flourens, Biot, -Claude Bernard, J. B. Dumas--had been urging Pasteur to become a -candidate to the place left vacant by Littré. Pasteur was anxious to -know not only the works, but the life of him whose place he might be -called upon to fill. It was with some emotion that he first came upon -the following lines printed on the title-page of the translation of the -works of Hippocrates; they are a dedication by Littré to the memory of -his father, a sergeant-major in the Marines under the Revolution. - -“...Prepared by his lessons and by his example, I have been sustained -through this long work by his ever present memory. I wish to inscribe -his name on the first page of this book, in the writing of which he has -had so much share from his grave, so that the work of the father should -not be forgotten in the work of the son, and that a pious and just -gratitude should connect the work of the living with the heritage of the -dead....” - -Pasteur in 1876 had obeyed a similar filial feeling when he wrote on the -first page of his _Studies on Beer_-- - -“To the memory of my father, a soldier under the first Empire, and a -knight of the Legion of Honour. The more I have advanced in age, the -better I have understood thy love and the superiority of thy reason. The -efforts I have given to these Studies and those which have preceded them -are the fruit of thy example and advice. Wishing to honour these pious -recollections, I dedicate this work to thy memory.” - -The two dedications are very similar. Those two soldiers’ sons had kept -the virile imprint of the paternal virtues. A great tenderness was also -in them both; Littré, when he lost his mother, had felt a terrible -grief, comparable to Pasteur’s under the same circumstances. - -In spite of Pasteur’s interest in studying Littré in the Bordeaux -library, he did not cease thinking of yellow fever. He often saw M. -Berchon, the sanitary director, and inquired of him whether there were -any news of the _Richelieu_. A young physician, Dr. Talmy, had expressed -a desire to join Pasteur at Bordeaux and to obtain permission, when the -time came, to be shut up with the patients in the lazaretto. Pasteur -wrote on December 25 to Mme. Pasteur: “There is nothing new save the -Minister’s authorization to Dr. Talmy to enter the lazaretto; I have -just telegraphed to him that he might start. The owners of the -_Richelieu_ still suppose that she will reach Pauillac on Tuesday. M. -Berchon, who is the first to be informed of what takes place in the -roads, will send me a telegram as soon as the _Richelieu_ is signalled, -and we shall then go--M. Talmy, Roux and I--to ascertain the state of -the ship, of course without going on board, which we should not be -allowed to do if it has a suspicious bill of health.” - -And, as Mme. Pasteur had asked what happened when a ship arrived, he -continued in the same letter: “From his boat to windward, M. Berchon -receives the ship’s papers, giving the sanitary state of the ship day by -day. Before passing from the hands of the captain of the vessel to those -of the sanitary director, the papers are sprinkled over with chloride of -lime. - -“If there are cases of illness, all the passengers are taken to the -lazaretto; only a few men are left on board the ship, which is -henceforth in quarantine, no one being allowed to leave or enter it. - -“God permit that, in the body of one of those unfortunate victims of -medical ignorance, I may discover some specific microscopic being. And -after that? Afterwards, it would be really beautiful to make that agent -of disease and death become its own vaccine. Yellow fever is one of the -three great scourges of the East--bubonic plague, cholera, and yellow -fever. Do you know that it is already a fine thing to be able to put the -problem in those words!” - -The _Richelieu_ arrived, but she was free from fever. The last passenger -had died during the crossing and his body had been thrown into the sea. - -Pasteur left Bordeaux and returned to his laboratory. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -1882--1884 - - -Pasteur was in the midst of some new experiments when he heard that the -date of the election to the Académie Française was fixed for December 8. -Certain candidates spent half their time in _fiacres_, paying the -traditional calls, counting the voters, calculating their chances, and -taking every polite phrase for a promise. Pasteur, with perfect -simplicity, contented himself with saying to the Academicians whom he -went to see, “I had never in my life contemplated the great honour of -entering the Académie Française. People have been kind enough to say to -me, ‘Stand and you will be elected.’ It is impossible to resist an -invitation so glorious for Science and so flattering to myself.” - -One member of the Académie, Alexandre Dumas, refused to let Pasteur call -on him. “I will not allow him to come and see me,” he said; “I will -myself go and thank him for consenting to become one of us.” He agreed -with M. Grandeau, who wrote to Pasteur that “when Claude Bernard and -Pasteur consent to enter the ranks of a Society, all the honour is for -the latter.” - -When Pasteur was elected, his youthfulness of sentiment was made -apparent; it seemed to him an immense honour to be one of the Forty. He -therefore prepared his reception speech with the greatest care, without -however allowing his scientific work to suffer. The life of his -predecessor interested him more and more; to work in the midst of family -intimacy had evidently been Littré’s ideal of happiness. - -Few people, beyond Littré’s colleagues, know that his wife and daughter -collaborated in his great work; they looked out the quotations necessary -to that Dictionary, of which, if laid end to end, the columns would -reach a length of thirty-seven kilometres. The Dictionary, commenced in -1857, when Littré was almost sixty years old, was only interrupted -twice: in 1861, when Auguste Comte’s widow asked Littré for a biography -of the founder of positive philosophy; and in 1870, when the life of -France was compromised and arrested during long months. - -Littré, poor and disinterested as he was, had been able to realize his -only dream, which was to possess a house in the country. Pasteur, -bringing to bear in this, as in all things, his habits of scrupulous -accuracy, left his laboratory for one day, and visited that villa, -situated near Maisons-Laffitte. - -The gardener who opened the door to him might have been the owner of -that humble dwelling; the house was in a bad state of repair, but the -small garden gave a look of comfort to the little property. It had been -the only luxury of the philosopher, who enjoyed cultivating vegetables -while quoting Virgil, Horace or La Fontaine, and listened to the -nightingale when early dawn found him still sitting at his work. - -After visiting this house and garden, reflecting as they did the life of -a sage, Pasteur said sadly, “Is it possible that such a man should have -been so misjudged!” - -A crucifix, hanging in the room where Littré’s family were wont to work, -testified to his respect for the beliefs of his wife and daughter. “I -know too well,” he said one day, “what are the sufferings and -difficulties of human life, to wish to take from any one convictions -which may comfort them.” - -Pasteur also studied the Positivist doctrine of which Auguste Comte had -been the pontiff and Littré the prophet. This scientific conception of -the world affirms nothing, denies nothing, beyond what is visible and -easily demonstrated. It suggests altruism, a “subordination of -personality to sociability,” it inspires patriotism and the love of -humanity. Pasteur, in his scrupulously positive and accurate work, his -constant thought for others, his self-sacrificing devotion to humanity, -might have been supposed to be an adept of this doctrine. But he found -it lacking in one great point. “Positivism,” he said, “does not take -into account the most important of positive notions, that of the -Infinite.” He wondered that Positivism should confine the mind within -limits; with an impulse of deep feeling, Pasteur, the scientist, the -slow and precise observer, wrote the following passage in his speech: -“What is beyond? the human mind, actuated by an invincible force, will -never cease to ask itself: What is beyond?... It is of no use to -answer: Beyond is limitless space, limitless time or limitless grandeur; -no one understands those words. He who proclaims the existence of the -Infinite--and none can avoid it--accumulates in that affirmation more of -the supernatural than is to be found in all the miracles of all the -religions; for the notion of the Infinite presents that double character -that it forces itself upon us and yet is incomprehensible. When this -notion seizes upon our understanding, we can but kneel.... I see -everywhere the inevitable expression of the Infinite in the world; -through it, the supernatural is at the bottom of every heart. The idea -of God is a form of the idea of the Infinite. As long as the mystery of -the Infinite weighs on human thought, temples will be erected for the -worship of the Infinite, whether God is called Brahma, Allah, Jehovah, -or Jesus; and on the pavement of those temples, men will be seen -kneeling, prostrated, annihilated in the thought of the Infinite.” - -At that time, when triumphant Positivism was inspiring many leaders of -men, the very man who might have given himself up to what he called “the -enchantment of Science” proclaimed the Mystery of the universe; with his -intellectual humility, Pasteur bowed before a Power greater than human -power. He continued with the following words, worthy of being preserved -for ever, for they are of those which pass over humanity like a Divine -breath: “Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and -who obeys it; ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of the gospel -virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions; -they all reflect light from the Infinite.” - -Pasteur concluded by a supreme homage to Littré. “Often have I fancied -him seated by his wife, as in a picture of early Christian times: he, -looking down upon earth, full of compassion for human suffering; she, a -fervent Catholic, her eyes raised to heaven: he, inspired by all earthly -virtues; she, by every Divine grandeur; uniting in one impulse and in -one heart the twofold holiness which forms the aureole of the Man-God, -the one proceeding from devotion to humanity, the other emanating from -ardent love for the Divinity: she a saint in the canonic sense of the -word, he a lay-saint. This last word is not mine; I have gathered it on -the lips of all those that knew him.” - -The two colleagues whom Pasteur had chosen for his Academic sponsors -were J. B. Dumas and Nisard. Dumas, who appreciated more than any one -the scientific progress due to Pasteur, and who applauded his brilliant -success, was touched by the simplicity and modesty which his former -pupil showed, now as in the distant past, when the then obscure young -man sat taking notes on the Sorbonne benches. - -Their mutual relationship had remained unchanged when Pasteur, -accompanied by one of his family, rang at Dumas’ door in March, 1882, -with the manuscript of his noble speech in his pocket; he seemed more -like a student, respectfully calling on his master, than like a savant -affectionately visiting a colleague. - -Dumas received Pasteur in a little private study adjoining the fine -drawing-room where he was accustomed to dispense an elegant hospitality. -Pasteur drew a stool up to a table and began to read, but in a shy and -hurried manner, without even raising his eyes towards Dumas, who -listened, enthroned in his armchair, with an occasional murmur of -approbation. Whilst Pasteur’s careworn face revealed some of his ardent -struggles and persevering work, nothing perturbed Dumas’ grave and -gentle countenance. His smile, at most times prudently affable and -benevolent in varying degree, now frankly illumined his face as he -congratulated Pasteur. He called to mind his own reception speech at the -Academy when he had succeeded Guizot, and the fact that he too had -concluded by a confession of faith in his Creator. - -Pasteur’s other sponsor, Nisard, almost an octogenarian, was not so -happy as Dumas; death had deprived him of almost all his old friends. It -was a great joy to him when Pasteur came to see him on the wintry Sunday -afternoons; he fancied himself back again at the Ecole Normale and the -happy days when he reigned supreme in that establishment. Pasteur’s -deference, greater even perhaps than it had been in former times, aided -the delightful delusion. Though Nisard was ever inclined to bring a -shade of patronage into every intimacy, he was a conversationalist of -the old and rare stamp. Pasteur enjoyed hearing Nisard’s recollections -and watching for a smile lighting up the almost blind face. Those Sunday -talks reminded him of the old delightful conversations with Chappuis at -the Besançon College when, in their youthful fervour, they read together -André Chénier’s and Lamartine’s verses. Eighteen years later, Pasteur -had not missed one of Sainte Beuve’s lectures to the Ecole Normale -students; he liked that varied and penetrating criticism, opening -sidelights on every point of the literary horizon. Nisard understood -criticism rather as a solemn treaty, with clauses and conditions; with -his taste for hierarchy, he even gave different ranks to authors as if -they had been students before his chair. But, when he spoke, the -rigidity of his system was enveloped in the grace of his conversation. -Pasteur had but a restricted corner of his mind to give to literature, -but that corner was a privileged one; he only read what was really worth -reading, and every writer worthy of the name inspired him with more than -esteem, with absolute respect. He had a most exalted idea of Literature -and its influence on society; he was saying one day to Nisard that -Literature was a great educator: “The mind alone can if necessary -suffice to Science; both the mind and the heart intervene in Literature, -and that explains the secret of its superiority in leading the general -train of thought.” This was preaching to an apostle: no homage to -literature ever seemed too great in the eyes of Nisard. - -He approved of the modest exordium in Pasteur’s speech-- - -“At this moment when presenting myself before this illustrious assembly, -I feel once more the emotion with which I first solicited your -suffrages. The sense of my own inadequacy is borne in upon me afresh, -and I should feel some confusion in finding myself in this place, were -it not my duty to attribute to Science itself the honour--so to speak, -an impersonal one--which you have bestowed upon me.” - -The Permanent Secretary, Camille Doucet, well versed in the usages of -the Institute, and preoccupied with the effect produced, thought that -the public would not believe in such self-effacement, sincere as it was, -and sent the following letter to Pasteur with the proof-sheet of his -speech-- - -“Dear and honoured colleague, allow me to suggest to you a modification -of your first sentence; your modesty is excessive.” - -Camille Doucet had struck out _the sense of my own inadequacy is borne -in upon me afresh_, and further _so to speak, an impersonal one_. -Pasteur consulted Nisard, and _the sense of my own inadequacy_ was -replaced by _the sense of my deficiencies_, while Pasteur adhered -energetically to _so to speak, an impersonal one_; he saw in his -election less a particular distinction than a homage rendered to Science -in general. - -A reception at the Académie Française is like a sensational first night -at a theatre; a special public is interested days beforehand in every -coming detail. Wives, daughters, sisters of Academicians, great ladies -interested in coming candidates, widows of deceased Academicians, -laureates of various Academy prizes--the whole literary world agitates -to obtain tickets. Pasteur’s reception promised to be full of interest, -some even said piquancy, for it fell to Renan to welcome him. - -In order to have a foretaste of the contrast between the two men it was -sufficient to recall Renan’s opening speech three years before, when he -succeeded Claude Bernard. His thanks to his colleagues began thus-- - -“Your cenaculum is only reached at the age of Ecclesiastes, a delightful -age of serene cheerfulness, when after a laborious prime, it begins to -be seen that all is but vanity, but also that some vain things are -worthy of being lingeringly enjoyed.” - -The two minds were as different as the two speeches; Pasteur took -everything seriously, giving to words their absolute sense; Renan, an -incomparable writer, with his supple, undulating style, slipped away and -hid himself within the sinuosities of his own philosophy. He disliked -plain statements, and was ever ready to deny when others affirmed, even -if he afterwards blamed excessive negation in his own followers. He -religiously consoled those whose faith he destroyed, and, whilst -invoking the Eternal, claimed the right of finding fault even there. -When applauded by a crowd, he would willingly have murmured _Noli me -tangere_, and even added with his joyful mixture of disdain and -good-fellowship, “Let infinitely witty men come unto me.” - -On that Thursday, April 27, 1882, the Institute was crowded. When the -noise had subsided, Renan, seated at the desk as Director of the Academy -between Camille Doucet, the Permanent Secretary, and Maxime du Camp, the -Chancellor, declared the meeting opened. Pasteur, looking paler than -usual, rose from his seat, dressed in the customary green-embroidered -coat of an Academician, wearing across his breast the Grand Cordon of -the Legion of Honour. In a clear, grave voice, he began by expressing -his deep gratification, and, with the absolute knowledge and sincerity -which always compelled the attention of his audience, of whatever kind, -he proceeded to praise his predecessor. There was no artifice of -composition, no struggle after effect, only a homage to the man, -followed almost immediately by a confession of dissent on philosophic -questions. He was listened to with attentive emotion, and when he showed -the error of Positivism in attempting to do away with the idea of the -Infinite, and proclaimed the instinctive and necessary worship by Man of -the great Mystery, he seemed to bring out all the weakness and the -dignity of Man--passing through this world bowed under the law of Toil -and with the prescience of the Ideal--into a startling and consolatory -light. - -One of the privileges of the Academician who receives a new member is to -remain seated in his armchair before a table, and to comfortably prepare -to read his own speech, in answer, often in contradiction, to the first. -Renan, visibly enjoying the presidential chair, smiled at the audience -with complex feelings, understood by some who were his assiduous -readers. Respect for so much work achieved by a scientist of the first -rank in the world; a gratified feeling of the honour which reverted to -France; some personal pleasure in welcoming such a man in the name of -the Académie, and, at the same time, in the opportunity for a light and -ironical answer to Pasteur’s beliefs--all these sensations were -perceptible in Renan’s powerful face, the benevolence of whose soft blue -eyes was corrected by the redoubtable keenness of the smile. - -He began in a caressing voice by acknowledging that the Academy was -somewhat incompetent to judge of the work and glory of Pasteur. “But,” -he added, with graceful eloquence, “apart from the ground of the -doctrine, which is not within our attributions, there is, Sir, a -greatness on which our experience of the human mind gives us a right to -pronounce an opinion; something which we recognize in the most varied -applications, which belongs in the same degree to Galileo, Pascal, -Michael-Angelo, or Molière; something which gives sublimity to the poet, -depth to the philosopher, fascination to the orator, divination to the -scientist. - -“That common basis of all beautiful and true work, that divine fire, -that indefinable breath which inspires Science, Literature, and Art--we -have found it in you, Sir--it is Genius. No one has walked so surely -through the circles of elemental nature; your scientific life is like -unto a luminous tract in the great night of the Infinitesimally Small, -in that last abyss where life is born.” - -After a brilliant and rapid enumeration of the Pastorian discoveries, -congratulating Pasteur on having touched through his art the very -confines of the springs of life, Renan went on to speak of truth as he -would have spoken of a woman: “Truth, Sir, is a great coquette; she will -not be sought with too much passion, but often is most amenable to -indifference. She escapes when apparently caught, but gives herself up -if patiently waited for; revealing herself after farewells have been -said, but inexorable when loved with too much fervour.” And further: -“Nature is plebeian, and insists upon work, preferring horny hands and -careworn brows.” - -He then commenced a courteous controversy. Whilst Pasteur, with his -vision of the Infinite, showed himself as religious as Newton, Renan, -who enjoyed moral problems, spoke of Doubt with delectation. “The answer -to the enigma which torments and charms us will never be given to us.... -What matters it, since the imperceptible corner of reality which we see -is full of delicious harmonies, and since life, as bestowed upon us, is -an excellent gift, and for each of us a revelation of infinite -goodness?” - -Legend will probably hand to posterity a picture of Renan as he was in -those latter days, ironically cheerful and unctuously indulgent. But, -before attaining the quizzical tranquillity he now exhibited to the -Academy, he had gone through a complete evolution. When about the age of -forty-eight, he might bitterly have owned that there was not one basis -of thought which in him had not crumbled to dust. Beliefs, political -ideas, his ideal of European civilization, all had fallen to the ground. -After his separation from the Church, he had turned to historical -science; Germany had appeared to him, as once to Madame de Staël and so -many others, as a refuge for thinkers. It had seemed to him that a -collaboration between France, England, and Germany would create “An -invincible trinity, carrying the world along the road of progress -through reason.” But that German façade which he took for that of a -temple hid behind it the most formidable barracks which Europe had ever -known, and beside it were cannon foundries, death-manufactories, all the -preparations of the German people for the invasion of France. His -awakening was bitter; war as practised by the Prussians, with a method -in their cruelty, filled him with grief. - -Time passed and his art, like a lily of the desert growing amongst -ruins, gave flowers and perfumes to surrounding moral devastation, A -mixture of disdain and nobility now made him regard as almost -imperceptible the number of men capable of understanding his -philosophical elevation. Pasteur had bared his soul; Renan took pleasure -in throwing light on the intellectual antithesis of certain minds, and -on their points of contact. - -“Allow me, Sir, to recall to you your fine discovery of right and left -tartaric acids.... There are some minds which it is as impossible to -bring together as it is impossible, according to your own comparison, to -fit two gloves one into the other. And yet both gloves are equally -necessary; they complete each other. One’s two hands cannot be -superposed, they may be joined. In the vast bosom of nature, the most -diverse efforts, added to each other, combine with each other, and -result in a most majestic unity.” - -Renan handled the French language, “this old and admirable language, -poor but to those who do not know it,” with a dexterity, a choice of -delicate shades, of tasteful harmonies which have never been surpassed. -Able as he was to define every human feeling, he went on from the above -comparison, painting divergent intellectual capabilities, to the -following imprecation against death: “Death, according to a thought -admired by M. Littré, is but a function, the last and quietest of all. -To me it seems odious, hateful, insane, when it lays its cold blind hand -on virtue and on genius. A voice is in us, which only great and good -souls can hear, and that voice cries unceasingly ‘Truth and Good are the -ends of thy life; sacrifice all to that goal’; and when, following the -call of that siren within us, claiming to bear the promises of life, we -reach the place where the reward should await us, the deceitful consoler -fails us. Philosophy, which had promised us the secret of death, makes a -lame apology, and the ideal which had brought us to the limits of the -air we breathe disappears from view at the supreme hour when we look for -it. Nature’s object has been attained; a powerful effort has been -realized, and then, with characteristic carelessness, the enchantress -abandons us and leaves us to the hooting birds of the night.” - -Renan, save in one little sentence in his answer to Pasteur--“The divine -work accomplishes itself by the intimate tendency to what is Good and -what is True in the universe”--did not go further into the statement of -his doctrines. Perhaps he thought them too austere for his audience; he -was wont to eschew critical and religious considerations when in a -world which he looked upon as frivolous. Moreover, he thought his own -century amusing, and was willing to amuse it further. If he raised his -eyes to Heaven, he said that we owe virtue to the Eternal, but that we -have the right to add to it irony. Pasteur thought it strange that irony -should be applied to subjects which have beset so many great minds and -which so many simple hearts solve in their own way. - - * * * * * - -The week which followed Pasteur’s reception at the Académie Française -brought him a manifestation of applause in the provinces. The town of -Aubenas in the Ardèche was erecting a statue to Olivier de Serres, and -desired to associate with the name of the founder of the silk industry -in France in the sixteenth century that of its preserver in the -nineteenth. - -This was the second time that a French town proclaimed its gratitude -towards Pasteur. A few months before, the Melun Agricultural Society had -held a special meeting in his honour, and had decided “to strike a medal -with Pasteur’s effigy on it, in commemoration of one of the greatest -services ever rendered by Science to Agriculture.” - -But amidst this pæan of praise, Pasteur, instead of dwelling -complacently on the recollection of his experiments at Pouilly le Fort, -was absorbed in one idea, characteristic of the man: he wanted to at -once begin some experiments on the peripneumonia of horned cattle. The -veterinary surgeon, Rossignol, had just been speaking on this subject to -the meeting. Pasteur, who had recently been asked by the Committee of -Epizootic Diseases to inquire into the mortality often caused by the -inoculation of the peripneumonia virus, reminded his hearers in a few -words of the variable qualities of virus and how the slightest impurity -in a virus may exercise an influence on the effects of that virus. - -He and his collaborators had vainly tried to cultivate the virus of -peripneumonia in chicken-broth, veal-broth, yeast-water, etc. They had -to gather the virus from the lung of a cow which had died of -peripneumonia, by means of tubes previously sterilized; it was injected, -with every precaution against alteration, under the skin of the tail of -the animal, this part being chosen on account of the thickness of the -skin and of the cellular tissue. By operating on other parts, serious -accidents were apt to occur, the virus being extremely violent, so much -so in fact that the local irritation sometimes went so far as to cause -the loss of part of the tail. At the end of the same year (1882), -Pasteur published in the _Recueil de la Médecine Vétérinaire_ a paper -indicating the following means of preserving the virus in a state of -purity-- - -“Pure virus remains virulent for weeks and months. One lung is -sufficient to provide large quantities of it, and its purity can easily -be tested in a stove and even in ordinary temperature. From one lung -only, enough can be procured to be used for many animals. Moreover, -without having recourse to additional lungs, the provision of virus -could be maintained in the following manner; it would suffice, before -exhausting the first stock of virus, to inoculate a young calf behind -the shoulder. Death speedily supervenes, and all the tissues are -infiltrated with a serosity, which in its turn becomes virulent. This -also can be collected and preserved in a state of purity.” It remained -to be seen whether virus thus preserved would become so attenuated as to -lose all degree of virulence. - -Aubenas, then, wished to follow the example of Melun. In deference to -the unanimous wish of the inhabitants of the little town, Pasteur went -there on the 4th of May. His arrival was a veritable triumph; there were -decorations at the station, floral arches in the streets, brass and -other bands, speeches from the Mayor, presentation of the Municipal -Council, of the Chamber of Commerce, etc., etc. Excitement reigned -everywhere, and the music of the bands was almost drowned by the -acclamations of the people. At the meeting of the Agricultural Society, -Pasteur was offered a medal with his own effigy, and a work of art -representing genii around a cup, their hands full of cocoons. A little -microscope--that microscope which had been called an impracticable -instrument, fit for scientists only--figured as an attribute. - -“For us all,” said the President of the Aubenas Spinning Syndicate, “you -have been the kindly magician whose intervention conjured away the -scourge which threatened us; in you we hail our benefactor.” - -Pasteur, effacing his own personality as he had done at the Académie, -laid all this enthusiasm and gratitude as an offering to Science. - -“I am not its object, but rather a pretext for it,” he said, and -continued: “Science has been the ruling passion of my life. I have lived -but for Science, and in the hours of difficulty which are inherent to -protracted efforts, the thought of France upheld my courage. I -associated her greatness with the greatness of Science. - -“By erecting a statue to Olivier de Serres, the illustrious son of the -Vivarais, you give to France a noble example; you show to all that you -venerate great men and the great things they have accomplished. Therein -lies fruitful seed; you have gathered it, may your sons see it grow and -fructify. I look back upon the time, already distant, when, desirous of -responding to the suggestions of a kind and illustrious friend, I left -Paris to study in a neighbouring Department the scourge which was -decimating your _magnaneries_. For five years I struggled to obtain some -knowledge of the evil and the means of preventing it; and, after having -found it, I still had to struggle to implant in other minds the -convictions I had acquired. - -“All that is past and gone now, and I can speak of it with moderation. I -am not often credited with that characteristic, and yet I am the most -hesitating of men, the most fearful of responsibility, so long as I am -not in possession of a proof. But when solid scientific proofs confirm -my convictions, no consideration can prevent me from defending what I -hold to be true. - -“A man whose kindness to me was truly paternal (Biot) had for his motto: -_Per vias rectas_. I congratulate myself that I borrowed it from him. If -I had been more timid or more doubtful in view of the principles I had -established, many points of science and of application might have -remained obscure and subject to endless discussion. The hypothesis of -spontaneous generation would still throw its veil over many questions. -Your nurseries of silkworms would be under the sway of charlatanism, -with no guide to the production of good seed. The vaccination of -charbon, destined to preserve agriculture from immense losses, would be -misunderstood and rejected as a dangerous practice. - -“Where are now all the contradictions? They pass away, and Truth -remains. After an interval of fifteen years, you now render it a noble -testimony. I therefore feel a deep joy in seeing my efforts understood -and celebrated in an impulse of sympathy which will remain in my memory -and in that of my family as a glorious recollection.” - -Pasteur was not allowed to return at once to his laboratory. The -agricultors and veterinary surgeons of Nîmes, who had taken an interest -in all the tests on the vaccination of charbon, had, in their turn, -drawn up a programme of experiments. - -Pasteur arrived at a meeting of the Agricultural Society of the Gard in -time to hear the report of the veterinary surgeons and to receive the -congratulations of the Society. The President expressed to him the -gratitude of all the cattle-owners and breeders, hitherto powerless to -arrest the progress of the disease which he had now vanquished. Whilst a -commemoration medal was being offered to him and a banquet being -prepared--for Southern enthusiasm always implies a series of -toasts--Pasteur thanked these enterprising men who were contemplating -new experiments in order to dispel the doubts of a few veterinary -surgeons, and especially the characteristic distrust, felt by some of -the shepherds, of everything that did not come from the South. Sheep, -oxen, and horses, some of them vaccinated, others intact, were put at -Pasteur’s disposal; he, with his usual energy, fixed the experiments for -the next morning at eight o’clock. After inoculating all the animals -with the charbon virus, Pasteur announced that those which had been -vaccinated would remain unharmed, but that the twelve unvaccinated sheep -would be dead or dying within forty-eight hours. An appointment was made -for next day but one, on May 11, at the town knacker’s, near the Bridge -of Justice, where post-mortem examinations were made. Pasteur then went -on to Montpellier, where he was expected by the Hérault Central Society -of Agriculture, who had also made some experiments and had asked him to -give a lecture at the Agricultural School. He entered the large hall, -feeling very tired, almost ill, but his face lighted up at the sight of -that assembly of professors and students who had hurried from all the -neighbouring Faculties, and those agricultors crowding from every part -of the Department, all of them either full of scientific curiosity or -moved by their agricultural interests. His voice, at first weak and -showing marks of weariness, soon became strengthened, and, forgetting -his fatigue, he threw himself into the subject of virulent and -contagious diseases. He gave himself up, heart and soul, to this -audience for two whole hours, inspiring every one with his own -enthusiasm. He stopped now and then to invite questions, and his answers -to the objectors swept away the last shred of resistance. - -“We must not,” said the Vice-President of the Agricultural Society, M. -Vialla, “encroach further on the time of M. Pasteur, which belongs to -France itself. Perhaps, however he will allow me to prefer a last -request: he has delivered us from the terrible scourge of splenic fever; -will he now turn to a no less redoubtable infection, viz. rot, which is, -so to speak, endemic in our regions? He will surely find the remedy for -it.” - -“I have hardly finished my experiments on splenic fever,” answered -Pasteur gently, “and you want me to find a remedy for rot! Why not for -phylloxera as well?” And, while regretting that the days were not -longer, he added, with the energy of which he had just given a new -proof: “As to efforts, I am yours _usque ad mortem_.” - -He afterwards was the honoured guest at the banquet prepared for him. It -was now not only Sericiculture, but also Agriculture, which proclaimed -its infinite gratitude to him; he was given an enthusiastic ovation, in -which, as usual, he saw no fame for himself, but for work and science -only. - -On May 11, at nine o’clock in the morning, he was again at Nîmes to meet -the physicians, veterinary surgeons, cattle-breeders, and shepherds at -the Bridge of Justice. Of the twelve sheep, six were already dead, the -others dying; it was easy to see that their symptoms were the same as -are characteristic of the ordinary splenic fever. “M. Pasteur gave all -necessary explanations with his usual modesty and clearness,” said the -local papers. - -“And now let us go back to work!” exclaimed Pasteur, as he stepped into -the Paris express; he was impatient to return to his laboratory. - - * * * * * - -In order to give him a mark of public gratitude greater still than that -which came from this or that district, the Académie des Sciences -resolved to organize a general movement of Scientific Societies. It was -decided to present him with a medal, engraved by Alphée Dubois, and -bearing on one side Pasteur’s profile and on the other the inscription: -“To Louis Pasteur, his colleagues, his friends, and his admirers.” - -On June 25, a Sunday, a delegation, headed by Dumas, and composed of -Boussingault, Bouley, Jamin, Daubrée, Bertin, Tisserand and Davaine -arrived at the Ecole Normale and found Pasteur in the midst of his -family. - -“My dear Pasteur,” said Dumas, in his deep voice, “forty years ago, you -entered this building as a student. From the very first, your masters -foresaw that you would be an honour to it, but no one would have dared -to predict the startling services which you were destined to render to -science, France, and the world.” - -And after summing up in a few words Pasteur’s great career, the sources -of wealth which he had discovered or revived, the benefits he had -acquired to medicine and surgery: “My dear Pasteur,” continued Dumas, -with an affectionate emotion, “your life has known but success. The -scientific method which you use in such a masterly manner owes you its -greatest triumphs. The Ecole Normale is proud to number you amongst its -pupils; the Académie des Sciences is proud of your work; France ranks -you amongst its glories. - -“At this time, when marks of public gratitude are flowing towards you -from every quarter, the homage which we have come to offer you, in the -name of your admirers and friends, may seem worthy of your particular -attention. It emanates from a spontaneous and universal feeling, and it -will preserve for posterity the faithful likeness of your features. - -“May you, my dear Pasteur, long live to enjoy your fame, and to -contemplate the rich and abundant fruit of your work. Science, -agriculture, industry, and humanity will preserve eternal gratitude -towards you, and your name will live in their annals amongst the most -illustrious and the most revered.” - -Pasteur, standing with bowed head, his eyes full of tears, was for a few -moments unable to reply, and then, making a violent effort, he said in a -low voice-- - -“My dear master--it is indeed forty years since I first had the -happiness of knowing you, and since you first taught me to love science. - -“I was fresh from the country; after each of your classes, I used to -leave the Sorbonne transported, often moved to tears. From that moment, -your talent as a professor, your immortal labours and your noble -character have inspired me with an admiration which has but grown with -the maturity of my mind. - -“You have surely guessed my feelings, my dear master. There has not been -one important circumstance in my life or in that of my family, either -happy or painful, which you have not, as it were, blessed by your -presence and sympathy. - -“Again to-day, you take the foremost rank in the expression of that -testimony, very excessive, I think, of the esteem of my masters, who -have become my friends. And what you have done for me, you have done -for all your pupils; it is one of the distinctive traits of your nature. -Behind the individual, you have always considered France and her -greatness. - -“What shall I do henceforth? Until now, great praise had inflamed my -ardour, and only inspired me with the idea of making myself worthy of it -by renewed efforts; but that which you have just given me in the names -of the Académie and of the Scientific Societies is in truth beyond my -courage.” - -Pasteur, who for a year had been applauded by the crowd, received on -that June 25, 1882, the testimony which he rated above every other: -praise from his master. - -Whilst he recalled the beneficent influence which Dumas had had over -him, those who were sitting in his drawing-room at the Ecole Normale -were thinking that Dumas might have evoked similar recollections with -similar charm. He too had known enthusiasms which had illumined his -youth. In 1822, the very year when Pasteur was born, Dumas, who was then -living in a student’s attic at Geneva, received the visit of a man about -fifty, dressed Directoire fashion, in a light blue coat with steel -buttons, a white waistcoat and yellow breeches. It was Alexander von -Humboldt, who had wished, on his way through Geneva, to see the young -man who, though only twenty-two years old, had just published, in -collaboration with Prévost, treatises on blood and on urea. That visit, -the long conversations, or rather the monologues, of Humboldt had -inspired Dumas with the feelings of surprise, pride, gratitude and -devotion with which the first meeting with a great man is wont to fill -the heart of an enthusiastic youth. When Dumas heard Humboldt speak of -Laplace, Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Arago, Thenard, Cuvier, etc., and -describe them as familiarly accessible, instead of as the awe-inspiring -personages he had imagined, Dumas became possessed with the idea of -going to Paris, knowing those men, living near them and imbibing their -methods. “On the day when Humboldt left Geneva,” Dumas used to say, “the -town for me became empty.” It was thus that Dumas’ journey to Paris was -decided on, and his dazzling career of sixty years begun. - -He was now near the end of his scientific career, closing peacefully -like a beautiful summer evening, and he was happy in the fame of his -former pupil. As he left the Ecole Normale, on that June afternoon, he -passed under the windows of the laboratory, where a few young men, -imbued with Pasteur’s doctrines, represented a future reserve for the -progress of science. - - * * * * * - -That year 1882 was the more interesting in Pasteur’s life, in that -though victory on many points was quite indisputable, partial struggles -still burst out here and there, and an adversary often arose suddenly -when he had thought the engagement over. - -The sharpest attacks came from Germany. The Record of the Works of the -German Sanitary Office had led, under the direction of Dr. Koch and his -pupils, a veritable campaign against Pasteur, whom they declared -incapable of cultivating microbes in a state of purity. He did not even, -they said, know how to recognize the septic vibrio, though he had -discovered it. The experiments by which hens contracted splenic fever -under a lowered temperature after inoculation signified nothing. The -share of the earthworms in the propagation of charbon, the inoculation -into guinea-pigs of the germs found in the little cylinders produced by -those worms followed by the death of the guinea-pigs, all this they said -was pointless and laughable. They even contested the preserving -influence of vaccination. - -Whilst these things were being said and written, the Veterinary School -of Berlin asked the laboratory of the Ecole Normale for some charbon -vaccine. Pasteur answered that he wished that experiments should be made -before a commission nominated by the German Government. It was -constituted by the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, and Virchow was -one of the members of it. A former student of the Ecole Normale--who, -after leaving the school first on the list of competitors for the -_agrégation_ of physical science, had entered the laboratory--one in -whom Pasteur founded many hopes, Thuillier, left for Germany with his -little tubes of attenuated virus. Pasteur was not satisfied; he would -have liked to meet his adversaries face to face and oblige them publicly -to own their defeat. An opportunity was soon to arise. He had come to -Arbois, as usual, for the months of August and September, and was having -some alterations made in his little house. The tannery pits were being -filled up. “It will not improve the house itself,” he wrote to his son, -“but it will be made brighter and more comfortable by having a tidy yard -and a garden along the riverside.” - -The Committee of the International Congress of Hygiene, which was to -meet at Geneva, interrupted these peaceful holidays by inviting Pasteur -to read a paper on attenuated virus. As a special compliment, the whole -of one meeting, that of Tuesday, September 5, was to be reserved for his -paper only. Pasteur immediately returned to work; he only consented -under the greatest pressure to go for a short walk on the Besançon road -at five o’clock every afternoon. After spending the whole morning and -the whole afternoon sitting at his writing table over laboratory -registers, he came away grumbling at being disturbed in his work. If any -member of his family ventured a question on the proposed paper, he -hastily cut them short, declaring that he must be let alone. It was only -when Mme. Pasteur had copied out in her clear handwriting all the little -sheets covered with footnotes, that the contents of the paper became -known. - -When Pasteur entered the Congress Hall, great applause greeted him on -every side. The seats were occupied, not only by the physicians and -professors who form the usual audience of a congress, but also by -tourists, who take an interest in scientific things when they happen to -be the fashion. - -Pasteur spoke of the invitation he had received. “I hastened to accept -it,” he said, “and I am pleased to find myself the guest of a country -which has been a friend to France in good as in evil days. Moreover, I -hoped to meet here some of the contradictors of my work of the last few -years. If a congress is a ground for conciliation, it is in the same -degree a ground for courteous discussion. We all are actuated by a -supreme passion, that of progress and of truth.” - -Almost always, at the opening of a congress, great politeness reigns in -a confusion of languages. Men are seen offering each other pamphlets, -exchanging visiting cards, and only lending an inattentive ear to the -solemn speeches going on. This time, the first scene of the first act -suspended all private conversation. Pasteur stood above the assembly in -his full strength and glory. Though he was almost sixty, his hair had -remained black, his beard alone was turning grey. His face reflected -indomitable energy; if he had not been slightly lame, and if his left -hand had not been a little stiff, no one could have supposed that he had -been struck with paralysis fourteen years before. The feeling of the -place France should hold in an International Congress gave him a proud -look and an imposing accent of authority. He was visibly ready to meet -his adversaries and to make of this assembly a tribunal of judges. -Except for a few diplomats who at the first words exchanged anxious -looks at the idea of possible polemics, Frenchmen felt happy at being -better represented than any other nation. Men eagerly pointed out to -each other Dr. Koch, twenty-one years younger than Pasteur, who sat on -one of the benches, listening, with impassive eyes behind his gold -spectacles. - -Pasteur analysed all the work he had done with the collaboration of MM. -Chamberland, Roux, and Thuillier. He made clear to the most ignorant -among his hearers his ingenious experiments either to obtain, preserve -or modify the virulence of certain microbes. “It cannot be doubted,” he -said, “that we possess a general method of attenuation.... The general -principles are found, and it cannot be disbelieved that the future of -those researches is rich with the greatest hopes. But, however obvious a -demonstrated truth may be, it has not always the privilege of being -easily accepted. I have met in France and elsewhere with some obstinate -contradictors.... Allow me to choose amongst them the one whose personal -merit gives him the greatest claims to our attention, I mean Dr Koch, of -Berlin.” - -Pasteur then summed up the various criticisms which had appeared in the -Record of the Works of the German Sanitary Office. “Perhaps there may be -some persons in this assembly,” he went on, “who share the opinions of -my contradictors. They will allow me to invite them to speak; I should -be happy to answer them.” - -Koch, mounting the platform, declined to discuss the subject, -preferring, he said, to make answer in writing later on. Pasteur was -disappointed; he would have wished the Congress, or at least a -Commission designated by Koch, to decide on the experiments. He resigned -himself to wait. On the following days, as the members of the Congress -saw him attending meetings on general hygiene, school hygiene, and -veterinary hygiene, they hardly recognized in the simple, attentive man, -anxious for instruction, the man who had defied his adversary. Outside -the arena, Pasteur became again the most modest of men, never allowing -himself to criticize what he had not thoroughly studied. But, when sure -of his facts, he showed himself full of a violent passion, the passion -of truth; when truth had triumphed, he preserved not the least -bitterness of former struggles. - -That day of the 5th September was remembered in Geneva. “All the honour -was for France,” wrote Pasteur to his son; “that was what I had wished.” - - * * * * * - -He was already keen in the pursuit of another malady which caused great -damage, the “rouget” disease or swine fever. Thuillier, ever ready to -start when a demonstration had to be made or an experiment to be -attempted, had ascertained, in March, 1882, in a part of the Department -of the Vienne, the existence of a microbe in the swine attacked with -that disease. - -In order to know whether this microbe was the cause of the evil, the -usual operations of the sovereign method had to be resorted to. First of -all, a culture medium had to be found which was suitable to the -micro-organism (veal broth was found to be very successful); then a drop -of the culture had to be abstracted from the little phials where the -microbe was developing and sown into other flasks; lastly the culture -liquid had to be inoculated into swine. Death supervened with all the -symptoms of swine fever; the microbe was therefore the cause of the -evil? Could it be attenuated and a vaccine obtained? Being pressed to -study that disease, and to find the remedy for it, by M. Maucuer, a -veterinary surgeon of the Department of Vaucluse, living at Bollène, -Pasteur started, accompanied by his nephew, Adrien Loir, and M. -Thuillier. The three arrived at Bollène on September 13. - -“It is impossible to imagine more obliging kindness than that of those -excellent Maucuers,” wrote Pasteur to his wife the next day. “Where, in -what dark corner they sleep, in order to give us two bedrooms, mine and -another with two beds, I do not like to think. They are young, and have -an eight-year-old son at the Avignon College, for whom they have -obtained a half-holiday to-day in order that he may be presented to ‘M. -Pasteur.’ The two men and I are taken care of in a manner you might -envy. It is colder here and more rainy than in Paris. I have a fire in -my room, that green oak-wood fire that you will remember we had at the -Pont Gisquet. - -“I was much pleased to hear that the swine fever is far from being -extinguished. There are sick swine everywhere, some dying, some dead, at -Bollène and in the country around; the evil is disastrous this year. We -saw some dead and dying yesterday afternoon. We have brought here a -young hog who is very ill, and this morning we shall attempt vaccination -at a M. de Ballincourt’s, who has lost all his pigs, and who has just -bought some more in the hope that the vaccine will be preservative. From -morning till night we shall be able to watch the disease and to try to -prevent it. This reminds me of the pébrine, with pigsties and sick pigs -instead of nurseries full of dying silkworms. Not ten thousand, but at -least twenty thousand swine have perished, and I am told it is worse -still in the Ardèche.” - -On the 17th, the day was taken up by the inoculation of some pigs on the -estate of M. de la Gardette, a few kilometres from Bollène. In the -evening, a former State Councillor, M. de Gaillard, came at the head of -a delegation to compliment Pasteur and invite him to a banquet. Pasteur -declined this honour, saying he would accept it when the swine fever was -conquered. They spoke to him of his past services, but he had no thought -for them; like all progress-seeking men, he saw but what was before him. -Experiments were being carried out--he had hastened to have an -experimental pigsty erected near M. Maucuer’s house--and already, on the -21st, he wrote to Mme. Pasteur, in one of those letters which resembled -the loose pages of a laboratory notebook-- - -“Swine fever is not nearly so obscure to me now, and I am persuaded that -with the help of time the scientific and practical problem will be -solved. - -“Three post-mortem examinations to-day. They take a long time, but that -seems of no account to Thuillier, with his cool and patient eagerness.” - -Three days later: “I much regret not being able to tell you yet that I -am starting back for Paris. It is quite impossible to abandon all these -experiments which we have commenced; I should have to return here at -least once or twice. The chief thing is that things are getting clearer -with every experiment. You know that nowadays a medical knowledge of -disease is nothing; it must be prevented beforehand. We are attempting -this, and I think I can foresee success; but keep this for yourself and -our children. I embrace you all most affectionately. - -“P.S.--I have never felt better. Send me 1,000 fr.; I have but 300 fr. -left of the 1,600 fr. I brought. Pigs are expensive, and we are killing -a great many.” - -At last on December 8: “I am sending M. Dumas a note for to-morrow’s -meeting at the Academy. If I had time I would transcribe it for the -laboratory and for René.” - -“Our researches”--thus ran the report to the Academy--“may be summed up -in the following propositions-- - -“I. The swine fever, or rouget disease, is produced by a special -microbe, easy to cultivate outside the animal’s body. It is so tiny that -it often escapes the most attentive search. It resembles the microbe of -chicken cholera more than any other; its shape is also that of a figure -8, but finer and less visible than that of the cholera. It differs -essentially from the latter by its physiological properties; it kills -rabbits and sheep, but has no effect on hens. - -“II. If inoculated in a state of purity into pigs, in almost -inappreciable doses, it speedily brings the fever and death, with all -the characteristics usual in _spontaneous_ cases. It is most deadly to -the white, so-called improved, race, that which is most sought after by -pork-breeders. - -“III. Dr. Klein published in London (1878) an extensive work on swine -fever which he calls _Pneumo-enteritis of Swine_; but that author is -entirely mistaken as to the nature of the parasite. He has described as -the microbe of the rouget a bacillus with spores, more voluminous even -than the bacteridium of splenic fever. Dr. Klein’s microbe is very -different from the true microbe of swine fever, and has, besides, no -relation to the etiology of that disease. - -“IV. After having satisfied ourselves by direct tests that the malady -does not recur, we have succeeded in inoculating in a benignant form, -after which the animal has proved refractory to the mortal disease. - -“V. Though we consider that further control experiments are necessary, -we have already great confidence in this, that, dating from next spring, -vaccination by the virulent microbe of swine fever, attenuated, will -become the salvation of pigsties.” - -Pasteur ended thus his letter of December 3: “We shall start to-morrow, -Monday. Adrien Loir and I shall sleep at Lyons. Thuillier will go -straight to Paris, to take care of ten little pigs which we have bought, -and which he will take with him. In this way they will not be kept -waiting at stations. Pigs, young and old, are very sensitive to cold; -they will be wrapped up in straw. They are very young and quite -charming; one cannot help getting fond of them.” - -The next day Pasteur wrote to his son: “Everything has gone off well, -and we much hope, Thuillier and I, that preventive vaccination of this -evil can be established in a practical fashion. It would be a great -boon in pork-breeding countries, where terrible ravages are made by the -rouget (so called because the animals die covered with red or purple -blotches, already developed during the fever which precedes death). In -the United States, over a million swine died of this disease in 1879; it -rages in England and in Germany. This year, it has desolated the -Côtes-du-Nord, the Poitou, and the departments of the Rhone Valley. I -sent to M. Dumas yesterday a _résumé_ in a few lines of our results, to -be read at to-day’s meeting.” - -Pasteur, once more in Paris, returned eagerly to his studies on divers -virus and on hydrophobia. If he was told that he over-worked himself, he -replied: “It would seem to me that I was committing a theft if I were to -let one day go by without doing some work.” But he was again disturbed -in the work he enjoyed by the contradictions of his opponents. - -Koch’s reply arrived soon after the Bollène episode. The German -scientist had modified his views to a certain extent; instead of denying -the attenuation of virus as in 1881, he now proclaimed it as a discovery -of the first order. But he did not believe much, he said, in the -practical results of the vaccination of charbon. - -Pasteur put forward, in response, a report from the veterinary surgeon -Boutet to the Chartres Veterinary and Agricultural School, made in the -preceding October. The sheep vaccinated in Eure et Loir during the last -year formed a total of 79,392. Instead of a mortality which had been -more than nine per cent, on the average in the last ten years, the -mortality had only been 518 sheep, much less than one per cent; 5,700 -sheep had therefore been preserved by vaccination. Amongst cattle 4,562 -animals had been vaccinated; out of a similar number 300 usually died -every year. Since vaccination, only eleven cows had died. - -“Such results appear to us convincing,” wrote M. Boutet. “If our -cultivators of the Beauce understand their own interest, splenic fever -and malignant pustules will soon remain a mere memory, for charbon -diseases never are spontaneous, and, by preventing the death of their -cattle by vaccination, they will destroy all possibility of propagation -of that terrible disease, which will in consequence entirely disappear.” - -Koch continued to smile at the discovery on the earthworms’ action in -the etiology of anthrax. “You are mistaken, Sir,” replied Pasteur. “You -are again preparing for yourself a vexing change of opinion.” And he -concluded as follows: “However violent your attacks, Sir, they will not -hinder the success of the method of attenuated virus. I am confidently -awaiting the consequences which it holds in reserve to help humanity in -its struggle against the diseases which assault it.” - -This debate was hardly concluded when new polemics arose at the Académie -de Médecine. A new treatment of typhoid fever was under discussion. - -In 1870, M. Glénard, a Lyons medical student, who had enlisted, was, -with many others, taken to Stettin as prisoner of war. A German -physician, Dr. Brand, moved with compassion by the sufferings of the -vanquished French soldiers, showed them great kindness and devotion. The -French student attached himself to him, helped him with his work, and -saw him treat typhoid fever with success by baths at 20° C. Brand prided -himself on this cold-bath treatment, which produced numerous cures. M. -Glénard, on his return to Lyons, remembering with confidence this method -of which he had seen the excellent results, persuaded the physician of -the Croix Rousse hospital, where he resided, to attempt the same -treatment. This was done for ten years, and nearly all the Lyons -practitioners became convinced that Brand’s method was efficacious. M. -Glénard came to Paris and read to the Academy of Medicine a paper on the -cold-bath treatment of typhoid fever. The Academy appointed a -commission, composed of civil and military physicians, and the -discussion was opened. - -The oratorical display which had struck Pasteur when he first came to -the Académie de Médecine was much to the fore on that occasion; the -merely curious hearers of that discussion had an opportunity of enjoying -medical eloquence, besides acquiring information on the new treatment of -typhoid fever. There were some vehement denunciations of the microbe -which was suspected in typhoid fever. “You aim at the microbe and you -bring down the patient!” exclaimed one of the orators, who added, amidst -great applause, that it was time “to offer an impassable barrier to such -adventurous boldness and thus to preserve patients from the unforeseen -dangers of that therapeutic whirlwind!” - -Another orator took up a lighter tone: “I do not much believe in that -invasion of parasites which threatens us like an eleventh plague of -Egypt,” said M. Peter. And attacking the scientists who meddled with -medicine, _chymiasters_ as he called them, “They have come to this,” he -said, “that in typhoid fevers they only see _the_ typhoid fever, in -typhoid fever, fever only, and in fever, increased heat. They have thus -reached that luminous idea that heat must be fought by cold. This -organism is on fire, let us pour water over it; it is a fireman’s -doctrine.” - -Vulpian, whose grave mind was not unlike Pasteur’s, intervened, and said -that new attempts should not be discouraged by sneers. Without -pronouncing on the merits of the cold-bath method, which he had not -tried, he looked beyond this discussion, indicating the road which -theoretically seemed to him to lead to a curative treatment. The first -thing was to discover the agent which causes typhoid fever, and then, -when that was known, attempt to destroy or paralyse it in the tissues of -typhoid patients, or else to find drugs capable either of preventing the -aggressions of that agent or of annihilating the effects of that -aggression, “to produce, relatively to typhoid fever, the effect -determined by salicylate of soda in acute rheumatism of the -articulations.” - -Beyond the restricted audience, allowed a few seats in the Académie de -Médecine, the general public itself was taking an interest in this -prolonged debate. The very high death rate in the army due to typhoid -fever was the cause of this eager attention. Whilst the German army, -where Brand’s method was employed, hardly lost five men out of a -thousand, the French army lost more than ten per thousand. - -Whilst military service was not compulsory, epidemics in barracks were -looked upon with more or less compassionate attention. But the thought -that typhoid fever had been more destructive within the last ten years -than the most sanguinary battle now awakened all minds and hearts. Is -then personal fear necessary to awaken human compassion? - -Bouley, who was more given to propagating new doctrines than to -lingering on such philosophical problems, thought it was time to -introduce into the debate certain ideas on the great problems tackled by -medicine since the discovery of what might be called a fourth kingdom in -nature, that of microbia. In a statement read at the Académie de -Médecine, he formulated in broad lines the rôle of the infinitesimally -small and their activity in producing the phenomena of fermentations and -diseases. He showed by the parallel works of Pasteur on the one hand, -and M. Chauveau on the other, that contagion is the function of a living -element. “It is especially,” said Bouley, “on the question of the -prophylaxis of virulent diseases that the microbian doctrine has given -the most marvellous results. To seize upon the most deadly virus, to -submit them to a methodical culture, to cause modifying agents to act -upon them in a measured proportion, and thus to succeed in attenuating -them in divers degrees, so as to utilize their strength, reduced but -still efficacious, in transmitting a benignant malady by means of which -immunity is acquired against the deadly disease: what a beautiful -dream!! And M. Pasteur has made that dream into a reality!!!...” - -The debate widened, typhoid fever became a mere incident. The pathogenic -action of the infinitesimally small entered into the discussion; -traditional medicine faced microbian medicine. M. Peter rushed once more -to the front rank for the fight. He declared that he did not apply the -term _chymiaster_ to Pasteur; he recognized that it was but “fair to -proclaim that we owe to M. Pasteur’s researches the most useful -practical applications in surgery and in obstetrics.” But considering -that medicine might claim more independence, he repeated that the -discovery of the material elements of virulent diseases did not throw so -much light as had been said, either on pathological anatomy, on the -evolution, on the treatment or especially on the prophylaxis of virulent -diseases. “Those are but natural history curiosities,” he added, -“interesting no doubt, but of very little profit to medicine, and not -worth either the time given to them or the noise made about them. After -so many laborious researches, nothing will be changed in medicine, there -will only be a few more microbes.” - -A newspaper having repeated this last sentence, a professor of the -Faculty of Medicine, M. Cornil, simply recalled how, at the time when -the acarus of itch had been discovered, many partisans of old doctrines -had probably exclaimed, “What is your acarus to me? Will it teach me -more than I know already?” “But,” added M. Cornil, “the physician who -had understood the value of that discovery no longer inflicted internal -medication upon his patients to cure them of what seemed an inveterate -disease, but merely cured them by means of a brush and a little -ointment.” - -M. Peter, continuing his violent speech, quoted certain vaccination -failures, and incompletely reported experiments, saying, grandly: “M. -Pasteur’s excuse is that he is a chemist, who has tried, out of a wish -to be useful, to reform medicine, to which he is a complete stranger.... - -“In the struggle I have undertaken the present discussion is but a -skirmish; but, to judge from the reinforcements which are coming to me, -the _mêlée_ may become general, and victory will remain, I hope, to the -larger battalions, that is to say, to the ‘old medicine.’” - -Bouley, amazed that M. Peter should thus scout the notion of microbia -introduced into pathology, valiantly fought this “skirmish” alone. He -recalled the discussions à propos of tuberculosis, so obscure until a -new and vivifying notion came to simplify the solution of the problem. -“And you reject that solution! You say, ‘What does it matter to me?’... -What! M. Koch, of Berlin--who with such discoveries as he has made might -well abstain from envy--M. Koch points out to you the presence of -bacteria in tubercles, and that seems to you of no importance? But that -microbe gives you the explanation of those contagious properties of -tuberculosis so well demonstrated by M. Villemin, for it is the -instrument of virulence itself which is put under your eyes.” - -Bouley then went on to refute the arguments of M. Peter, epitomized the -history of the discovery of the attenuation of virus, and all that this -method of cultures possible in an extra-organic medium might suggest -that was hopeful for a vaccine of cholera and of yellow fever, which -might be discovered one day and protect humanity against those terrible -scourges. He concluded thus--“Let M. Peter do what I have done; let him -study M. Pasteur, and penetrate thoroughly into all that is admirable, -through the absolute certainty of the results, in the long series of -researches which have led him from the discovery of ferments to that of -the nature of virus; and then I can assure him that instead of decrying -this great glory of France, of whom we must all be proud, he too will -feel himself carried away by enthusiasm and will bow with admiration and -respect before the chemist, who, though not a physician, illumines -medicine and dispels, in the light of his experiments, a darkness which -had hitherto remained impenetrable.” - -A year before this (Peter had not failed to report the fact) an -experiment of anthrax vaccination had completely failed at the Turin -Veterinary School. All the sheep, vaccinated and non-vaccinated, had -succumbed subsequently to the inoculation of the blood of a sheep which -had died of charbon. - -This took place in March, 1882. As soon as Pasteur heard of this -extraordinary fiasco, which seemed the counterpart of the -Pouilly-le-Fort experiment, he wrote on April 16 to the director of the -Turin Veterinary School, asking on what day the sheep had died the blood -of which had been used for the virulent inoculation. - -The director answered simply that the sheep had died on the morning of -March 22, and that its blood had been inoculated during the course of -the following day. “There has been,” said Pasteur, “a grave scientific -mistake; the blood inoculated was septic as well as full of charbon.” - -Though the director of the Turin Veterinary School affirmed that the -blood had been carefully examined and that it was in no wise septic, -Pasteur looked back on his 1877 experiments on anthrax and septicæmia, -and maintained before the Paris Central Veterinary Society on June 8, -1882, that the Turin School had done wrong in using the blood of an -animal at least twenty-four hours after its death, for the blood must -have been septic besides containing anthrax. The six professors of the -Turin School protested unanimously against such an interpretation. “We -hold it marvellous,” they wrote ironically, “that your Illustrious -Lordship should have recognized so surely, from Paris, the disease which -made such havoc amongst the animals vaccinated and non-vaccinated and -inoculated with blood containing anthrax in our school on March 23, -1882. - -“It does not seem to us possible that a scientist should affirm the -existence of septicæmia in an animal he has not even seen....” - -The quarrel with the Turin School had now lasted a year. On April 9, -1883, Pasteur appealed to the Academy of Sciences to judge of the Turin -incident and to put an end to this agitation, which threatened to cover -truth with a veil. He read out the letter he had just addressed to the -Turin professors. - -“Gentlemen, a dispute having arisen between you and myself respecting -the interpretation to be given to the absolute failure of your control -experiment of March 23, 1882, I have the honour to inform you that, if -you will accept the suggestion, I will go to Turin any day you may -choose; you shall inoculate in my presence some virulent charbon into -any number of sheep you like. The exact moment of death in each case -shall be determined, and I will demonstrate to you that in every case -the blood of the corpse containing only charbon at the first will also -be septic on the next day. It will thus be established with absolute -certainty that the assertion formulated by me on June 8, 1882, against -which you have protested on two occasions, arises, not as you say, from -an arbitrary opinion, but from an immovable scientific principle; and -that I have legitimately affirmed from Paris the presence of septicæmia -without it being in the least necessary that I should have seen the -corpse of the sheep you utilized for your experiments. - -“Minutes of the facts as they are produced shall be drawn up day by day, -and signed by the professors of the Turin Veterinary School and by the -other persons, physicians or veterinary surgeons, who may have been -present at the experiments; these minutes will then be published both at -the Academies of Turin and of Paris.” - -Pasteur contented himself with reading this letter to the Academy of -Sciences. For months he had not attended the Academy of Medicine; he was -tired of incessant and barren struggles; he often used to come away from -the discussions worn out and excited. He would say to Messrs. -Chamberland and Roux, who waited for him after the meetings, “How is it -that certain doctors do not understand the range, the value, of our -experiments? How is it that they do not foresee the great future of all -these studies?” - -The day after the Académie des Sciences meeting, judging that his letter -to Turin sufficiently closed the incident, Pasteur started for Arbois. -He wanted to set up a laboratory adjoining his house. Where the father -had worked with his hands, the son would work at his great -light-emitting studies. - -On April 3 a letter from M. Peter had been read at the Academy of -Medicine, declaring that he did not give up the struggle and that -nothing would be lost by waiting. - -At the following sitting, another physician, M. Fauvel, while declaring -himself an admirer of Pasteur’s work and full of respect for his person, -thought it well not to accept blindly all the inductions into which -Pasteur might find himself drawn, and to oppose those which were -contradictory to acquired facts. After M. Fauvel, M. Peter violently -attacked what he called “microbicidal drugs which may become homicidal,” -he said. When reading the account of this meeting, Pasteur had an -impulse of anger. His resolutions not to return to the Academy of -Medicine gave way before the desire not to leave Bouley alone to lead -the defensive campaign; he started for Paris. - -As his family was then at Arbois, and the doors of his flat at the Ecole -Normale closed, the simplest thing for Pasteur was to go to the Hôtel du -Louvre, accompanied by a member of his family. The next morning he -carefully prepared his speech, and, at three o’clock in the afternoon, -he entered the Academy of Medicine. The President, M. Hardy, welcomed -him in these words--“Allow me, before you begin to speak, to tell you -that it is with great pleasure that we see you once again among us, and -that the Academy hopes that, now that you have once more found your way -to its precincts, you will not forget it again.” - -After isolating and rectifying the points of discussion, Pasteur advised -M. Peter to make a more searching inquiry into the subject of anthrax -vaccination, and to trust to Time, the only sovereign judge. Should not -the recollection of the violent hostility encountered at first by Jenner -put people on their guard against hasty judgments? There was not one of -the doctors present who could not remember what had been written at one -time against vaccination!!! - -He went on to oppose the false idea that each science should restrict -itself within its own limitations. “What do I, a physician, says M. -Peter, want with the minds of the chemist, the physicist and the -physiologist? - -“On hearing him speak with so much disdain of the chemists and -physiologists who touch upon questions of disease, you might verily -think that he is speaking in the name of a science whose principles are -founded on a rock! Does he want proofs of the slow progress of -therapeutics? It is now six months since, in this assembly of the -greatest medical men, the question was discussed whether it is better to -treat typhoid fever with cold lotions or with quinine, with alcohol or -salicylic acid, or even not to treat it at all. - -“And, when we are perhaps on the eve of solving the question of the -etiology of that disease by a microbe, M. Peter commits the medical -blasphemy of saying, ‘What do your microbes matter to me? It will only -be one microbe the more!’” - -Amazed that sarcasm should be levelled against new studies which opened -such wide horizons, he denounced the flippancy with which a professor -of the Faculty of Medicine allowed himself to speak of vaccinations by -attenuated virus. - -He ended by rejoicing once more that this great discovery should have -been a French one. - - * * * * * - -Pasteur went back to Arbois for a few days. On his return to Paris, he -was beginning some new experiments, when he received a long letter from -the Turin professors. Instead of accepting his offer, they enumerated -their experiments, asked some questions in an offended and ironical -manner, and concluded by praising an Italian national vaccine, which -produced absolute immunity in the future--when it did not kill. - -“They cannot get out of this dilemma,” said Pasteur; “either they knew -my 1877 notes, unravelling the contradictory statements of Davaine, -Jaillard and Leplat, and Paul Bert, or they did not know them. If they -did not know them on March 22, 1882, there is nothing more to say; they -were not guilty in acting as they did, but they should have owned it -freely. If they did know them, why ever did they inoculate blood taken -from a sheep twenty-four hours after its death? They say that this blood -was not septic; but how do they know? They have done nothing to find -out. They should have inoculated some guinea-pigs, by choice, and then -tried some cultures in a vacuum to compare them with cultures in contact -with air. Why will they not receive me? A meeting between truth-seeking -men would be the most natural thing in the world!” - -Still hoping to persuade his adversaries to meet him at Turin and be -convinced, Pasteur wrote to them. “_Paris, May 9, 1883._ Gentlemen--Your -letter of April 30 surprises me very much. What is in question between -you and me? That I should go to Turin, if you will allow me, to -demonstrate that sheep, dead of charbon, as numerous as you like, will, -for a few hours after their death, be exclusively infected with anthrax, -and that the day after their death they will present both anthrax and -septic infection; and that therefore, when, on March 23, 1882, wishing -to inoculate blood infected with anthrax only into sheep vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, you took blood from a carcase twenty-four hours after -death, you committed a grave scientific mistake. - -“Instead of answering yes or no, instead of saying to me ‘Come to -Turin,’ or ‘Do not come,’ you ask me, in a manuscript letter of -seventeen pages, to send you from Paris, in writing, preliminary -explanations of all that I should have to demonstrate in Turin. - -“Really, what is the good? Would not that lead to endless discussions? -It is because of the uselessness of a written controversy that I have -placed myself at your disposal. - -“I have once more the honour of asking you to inform me whether you -accept the proposal made to you on April 9, that I should go to Turin to -place before your eyes the proofs of the facts I have just mentioned. - -“P.S.--In order not to complicate the debate, I do not dwell upon the -many erroneous quotations and statements contained in your letter.” - -M. Roux began to prepare an interesting curriculum of experiments to be -carried out at Turin. But the Turin professors wrote a disagreeable -letter, published a little pamphlet entitled _Of the Scientific -Dogmatism of the Illustrious Professor Pasteur_, and things remained as -they were. - -All these discussions, renewed on so many divers points, were not -altogether a waste of time; some of them bore fruitful results by -causing most decisive proofs to be sought for. It has also made the path -of Pasteur’s followers wider and smoother that he himself should have -borne the brunt of the first opposition. - -In the meanwhile, testimonials of gratitude continued to pour in from -the agricultors and veterinary surgeons who had seen the results of two -years’ practice of the vaccination against anthrax. - -In the year 1882, 613,740 sheep and 83,946 oxen had been vaccinated. The -Department of the Cantal which had before lost about 3,000,000 fr. every -year, desired in June, 1883, on the occasion of an agricultural show, to -give M. Pasteur a special acknowledgement of their gratitude. It -consisted of a cup of silver-plated bronze, ornamented with a group of -cattle. Behind the group--imitating in this the town of Aubenas, who had -made a microscope figure as an attribute of honour--was represented, in -small proportions, an instrument which found itself for the first time -raised to such an exalted position, the little syringe used for -inoculations. - -Pasteur was much pressed to come himself and receive this offering from -a land which would henceforth owe its fortune to him. He allowed -himself to be persuaded, and arrived, accompanied as usual by his -family. - -The Mayor, surrounded by the municipal councillors, greeted him in these -words: “Our town of Aurillac is very small, and you will not find here -the brilliant population which inhabits great cities; but you will find -minds capable of understanding the scientific and humanitarian mission -which you have so generously undertaken. You will also find hearts -capable of appreciating your benefits and of preserving the memory of -them; your name has been on all our lips for a long time.” - -Pasteur, visiting that local exhibition, did not resemble the official -personages who listen wearily to the details given them by a staff of -functionaries. He thought but of acquiring knowledge, going straight to -this or that exhibitor and questioning him, not with perfunctory -politeness, but with a real desire for practical information; no detail -seemed to him insignificant. “Nothing should be neglected,” he said; -“and a remark from a rough labourer who does well what he has to do is -infinitely precious.” - -After visiting the products and agricultural implements, Pasteur was met -in the street by a peasant who stopped and waved his large hat, -shouting, “Long live Pasteur!”... “You have saved my cattle,” continued -the man, coming up to shake hands with him. - -Physicians in their turn desired to celebrate and to honour him who, -though not a physician, had rendered such service to medicine. -Thirty-two of them assembled to drink his health. The head physician of -the Aurillac Hospital, Dr. Fleys, said in proposing the toast: “What the -mechanism of the heavens owes to Newton, chemistry to Lavoisier, geology -to Cuvier, general anatomy to Bichat, physiology to Claude Bernard, -pathology and hygiene will owe to Pasteur. Unite with me, dear -colleagues, and let us drink to the fame of the illustrious Pasteur, the -precursor of the medicine of the future, a benefactor to humanity.” - - * * * * * - -This glorious title was now associated with his name. In the first rank -of his enthusiastic admirers came the scientists, who, from the point of -view of pure science, admired the achievements, within those thirty-five -years, of that great man whose perseverance equalled his penetration. -Then came the manufacturers, the sericicultors, and the agricultors, who -owed their fortune to him who had placed every process he discovered -into the public domain. Finally, France could quote the words of the -English physiologist, Huxley, in a public lecture at the London Royal -Society: “Pasteur’s discoveries alone would suffice to cover the war -indemnity of five milliards paid by France to Germany in 1870.” - -To that capital was added the inestimable price of human lives saved. -Since the antiseptic method had been adopted in surgical operations, the -mortality had fallen from 50 per 100 to 5 per 100. - -In the lying-in hospitals, more than decimated formerly (for the -statistics had shown a death-rate of not only 100 but 200 per 1,000), -the number of fatalities was now reduced to 3 per 1,000 and soon -afterwards fell to 1 per 1,000. And, in consequence of the principles -established by Pasteur, hygiene was growing, developing, and at last -taking its proper place in the public view. So much progress -accomplished had brought Pasteur a daily growing acknowledgment of -gratitude, his country was more than proud of him. His powerful mind, -allied with his very tender heart, had brought to French glory an -aureole of charity. - -The Government of the Republic remembered that England had voted two -national rewards to Jenner, one in 1802 and one in 1807, the first of -£10,000, and the second of £20,000. It was at the time of that -deliberation that Pitt, the great orator, exclaimed, “Vote, gentlemen, -your gratitude will never reach the amount of the service rendered.” - -The French Ministry proposed to augment the 12,000 fr. pension accorded -to Pasteur in 1874 as a national recompense, and to make it 25,000 fr., -to revert first to Pasteur’s widow, and then to his children. A -Commission was formed and Paul Bert again chosen to draw up the report. - -On several occasions at the meetings of the commission one of its -members, Benjamin Raspail, exalted the parasitic theory propounded in -1843 by his own father. His filial pleading went so far as to accuse -Pasteur of plagiarism. Paul Bert, whilst recognizing the share -attributed by F. V. Raspail to microscopic beings, recalled the fact -that his attempt in favour of epidemic and contagious diseases had not -been adopted by scientists. “No doubt,” he said, “the parasitic origin -of the itch was now definitely accepted, thanks in a great measure to -the efforts of Raspail; but generalizations were considered as out of -proportion to the fact they were supposed to rest on. It seemed -excessive to conclude from the existence of the acarus of itch, visible -to the naked eye or with the weakest magnifying glass, the presence of -microscopic parasites in the humours of virulent diseases.... Such -hypotheses can be considered but as a sort of intuition.” - -“Hypotheses,” said Pasteur, “come into our laboratories in armfuls; they -fill our registers with projected experiments, they stimulate us to -research--and that is all.” One thing only counted for him: experimental -verification. - -Paul Bert, in his very complete report, quoted Huxley’s words to the -Royal Society and Pitt’s words to the House of Commons. He stated that -since the first Bill had been voted, a new series of discoveries, no -less marvellous from a theoretical point of view and yet more important -from a practical point of view, had come to strike the world of Science -with astonishment and admiration.” Recapitulating Pasteur’s works, he -said-- - -“They may be classed in three series, constituting three great -discoveries. - -“The first one may be formulated thus: _Each fermentation is produced by -the development of a special microbe_. - -“_The second one may be given this formula: Each infectious disease_ -(those at least that M. Pasteur and his immediate followers have -studied) _is produced by the development within the organism of a -special microbe_. - -“The third one may be expressed in this way: _The microbe of an -infectious disease, cultivated under certain detrimental conditions, is -attenuated in its pathogenic activity; from a virus it has become a -vaccine_. - -“As a practical consequence of the first discovery, M. Pasteur has given -rules for the manufacture of beer and of vinegar, and shown how beer and -wine may be preserved against secondary fermentations which would turn -them sour, bitter or slimy, and which render difficult their transport -and even their preservation on the spot. - -“As a practical consequence of the second discovery, M. Pasteur has -given rules to be followed to preserve cattle from splenic fever -contamination, and silkworms from the diseases which decimated them. -Surgeons, on the other hand, have succeeded, by means of the guidance it -afforded, in effecting almost completely the disappearance of erysipelas -and of the purulent infections which formerly brought about the death -of so many patients after operations. - -“As a practical consequence of the third discovery, M. Pasteur has given -rules for, and indeed has effected, the preservation of horses, oxen, -and sheep from the anthrax disease which every year kills in France -about 20,000,000 francs’ worth. Swine will also be preserved from the -rouget disease which decimates them, and poultry from the cholera which -makes such terrible havoc among them. Everything leads us to hope that -rabies will also soon be conquered.” When Paul Bert was congratulated on -his report, he said, “Admiration is such a good, wholesome thing!!” - -The Bill was voted by the Chamber, and a fortnight later by the Senate, -unanimously. Pasteur heard the first news through the newspapers, for he -had just gone to the Jura. On July 14, he left Arbois for Dôle, where he -had promised to be present at a double ceremony. - - * * * * * - -On that national holiday, a statue of Peace was to be inaugurated, and a -memorial plate placed on the house where Pasteur was born; truly a -harmonious association of ideas. The prefect of the Jura evidently felt -it when, while unveiling the statue in the presence of Pasteur, he said: -“This is Peace, who has inspired Genius and the great services it has -rendered.” The official procession, followed by popular acclamation, -went on to the narrow Rue des Tanneurs. When Pasteur, who had not seen -his native place since his childhood, found himself before that tannery, -in the low humble rooms of which his father and mother had lived, he -felt himself the prey to a strong emotion. - -The mayor quoted these words from the resolutions of the Municipal -Council: “M. Pasteur is a benefactor of Humanity, one of the great men -of France; he will remain for all Dôlois and in particular those who, -like him, have risen from the ranks of the people, an object of respect -as well as an example to follow; we consider that it is our duty to -perpetuate his name in our town.” - -The Director of Fine Arts, M. Kaempfen, representing the Government at -the ceremony, pronounced these simple words: “In the name of the -Government of the Republic, I salute the inscription which commemorates -the fact that in this little house, in this little street, was born, on -December 27, 1822, he who was to become one of the greatest scientists -of this century so great in science, and who has, by his admirable -labours, increased the glory of France and deserved well of the whole of -humanity.” - -The feelings in Pasteur’s heart burst forth in these terms: “Gentlemen, -I am profoundly moved by the honour done to me by the town of Dôle; but -allow me, while expressing my gratitude, to protest against this excess -of praise. By according to me a homage rendered usually but to the -illustrious dead, you anticipate too much the judgment of posterity. -Will it ratify your decision? and should not you, Mr. Mayor, have -prudently warned the Municipal Council against such a hasty resolution? - -“But after protesting, gentlemen, against the brilliant testimony of an -admiration which is more than I deserve, let me tell you that I am -touched, moved to the bottom of my soul. Your sympathy has joined on -that memorial plate the two great things which have been the passion and -the delight of my life: the love of Science and the cult of the home. - -“Oh! my father, my mother, dear departed ones, who lived so humbly in -this little house, it is to you that I owe everything. Thy enthusiasm, -my brave-hearted mother, thou hast instilled it into me. If I have -always associated the greatness of Science with the greatness of France, -it is because I was impregnated with the feelings that thou hadst -inspired. And thou, dearest father, whose life was as hard as thy hard -trade, thou hast shown to me what patience and protracted effort can -accomplish. It is to thee that I owe perseverance in daily work. Not -only hadst thou the qualities which go to make a useful life, but also -admiration for great men and great things. To look upwards, learn to the -utmost, to seek to rise ever higher, such was thy teaching. I can see -thee now, after a hard day’s work, reading in the evening some story of -the battles in the glorious epoch of which thou wast a witness. Whilst -teaching me to read, thy care was that I should learn the greatness of -France. - -“Be ye blessed, my dear parents, for what ye have been, and may the -homage done to-day to your little house be yours! - -“I thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity of saying aloud what I have -thought for sixty years. I thank you for this fête and for your welcome, -and I thank the town of Dôle, which loses sight of none of her -children, and which has kept such a remembrance of me.” - -“Nothing is more exquisite,” wrote Bouley to Pasteur, “than those -feelings of a noble heart, giving credit to the parents’ influence for -all the glory with which their son has covered their name. All your -friends recognized you, and you appeared under quite a new light to -those who may have misjudged your heart by knowing of you only the -somewhat bitter words of some of your Academy speeches, when the love of -truth has sometimes made you forgetful of gentleness.” - -It might have seemed that after so much homage, especially when offered -in such a delicate way as on this last occasion, Pasteur had indeed -reached a pinnacle of fame. His ambition however was not satisfied. Was -it then boundless, in spite of the modesty which drew all hearts towards -him? What more did he wish? Two great things: to complete his studies on -hydrophobia and to establish the position of his collaborators--whose -name he ever associated with his work--as his acknowledged successors. - - * * * * * - -A few cases of cholera had occurred at Damietta in the month of June. -The English declared that it was but endemic cholera, and opposed the -quarantines. They had with them the majority of the Alexandria Sanitary -Council, and could easily prevent sanitary measures from being taken. If -the English, voluntarily closing their eyes to the dangers of the -epidemic, had wished to furnish a new proof of the importation of -cholera, they could not have succeeded better. The cholera spread, and -by July 14 it had reached Cairo. Between the 14th and 22nd there were -five hundred deaths per day. - -Alexandria was threatened. Pasteur, before leaving Paris for Arbois, -submitted to the Consulting Committee of Public Hygiene the idea of a -French Scientific Mission to Alexandria. “Since the last epidemic in -1865,” he said, “science has made great progress on the subject of -transmissible diseases. Every one of those diseases which has been -subjected to a thorough study has been found by biologists to be -produced by a microscopic being developing within the body of man or of -animals, and causing therein ravages which are generally mortal. All the -symptoms of the disease, all the causes of death depend directly upon -the physiological properties of the microbe.... What is wanted at this -moment to satisfy the preoccupations of science is to inquire into the -primary cause of the scourge. Now the present state of knowledge demands -that attention should be drawn to the possible existence within the -blood, or within some organ, of a micro-organism whose nature and -properties would account in all probability for all the peculiarities of -cholera, both as to the morbid symptoms and the mode of its propagation. -The proved existence of such a microbe would soon take precedence over -the whole question of the measures to be taken to arrest the evil in its -course, and might perhaps suggest new methods of treatment.” - -Not only did the Committee of Hygiene approve of Pasteur’s project, but -they asked him to choose some young men whose knowledge would be -equalled by their devotion. Pasteur only had to look around him. When, -on his return to the laboratory, he mentioned what had taken place at -the Committee of Hygiene, M. Roux immediately offered to start. A -professor at the Faculty of Medicine who had some hospital practice, M. -Straus, and a professor at the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Nocard, both -of whom had been authorised to work in the laboratory, asked permission -to accompany M. Roux. Thuillier had the same desire, but asked for -twenty-four hours to think over it. - -The thought of his father and mother, who had made a great many -sacrifices for his education, and whose only joy was to receive him at -Amiens, where they lived, during his short holidays, made him hesitate. -But the thought of duty overcame his regrets; he put his papers and -notes in order and went to see his dear ones again. He told his father -of his intention, but his mother did not know of it. At the time when -the papers spoke of a French commission to study cholera, his elder -sister, who loved him with an almost motherly tenderness, said to him -suddenly, “You are not going to Egypt, Louis? swear that you are not!” -“I am not going to swear anything,” he answered, with absolute calm; -adding that he might some time go to Russia to proceed to some -vaccination of anthrax, as he had done at Buda-Pesth in 1881. When he -left Amiens nothing in his farewells revealed his deep emotion; it was -only from Marseilles that he wrote the truth. - -Administrative difficulties retarded the departure of the Commission, -which only reached Egypt on August 15. Dr. Koch had also come to study -cholera. The head physician of the European hospital, Dr. Ardouin, -placed his wards at the entire disposal of the French savants. In a -certain number of cases, it was possible to proceed to post-mortem -examinations immediately after death, before putrefaction had begun. It -was a great thing from the point of view of the search after a -pathogenic micro-organism as well as from the anatomo-pathological point -of view. - -The contents of the intestines and the characteristic stools of the -cholera patients offered a great variety of micro-organisms. But which -was really the cause of cholera? The most varied modes of culture were -attempted in vain. The same negative results followed inoculations into -divers animal species, cats, dogs, swine, monkeys, pigeons, rabbits, -guinea-pigs, etc., made with the blood of cholerics or with the contents -of their bowels. Experiments were made with twenty-four corpses. The -epidemic ceased unexpectedly. Not to waste time, while waiting for a -reappearance of the disease, the French Commission took up some -researches on cattle plague. Suddenly a telegram from M. Roux informed -Pasteur that Thuillier had succumbed to an attack of cholera. - -“I have just heard the news of a great misfortune,” wrote Pasteur to J. -B. Dumas on September 19; “M. Thuillier died yesterday at Alexandria of -cholera. I have telegraphed to the Mayor of Amiens asking him to break -the news to the family. - -“Science loses in Thuillier a courageous representative with a great -future before him. I lose a much-loved and devoted pupil; my laboratory -one of its principal supports. - -“I can only console myself for this death by thinking of our beloved -country and all he has done for it.” - -Thuillier was only twenty-six. How had this happened? Had he neglected -any of the precautions which Pasteur had written down before the -departure of the Commission, and which were so minute as to be thought -exaggerated? - -Pasteur remained silent all day, absolutely overcome. The head of the -laboratory, M. Chamberland, divining his master’s grief, came to Arbois. -They exchanged their sorrowful thoughts, and Pasteur fell back into his -sad broodings. - -A few days later, a letter from M. Roux related the sad story: -“_Alexandria, September 21._ Sir and dear master--Having just heard that -an Italian ship is going to start, I am writing a few lines without -waiting for the French mail. The telegraph has told you of the terrible -misfortune which has befallen us.” - -M. Roux then proceeded to relate in detail the symptoms presented by the -unfortunate young man, who, after going to bed at ten o’clock, -apparently in perfect health, had suddenly been taken ill about three -o’clock in the morning of Saturday, September 15. At eight o’clock, all -the horrible symptoms of the most violent form of cholera were apparent, -and his friends gave him up for lost. They continued their desperate -endeavours however, assisted by the whole staff of French and Italian -doctors. - -“By dint of all our strength, all our energy, we protracted the struggle -until seven o’clock on Wednesday morning, the 19th. The asphyxia, which -had then lasted twenty-four hours, was stronger than our efforts. - -“Your own feelings will help you to imagine our grief. - -“The French colony and the medical staff are thunderstruck. Splendid -funeral honours have been rendered to our poor Thuillier. - -“He was buried at four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, with the finest -and most imposing manifestation Alexandria had seen for a long time. - -“One very precious and affecting homage was rendered by the German -Commission with a noble simplicity which touched us all very much. - -“M. Koch and his collaborators arrived when the news spread in the town. -They gave utterance to beautiful and touching words to the memory of our -dead friend. When the funeral took place, those gentlemen brought two -wreaths which they themselves nailed on the coffin. ‘They are simple,’ -said M. Koch, ‘but they are of laurel, such as are given to the brave.’ - -“M. Koch hold one corner of the pall. We embalmed our comrade’s body; he -lies in a sealed zinc coffin. All formalities have been complied with, -so that his remains may be brought back to France when the necessary -time has expired. In Egypt the period of delay is a whole year. - -“The French colony desires to erect a monument to the memory of Louis -Thuillier. - -“Dear master, how much more I should like to tell you! The recital of -the sad event which happened so quickly would take pages. This blow is -altogether incomprehensible. It was more than a fortnight since we had -seen a single case of cholera; we were beginning to study cattle-plague. - -“Of us all, Thuillier was the one who took most precautions; he was -irreproachably careful. - -“We are writing by this post a few lines to his family, in the names of -all of us. - -“Such are the blows cholera can strike at the end of an epidemic! Want -of time forces me to close this letter. Pray believe in our respectful -affection.” - -The whole of the French colony, who received great marks of sympathy -from the Italians and other foreigners, wished to perpetuate the memory -of Thuillier. Pasteur wrote, on October 16, to a French physician at -Alexandria, who had informed him of this project: - -“I am touched with the generous resolution of the French colony at -Alexandria to erect a monument to the memory of Louis Thuillier. That -valiant and beloved young man was deserving of every honour. I know, -perhaps better than any one, the loss inflicted on science by his cruel -death. I cannot console myself, and I am already dreading the sight of -the dear fellow’s empty place in my laboratory.” - -On his return to Paris, Pasteur read a paper to the Academy of Sciences, -in his own name and in that of Thuillier, on the now well-ascertained -mode of vaccination for swine-fever. He began by recalling Thuillier’s -worth: - -“Thuillier entered my laboratory after taking the first rank at the -Physical Science Agrégation competition at the Ecole Normale. His was a -deeply meditative, silent nature; his whole person breathed a virile -energy which struck all those who knew him. An indefatigable worker, he -was ever ready for self-sacrifice.” - -A few days before, M. Straus had given to the Biology Society a summary -statement of the studies of the Cholera Commission, concluding thus: -“The documents collected during those two months are far from solving -the etiological problem of cholera, but will perhaps not be useless for -the orientation of future research.” - -The cholera bacillus was put in evidence, later on, by Dr. Koch, who had -already suspected it during his researches in Egypt. - - * * * * * - -Glory, which had been seen in the battlefield at the beginning of the -nineteenth century, now seemed to elect to dwell in the laboratory, -that “temple of the future” as Pasteur called it. From every part of the -world, letters reached Pasteur, appeals, requests for consultations. -Many took him for a physician. “He does not cure individuals,” answered -Edmond About one day to a foreigner who was under that misapprehension; -“he only tries to cure humanity.” Some sceptical minds were predicting -failure to his studies on hydrophobia. This problem was complicated by -the fact that Pasteur was trying in vain to discover and isolate the -specific microbe. - -He was endeavouring to evade that difficulty; the idea pursued him that -human medicine might avail itself of “the long period of incubation of -hydrophobia, by attempting to establish, during that interval before the -appearance of the first rabic symptoms, a refractory condition in the -subjects bitten.” - -At the beginning of the year 1884, J. B. Dumas enjoyed following from a -distance Pasteur’s readings at the Académie des Sciences. His failing -health and advancing age (he was more than eighty years old) had forced -him to spend the winter in the South of France. On January 26, 1884, he -wrote to Pasteur for the last time, à propos of a book[32] which was a -short summary of Pasteur’s discoveries and their concatenation: - -“Dear colleague and friend,--I have read with a great and sincere -emotion the picture of your scientific life drawn by a faithful and -loving hand. - -“Myself a witness and a sincere admirer of your happy efforts, your -fruitful genius and your imperturbable method, I consider it a great -service rendered to Science, that the accurate and complete whole should -be put before the eyes of young people. - -“It will make a wholesome impression on the public in general; to young -scientists, it will be an initiation, and to those who, like me, have -passed the age of labour it will bring happy memories of youthful -enthusiasm. - -“May Providence long spare you to France, and maintain in you that -admirable equilibrium between the mind that observes, the genius that -conceives, and the hand that executes with a perfection unknown until -now.” - -This was a last proof of Dumas’ affection for Pasteur. Although his life -was now fast drawing to its close, his mental faculties were in no wise -impaired, for we find him three weeks later, on February 20, using his -influence as Permanent Secretary of the Academy to obtain the Lacaze -prize for M. Cailletet, the inventor of the well-known apparatus for the -liquefaction of gases. - -J. B. Dumas died on April 11, 1884. Pasteur was then about to start for -Edinburgh on the occasion of the tercentenary of the celebrated Scotch -University. The “Institut de France,” invited to take part in these -celebrations, had selected representatives from each of the five -Academies: the Académie Française was sending M. Caro; the Academy of -Sciences, Pasteur and de Lesseps; the Academy of Moral Sciences, M. -Gréard; the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, M. Perrot; and the -Academy of Fine Arts, M. Eugène Guillaume. The Collège de France sent M. -Guillaume Guizot, and the Academy of Medicine Dr. Henry Gueneau de -Mussy. - -Pasteur much wished to relinquish this official journey; the idea that -he would not be able to follow to the grave the incomparable teacher of -his youth, the counsellor and confidant of his life, was infinitely -painful to him. - -He was however reconciled to it by one of his colleagues, M. Mézières, -who was going to Edinburgh on behalf of the Minister of Public -Instruction, and who pointed out to him that the best way of honouring -Dumas’ memory lay in remembering Dumas’ chief object in life--the -interests of France. Pasteur went, hoping that he would have an -opportunity of speaking of Dumas to the Edinburgh students. - -In London, the French delegates had the pleasant surprise of finding -that a private saloon had been reserved to take Pasteur and his friends -to Edinburgh. This hospitality was offered to Pasteur by one of his -numerous admirers, Mr. Younger, an Edinburgh brewer, as a token of -gratitude for his discoveries in the manufacture of beer. He and his -wife and children welcomed Pasteur with the warmest cordiality, when the -train reached Edinburgh; the principal inhabitants of the great Scotch -city vied with each other in entertaining the French delegates, who were -delighted with their reception. - -The next morning, they, and the various representatives from all parts -of the world, assembled in the Cathedral of St. Giles, where, with the -exalted feeling which, in the Scotch people, mingles religious with -political life, the Town Council had decided that a service should -inaugurate the rejoicings. The Rev. Robert Flint, mounting that pulpit -from which the impetuous John Knox, Calvin’s friend and disciple, had -breathed forth his violent fanaticism, preached to the immense assembly -with a full consciousness of the importance of his discourse. He spoke -of the relations between Science and Faith, of the absolute liberty of -science in the realm of facts, of the thought of God considered as a -stimulant to research, progress being but a Divine impulse. - -In the afternoon, the students imparted life and merriment into the -proceedings; they had organized a dramatic performance, the members of -the orchestra, even, being undergraduates. - -The French delegates took great interest in the system of this -University. Accustomed as they were to look upon the State as sole -master and dispenser, they now saw an independent institution, owing its -fortune to voluntary contributions, revealing in every point the power -of private enterprise. Unlike what takes place in France, where -administrative unity makes itself felt in the smallest village, the -British Government effaces itself, and merely endeavours to inspire -faith in political unity. Absolutely her own mistress, the University of -Edinburgh is free to confer high honorary degrees on her distinguished -visitors. However, these honorary diplomas are but of two kinds, viz.: -Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) and Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). In 1884, seventeen -degrees of D.D. and 122 degrees of LL.D. were reserved for the various -delegates. “The only laws I know,” smilingly said the learned Helmholtz, -“are the laws of Physics.” - -The solemn proclamation of the University degrees took place on -Thursday, April 17. The streets and monuments of the beautiful city were -decorated with flags, and an air of rejoicing pervaded the whole -atmosphere. - -The ceremony began by a special prayer, alluding to the past, looking -forward to the future, and asking for God’s blessing on the delegates -and their countries. The large assembly filled the immense hall where -the Synod of the Presbyterian Church holds its meetings. The Chancellor -and the Rector of the University were seated on a platform with a large -number of professors; those who were about to receive honorary degrees -occupied seats in the centre of the hall; about three thousand students -found seats in various parts of the hall. - -The Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh had arranged that the new -graduates should be called in alphabetical order. As each of them heard -his name, he rose and mounted the platform. The students took great -pleasure in heartily cheering those savants who had had most influence -on their studies. When Pasteur’s name was pronounced, a great silence -ensued; every one was trying to obtain a sight of him as he walked -towards the platform. His appearance was the signal for a perfect -outburst of applause; five thousand men rose and cheered him. It was -indeed a splendid ovation. - -In the evening, a banquet was set out in the hall, which was hung with -the blue and white colours of the University; there were a thousand -guests, seated round twenty-eight tables, one of which, the high table, -was reserved for the speakers who were to propose the toasts, which were -to last four hours. Pasteur was seated next to Virchow; they talked -together of the question of rabies, and Virchow owned that, when he saw -Pasteur in 1881 about to tackle this question, he much doubted the -possibility of a solution. This friendly chat between two such men -proves the desirability of such gatherings; intercourse between the -greatest scientists can but lead to general peace and fraternity between -nations. After having read a telegram from the Queen, congratulating the -University and welcoming the guests, a toast was drunk to the Queen and -to the Royal Family, and a few words spoken by the representative of the -Emperor of Brazil. Pasteur then rose to speak: - -“My Lord Chancellor, Gentlemen, the city of Edinburgh is now offering a -sight of which she may be proud. All the great scientific institutions, -meeting here, appear as an immense Congress of hopes and -congratulations. The honour and glory of this international rendezvous -deservedly belong to you, for it is centuries since Scotland united her -destinies with those of the human mind. She was one of the first among -the nations to understand that intellect leads the world. And the world -of intellect, gladly answering your call, lays a well-merited homage at -your feet. When, yesterday, the eminent Professor Robert Flint, -addressing the Edinburgh University from the pulpit of St. Giles, -exclaimed, ‘Remember the past and look to the future,’ all the -delegates, seated like judges at a great tribunal, evoked a vision of -past centuries and joined in a unanimous wish for a yet more glorious -future. - -“Amongst the illustrious delegates of all nations who bring you an -assurance of cordial good wishes, France has sent to represent her those -of her institutions which are most representative of the French spirit -and the best part of French glory. France is ready to applaud whenever a -source of light appears in the world; and when death strikes down a man -of genius, France is ready to weep as for one of her own children. This -noble spirit of solidarity was brought home to me when I heard some of -you speak feelingly of the death of the illustrious chemist, J. B. -Dumas, a celebrated member of all your Academies, and only a few years -ago an eloquent panegyrist of your great Faraday. It was a bitter grief -to me that I had to leave Paris before his funeral ceremony; but the -hope of rendering here a last and solemn homage to that revered master -helped me to conquer my affliction. Moreover, gentlemen, men may pass, -but their works remain; we all are but passing guests of these great -homes of intellect, which, like all the Universities who have come to -greet you in this solemn day, are assured of immortality.” - -Pasteur, having thus rendered homage to J. B. Dumas, and having -glorified his country by his presence, his speech and the great honours -conferred on him, would have returned home at once; but the -undergraduates begged to be allowed to entertain, the next day, some of -those men whom they looked upon as examples and whom they might never -see again. - -Pasteur thanked the students for this invitation, which filled him with -pride and pleasure, for he had always loved young people, he said, and -continued, in his deep, stirring voice: - -“Ever since I can remember my life as a man, I do not think I have ever -spoken for the first time with a student without saying to him, ‘Work -perseveringly; work can be made into a pleasure, and alone is profitable -to man, to his city, to his country.’ It is even more natural that I -should thus speak to you. The common soul (if I may so speak) of an -assembly of young men is wholly formed of the most generous feelings, -being yet illumined with the divine spark which is in every man as he -enters this world. You have just given a proof of this assurance, and I -have felt moved to the heart in hearing you applaud, as you have just -been doing, such men as de Lesseps, Helmholtz and Virchow. Your language -has borrowed from ours the beautiful word _enthusiasm_, bequeathed to us -by the Greeks: εν θεός, an inward God. It was almost with a divine -feeling that you just now cheered those great men. - -“One of those of our writers who have best made known to France and to -Europe the philosophy of Robert Reid and Dugald Stewart said, addressing -young men in the preface of one of his works:-- - -“‘Whatever career you may embrace, look up to an exalted goal; worship -great men and great things.’ - -“Great things! You have indeed seen them. Will not this centenary remain -one of Scotland’s glorious memories? As to great men, in no country is -their memory better honoured than in yours. But, if work should be the -very life of your life, if the cult for great men and great things -should be associated with your every thought, that is still not enough. -Try to bring into everything you undertake the spirit of scientific -method, founded on the immortal works of Galileo, Descartes and Newton. - -“You especially, medical students of this celebrated University of -Edinburgh--who, trained as you are by eminent masters, may aspire to the -highest scientific ambition--be you inspired by the experimental method. -To its principles, Scotland owes such men as Brewster, Thomson and -Lister.” - -The speaker who had to respond on behalf of the students to the foreign -delegates expressed himself thus, directly addressing Pasteur: - -“Monsieur Pasteur, you have snatched from nature secrets too carefully, -almost maliciously hidden. We greet in you a benefactor of humanity, all -the more so because we know that you admit the existence of spiritual -secrets, revealed to us by what you have just called the work of God in -us. - -“Representatives of France, we beg you to tell your great country that -we are following with admiration the great reforms now being introduced -into every branch of your education, reforms which we look upon as -tokens of a beneficent rivalry and of a more and more cordial -intercourse--for misunderstandings result from ignorance, a darkness -lightened by the work of scientists.” - -The next morning, at ten o’clock, crowds gathered on the station -platform with waving handkerchiefs. People were showing each other a -great Edinburgh daily paper, in which Pasteur’s speech to the -undergraduates was reproduced and which also contained the following -announcement in large print: - -“In memory of M. Pasteur’s visit to Edinburgh, Mr. Younger offers to the -Edinburgh University a donation of £500.” - -Livingstone’s daughter, Mrs. Bruce, on whom Pasteur had called the -preceding day, came to the station a few moments before the departure -of the train, bringing him a book entitled _The Life of Livingstone_. - -The saloon carriage awaited Pasteur and his friends. They departed, -delighted with the hospitality they had received, and much struck with -the prominent place given to science and the welcome accorded to -Pasteur. “This is indeed glory,” said one of them. “Believe me,” said -Pasteur, “I only look upon it as a reason for continuing to go forward -as long as my strength does not fail me.” - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -1884--1885 - - -Amidst the various researches undertaken in his laboratory, one study -was placed by Pasteur above every other, one mystery constantly haunted -his mind--that of hydrophobia. When he was received at the Académie -Française, Renan, hoping to prove himself a prophet for once, said to -him: “Humanity will owe to you deliverance from a horrible disease and -also from a sad anomaly: I mean the distrust which we cannot help -mingling with the caresses of the animal in whom we see most of nature’s -smiling benevolence.” - -The two first mad dogs brought into the laboratory were given to -Pasteur, in 1880, by M. Bourrel, an old army veterinary surgeon who had -long been trying to find a remedy for hydrophobia. He had invented a -preventive measure which consisted in filing down the teeth of dogs, so -that they should not bite into the skin; in 1874, he had written that -vivisection threw no light on that disease, the laws of which were -“impenetrable to science until now.” It now occurred to him that, -perhaps, the investigators in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale might -be more successful than he had been in his kennels in the Rue -Fontaine-au-Roi. - -One of the two dogs he sent was suffering from what is called _dumb -madness_: his jaw hung, half opened and paralyzed, his tongue was -covered with foam, and his eyes full of wistful anguish; the other made -ferocious darts at anything held out to him, with a rabid fury in his -bloodshot eyes, and, in the hallucinations of his delirium, gave vent to -haunting, despairing howls. - -Much confusion prevailed at that time regarding this disease, its seat, -its causes, and its remedy. Three things seemed positive: firstly, that -the rabic virus was contained in the saliva of the mad animals; -secondly, that it was communicated through bites; and thirdly, that the -period of incubation might vary from a few days to several months. -Clinical observation was reduced to complete impotence; perhaps -experiments might throw some light on the subject. - -Bouley had affirmed in April, 1870, that the germ of the evil was -localized in the saliva, and a new fact had seemed to support this -theory. On December 10, 1880, Pasteur was advised by Professor -Lannelongue that a five-year-old child, bitten on the face a month -before, had just been admitted into the Hôpital Trousseau. The -unfortunate little patient presented all the characteristics of -hydrophobia: spasms, restlessness, shudders at the least breath of air, -an ardent thirst, accompanied with an absolute impossibility of -swallowing, convulsive movements, fits of furious rage--not one symptom -was absent. The child died after twenty-four hours of horrible -suffering--suffocated by the mucus which filled the mouth. Pasteur -gathered some of that mucus four hours after the child’s death, and -mixed it with water; he then inoculated this into some rabbits, which -died in less than thirty-six hours, and whose saliva, injected into -other rabbits, provoked an almost equally rapid death. Dr. Maurice -Raynaud, who had already declared that hydrophobia could be transmitted -to rabbits through the human saliva, and who had also caused the death -of some rabbits with the saliva of that same child, thought himself -justified in saying that those rabbits had died of hydrophobia. - -Pasteur was slower in drawing conclusions. He had examined with a -microscope the blood of those rabbits which had died in the laboratory, -and had found in it a micro-organism; he had cultivated this organism in -veal broth, inoculated it into rabbits and dogs, and, its virulence -having manifested itself in these animals, their blood had been found to -contain that same microbe. “But,” added Pasteur at the meeting of the -Academy of Medicine (January 18, 1881), “I am absolutely ignorant of the -connection there may be between this new disease and hydrophobia.” It -was indeed a singular thing that the deadly issue of this disease should -occur so early, when the incubation period of hydrophobia is usually so -long. Was there not some unknown microbe associated with the rabic -saliva? This query was followed by experiments made with the saliva of -children who had died of ordinary diseases, and even with that of -healthy adults. Thuillier, following up and studying this saliva microbe -and its special virulence with his usual patience, soon applied to it -with success the method of attenuation by the oxygen in air. “What did -we want with a new disease?” said a good many people, and yet it was -making a stop forward to clear up this preliminary confusion. Pasteur, -in the course of a long and minute study of the saliva of mad dogs--in -which it was so generally admitted that the virulent principle of rabies -had its seat, that precautions against saliva were the only ones taken -at post-mortem examinations--discovered many other mistakes. If a -healthy dog’s saliva contains many microbes, licked up by the dog in -various kinds of dirt, what must be the condition of the mouth of a -rabid dog, springing upon everything he meets, to tear it and bite it? -The rabic virus is therefore associated with many other micro-organisms, -ready to play their part and puzzle experimentalists; abscesses, morbid -complications of all sorts, may intervene before the development of the -rabic virus. Hydrophobia might evidently be developed by the inoculation -of saliva, but it could not be confidently asserted that it would. -Pasteur had made endless efforts to inoculate rabies to rabbits solely -through the saliva of a mad dog; as soon as a case of hydrophobia -occurred in Bourrel’s kennels, a telegram informed the laboratory, and a -few rabbits were immediately taken round in a cab. - -One day, Pasteur having wished to collect a little saliva from the jaws -of a rabid dog, so as to obtain it directly, two of Bourrel’s assistants -undertook to drag a mad bulldog, foaming at the mouth, from its cage; -they seized it by means of a lasso, and stretched it on a table. These -two men, thus associated with Pasteur in the same danger, with the same -calm heroism, held the struggling, ferocious animal down with their -powerful hands, whilst the scientist drew, by means of a glass tube held -between his lips, a few drops of the deadly saliva. - -But the same uncertainty followed the inoculation of the saliva; the -incubation was so slow that weeks and months often elapsed whilst the -result of an experiment was being anxiously awaited. Evidently the -saliva was not a sure agent for experiments, and if more knowledge was -to be obtained, some other means had to be found of obtaining it. - -Magendie and Renault had both tried experimenting with rabic blood, but -with no results, and Paul Bert had been equally unsuccessful. Pasteur -tried in his turn, but also in vain. “We must try other experiments,” he -said, with his usual indefatigable perseverance. - -As the number of cases observed became larger, he felt a growing -conviction that hydrophobia has its seat in the nervous system, and -particularly in the medulla oblongata. “The propagation of the virus in -a rabid dog’s nervous system can almost be observed in its every stage,” -writes M. Roux, Pasteur’s daily associate in these researches, which he -afterwards made the subject of his thesis. “The anguish and fury due to -the excitation of the grey cortex of the brain are followed by an -alteration of the voice and a difficulty in deglutition. The medulla -oblongata and the nerves starting from it are attacked in their turn; -finally, the spinal cord itself becomes invaded and paralysis closes the -scene.” - -As long as the virus has not reached the nervous centres, it may sojourn -for weeks or months in some point of the body; this explains the -slowness of certain incubations, and the fortunate escapes after some -bites from rabid dogs. The _a priori_ supposition that the virus attacks -the nervous centres went very far back; it had served as a basis to a -theory enunciated by Dr. Duboué (of Pau), who had, however, not -supported it by any experiments. On the contrary, when M. Galtier, a -professor at the Lyons Veterinary School, had attempted experiments in -that direction, he had to inform the Academy of Medicine, in January, -1881, that he had only ascertained the existence of virus in rabid dogs -in the lingual glands and in the bucco-pharyngeal mucous membrane. “More -than ten times, and always unsuccessfully, have I inoculated the product -obtained by pressure of the cerebral substances of the cerebellum or of -the medulla oblongata of rabid dogs.” - -Pasteur was about to prove that it was possible to succeed by operating -in a special manner, according to a rigorous technique, unknown in other -laboratories. When the post-mortem examination of a mad dog had revealed -no characteristic lesion, the brain was uncovered, and the surface of -the medulla oblongata scalded with a glass stick, so as to destroy any -external dust or dirt. Then, with a long tube, previously put through a -flame, a particle of the substance was drawn and deposited in a glass -just taken from a stove heated up to 200° C., and mixed with a little -water or sterilized broth by means of a glass agitator, also previously -put through a flame. The syringe used for inoculation on the rabbit or -dog (lying ready on the operating board) had been purified in boiling -water. - -Most of the animals who received this inoculation under the skin -succumbed to hydrophobia; that virulent matter was therefore more -successful than the saliva, which was a great result obtained. - -“The seat of the rabic virus,” wrote Pasteur, “is therefore not in the -saliva only: the brain contains it in a degree of virulence at least -equal to that of the saliva of rabid animals.” But, to Pasteur’s eyes, -this was but a preliminary step on the long road which stretched before -him; it was necessary that all the inoculated animals should contract -hydrophobia, and the period of incubation had to be shortened. - - * * * * * - -It was then that it occurred to Pasteur to inoculate the rabic virus -directly on the surface of a dog’s brain. He thought that, by placing -the virus from the beginning in its true medium, hydrophobia would more -surely supervene and the incubation might be shorter. The experiment was -attempted: a dog under chloroform was fixed to the operating board, and -a small, round portion of the cranium removed by means of a trephine (a -surgical instrument somewhat similar to a fret-saw); the tough fibrous -membrane called the dura-mater, being thus exposed, was then injected -with a small quantity of the prepared virus, which lay in readiness in a -Pravaz syringe. The wound was washed with carbolic and the skin stitched -together, the whole thing lasting but a few minutes. The dog, on -returning to consciousness, seemed quite the same as usual. But, after -fourteen days, hydrophobia appeared: rabid fury, characteristic howls, -the tearing up and devouring of his bed, delirious hallucination, and -finally, paralysis and death. - -A method was therefore found by which rabies was contracted surely and -swiftly. Trephinings were again performed on chloroformed -animals--Pasteur had a great horror of useless sufferings, and always -insisted on anæsthesia. In every case, characteristic hydrophobia -occurred after inoculation on the brain. The main lines of this -complicated question were beginning to be traceable; but other obstacles -were in the way. Pasteur could not apply the method he had hitherto -used, _i.e._ to isolate, and then to cultivate in an artificial medium, -the microbe of hydrophobia, for he failed in detecting this microbe. Yet -its existence admitted of no doubt; perhaps it was beyond the limits of -human sight. “Since this unknown being is living,” thought Pasteur, “we -must cultivate it; failing an artificial medium, let us try the brain -of living rabbits; it would indeed be an experimental feat!” - -As soon as a trephined and inoculated rabbit died paralyzed, a little of -his rabic medulla was inoculated to another; each inoculation succeeded -another, and the time of incubation became shorter and shorter, until, -after a hundred uninterrupted inoculations, it came to be reduced to -seven days. But the virus, having reached this degree, the virulence of -which was found to be greater than that of the virus of dogs made rabid -by an accidental bite, now became fixed; Pasteur had mastered it. He -could now predict the exact time when death should occur in each of the -inoculated animals; his predictions were verified with surprising -accuracy. - -Pasteur was not yet satisfied with the immense progress marked by -infallible inoculation and the shortened incubation; he now wished to -decrease the degrees of virulence--when the attenuation of the virus was -once conquered, it might be hoped that dogs could be made refractory to -rabies. Pasteur abstracted a fragment of the medulla from a rabbit which -had just died of rabies after an inoculation of the fixed virus; this -fragment was suspended by a thread in a sterilized phial, the air in -which was kept dry by some pieces of caustic potash lying at the bottom -of the vessel and which was closed by a cotton-wool plug to prevent the -entrance of atmospheric dusts. The temperature of the room where this -desiccation took place was maintained at 23° C. As the medulla gradually -became dry, its virulence decreased, until, at the end of fourteen days, -it had become absolutely extinguished. This now inactive medulla was -crushed and mixed with pure water, and injected under the skin of some -dogs. The next day they were inoculated with medulla which had been -desiccating for thirteen days, and so on, using increased virulence -until the medulla was used of a rabbit dead the same day. These dogs -might now be bitten by rabid dogs given them as companions for a few -minutes, or submitted to the intracranial inoculations of the deadly -virus: they resisted both. - -Having at last obtained this refractory condition, Pasteur was anxious -that his results should be verified by a Commission. The Minister of -Public Instruction acceded to this desire, and a Commission was -constituted in May, 1884, composed of Messrs. Béclard, Dean of the -Faculty of Medicine, Paul Bert, Bouley, Villemin, Vulpian, and -Tisserand, Director of the Agriculture Office. The Commission -immediately set to work; a rabid dog having succumbed at Alfort on June -1, its carcase was brought to the laboratory of the Ecole Normale, and a -fragment of the medulla oblongata was mixed with some sterilized broth. -Two dogs, declared by Pasteur to be refractory to rabies, were -trephined, and a few drops of the liquid injected into their brains; two -other dogs and two rabbits received inoculations at the same time, with -the same liquid and in precisely the same manner. - -Bouley was taking notes for a report to be presented to the Minister: - -“M. Pasteur tells us that, considering the nature of the rabic virus -used, the rabbits and the two new dogs will develop rabies within twelve -or fifteen days, and that the two refractory dogs will not develop it at -all, however long they may be detained under observation.” - -On May 29, Mme. Pasteur wrote to her children: - -“The Commission on rabies met to-day and elected M. Bouley as chairman. -Nothing is settled as to commencing experiments. Your father is absorbed -in his thoughts, talks little, sleeps little, rises at dawn, and, in one -word, continues the life I began with him this day thirty-five years -ago.” - -On June 3, Bourrel sent word that he had a rabid dog in the kennels of -the Rue Fontaine-au-Roi; a refractory dog and a new dog were immediately -submitted to numerous bites; the latter was violently bitten on the head -in several places. The rabid dog, still living the next day and still -able to bite, was given two more dogs, one of which was refractory; this -dog, and the refractory dog bitten on the 3rd, were allowed to receive -the first bites, the Commission having thought that perhaps the saliva -might then be more abundant and more dangerous. - -On June 6, the rabid dog having died, the Commission proceeded to -inoculate the medulla of the animal into six more dogs, by means of -trephining. Three of those dogs were refractory, the three others were -fresh from the kennels; there were also two rabbits. - -On the 10th, Bourrel telegraphed the arrival of another rabid dog, and -the same operations were gone through. - -“This rabid, furious dog,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law, “had spent -the night lying on his master’s bed; his appearance had been suspicious -for a day or two. On the morning of the 10th, his voice became -rabietic, and his master, who had heard the bark of a rabid dog twenty -years ago, was seized with terror, and brought the dog to M. Bourrel, -who found that he was indeed in the biting stage of rabies. Fortunately -a lingering fidelity had prevented him from attacking his master.... - -“This morning the rabic condition is beginning to appear on one of the -new dogs trephined on June 1, at the same time as two refractory dogs. -Let us hope that the other new dog will also develop it and that the two -refractory ones will resist.” - -At the same time that the Commission examined this dog which developed -rabies within the exact time indicated by Pasteur, the two rabbits on -whom inoculation had been performed at the same time were found to -present the first symptoms of rabic paralysis. “This paralysis,” noted -Bouley, “is revealed by great weakness of the limbs, particularly of the -hind quarters; the least shock knocks them over and they experience -great difficulty in getting up again.” The second new dog on whom -inoculation had been performed on June 1 was now also rabid; the -refractory dogs were in perfect health. - -During the whole of June, Pasteur found time to keep his daughter and -son-in-law informed of the progress of events. “Keep my letters,” he -wrote, “they are almost like copies of the notes taken on the -experiments.” - -Towards the end of the month, dozens of dogs were submitted to -control-experiments which were continued until August. The dogs which -Pasteur declared to be refractory underwent all the various tests made -with rabic virus; bites, injections into the veins, trephining, -everything was tried before Pasteur would decide to call them -vaccinated. On June 17, Bourrel sent word that the new dog bitten on -June 3 was becoming rabic; the members of the Commission went to the Rue -Fontaine-au-Roi. The period of incubation had only lasted fourteen days, -a fact attributed by Bouley to the bites having been chiefly about the -head. The dog was destroying his kennel and biting his chain -ferociously. More new dogs developed rabies the following days. Nineteen -new dogs had been experimented upon: three died out of six bitten by a -rabid dog, six out of eight after intravenous inoculation, and five out -of five after subdural inoculation. Bouley thought that a few more -cases might occur, the period of incubation after bites being so -extremely irregular. - -Bouley’s report was sent to the Minister of Public Instruction at the -beginning of August. “We submit to you to-day,” he wrote, “this report -on the first series of experiments that we have just witnessed, in order -that M. Pasteur may refer to it in the paper which he proposes to read -at the Copenhagen International Scientific Congress on these magnificent -results, which devolve so much credit on French Science and which give -it a fresh claim to the world’s gratitude.” - -The Commission wished that a large kennel yard might be built, in order -that the duration of immunity in protected dogs might be timed, and that -other great problem solved, viz., whether it would be possible, through -the inoculation of attenuated virus, to defy the virus from bites. - -By the Minister’s request, the Commission investigated the Meudon woods -in search of a favourable site; an excellent place was found in the -lower part of the Park, away from dwelling houses, easy to enclose and -presumably in no one’s way. But, when the inhabitants of Meudon heard of -this project, they protested vehemently, evidently terrified at the -thought of rabid dogs, however securely bound, in their peaceful -neighbourhood. - -Another piece of ground was then suggested to Pasteur, near St. Cloud, -in the Park of Villeneuve l’Etang. Originally a State domain, this -property had been put up for sale, but had found no buyer, not being -suitable for parcelling out in small lots; the Bill was withdrawn which -allowed of its sale and the greater part of the domain was devoted by -the Ministry to Pasteur’s and his assistants’ experiments on the -prophylaxis of contagious diseases. - -Pasteur, his mind full of ideas, started for the International Medical -Congress, which was now to take place at Copenhagen. Sixteen hundred -members arranged to attend, and nearly all of them found on arriving -that they were to be entertained in the houses of private individuals. -The Danes carry hospitality to the most generous excess; several of them -had been learning French for the last three years, the better to -entertain the French delegates. Pasteur’s son, then secretary of the -French Legation at Copenhagen, had often spoken to his father with -appreciative admiration of those Northerners, who hide deep enthusiasm -under apparent calmness, almost coldness. - -The opening meeting took place on August 10 in the large hall of the -Palace of Industry; the King and Queen of Denmark and the King and Queen -of Greece were present at that impressive gathering. The President, -Professor Panum, welcomed the foreign members in the name of his -country; he proclaimed the neutrality of Science, adding that the three -official languages to be used during the Congress would be French, -English, and German. His own speech was entirely in French, “the -language which least divides us,” he said, “and which we are accustomed -to look upon as the most courteous in the world.” - -The former president of the London Congress, Sir James Paget, emphasized -the scientific consequences of those triennial meetings, showing that, -thanks to them, nations may calculate the march of progress. - -Virchow, in the name of Germany, developed the same idea. - -Pasteur, representing France, showed again as he had done at Milan in -1878, in London in 1881, at Geneva in 1882, and quite recently in -Edinburgh, how much the scientist and the patriot were one in him. - -“In the name of France,” said he, “I thank M. le Président for his words -of welcome.... By our presence in this Congress, we affirm the -neutrality of Science ... Science is of no country.... But if Science -has no country, the scientist must keep in mind all that may work -towards the glory of his country. In every great scientist will be found -a great patriot. The thought of adding to the greatness of his country -sustains him in his long efforts, and throws him into the difficult but -glorious scientific enterprises which bring about real and durable -conquests. Humanity then profits by those labours coming from various -directions....” - -At the end of the meeting Pasteur was presented to the King. The Queen -of Denmark and the Queen of Greece, regardless of etiquette, walked -towards him, “a signal proof,” wrote a French contemporary, “of the -esteem in which our illustrious countryman is held at the Danish Court.” - -Five general meetings were to give some of the scientists an opportunity -of expounding their views on subjects of universal interest. Pasteur was -asked to read the first paper; his audience consisted, besides the -members of the Congress, of many other men interested in scientific -things, who had come to hear him describe the steps by which he had made -such secure progress in the arduous question of hydrophobia. He began by -a declaration of war against the prejudice by which so many people -believe that rabies can occur spontaneously. Whatever the pathological, -physiological, or other conditions may be under which a dog or another -animal is placed, rabies never appears if the animal has not been bitten -or licked by another rabid animal; this is so truly the case that -hydrophobia is unknown in certain countries. In order to preserve a -whole land from the disease, it is sufficient that a law should, as in -Australia, compel every imported dog to be in quarantine for several -months; he would then, if bitten by a mad dog before his departure, have -ample time to die before infecting other animals. Norway and Lapland are -equally free from rabies, a few good prophylactic measures being -sufficient to avert the scourge. - -It will be objected that there must have been a first rabid dog -originally. “That,” said Pasteur, “is a problem which cannot be solved -in the present state of knowledge, for it partakes of the great and -unknown mystery of the origin of life.” - -The audience followed with an impassioned curiosity the history of the -stages followed by Pasteur on the road to his great discovery: the -preliminary experiments, the demonstration of the fact that the rabic -virus invades the nervous centres, the culture of the virus within -living animals, the attenuation of the rabic virus when passed from dogs -to monkeys, and simultaneously with this graduated attenuation, a -converse process by successive passages from rabbit to rabbit, the -possibility of obtaining in this way all the degrees of virulence, and -finally the acquired certainty of having obtained a preventive vaccine -against canine hydrophobia. - -“Enthusiastic applause,” wrote the reporter of the _Journal des Débats_, -“greeted the conclusion of the indefatigable worker.” - -In the course of one of the excursions arranged for the members of the -Congress, Pasteur had the pleasure of seeing his methods applied on a -large scale, not as in Italy to the progress of sericiculture, but to -that of the manufacture of beer. J. C. Jacobsen, a Danish citizen, whose -name was celebrated in the whole of Europe by his munificent donations -to science, had founded in 1847 the Carlsberg Brewery, now one of the -most important in the world; at least 200,000 hectolitres were now -produced every year by the Carlsberg Brewery and the Ny Carlsberg branch -of it, which was under the direction of Jacobsen’s son. - -In 1879, Jacobsen, who was unknown to Pasteur, wrote to him, “I should -be very much obliged if you would allow me to order from M. Paul Dubois, -one of the great artists who do France so much credit, a marble bust of -yourself, which I desire to place in the Carlsberg laboratory in token -of the services rendered to chemistry, physiology, and beer-manufacture, -by your studies on fermentation, a foundation to all future progress in -the brewer’s trade.” Paul Dubois’ bust is a masterpiece: it is most -characteristic of Pasteur--the deep thoughtful far-away look in his -eyes, a somewhat stern expression on his powerful features. - -Actuated, like his father, by a feeling of gratitude, the younger -Jacobsen had placed a bronze reproduction of this bust in a niche in the -wall of the brewery, at the entrance of the Pasteur Street, leading to -Ny Carlsberg. - -This visit to the brewery was an object lesson to the members of the -Congress, who were magnificently entertained by Jacobsen and his son; no -better demonstration was ever made of the services which industry may -receive from science. In the great laboratory, the physiologist Hansen -had succeeded in finding differences in yeast; he had just separated -from each other three kinds of yeast, each producing beer with a -different flavour. - -The French scientists were delighted with the practical sense and -delicate feelings of the Danish people. Though they had gone through -bitter trials in 1864, though France, England, and Russia had -countenanced the unrighteous invasion, in the face of the old treaties -which guaranteed to Denmark the possession of Schleswig, the diminished -and impoverished nation had not given vent to barren recriminations or -declamatory protests. Proudly and silently sorrowing, the Danes had -preserved their respect for the past, faith in justice and the cult of -their great men. It is a strange thing that Shakespeare should have -chosen that land of good sense and well-balanced reason for the -surroundings of his mysterious hero, of all men the most haunted by the -maddening enigma of destiny. - -Elsinore is but a short distance from Copenhagen, and no member of the -Congress, especially among the English section, could have made up his -mind to leave Denmark without visiting Hamlet’s home. - -A Transport Company organized the visit to Elsinore for a day when the -Congress had arranged to have a complete holiday. Five steamers, gay -with flags, were provided for the thousand medical men and their -families, and accomplished the two hours’ crossing to Elsinore on a -lovely, clear day, with an absolutely calm sea. The scientific tourists -landed at the foot of the old Kronborg Castle, ready for the lunch which -was served out to them and which proved barely sufficient for their -appetites; there was not quite enough bread for the Frenchmen, -proverbially bread-eaters, and the water, running a little short, had to -be supplemented with champagne. - -Some of the visitors returned from a neighbouring wood, where they had -been to see the stones of the supposed tomb of Hamlet, disappointed at -having looked in vain for Ophelia’s stream and for the willow tree which -heard her sing her last song, her hands full of flowers. Evidently this -place was but an imaginary scenery given by Shakespeare to the drama -which stands like a point of interrogation before the mystery of human -life; but his life-giving art has for ever made of Elsinore the place -where Hamlet lived and suffered. - -Pasteur, to whom the Danish character, in its strength and simplicity, -proved singularly attractive, remained in Copenhagen for some time after -the Congress was over. He had much pleasure in visiting the Thorwaldsen -Museum. Copenhagen, after showering honours on the great artist during -his lifetime, has continued to worship him after his death. Every -statue, every plaster cast, is preserved in that Museum with -extraordinary care. Thorwaldsen himself lies in the midst of his -works--his simple stone grave, covered with graceful ivy, is in one of -the courtyards of the Museum. - - * * * * * - -Pasteur went on to Arbois from Copenhagen. The laboratory he had built -there not being large enough to take in rabid dogs, he dictated from his -study the experiments to be carried out in Paris; his carefully kept -notebooks enabled him to know exactly how things were going on. His -nephew, Adrien Loir, now a curator in the laboratory of Rue d’Ulm, had -gladly given up his holidays and remained in Paris with the faithful -Eugène Viala. This excellent assistant had come to Paris from Alais in -1871, at the request of Pasteur, who knew his family. Viala was then -only twelve years old and could barely read and write. Pasteur sent him -to an evening school and himself helped him with his studies; the boy -was very intelligent and willing to learn. He became most useful to -Pasteur, who, in 1885, was glad to let him undertake a great deal of the -laboratory work, under the guidance of M. Roux; he was ultimately -entrusted with all the trephining operations on dogs, rabbits, and -guinea-pigs. - -The letters written to him by Pasteur in 1884 show the exact point -reached at that moment by the investigations on hydrophobia. Many people -already thought those studies advanced enough to allow the method of -treatment to be applied to man. - -Pasteur wrote to Viala on September 19, “Tell M. Adrien (Loir) to send -the following telegram: ‘Surgeon Symonds, Oxford, England. Operation on -man still impossible. No possibility at present of sending attenuated -virus.’ See MM. Bourrel and Béraud, procure a dog which has died of -street-rabies, and use its medulla to inoculate a new monkey, two -guinea-pigs and two rabbits.... I am afraid Nocard’s dog cannot have -been rabid; even if you were sure that he was, you had better try those -tests again. - -“Since M. Bourrel says he has several mad dogs at present, you might -take two couple of new dogs to his kennels; when he has a good biting -dog, he can have a pair of our dogs bitten, after which you will treat -one of them so as to make him refractory (carefully taking note of the -time elapsed between the bites and the beginning of the treatment). Mind -you keep notes of every new experiment undertaken, and write to me every -other day at least.” - -Pasteur pondered on the means of extinguishing hydrophobia or of merely -diminishing its frequency. Could dogs be vaccinated? There are 100,000 -dogs in Paris, about 2,500,000 more in the provinces: vaccination -necessitates several preventive inoculations; innumerable kennels would -have to be built for the purpose, to say nothing of the expense of -keeping the dogs and of providing a trained staff capable of performing -the difficult and dangerous operations. And, as M. Nocard truly -remarked, where were rabbits to be found in sufficient number for the -vaccine emulsions? - -Optional vaccination did not seem more practicable; it could only be -worked on a very restricted scale and was therefore of very little use -in a general way. - -The main question was the possibility of preventing hydrophobia from -occurring in a human being, previously bitten by a rabid dog. - -The Emperor of Brazil, who took the greatest interest in the doings of -the Ecole Normale laboratory, having written to Pasteur asking when the -preventive treatment could be applied to man, Pasteur answered as -follows-- - - “_September 22._ - -“SIRE--Baron Itajuba, the Minister for Brazil, has handed me the letter -which Your Majesty has done me the honour of writing on August 21. The -Academy welcomed with unanimous sympathy your tribute to the memory of -our illustrious colleague, M. Dumas; it will listen with similar -pleasure to the words of regret which you desire me to express on the -subject of M. Wurtz’s premature death. - -“Your Majesty is kind enough to mention my studies on hydrophobia; they -are making good and uninterrupted progress. I consider, however, that it -will take me nearly two years more to bring them to a happy issue.... - -“What I want to do is to obtain prophylaxis of rabies _after_ bites. - -“Until now I have not dared to attempt anything on men, in spite of my -own confidence in the result and the numerous opportunities afforded to -me since my last reading at the Academy of Sciences. I fear too much -that a failure might compromise the future, and I want first to -accumulate successful cases on animals. Things in that direction are -going very well indeed; I already have several examples of dogs made -refractory after a rabietic bite. I take two dogs, cause them both to be -bitten by a mad dog; I vaccinate the one and leave the other without any -treatment: the latter dies and the first remains perfectly well. - -“But even when I shall have multiplied examples of the prophylaxis of -rabies in dogs, I think my hand will tremble when I go on to Mankind. It -is here that the high and powerful initiative of the head of a State -might intervene for the good of humanity. If I were a King, an Emperor, -or even the President of a Republic, this is how I should exercise my -right of pardoning criminals condemned to death. I should invite the -counsel of a condemned man, on the eve of the day fixed for his -execution, to choose between certain death and an experiment which would -consist in several preventive inoculations of rabic virus, in order to -make the subject’s constitution refractory to rabies. If he survived -this experiment--and I am convinced that he would--his life would be -saved and his punishment commuted to a lifelong surveillance, as a -guarantee towards that society which had condemned him. - -“All condemned men would accept these conditions, death being their only -terror. - -“This brings me to the question of cholera, of which Your Majesty also -has the kindness to speak to me. Neither Dr. Koch nor Drs. Straus and -Roux have succeeded in giving cholera to animals, and therefore great -uncertainty prevails regarding the bacillus to which Dr. Koch attributes -the causation of cholera. It ought to be possible to try and communicate -cholera to criminals condemned to death, by the injection of cultures of -that bacillus. When the disease declared itself, a test could be made of -the remedies which are counselled as apparently most efficacious. - -“I attach so much importance to these measures, that, if Your Majesty -shared my views, I should willingly come to Rio Janeiro, notwithstanding -my age and the state of my health, in order to undertake such studies on -the prophylaxis of hydrophobia and the contagion of cholera and its -remedies. - -“I am, with profound respect, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient -servant.” - -In other times, the right of pardon could be exercised in the form of a -chance of life offered to a criminal lending himself to an experiment. -Louis XVI, having admired a fire balloon rising above Versailles, -thought of proposing to two condemned men that they should attempt to go -up in one. But Pilâtre des Roziers, whose ambition it was to be the -first aëronaut, was indignant at the thought that “vile criminals should -be the first to rise up in the air.” He won his cause, and in November, -1783, he organized an ascent at the Muette which lasted twenty minutes. - -In England, in the eighteenth century, before Jenner’s discovery, -successful attempts had been made at the direct inoculation of -small-pox. In some historical and medical _Researches on Vaccine_, -published in 1803, Husson relates that the King of England, wishing to -have the members of his family inoculated, began by having the method -tried on six criminals condemned to death; they were all saved, and the -Royal Family submitted to inoculation. - -There is undoubtedly a beautiful aspect of that idea of utilizing the -fate of a criminal for the cause of Humanity. But in our modern laws no -such liberty is left to Justice, which has no power to invent new -punishments, or to enter into a bargain with a condemned criminal. - -Before his departure from Arbois, Pasteur encountered fresh and -unforeseen obstacles. The successful opposition of the inhabitants of -Meudon had inspired those of St. Cloud, Ville d’Avray, Vaucresson, -Marnes, and Garches with the idea of resisting in their turn the -installation of Pasteur’s kennels at Villeneuve l’Etang. People spoke of -public danger, of children exposed to meet ferocious rabid dogs -wandering loose about the park, of popular Sundays spoilt, picnickers -disturbed, etc., etc. - -A former pupil of Pasteur’s at the Strasburg Faculty, M. Christen, now a -Town Councillor at Vaucresson, warned Pasteur of all this excitement, -adding that he personally was ready to do his best to calm the terrors -of his townspeople. - -Pasteur answered, thanking him for his efforts. “...I shall be back in -Paris on October 24, and on the morning of the twenty-fifth and -following days I shall be pleased to see any one desiring information on -the subject.... But you may at once assure your frightened neighbours, -Sir, that there will be no mad dogs at Villeneuve l’Etang, but only dogs -made refractory to rabies. Not having enough room in my laboratory, I am -actually obliged to quarter on various veterinary surgeons those dogs, -which I should like to enclose in covered kennels, quite safely secured, -you may be sure.” - -Pasteur, writing about this to his son, could not help saying, “Months -of fine weather have been wasted! This will keep my plans back almost a -year.” - -Little by little, in spite of the opposition which burst out now and -again, calm was again re-established. French good sense and appreciation -of great things got the better of the struggle; in January, 1885, -Pasteur was able to go to Villeneuve l’Etang to superintend the -arrangements. The old stables were turned into an immense kennel, paved -with asphalte. A wide passage went from one end to the other, on each -side of which accommodation for sixty dogs was arranged behind a double -barrier of wire netting. - -The subject of hydrophobia goes back to the remotest antiquity; one of -Homer’s warriors calls Hector a mad dog. The supposed allusions to it to -be found in Hippocrates are of the vaguest, but Aristotle is quite -explicit when speaking of canine rabies and of its transmission from one -animal to the other through bites. He gives expression, however, to the -singular opinion that man is not subject to it. More than three hundred -years later we come to Celsus, who describes this disease, unknown or -unnoticed until then. “The patient,” said Celsus, “is tortured at the -same time by thirst and by an invincible repulsion towards water.” He -counselled cauterization of the wound with a red-hot iron and also with -various caustics and corrosives. - -Pliny the Elder, a worthy precursor of village quacks, recommended the -livers of mad dogs as a cure; it was not a successful one. Galen, who -opposed this, had a no less singular recipe, a compound of cray-fish -eyes. Later, the shrine of St. Hubert in Belgium was credited with -miraculous cures; this superstition is still extant. - -Sea bathing, unknown in France until the reign of Louis XIV, became a -fashionable cure for hydrophobia, Dieppe sands being supposed to offer -wonderful curing properties. - -In 1780 a prize was offered for the best method of treating hydrophobia, -and won by a pamphlet entitled _Dissertation sur la Rage_, written by a -surgeon-major of the name of Le Roux. - -This very sensible treatise concluded by recommending cauterization, now -long forgotten, instead of the various quack remedies which had so long -been in vogue, and the use of butter of antimony. - -Le Roux did not allude in his paper to certain tenacious and cruel -prejudices, which had caused several hydrophobic persons, or persons -merely suspected of hydroprobia, to be killed like wild beasts, shot, -poisoned, strangled, or suffocated. - -It was supposed in some places that hydrophobia could be transmitted -through the mere contact of the saliva or even by the breath of the -victims; people who had been bitten were in terror of what might be done -to them. A girl, bitten by a mad dog and taken to the Hôtel Dieu -Hospital on May 8, 1780, begged that she might not be suffocated! - -Those dreadful occurrences must have been only too frequent, for, in -1810, a philosopher asked the Government to enact a Bill in the -following terms: “It is forbidden, under pain of death, to strangle, -suffocate, bleed to death, or in any other way murder individuals -suffering from rabies, hydrophobia, or any disease causing fits, -convulsions, furious and dangerous madness; all necessary precautions -against them being taken by families or public authorities.” - -In 1819, newspapers related the death of an unfortunate hydrophobe, -smothered between two mattresses; it was said à propos of this murder -that “it is the doctor’s duty to repeat that this disease cannot be -transmitted from man to man, and that there is therefore no danger in -nursing hydrophobia patients.” Though old and fantastic remedies were -still in vogue in remote country places, cauterization was the most -frequently employed; if the wounds were somewhat deep, it was -recommended to use long, sharp and pointed needles, and to push them -well in, even if the wound was on the face. - -One of Pasteur’s childish recollections (it happened in October, 1831) -was the impression of terror produced throughout the Jura by the advent -of a rabid wolf who went biting men and beasts on his way. Pasteur had -seen an Arboisian of the name of Nicole being cauterized with a red-hot -iron at the smithy near his father’s house. The persons who had been -bitten on the hands and head succumbed to hydrophobia, some of them -amidst horrible sufferings; there were eight victims in the immediate -neighbourhood. Nicole was saved. For years the whole region remained in -dread of that mad wolf. - -The long period of incubation encouraged people to hope that some -preventive means might be found, instead of the painful operation of -cauterization; some doctors attempted inoculating another poison, a -viper’s venom for instance, to neutralize the rabic virus--needless to -say with fatal results. In 1852 a reward was promised by the Government -to the finder of a remedy against hydrophobia; all the old quackeries -came to light again, even Galen’s remedy of cray-fish eyes! - -Bouchardat, who had to report to the Academy on these remedies, -considered them of no value whatever; his conclusion was that -cauterization was the only prophylactic treatment of hydrophobia. - -Such was also Bouley’s opinion, eighteen years later, when he wrote that -the object to keep in view was the quickest possible destruction of the -tissues touched by rabietic saliva. Failing an iron heated to a light -red heat, or the sprinkling of gunpowder over the wound and setting a -match to it, he recommended caustics, such as nitric acid, sulphuric -acid, hydrochloric acid, potassa fusa, butter of antimony, corrosive -sublimate, and nitrate of silver. - -Thus, after centuries had passed, and numberless remedies had been -tried, no progress had been made, and nothing better had been found than -cauterization, as indicated by Celsus in the first century. - - * * * * * - -As to the origin of rabies, it remained unknown and was erroneously -attributed to divers causes. Spontaneity was still believed in. Bouley -himself did not absolutely reject the idea of it, for he said in 1870: -“In the immense majority of cases, this disease proceeds from contagion; -out of 1,000 rabid dogs, 999 at least owe their condition to inoculation -by a bite.” - -Pasteur was anxious to uproot this fallacy, as also another very serious -error, vigorously opposed by Bouley, by M. Nocard, and by another -veterinary surgeon in a _Manual on Rabies_, published in 1882, and still -as tenacious as most prejudices, viz., that the word hydrophobia is -synonymous with rabies. The rabid dog is _not_ hydrophobe, he does _not_ -abhor water. The word is applicable to rabid human beings, but is false -concerning rabid dogs. - -Many people in the country, constantly seeing Pasteur’s name associated -with the word rabies, fancied that he was a consulting veterinary -surgeon, and pestered him with letters full of questions. What was to be -done to a dog whose manner seemed strange, though there was no evidence -of a suspicious bite? Should he be shot? “No,” answered Pasteur, “shut -him up securely, and he will soon die if he is really mad.” Some dog -owners hesitated to destroy a dog manifestly bitten by a mad dog. “It is -such a good dog!” “The law is absolute,” answered Pasteur; “every dog -bitten by a mad dog must be destroyed at once.” And it irritated him -that village mayors should close their eyes to the non-observance of the -law, and thus contribute to a recrudescence of rabies. - -Pasteur wasted his precious time answering all those letters. On March -28, 1885, he wrote to his friend Jules Vercel-- - -“Alas! we shall not be able to go to Arbois for Easter; I shall be busy -for some time settling down, or rather settling my dogs down at -Villeneuve l’Etang. I also have some new experiments on rabies on hand -which will take some months. I am demonstrating this year that dogs can -be vaccinated, or made refractory to rabies _after_ they have been -bitten by mad dogs. - -“I have not yet dared to treat human beings after bites from rabid dogs; -but the time is not far off, and I am much inclined to begin by -myself--inoculating myself with rabies, and then arresting the -consequences; for I am beginning to feel very sure of my results.” - -Pasteur gave more details three days later, in a letter to his son, then -Secretary of the French Embassy at the Quirinal-- - -“The experiments before the Rabies Commission were resumed on March 10; -they are now being carried out, and the Commission has already held six -sittings; the seventh will take place to-day. - -“As I only submit to it results which I look upon as acquired, this -gives me a surplus of work to do; for those control experiments are -added to those I am now carrying out. For I am continuing my researches, -trying to discover new principles, and hardening myself by habit and by -increased conviction in order to attempt preventive inoculations on man -after a bite. - -“The Commission’s experiments have led to no result so far, for, as you -know, weeks have to pass before any results occur. But no untoward -incident has occurred up to now; and if all continues equally well, the -Commission’s second report will be as favorable as that of last year, -which left nothing to be desired. - -“I am equally satisfied with my new experiments in this difficult study. -Perhaps practical application on a large scale may not be far off....” - -In May, everything at Villeneuve l’Etang was ready for the reception of -sixty dogs. Fifty of them, already made refractory to bites or rabic -inoculation, were successively accommodated in the immense kennel, where -each had his cell and his experiment number. They had been made -refractory by being inoculated with fragments of medulla, which had hung -for a fortnight in a phial, and of which the virulence was extinguished, -after which further inoculations had been made, gradually increasing in -virulence until the highest degree of it had again been reached. - -All those dogs, which were to be periodically taken back to Paris for -inoculations or bite tests, in order to see what was the duration of -the immunity conferred, were stray dogs picked up by the police. They -were of various breeds, and showed every variety of character, some of -them gentle and affectionate, others vicious and growling, some -confiding, some shrinking, as if the recollection of chloroform and the -laboratory was disagreeable to them. They showed some natural impatience -of their enforced captivity, only interrupted by a short daily run. One -of them, however, was promoted to the post of house-dog, and loosened -every night; he excited much envy among his congeners. The dogs were -very well cared for by a retired _gendarme_, an excellent man of the -name of Pernin. - -A lover of animals might have drawn an interesting contrast between the -fate of those laboratory dogs, living and dying for the good of -humanity, and that of the dogs buried in the neighbouring dogs’ cemetery -at Bagatelle, founded by Sir Richard Wallace, the great English -philanthropist. Here lay toy dogs, lap dogs, drawing-room dogs, -cherished and coddled during their useless lives, and luxuriously buried -after their useless deaths, while the dead bodies of the others went to -the knacker’s yard. - -Rabbit hutches and guinea-pig cages leaned against the dogs’ palace. -Pasteur, having seen to the comfort of his animals, now thought of -himself; it was frequently necessary that he should come to spend two or -three days at Villeneuve l’Etang. The official architect thought of -repairing part of the little palace of Villeneuve, which was in a very -bad state of decay. But Pasteur preferred to have some rooms near the -stables put into repair, which had formerly been used for -non-commissioned officers of the Cent Gardes; there was less to do to -them, and the position was convenient. The roof, windows, and doors were -renovated, and some cheap paper hung on the walls inside. “This is -certainly not luxurious!” exclaimed an astonished millionaire, who came -to see Pasteur one day on his way to his own splendid villa at Marly. - -On May 29 Pasteur wrote to his son-- - -“I thought I should have done with rabies by the end of April; I must -postpone my hopes till the end of July. Yet I have not remained -stationary; but, in these difficult studies, one is far from the goal as -long as the last word, the last decisive proof is not acquired. What I -aspire to is the possibility of treating a man after a bite with no fear -of accidents. - -“I have never had so many subjects of experiment on hand--sixty dogs at -Villeneuve l’Etang, forty at Rollin, ten at Frégis’, fifteen at -Bourrel’s, and I deplore having no more kennels at my disposal. - -“What do you say of the Rue Pasteur in the large city of Lille? The news -has given me very great pleasure.” - -What Pasteur briefly called “Rollin” in this letter was the former -_Lycée Rollin_, the old buildings of which had been transformed into -outhouses for his laboratory. Large cages had been set up in the old -courtyard, and the place was like a farm, with its population of hens, -rabbits, and guinea-pigs. - -Two series of experiments were being carried out on those 125 dogs. The -first consisted in making dogs refractory to rabies by preventive -inoculations; the second in preventing the onset of rabies in dogs -bitten or subjected to inoculation. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -1885--1888 - - -Pasteur had the power of concentrating his thoughts to such a degree -that he often, when absorbed in one idea, became absolutely unconscious -of what took place around him. At one of the meetings of the Académie -Française, whilst the Dictionary was being discussed, he scribbled the -following note on a stray sheet of paper-- - -“I do not know how to hide my ideas from those who work with me; still, -I wish I could have kept those I am going to express a little longer to -myself. The experiments have already begun which will decide them. - -“It concerns rabies, but the results might be general. - -“I am inclined to think that the virus which is considered rabic may be -accompanied by a substance which, by impregnating the nervous system, -would make it unsuitable for the culture of the microbe. Thence vaccinal -immunity. If that is so, the theory might be a general one: it would be -a stupendous discovery. - -“I have just met Chamberland in the Rue Gay-Lussac, and explained to him -this view and my experiments. He was much struck, and asked my -permission to make at once on anthrax the experiment I am about to make -on rabies as soon as the dog and the culture rabbits are dead. Roux, the -day before yesterday, was equally struck. - -“_Académie Française, Thursday, January 29, 1885._” - -Could that vaccinal substance associated with the rabic virus be -isolated? In the meanwhile a main fact was acquired, that of preventive -inoculation, since Pasteur was sure of his series of dogs rendered -refractory to rabies after a bite. Months were going by without bringing -an answer to the question “Why?” of the antirabic vaccination, as -mysterious as the “Why?” of Jennerian vaccination. - -On Monday, July 6, Pasteur saw a little Alsatian boy, Joseph Meister, -enter his laboratory, accompanied by his mother. He was only nine years -old, and had been bitten two days before by a mad dog at Meissengott, -near Schlestadt. - -The child, going alone to school by a little by-road, had been attacked -by a furious dog and thrown to the ground. Too small to defend himself, -he had only thought of covering his face with his hands. A bricklayer, -seeing the scene from a distance, arrived, and succeeded in beating the -dog off with an iron bar; he picked up the boy, covered with blood and -saliva. The dog went back to his master, Théodore Vone, a grocer at -Meissengott, whom he bit on the arm. Vone seized a gun and shot the -animal, whose stomach was found to be full of hay, straw, pieces of -wood, etc. When little Meister’s parents heard all these details they -went, full of anxiety, to consult Dr. Weber, at Villé, that same -evening. After cauterizing the wounds with carbolic, Dr. Weber advised -Mme. Meister to start for Paris, where she could relate the facts to one -who was not a physician, but who would be the best judge of what could -be done in such a serious case. Théodore Vone, anxious on his own and on -the child’s account, decided to come also. - -Pasteur reassured him; his clothes had wiped off the dog’s saliva, and -his shirt-sleeve was intact. He might safely go back to Alsace, and he -promptly did so. - -Pasteur’s emotion was great at the sight of the fourteen wounds of the -little boy, who suffered so much that he could hardly walk. What should -he do for this child? could he risk the preventive treatment which had -been constantly successful on his dogs? Pasteur was divided between his -hopes and his scruples, painful in their acuteness. Before deciding on a -course of action, he made arrangements for the comfort of this poor -woman and her child, alone in Paris, and gave them an appointment for 5 -o’clock, after the Institute meeting. He did not wish to attempt -anything without having seen Vulpian and talked it over with him. Since -the Rabies Commission had been constituted, Pasteur had formed a growing -esteem for the great judgment of Vulpian, who, in his lectures on the -general and comparative physiology of the nervous system, had already -mentioned the profit to human clinics to be drawn from experimenting on -animals. - -His was a most prudent mind, always seeing all the aspects of a problem. -The man was worthy of the scientist: he was absolutely straightforward, -and of a discreet and active kindness. He was passionately fond of work, -and had recourse to it when smitten by a deep sorrow. - -Vulpian expressed the opinion that Pasteur’s experiments on dogs were -sufficiently conclusive to authorize him to foresee the same success in -human pathology. Why not try this treatment? added the professor, -usually so reserved. Was there any other efficacious treatment against -hydrophobia? If at least the cauterizations had been made with a red-hot -iron! but what was the good of carbolic acid twelve hours after the -accident. If the almost certain danger which threatened the boy were -weighed against the chances of snatching him from death, Pasteur would -see that it was more than a right, that it was a duty to apply antirabic -inoculation to little Meister. - -This was also the opinion of Dr. Grancher, whom Pasteur consulted. M. -Grancher worked at the laboratory; he and Dr. Straus might claim to be -the two first French physicians who took up the study of bacteriology; -these novel studies fascinated him, and he was drawn to Pasteur by the -deepest admiration and by a strong affection, which Pasteur thoroughly -reciprocated. - -Vulpian and M. Grancher examined little Meister in the evening, and, -seeing the number of bites, some of which, on one hand especially, were -very deep, they decided on performing the first inoculation immediately; -the substance chosen was fourteen days old and had quite lost its -virulence: it was to be followed by further inoculations gradually -increasing in strength. - -It was a very slight operation, a mere injection into the side (by means -of a Pravaz syringe) of a few drops of a liquid prepared with some -fragments of medulla oblongata. The child, who cried very much before -the operation, soon dried his tears when he found the slight prick was -all that he had to undergo. - -Pasteur had had a bedroom comfortably arranged for the mother and child -in the old Rollin College, and the little boy was very happy amidst the -various animals--chickens, rabbits, white mice, guinea-pigs, etc.; he -begged and easily obtained of Pasteur the life of several of the -youngest of them. - -“All is going well,” Pasteur wrote to his son-in-law on July 11: “the -child sleeps well, has a good appetite, and the inoculated matter is -absorbed into the system from one day to another without leaving a -trace. It is true that I have not yet come to the test inoculations, -which will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If the lad -keeps well during the three following weeks, I think the experiment will -be safe to succeed. I shall send the child and his mother back to -Meissengott (near Schlestadt) in any case on August 1, giving these good -people detailed instruction as to the observations they are to record -for me. I shall make no statement before the end of the vacation.” - -But, as the inoculations were becoming more virulent, Pasteur became a -prey to anxiety: “My dear children,” wrote Mme. Pasteur, “your father -has had another bad night; he is dreading the last inoculations on the -child. And yet there can be no drawing back now! The boy continues in -perfect health.” - -Renewed hopes were expressed in the following letter from Pasteur-- - -“My dear René, I think great things are coming to pass. Joseph Meister -has just left the laboratory. The three last inoculations have left some -pink marks under the skin, gradually widening and not at all tender. -There is some action, which is becoming more intense as we approach the -final inoculation, which will take place on Thursday, July 16. The lad -is very well this morning, and has slept well, though slightly restless; -he has a good appetite and no feverishness. He had a slight hysterical -attack yesterday.” - -The letter ended with an affectionate invitation. “Perhaps one of the -great medical facts of the century is going to take place; you would -regret not having seen it!” - -Pasteur was going through a succession of hopes, fears, anguish, and an -ardent yearning to snatch little Meister from death; he could no longer -work. At nights, feverish visions came to him of this child whom he had -seen playing in the garden, suffocating in the mad struggles of -hydrophobia, like the dying child he had seen at the Hôpital Trousseau -in 1880. Vainly his experimental genius assured him that the virus of -that most terrible of diseases was about to be vanquished, that humanity -was about to be delivered from this dread horror--his human tenderness -was stronger than all, his accustomed ready sympathy for the sufferings -and anxieties of others was for the nonce centred in “the dear lad.” - -The treatment lasted ten days; Meister was inoculated twelve times. The -virulence of the medulla used was tested by trephinings on rabbits, and -proved to be gradually stronger. Pasteur even inoculated on July 16, at -11 a.m., some medulla only one day old, bound to give hydrophobia to -rabbits after only seven days’ incubation; it was the surest test of the -immunity and preservation due to the treatment. - -Cured from his wounds, delighted with all he saw, gaily running about as -if he had been in his own Alsatian farm, little Meister, whose blue eyes -now showed neither fear nor shyness, merrily received the last -inoculation; in the evening, after claiming a kiss from “Dear Monsieur -Pasteur,” as he called him, he went to bed and slept peacefully. Pasteur -spent a terrible night of insomnia; in those slow dark hours of night -when all vision is distorted, Pasteur, losing sight of the accumulation -of experiments which guaranteed his success, imagined that the little -boy would die. - -The treatment being now completed, Pasteur left little Meister to the -care of Dr. Grancher (the lad was not to return to Alsace until July 27) -and consented to take a few days’ rest. He spent them with his daughter -in a quiet, almost deserted country place in Burgundy, but without -however finding much restfulness in the beautiful peaceful scenery; he -lived in constant expectation of Dr. Grancher’s daily telegram or letter -containing news of Joseph Meister. - -By the time he went to the Jura, Pasteur’s fears had almost disappeared. -He wrote from Arbois to his son August 3, 1885: “Very good news last -night of the bitten lad. I am looking forward with great hopes to the -time when I can draw a conclusion. It will be thirty-one days to-morrow -since he was bitten.” - - * * * * * - -On August 20, six weeks before the new elections of Deputies, Léon Say, -Pasteur’s colleague at the Académie Française, wrote to him that many -Beauce agricultors were anxious to put his name down on the list of -candidates, as a recognition of the services rendered by science. A few -months before, Jules Simon had thought Pasteur might be elected as a -Life Senator, but Pasteur had refused to be convinced. He now replied to -Léon Say-- - -“Your proposal touches me very much and it would be agreeable to me to -owe a Deputy’s mandate to electors, several of whom have applied the -results of my investigations. But politics frighten me and I have -already refused a candidature in the Jura and a seat in the Senate in -the course of this year. - -“I might be tempted perhaps, if I no longer felt active enough for my -laboratory work. But I still feel equal to further researches, and on my -return to Paris, I shall be organizing a ‘service’ against rabies which -will absorb all my energies. I now possess a very perfect method of -prophylaxis against that terrible disease, a method equally adapted to -human beings and to dogs, and by which your much afflicted Department -will be one of the first to benefit. - -“Before my departure for Jura I dared to treat a poor little -nine-year-old lad whose mother brought him to me from Alsace, where he -had been attacked on the 4th ult., and bitten on the thighs, legs, and -hand in such a manner that hydrophobia would have been inevitable. He -remains in perfect health.” - -Whilst many political speeches were being prepared, Pasteur was thinking -over a literary speech. He had been requested by the Académie Française -to welcome Joseph Bertrand, elected in place of J. B. Dumas--the -eulogium of a scientist, spoken by one scientist, himself welcomed by -another scientist. This was an unusual programme for the Académie -Française, perhaps too unusual in the eyes of Pasteur, who did not think -himself worthy of speaking in the name of the Académie. Such was his -modesty; he forgot that amongst the savants who had been members of the -Académie, several, such as Fontenelle, Cuvier, J. B. Dumas, etc., had -published immortal pages, and that some extracts from his own works -would one day become classical. - -The vacation gave him time to read over the writings of his beloved -teacher, and also to study the life and works of Joseph Bertrand, -already his colleague at the Académie des Sciences. - -Bertrand’s election had been simple and easy, like everything he had -undertaken since his birth. It seemed as if a good fairy had leant over -his cradle and whispered to him, “Thou shalt know many things, without -having had to learn them.” It is a fact that he could read without -having held a book in his hands. He was ill and in bed whilst his -brother Alexander was being taught to read; he listened to the lessons -and kept the various combinations of letters in his mind. When he became -convalescent, his parents brought him a book of Natural History so that -he might look at the pictures. He took the volume and read from it -fluently; he was not five years old. He learnt the elements of geometry -very much in the same way. - -Pasteur in his speech thus described Joseph Bertrand’s childhood: “At -ten years old you were already celebrated, and it was prophesied that -you would pass at the head of the list into the Ecole Polytechnique and -become a member of the Academy of Sciences? No one doubted this, not -even yourself. You were indeed a child prodigy. Sometimes it amused you -to hide in a class of higher mathematics, and when the Professor -propounded a difficult problem that no one could solve, one of the -students would triumphantly lift you in his arms, stand you on a chair -so that you might reach the board, and you would then give the required -solution with a calm assurance, in the midst of applause from the -professors and pupils.” - -Pasteur, whose every progress had been painfully acquired, admired the -ease with which Bertrand had passed through the first stages of his -career. At an age when marbles and india-rubber balls are usually an -important interest, Bertrand walked merrily to the _Jardin des Plantes_ -to attend a course of lectures by Gay-Lussac. A few hours later, he -might be seen at the Sorbonne, listening with interest to Saint Marc -Girardin, the literary moralist. The next day, he would go to a lecture -on Comparative Legislation; never was so young a child seen in such -serious places. He borrowed as many books from the Institute library as -Biot himself; he learnt whole passages by heart, merely by glancing at -them. He became a _doctor ès sciences_ at sixteen, and a Member of the -Institute at thirty-four. - -Besides his personal works--such as those on Analytic Mechanics, which -place him in the very first rank--his teaching had been brought to bear -during forty years on all branches of mathematics. Bertrand’s life, -apparently so happy, had been saddened by the irreparable loss, during -the Commune, of a great many precious notes, letters, and manuscripts, -which had been burnt with the house where he had left them. Discouraged -by this ruin of ten years’ work, he had given way to a tendency to -writing slight popular articles, of high literary merit, instead of -continuing his deeper scientific work. His eulogy of J. B. Dumas was not -quite seriously enthusiastic enough to please Pasteur, who had a -veritable cult for the memory of his old teacher, and who eagerly -grasped this opportunity of speaking again of J. B. Dumas’ influence on -himself, of his admirable scientific discoveries, and of his political -duties, undertaken in the hope of being useful to Science, but often -proving a source of disappointment. - -Pasteur enjoyed looking back on the beloved memory of J. B. Dumas, as he -sat preparing his speech in his study at Arbois, looking out on the -familiar landscape of his childhood, where the progress of practical -science was evidenced by the occasional passing, through the distant -pine woods, of the white smoke of the Switzerland express. - -When in his laboratory in Paris, Pasteur hated to be disturbed whilst -making experiments or writing out notes of his work. Any visitor was -unwelcome; one day that some one was attempting to force his way in, M. -Roux was amused at seeing Pasteur--vexed at being disturbed and anxious -not to pain the visitor--come out to say imploringly, “Oh! not now, -please! I am too busy!” - -“When Chamberland and I,” writes Dr. Roux, “were engaged in an -interesting occupation, he mounted guard before us, and when, through -the glazed doors, he saw people coming, he himself would go and meet -them in order to send them away. He showed so artlessly that his sole -thought was for the work, that no one ever could be offended.” - -But, at Arbois, where he only spent his holidays, he did not exercise so -much severity; any one could come in who liked. He received in the -morning a constant stream of visitors, begging for advice, -recommendations, interviews, etc. - -“It is both comical and touching,” wrote M. Girard, a local journalist, -“to see the opinion the vineyard labourers have of him. These good -people have heard M. Pasteur’s name in connection with the diseases of -wine, and they look upon him as a sort of wine doctor. If they notice a -barrel of wine getting sour, they knock at the savant’s door, bottle in -hand; this door is never closed to them. Peasants are not precise in -their language; they do not know how to begin their explanations or how -to finish them. M. Pasteur, ever calm and serious, listens to the very -end, takes the bottle and studies it at his leisure. A week later, the -wine is ‘cured.’” - -He was consulted also on many other subjects--virus, silkworms, rabies, -cholera, swine-fever, etc.; many took him for a physician. Whilst -telling them of their mistake, he yet did everything he could for them. - -During this summer of 1885, he had the melancholy joy of seeing a bust -erected in the village of Monay to the memory of a beloved friend of -his, J. J. Perraud, a great and inspired sculptor, who had died in 1876. -Perraud, whose magnificent statue of Despair is now at the Louvre, had -had a sad life, and, on his lonely death-bed (he was a widower, with no -children), Pasteur’s tender sympathy had been an unspeakable comfort. -Pasteur now took a leading part in the celebration of his friend’s fame, -and was glad to speak to the assembled villagers at Monay of the great -and disinterested artist who had been born in their midst. - - * * * * * - -On his return to Paris, Pasteur found himself obliged to hasten the -organization of a “service” for the preventive treatment of hydrophobia -after a bite. The Mayors of Villers-Farlay, in the Jura, wrote to him -that, on October 14, a shepherd had been cruelly bitten by a rabid dog. - -Six little shepherd boys were watching over their sheep in a meadow; -suddenly they saw a large dog passing along the road, with hanging, -foaming jaws. - -“A mad dog!” they exclaimed. The dog, seeing the children, left the road -and charged them; they ran away shrieking, but the eldest of them, J. B. -Jupille, fourteen years of age, bravely turned back in order to protect -the flight of his comrades. Armed with his whip, he confronted the -infuriated animal, who flew at him and seized his left hand. Jupille, -wrestling with the dog, succeeded in kneeling on him, and forcing its -jaws open in order to disengage his left hand; in so doing, his right -hand was seriously bitten in its turn; finally, having been able to get -hold of the animal by the neck, Jupille called to his little brother to -pick up his whip, which had fallen during the struggle, and securely -fastened the dog’s jaws with the lash. He then took his wooden _sabot_, -with which he battered the dog’s head, after which, in order to be sure -that it could do no further harm, he dragged the body down to a little -stream in the meadow, and held the head under water for several minutes. -Death being now certain, and all danger removed from his comrades, -Jupille returned to Villers-Farlay. - -Whilst the boy’s wounds were being bandaged, the dog’s carcase was -fetched, and a necropsy took place the next day. The two veterinary -surgeons who examined the body had not the slightest hesitation in -declaring that the dog was rabid. - -The Mayor of Villers-Farlay, who had been to see Pasteur during the -summer, wrote to tell him that this lad would die a victim of his own -courage unless the new treatment intervened. The answer came -immediately: Pasteur declared that, after five years’ study, he had -succeeded in making dogs refractory to rabies, even six or eight days -after being bitten; that he had only once yet applied his method to a -human being, but that once with success, in the case of little Meister, -and that, if Jupille’s family consented, the boy might be sent to him. -“I shall keep him near me in a room of my laboratory; he will be watched -and need not go to bed; he will merely receive a daily prick, not more -painful than a pin-prick.” - -The family, on hearing this letter, came to an immediate decision; but, -between the day when he was bitten and Jupille’s arrival in Paris, six -whole days had elapsed, whilst in Meister’s case there had only been two -and a half! - -Yet, however great were Pasteur’s fears for the life of this tall lad, -who seemed quite surprised when congratulated on his courageous conduct, -they were not what they had been in the first instance--he felt much -greater confidence. - -A few days later, on October 26, Pasteur in a statement at the Academy -of Sciences described the treatment followed for Meister. Three months -and three days had passed, and the child remained perfectly well. Then -he spoke of his new attempt. Vulpian rose-- - -“The Academy will not be surprised,” he said, “if, as a member of the -Medical and Surgical Section, I ask to be allowed to express the -feelings of admiration inspired in me by M. Pasteur’s statement. I feel -certain that those feelings will be shared by the whole of the medical -profession. - -“Hydrophobia, that dread disease against which all therapeutic measures -had hitherto failed, has at last found a remedy. M. Pasteur, who has -been preceded by no one in this path, has been led by a series of -investigations unceasingly carried on for several years, to create a -method of treatment, by means of which the development of hydrophobia -can _infallibly_ be prevented in a patient recently bitten by a rabid -dog. I say infallibly, because, after what I have seen in M. Pasteur’s -laboratory, I do not doubt the constant success of this treatment when -it is put into full practice a few days only after a rabic bite. - -“It is now necessary to see about organizing an installation for the -treatment of hydrophobia by M. Pasteur’s method. Every person bitten by -a rabid dog must be given the opportunity of benefiting by this great -discovery, which will seal the fame of our illustrious colleague and -bring glory to our whole country.” - -Pasteur had ended his reading by a touching description of Jupille’s -action, leaving the Assembly under the impression of that boy of -fourteen, sacrificing himself to save his companions. An Academician, -Baron Larrey, whose authority was rendered all the greater by his -calmness, dignity, and moderation, rose to speak. After acknowledging -the importance of Pasteur’s discovery, Larrey continued, “The sudden -inspiration, agility and courage, with which the ferocious dog was -muzzled, and thus made incapable of committing further injury to -bystanders, ... such an act of bravery deserves to be rewarded. I -therefore have the honour of begging the Académie des Sciences to -recommend to the Académie Française this young shepherd, who, by giving -such a generous example of courage and devotion, has well deserved a -Montyon prize.” - -Bouley, then chairman of the Academy, rose to speak in his turn-- - -“We are entitled to say that the date of the present meeting will remain -for ever memorable in the history of medicine, and glorious for French -science; for it is that of one of the greatest steps ever accomplished -in the medical order of things--a progress realized by the discovery of -an efficacious means of preventive treatment for a disease, the -incurable nature of which was a legacy handed down by one century to -another. From this day, humanity is armed with a means of fighting the -fatal disease of hydrophobia and of preventing its onset. It is to M. -Pasteur that we owe this, and we could not feel too much admiration or -too much gratitude for the efforts on his part which have led to such a -magnificent result....” - -Five years previously, Bouley, in the annual combined public meeting of -the five Academies, had proclaimed his enthusiasm for the discovery of -the vaccination of anthrax. But on hearing him again on this October -day, in 1885, his colleagues could not but be painfully struck by the -change in him; his voice was weak, his face thin and pale. He was dying -of an affection of the heart, and quite aware of it, but he was -sustained by a wonderful energy, and ready to forget his sufferings in -his joy at the thought that the sum of human sorrows would be diminished -by Pasteur’s victory. He went to the Académie de Médecine the next day -to enjoy the echo of the great sitting of the Académie des Sciences. He -died on November 29. - -The chairman of the Academy of Medicine, M. Jules Bergeron, applauded -Pasteur’s statement all the more that he too had publicly deplored (in -1862) the impotence of medical science in the presence of this cruel -disease. - -But while M. Bergeron shared the admiration felt by Vulpian and Dr. -Grancher for the experiments which had transformed the rabic virus into -its own vaccine, other medical men were divided into several categories: -some were full of enthusiasm, others reserved their opinion, many were -sceptical, and a few even positively hostile. - -As soon as Pasteur’s paper was published, people bitten by rabid dogs -began to arrive from all sides to the laboratory. The “service” of -hydrophobia became the chief business of the day. Every morning was -spent by Eugène Viala in preparing the fragments of marrow used for -inoculations: in a little room permanently kept at a temperature of 20° -to 23° C., stood rows of sterilized flasks, their tubular openings -closed by plugs of cotton-wool. Each flask contained a rabic marrow, -hanging from the stopper by a thread and gradually drying up by the -action of some fragments of caustic potash lying at the bottom of the -flask. Viala cut those marrows into small pieces by means of scissors -previously put through a flame, and placed them in small sterilized -glasses; he then added a few drops of veal broth and pounded the mixture -with a glass rod. The vaccinal liquid was now ready; each glass was -covered with a paper cover, and bore the date of the medulla used, the -earliest of which was fourteen days old. For each patient under -treatment from a certain date, there was a whole series of little -glasses. Pasteur always attended these operations personally. - -In the large hall of the laboratory, Pasteur’s collaborators, Messrs. -Chamberland and Roux, carried on investigations into contagious diseases -under the master’s directions; the place was full of flasks, pipets, -phials, containing culture broths. Etienne Wasserzug, another curator, -hardly more than a boy, fresh from the Ecole Normale, where his bright -intelligence and affectionate heart had made him very popular, -translated (for he knew the English, German, Italian, Hungarian and -Spanish languages, and was awaiting a favourable opportunity of learning -Russian) the letters which arrived from all parts of the world; he also -entertained foreign scientists. Pasteur had in him a most valuable -interpreter. Physicians came from all parts of the world asking to be -allowed to study the details of the method. One morning, Dr. Grancher -found Pasteur listening to a physician who was gravely and solemnly -holding forth his objections to microbian doctrines, and in particular -to the treatment of hydrophobia. Pasteur having heard this long -monologue, rose and said, “Sir, your language is not very intelligible -to me. I am not a physician and do not desire to be one. Never speak to -me of your dogma of morbid spontaneity. I am a chemist; I carry out -experiments and I try to understand what they teach me. What do you -think, doctor?” he added, turning to M. Grancher. The latter smilingly -answered that the hour for inoculations had struck. They took place at -eleven, in Pasteur’s study; he, standing by the open door, called out -the names of the patients. The date and circumstances of the bites and -the veterinary surgeon’s certificate were entered in a register, and the -patients were divided into series according to the degree of virulence -which was to be inoculated on each day of the period of treatment. - -Pasteur took a personal interest in each of his patients, helping those -who were poor and illiterate to find suitable lodgings in the great -capital. Children especially inspired him with a loving solicitude. But -his pity was mingled with terror, when, on November 9, a little girl of -ten was brought to him who had been severely bitten on the head by a -mountain dog, on October 3, thirty-seven days before!! The wound was -still suppurating. He said to himself, “This is a hopeless case: -hydrophobia is no doubt about to appear immediately; it is much too late -for the preventive treatment to have the least chance of success. Should -I not, in the scientific interest of the method, refuse to treat this -child? If the issue is fatal, all those who have already been treated -will be frightened, and many bitten persons, discouraged from coming to -the laboratory, may succumb to the disease!” These thoughts rapidly -crossed Pasteur’s mind. But he found himself unable to resist his -compassion for the father and mother, begging him to try and save their -child. - -After the treatment was over, Louise Pelletier had returned to school, -when fits of breathlessness appeared, soon followed by convulsive -spasms; she could swallow nothing. Pasteur hastened to her side when -these symptoms began, and new inoculations were attempted. On December -2, there was a respite of a few hours, moments of calm which inspired -Pasteur with the vain hope that she might yet be saved. This delusion -was a short-lived one. After attending Bouley’s funeral, his heart full -of sorrow, Pasteur spent the day by little Louise’s bedside, in her -parents’ rooms in the Rue Dauphine. He could not tear himself away; she -herself, full of affection for him, gasped out a desire that he should -not go away, that he should stay with her! She felt for his hand between -two spasms. Pasteur shared the grief of the father and mother. When all -hope had to be abandoned: “I did so wish I could have saved your little -one!” he said. And as he came down the staircase, he burst into tears. - -He was obliged, a few days later, to preside at the reception of Joseph -Bertrand at the Académie Française; his sad feelings little in harmony -with the occasion. He read in a mournful and troubled voice the speech -he had prepared during his peaceful and happy holidays at Arbois. Henry -Houssaye, reporting on this ceremony in the _Journal des Débats_, wrote, -“M. Pasteur ended his speech amidst a torrent of applause, he received a -veritable ovation. He seemed unaccountably moved. How can M. Pasteur, -who has received every mark of admiration, every supreme honour, whose -name is consecrated by universal renown, still be touched by anything -save the discoveries of his powerful genius?” People did not realize -that Pasteur’s thoughts were far away from himself and from his -brilliant discovery. He was thinking of Dumas, his master, of Bouley, -his faithful friend and colleague, and of the child he had been unable -to snatch from the jaws of death; his mind was not with the living, but -with the dead. - -A telegram from New York having announced that four children, bitten by -rabid dogs, were starting for Paris, many adversaries who had heard of -Louise Pelletier’s death were saying triumphantly that, if those -children’s parents had known of her fate, they would have spared them so -long and useless a journey. - -The four little Americans belonged to workmen’s families and were sent -to Paris by means of a public subscription opened in the columns of the -_New York Herald_; they were accompanied by a doctor and by the mother -of the youngest of them, a boy only five years old. After the first -inoculation, this little boy, astonished at the insignificant prick, -could not help saying, “Is this all we have come such a long journey -for?” The children were received with enthusiasm on their return to New -York, and were asked “many questions about the great man who had taken -such care of them.” - -A letter dated from that time (January 14, 1886) shows that Pasteur yet -found time for kindness, in the midst of his world-famed occupations. - -“My dear Jupille, I have received your letters, and I am much pleased -with the news you give me of your health. Mme. Pasteur thanks you for -remembering her. She, and every one at the laboratory, join with me in -wishing that you may keep well and improve as much as possible in -reading, writing and arithmetic. Your writing is already much better -than it was, but you should take some pains with your spelling. Where do -you go to school? Who teaches you? Do you work at home as much as you -might? You know that Joseph Meister, who was first to be vaccinated, -often writes to me; well, I think he is improving more quickly than you -are, though he is only ten years old. So, mind you take pains, do not -waste your time with other boys, and listen to the advice of your -teachers, and of your father and mother. Remember me to M. Perrot, the -Mayor of Villers-Farlay. Perhaps, without him, you would have become -ill, and to be ill of hydrophobia means inevitable death; therefore you -owe him much gratitude. Good-bye. Keep well.” - -Pasteur’s solicitude did not confine itself to his two first patients, -Joseph Meister and the fearless Jupille, but was extended to all those -who had come under his care; his kindness was like a living flame. The -very little ones who then only saw in him a “kind gentleman” bending -over them understood later in life, when recalling the sweet smile -lighting up his serious face, that Science, thus understood, unites -moral with intellectual grandeur. - - * * * * * - -Good, like evil, is infectious; Pasteur’s science and devotion inspired -an act of generosity which was to be followed by many others. He -received a visit from one of his colleagues at the Académie Française, -Edouard Hervé, who looked upon journalism as a great responsibility and -as a school of mutual respect between adversaries. He was bringing to -Pasteur, from the Comte de Laubespin, a generous philanthropist, a sum -of 40,000 fr. destined to meet the expenses necessitated by the -organization of the hydrophobia treatment. Pasteur, when questioned by -Hervé, answered that his intention was to found a model establishment in -Paris, supported by donations and international subscriptions, without -having recourse to the State. But he added that he wanted to wait a -little longer until the success of the treatment was undoubted. -Statistics came to support it; Bouley, who had been entrusted with an -official inquiry on the subject under the Empire, had found that the -proportion of deaths after bites from rabid dogs had been 40 per 100, -320 cases having been watched. The proportion often was greater still: -whilst Joseph Meister was under Pasteur’s care, five persons were bitten -by a rabid dog on the Pantin Road, near Paris, and every one of them -succumbed to hydrophobia. - -Pasteur, instead of referring to Bouley’s statistics, preferred to adopt -those of M. Leblanc, a veterinary surgeon and a member of the Academy of -Medicine, who had for a long time been head of the sanitary department -of the _Préfecture de Police_. These statistics only gave a proportion -of deaths of 16 per 100, and had been carefully and accurately kept. - -On March 1, he was able to affirm, before the Academy, that the new -method had given proofs of its merit, for, out of 350 persons treated, -only one death had taken place, that of the little Pelletier. He -concluded thus-- - -“It may be seen, by comparison with the most rigorous statistics, that a -very large number of persons have already been saved from death. - -“The prophylaxis of hydrophobia after a bite is established. - -“It is advisable to create a vaccinal institute against hydrophobia.” - -The Academy of Sciences appointed a Commission who unanimously adopted -the suggestion that an establishment for the preventive treatment of -hydrophobia after a bite should be created in Paris, under the name of -_Institut Pasteur_. A subscription was about to be opened in France and -abroad. The spending of the funds would be directed by a special -Committee. - -A great wave of enthusiasm and generosity swept from one end of France -to another and reached foreign countries. A newspaper of Milan, the -_Perseveranza_, which had opened a subscription, collected 6,000 fr. in -its first list. The _Journal d’Alsace_ headed a propaganda in favour of -this work, “sprung from Science and Charity.” It reminded its readers -that Pasteur had occupied a professor’s chair in the former brilliant -Faculty of Science of Strasburg, and that his first inoculation was made -on an Alsatian boy, Joseph Meister. The newspaper intended to send the -subscriptions to Pasteur with these words: “Offerings from -Alsace-Lorraine to the Pasteur Institute.” - -The war of 1870 still darkened the memories of nations. Amongst eager -and numerous inventions of instruments of death and destruction, -humanity breathed when fresh news came from the laboratory, where a -continued struggle was taking place against diseases. The most -mysterious, the most cruel of all was going to be reduced to impotence. - -Yet the method was about to meet with a few more cases like Louise -Pelletier’s; accidents would result, either from delay or from -exceptionally serious wounds. Happy days were still in store for those -who sowed doubt and hatred. - - * * * * * - -During the early part of March, Pasteur received nineteen Russians, -coming from the province of Smolensk. They had been attacked by a rabid -wolf and most of them had terrible wounds: one of them, a priest, had -been surprised by the infuriated beast as he was going into church, his -upper lip and right cheek had been torn off, his face was one gaping -wound. Another, the youngest of them, had had the skin of his forehead -torn off by the wolf’s teeth; other bites were like knife cuts. Five of -these unhappy wretches were in such a condition that they had to be -carried to the Hôtel Dieu Hospital as soon as they arrived. - -The Russian doctor who had accompanied these mujiks related how the wolf -had wandered for two days and two nights, tearing to pieces every one he -met, and how he had finally been struck down with an axe by one of those -he had bitten most severely. - -Because of the gravity of the wounds, and in order to make up for the -time lost by the Russians before they started, Pasteur decided on making -two inoculations every day, one in the morning and one in the evening; -the patients at the Hôtel Dieu could be inoculated upon at the hospital. - -The fourteen others came every morning in their _touloupes_ and fur -caps, with their wounds bandaged, and joined without a word the motley -groups awaiting treatment at the laboratory--an English family, a Basque -peasant, a Hungarian in his national costume, etc., etc. - -In the evening, the dumb and resigned band of mujiks came again to the -laboratory door. They seemed led by Fate, heedless of the struggle -between life and death of which they were the prize. “Pasteur” was the -only French word they knew, and their set and melancholy faces -brightened in his presence as with a ray of hope and gratitude. - -Their condition was the more alarming that a whole fortnight had elapsed -between their being bitten and the date of the first inoculations. -Statistics were terrifying as to the results of wolf-bites, the average -proportion of deaths being 82 per 100. General anxiety and excitement -prevailed concerning the hapless Russians, and the news of the death of -three of them produced an intense emotion. - -Pasteur had unceasingly continued his visits to the Hôtel Dieu. He was -overwhelmed with grief. His confidence in his method was in no wise -shaken, the general results would not allow it. But questions of -statistics were of little account in his eyes when he was the witness of -a misfortune; his charity was not of that kind which is exhausted by -collective generalities: each individual appealed to his heart. As he -passed through the wards at the Hôtel Dieu, each patient in his bed -inspired him with deep compassion. And that is why so many who only saw -him pass, heard his voice, met his pitiful eyes resting on them, have -preserved of him a memory such as the poor had of St. Vincent de Paul. - -“The other Russians are keeping well so far,” declared Pasteur at the -Academy sitting of April 12, 1886. Whilst certain opponents in France -continued to discuss the three deaths and apparently saw nought but -those failures, the return of the sixteen survivors was greeted with an -almost religious emotion. Other Russians had come before them and were -saved, and the Tsar, knowing these things, desired his brother, the -Grand Duke Vladimir, to bring to Pasteur an imperial gift, the Cross of -the Order of St. Anne of Russia, in diamonds. He did more, he gave -100,000 fr. in aid of the proposed Pasteur Institute. - -In April, 1886, the English Government, seeing the practical results of -the method for the prophylaxis of hydrophobia, appointed a Commission to -study and verify the facts. Sir James Paget was the president of it, and -the other members were:--Dr. Lauder-Brunton, Mr. Fleming, Sir Joseph -Lister, Dr. Quain, Sir Henry Roscoe, Professor Burdon Sanderson, and -Mr. Victor Horsley, secretary. The _résumé_ of the programme was as -follows-- - -Development of the rabic virus in the medulla oblongata of animals dying -of rabies. - -Transmission of this virus by subdural or subcutaneous inoculation. - -Intensification of this virus by successive passages from rabbit to -rabbit. - -Possibility either of protecting healthy animals from ulterior bites -from rabid animals, or of preventing the onset of rabies in animals -already bitten, by means of vaccinal inoculations. - -Applications of this method to man and value of its results. - -Burdon Sanderson and Horsley came to Paris, and two rabbits, inoculated -on by Pasteur, were taken to England; a series of experiments was to be -begun on them, and an inquiry was to take place afterwards concerning -patients treated both in France and in England. Pasteur, who lost his -temper at prejudices and ill-timed levity, approved and solicited -inquiry and careful examination. - -Long lists of subscribers appeared in the _Journal -Officiel_--millionaires, poor workmen, students, women, etc. A great -festival was organized at the Trocadéro in favour of the Pasteur -Institute; the greatest artistes offered their services. Coquelin -recited verses written for the occasion which excited loud applause from -the immense audience. Gounod, who had conducted his _Ave Maria_, turned -round after the closing bars, and, in an impulse of heartfelt -enthusiasm, kissed both his hands to the savant. - -In the evening at a banquet, Pasteur thanked his colleagues and the -organizers of this incomparable performance. “Was it not,” he said, “a -touching sight, that of those immortal composers, those great charmers -of fortunate humanity coming to the assistance of those who wish to -study and to serve suffering humanity? And you too come, great artistes, -great actors, like so many generals re-entering the ranks to give -greater vigour to a common feeling. I cannot easily describe what I -felt. Dare I confess that I was hearing most of you for the first time? -I do not think I have spent more than ten evenings of my whole life at a -theatre. But I can have no regrets now that you have given me, in a few -hours’ interval, as in an exquisite synthesis, the feelings that so many -others scatter over several months, or rather several years.” - -A few days later, the subscription from Alsace-Lorraine brought in -43,000 fr. Pasteur received it with grateful emotion, and was pleased -and touched to find the name of little Joseph Meister among the list of -private subscribers. It was now eleven months since he had been bitten -so cruelly by the dog, whose rabic condition had immediately been -recognized by the German authorities. Pasteur ever kept a corner of his -heart for the boy who had caused him such anxiety. - - * * * * * - -Pasteur’s name was now familiar to all those who were trying to benefit -humanity; his presence at charitable gatherings was considered as a -happy omen, and he was asked to preside on many such occasions. He was -ever ready with his help and sympathy, speaking in public, answering -letters from private individuals, giving wholesome advice to young -people who came to him for it, and doing nothing by halves. If he found -the time, even during that period when the study of rabies was absorbing -him, to undertake so many things and to achieve so many tasks, he owed -it to Mme. Pasteur, who watched over his peace, keeping him safe from -intrusions and interruptions. This retired, almost recluse life, enabled -him to complete many works, a few of which would have sufficed to make -several scientists celebrated. - -Every morning, between ten and eleven o’clock, Pasteur walked down the -Rue Claude-Bernard to the Rue Vauquelin, where a few temporary buildings -had been erected to facilitate the treatment of hydrophobia, close to -the rabbit hutches, hencoops, and dog kennels which occupied the yard of -the old Collège Rollin. The patients under treatment walked about -cheerfully amidst these surroundings, looking like holiday makers in a -Zoological Garden. Children, whose tears were already dried at the -second inoculation, ran about merrily. Pasteur, who loved the little -ones, always kept sweets or new copper coins for them in his drawer. One -little girl amused herself by having holes bored in those coins, and -hung them round her neck like a necklace; she was wearing this ornament -on the day of her departure, when she ran to kiss the great man as she -would have kissed her grandfather. - -Drs. Grancher, Roux, Chantemesse, and Charrin came by turns to perform -the inoculations. A surgery ward had been installed to treat the -numerous wounds of the patients, and entrusted to the young and -energetic Dr. Terrillon. - -In August, 1886, while staying at Arbois, Pasteur spent much time over -his notes and registers; he was sometimes tempted to read over certain -articles of passionate criticism. “How difficult it is to obtain the -triumph of truth!” he would say. “Opposition is a useful stimulant, but -bad faith is such a pitiable thing. How is it that they are not struck -with the results as shown by statistics? From 1880 to 1885, sixty -persons are stated to have died of hydrophobia in the Paris hospitals; -well, since November 1, 1885, when the prophylactic method was started -in my laboratory, only three deaths have occurred in those hospitals, -two of which were cases which had not been treated. It is evident that -very few people who had been bitten did not come to be treated. In -France, out of that unknown but very restricted number, seventeen cases -of death have been noted, whilst out of the 1,726 French and Algerians -who came to the laboratory only ten died after the treatment.” - -But Pasteur was not yet satisfied with this proportion, already so low; -he was trying to forestall the outburst of hydrophobia by a greater -rapidity and intensity of the treatment. He read a paper on the subject -to the Academy of Sciences on November 2, 1886. Admiral Jurien de la -Gravière, who was in the chair, said to him, “All great discoveries have -gone through a time of trial. May your health withstand the troubles and -difficulties in your way.” - -Pasteur’s health had indeed suffered from so much work and anxiety, and -there were symptoms of some heart trouble. Drs. Villemin and Grancher -persuaded him to interrupt his work and to think of spending a restful -winter in the south of France. M. Raphael Bischoffsheim, a great lover -of science, placed at Pasteur’s disposal his beautiful villa at -Bordighera, close to the French frontier, which he had on divers -occasions lent to other distinguished guests, the Queen of Italy, Henri -Sainte-Claire Deville, Gambetta, etc. - -Pasteur consented to leave his work at the end of November, and started -one evening from the Gare de Lyon with his wife, his daughter and her -husband, and his two grandchildren; eighteen friends came to the station -to see him off, including his pupils, M. Bischoffsheim, and some foreign -physicians who were staying in Paris to study the prophylactic treatment -of hydrophobia. - -The bright dawn and the sunshine already appearing at Avignon -contrasted with the foggy November weather left behind in Paris and -brought a feeling of comfort, almost of returning health; a delegation -of doctors met the train at Nice, bringing Pasteur their good wishes. - -The travelling party drove from Vintimille to Bordighera under the deep -blue sky reflected in a sea of a yet deeper blue, along a road bordered -with cacti, palms and other tropical plants. The sight of the lovely -gardens of the Villa Bischoffsheim gave Pasteur a delicious feeling of -rest. - -His health soon improved sufficiently for him to be able to take some -short walks. But his thoughts constantly recurred to the laboratory. M. -Duclaux was then thinking of starting a monthly periodical entitled -_Annals of the Pasteur Institute_. Pasteur, writing to him on December -27, 1887, to express his approbation, suggested various experiments to -be attempted. He attributed the action of the preventive inoculations to -a vaccinal matter associated with the rabic microbe. Pasteur had thought -at first that the first development of the pathogenic microbe caused the -disappearance from the organism of an element necessary to the life of -that microbe. It was, in other words, a theory of exhaustion. But since -1885, he adopted the other idea, supported indeed by biologists, that -immunity was due to a substance left in the body by the culture of the -microbe and which opposed the invasion--a theory of addition. - -“I am happy to learn,” wrote Villemin, his friend and his medical -adviser, “that your health is improving; continue to rest in that -beautiful country, you have well deserved it, and rest is _absolutely_ -necessary to you. You have overtaxed yourself beyond all reason and you -must make up for it. Repairs to the nervous system are worked chiefly by -relaxation from the mental storms and moral anxieties which your _rabid_ -work has occasioned in you. Give the Bordighera sun a chance!” - -But Pasteur was not allowed the rest he so much needed; on January 4, -1887, referring to a death which had occurred after treatment in the -preceding December, M. Peter declared that the antirabic cure was -useless; at the following meeting he called it dangerous when applied in -the “intensive” form. Dujardin-Beaumetz, Chauveau and Verneuil -immediately intervened, declaring that the alleged fact was “devoid of -any scientific character.” A week later, MM. Grancher and Brouardel bore -the brunt of the discussion. Grancher, Pasteur’s representative on this -occasion, disproved certain allegations, and added: “The medical men -who have been chosen by M. Pasteur to assist him in his work have not -hesitated to practise the antirabic inoculation on themselves, as a -safeguard against an accidental inoculation of the virus which they are -constantly handling. What greater proof can they give of their bonâ fide -convictions?” He showed that the mortality amongst the cases treated -remained below 1 per 100. “M. Pasteur will soon publish foreign -statistics from Samara, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Warsaw and -Vienna: they are all absolutely favourable.” - -As it was insinuated that the laboratory of the Ecole Normale kept its -failures a secret, it was decided that the _Annals of the Pasteur -Institute_ would publish a monthly list and bulletin of patients under -treatment. - -Vulpian, at another meeting (it was almost the last time he was heard at -the Académie de Médecine), said, à propos of what he called an -inexcusable opposition, “This new benefit adds to the number of those -which our illustrious Pasteur has already rendered to humanity.... Our -works and our names will soon be buried under the rising tide of -oblivion: the name and the works of M. Pasteur will continue to stand on -heights too great to be reached by its sullen waves.” Pasteur was much -disturbed by the noise of these discussions; every post increased his -feverishness, and he spoke every morning of returning to Paris to answer -his opponents. - -It was a pitiful thing to note on his worn countenance the visible signs -of the necessity of the peace and rest offered by this beautiful land of -serene sunshine; and to hear at the same time a constant echo of those -angry debates. Anonymous letters were sent to him, insulting newspaper -articles--all that envy and hatred can invent; the seamy side of human -nature was being revealed to him. “I did not know I had so many -enemies,” he said mournfully. He was consoled to some extent by the -ardent support of the greatest medical men in France. - -Vulpian, in a statement to the Académie des Sciences, constituted -himself Pasteur’s champion. Pasteur indeed was safe from attacks in that -centre, but certain low slanderers who attended the public meetings of -the Académie continued to accuse Pasteur of concealing the failures of -his method. Vulpian--who was furiously angry at such an insinuation -against “a man like M. Pasteur, whose good faith, loyalty and scientific -integrity should be an example to his adversaries as they are to his -friends”--thought that it was in the interest both of science and of -humanity to state once more the facts recently confirmed by new -statistics; the public is so impressionable and so mobile in its -opinions that one article is often enough to shake general confidence. -He was therefore anxious to reassure all those who had been inoculated -on and who might be induced by those discussions to wonder with anguish -whether they really were saved. The Academy of Sciences decided that -Vulpian’s statement should be inserted _in extenso_ in all the reports -and a copy of it sent to every village in France. Vulpian wrote to -Pasteur at the same time, “All your admirers hope that those interested -attacks will merely excite your contempt. Fine weather is no doubt -reigning at Bordighera: you must take advantage of it and become quite -well.... The Academy of Medicine is almost entirely on your side; there -are at the most but four or five exceptions.” - - * * * * * - -Pasteur had a few calm days after these debates. Whilst planning out new -investigations, he was much interested in the plans for his Institute -which were now submitted to him. His thoughts were always away from -Bordighera, which he seemed to look upon as a sort of exile. This -impression was partly due to the situation of the town, so close to the -frontier, and the haunt of so many homeless wanderers. He once met a -sad-faced, still beautiful woman, in mourning robes, and recognized the -Empress Eugénie. - -Shortly afterwards, he received a visit from Prince Napoleon, who -dragged his haughty _ennui_ from town to town. He presented himself at -the Villa Bischoffsheim under the name of Count Moncalieri, coming, he -said, to greet his colleague of the Institute. Rabies formed the subject -of their conversation. The next day, Pasteur called on the Prince, in -his commonplace hotel rooms, a mere temporary resting place for the -exiled Bonaparte, whose mysterious, uncompleted destiny was made more -enigmatical by his startling resemblance to the great Emperor. - -On February 23, the day after the carnival, early in the morning, a -violent earthquake cast terror over that peaceful land where nature -hides with flowers the spectre of death. At 6.20 a.m. a low and distant -rumbling sound was heard, coming from the depths of the earth and -resembling the noise of a train passing in an underground tunnel; houses -began to rock and ominous cracks were heard. This first shock lasted -more than a minute, during which the sense of solidity disappeared -altogether, to be succeeded by a feeling of absolute, hopeless, -impotence. No doubt, in every household, families gathered together, -with a sudden yearning not to be divided. Pasteur’s wife, children and -grandchildren had barely had time to come to him when another shock took -place, more terrible than the first; everything seemed about to be -engulfed in an abyss. Never had morning been more radiant; there was not -a breath of wind, the air was absolutely transparent. - -An early departure was necessary: the broken ceilings were dropping to -pieces, shaken off by an incessant vibration of the ground which -continued after the second shock, and of which Pasteur observed the -effect on glass windows with much interest. Pasteur and his family dove -off to Vintimille in a carriage, along a road lined with ruined houses, -crowded with sick people in quest of carriages and peasants coming down -from their mountain dwellings, destroyed by the shock, leading donkeys -loaded with bedding, the women followed by little children hastily wrapt -in blankets and odd clothes. At Vintimille station, terrified travellers -were trying to leave France for Italy or Italy for France, fancying that -the danger would cease on the other side of the frontier. - -“We have resolved to go to Arbois,” wrote Mme. Pasteur to her son from -Marseilles; “your father will be better able there than anywhere else to -recover from this shock to his heart.” - -After a few weeks’ stay at Arbois, Pasteur seemed quite well again. He -was received with respect and veneration on his return to the Academies -of Sciences and of Medicine. His best and greatest colleagues had -realized what the loss of him would mean to France and to the world, and -surrounded him with an anxious solicitude. - -At the beginning of July, Pasteur received the report presented to the -House of Commons by the English Commission after a fourteen months’ -study of the prophylactic method against hydrophobia. The English -scientists had verified every one of the facts upon which the method was -founded, but they had not been satisfied with their experimental -researches in Mr. Horsley’s laboratory, and had carried out a long and -minute inquiry in France. After noting on Pasteur’s registers the names -of ninety persons treated, who had come from the same neighbourhood, -they had interviewed each one of them in their own homes. “It may -therefore be considered as certain”--thus ran the report--“that M. -Pasteur has discovered a prophylactic method against hydrophobia which -may be compared with that of vaccination against small-pox. It would be -difficult to overestimate the utility of this discovery, both from the -point of view of its practical side and of its application to general -pathology. We have here a new method of inoculation, or vaccination, as -M. Pasteur sometimes calls it, and similar means might be employed to -protect man and domestic animals against other virus as active as that -of hydrophobia.” - -Pasteur laid this report on the desk of the Academy of Sciences on July -4. He spoke of its spirit of entire and unanimous confidence, and -added-- - -“Thus fall to the ground the contradictions which have been published. I -leave on one side the passionate attacks which were not justified by the -least attempt at experiment, the slightest observation of facts in my -laboratory, or even an exchange of words and ideas with the Director of -the Hydrophobia Clinic, Professor Grancher, and his medical assistants. - -“But, however deep is my satisfaction as a Frenchman, I cannot but feel -a sense of deepest sadness at the thought that this high testimony from -a commission of illustrious scientists was not known by him who, at the -very beginning of the application of this method, supported me by his -counsels and his authority, and who later on, when I was ill and absent, -knew so well how to champion truth and justice; I mean our beloved -colleague Vulpian.” - -Vulpian had succumbed to a few days’ illness. His speech in favour of -Pasteur was almost the farewell to the Academy of this great-hearted -scientist. - -The discussion threatened to revive. Other colleagues defended Pasteur -at the Academy of Medicine on July 12. Professor Brouardel spoke, also -M. Villemin, and then Charcot, who insisted on quoting word for word -Vulpian’s true and simple phrase: “The discovery of the preventive -treatment of hydrophobia after a bite, entirely due to M. Pasteur’s -experimental genius, is one of the finest discoveries ever made, both -from the scientific and the humanitarian point of view.” And Charcot -continued: “I am persuaded that I express in these words the opinion of -all the medical men who have studied the question with an open mind, -free from prejudice; the inventor of antirabic vaccination may, now -more than ever, hold his head high and continue to accomplish his -glorious task, heedless of the clamour of systematic contradiction or of -the insidious murmurs of slander.” - -The Academy of Sciences begged Pasteur to become its Life Secretary in -Vulpian’s place. Pasteur did not reply at once to this offer, but went -to see M. Berthelot: “This high position,” he said, “would be more -suitable to you than to me.” M. Berthelot, much touched, refused -unconditionally, and Pasteur accepted. He was elected on July 18. He -said, in thanking his colleagues, “I would now spend what time remains -before me, on the one hand in encouraging to research and in training -for scientific studies,--the future of which seems to me most -promising,--pupils worthy of French science; and, on the other hand, in -following attentively the work incited and encouraged by this Academy. - -“Our only consolation, as we feel our own strength failing us, is to -feel that we may help those who come after us to do more and to do -better than ourselves, fixing their eyes as they can on the great -horizons of which we only had a glimpse.” - -He did not long fulfil his new duties. On October 23, Sunday morning, -after writing a letter in his room, he tried to speak to Mme. Pasteur -and could not pronounce a word; his tongue was paralyzed. He had -promised to lunch with his daughter on that day, and, fearing that she -might be alarmed, he drove to her house. After spending a few hours in -an easy chair, he consented to remain at her house with Mme. Pasteur. In -the evening his speech returned, and two days later, when he went back -to the Ecole Normale, no one would have noticed any change in him. But, -on the following Saturday morning, he had another almost similar attack, -without any premonitory symptoms. His speech remained somewhat -difficult, and his deep powerful voice completely lost its strength. In -January, 1888, he was obliged to resign his secretaryship. - -Ill-health had emaciated his features. A portrait of him by Carolus -Duran represents him looking ill and weary, a sad look in his eyes. But -goodness predominates in those worn features, revealing that lovable -soul, full of pity for all human sufferings, and of which the painter -has rendered the unspeakable thrill. - -Pasteur’s various portraits, compared with one another, show us -different aspects of his physiognomy. A luminous profile, painted by -Henner ten years before, brings out the powerful harmony of the -forehead. In 1886, Bonnat painted, for the brewer Jacobsen, who wished -to present it to Mme. Pasteur, a large portrait which may be called an -official one. Pasteur is standing in rather an artificial attitude, -which might be imperious, if his left hand was not resting on the -shoulder of his granddaughter, a child of six, with clear pensive eyes. -In that same year, Edelfeldt, the Finnish painter, begged to be allowed -to come into the laboratory for a few sketches. Pasteur came and went, -attending to his work and taking no notice of the painter. One day that -Edelfeldt was watching him thus, deep in observation, his forehead lined -with almost painful thoughts, he undertook to portray the savant in his -meditative attitude. Pasteur is standing clad in a short brown coat, an -experimental card in his left hand, in his right, a phial containing a -fragment of rabic marrow, the expression in his eyes entirely -concentrated on the scientific problem. - -During the year 1888, Pasteur, after spending the morning with his -patients, used to go and watch the buildings for the Pasteur Institute -which were being erected in the Rue Dutot. 11,000 square yards of ground -had been acquired in the midst of some market gardens. Instead of rows -of hand-lights and young lettuces, a stone building, with a Louis XIII -façade, was now being constructed. An interior gallery connected the -main building with the large wings. The Pasteur Institute was to be at -the same time a great dispensary for the treatment of hydrophobia, a -centre of research on virulent and contagious diseases, and also a -teaching centre. M. Duclaux’s class of biological chemistry, held at the -Sorbonne, was about to be transferred to the Pasteur Institute, where -Dr. Roux would also give a course of lectures on technical microbia. The -“service” of vaccinations against anthrax was entrusted to M. -Chamberland. (The statistics of 1882--1887 gave a total of 1,600,000 -sheep and nearly 200,000 oxen.) There would also be, under M. -Metchnikoff’s direction, some private laboratories, the monkish cells of -the Pastorians. - -At the end of October, the work was almost completed; Pasteur invited -the President of the Republic to come and inaugurate the Institute. “I -shall certainly not fail to do so,” answered Carnot; “your Institute is -a credit to France.” - -On November 14, politicians, colleagues, friends, collaborators, pupils -assembled in the large library of the new Institute. Pasteur had the -pleasure of seeing before him, in the first rank, Duruy and Jules -Simon; it was a great day for these former Ministers of Public -Instruction. Like them, Pasteur had all his life been deeply interested -in higher education. “If that teaching is but for a small number,” he -said, “it is with this small number, this élite that the prosperity, -glory and supremacy of a nation rest.” - -Joseph Bertrand, chairman of the Institute Committee, knowing that by so -doing he responded to Pasteur’s dearest wishes, spoke of the past and -recalled the memories of Biot, Senarmont, Claude Bernard, Balard, and J. -B. Dumas. - -Professor Grancher, Secretary of the Committee, alluded to the way in -which not only Vulpian but Breuardel, Charcot, Verneuil, Chauveau and -Villemin had recently honoured themselves by supporting the cause of -progress and preparing its triumph. These memories of early friends, -associated with that of recent champions, brought before the audience a -vision of the procession of years. After speaking of the obstacles -Pasteur had so often encountered amongst the medical world-- - -“You know,” said M. Grancher, “that M. Pasteur is an innovator, and that -his creative imagination, kept in check by rigorous observation of -facts, has overturned many errors and built up in their place an -entirely new science. His discoveries on ferments, on the generation of -the infinitesimally small, on microbes, the cause of contagious -diseases, and on the vaccination of those diseases, have been for -biological chemistry, for the veterinary art and for medicine, not a -regular progress, but a complete revolution. Now, revolutions, even -those imposed by scientific demonstration, ever leave behind them -vanquished ones who do not easily forgive. M. Pasteur has therefore many -adversaries in the world, without counting those Athenian French who do -not like to see one man always right or always fortunate. And, as if he -had not enough adversaries, M. Pasteur makes himself new ones by the -rigorous implacability of his dialectics and the absolute form he -sometimes gives to his thought.” - -Going on to the most recently acquired results, M. Grancher stated that -the mortality amongst persons treated after bites from rabid dogs -remained under 1 per 100. - -“If those figures are indeed eloquent,” said M. Christophle, the -treasurer, who spoke after M. Grancher, “other figures are touching. I -would advise those who only see the dark side of humanity,” he remarked, -before entering upon the statement of accounts--“those who go about -repeating that everything here below is for the worst, that there is no -disinterestedness, no devotion in this world--to cast their eyes over -the ‘human documents’ of the Pasteur Institute. They would learn -therein, beginning at the beginning, that Academies contain colleagues -who are not offended, but proud and happy in the fame of another; that -politicians and journalists often have a passion for what is good and -true; that at no former epoch have great men been more beloved in -France; that justice is already rendered to them during their lifetime, -which is very much the best way of doing so; that we have cheered Victor -Hugo’s birthday, Chevreul’s centenary, and the inauguration of the -Pasteur Institute. When a Frenchman runs himself down, said one of M. -Pasteur’s colleagues, do not believe him; he is boasting! Reversing a -celebrated and pessimistic phrase, it might be said that in this public -subscription all the virtues flow into unselfishness like rivers into -the sea.” - -M. Christophle went on to show how rich and poor had joined in this -subscription and raised an amount of 2,586,680 fr. The French Chambers -had voted 200,000 fr., to which had been added international gifts from -the Tsar, the Emperor of Brazil, and the Sultan. The total expenses -would probably reach 1,563,786 fr., leaving a little more than a million -to form an endowment for the Pasteur Institute, a fund which was to be -increased every year by the product of the sale of vaccines from the -laboratory, which Pasteur and Messrs. Chamberland and Roux agreed to -give up to the Institute. - -“It is thus, Sir,” concluded the treasurer, directly addressing Pasteur, -“that public generosity, practical help from the Government, and your -own disinterestedness have founded and consolidated the establishment -which we are to-day inaugurating.” And, persuaded that the solicitude of -the public would never fail to support this great work, “This is for -you, Sir, a rare and almost unhoped for happiness; let it console you -for the passionate struggles, the terrible anxiety and the many emotions -you have gone through.” - -Pasteur, overcome by his feelings, had to ask his son to read his -speech. It began by a rapid summary of what France had done for -education in all its degrees. “From village schools to laboratories, -everything has been founded or renovated.” After acknowledging the help -given him in later years by the public authorities, he continued-- - -“And when the day came that, foreseeing the future which would be opened -by the discovery of the attenuation of virus, I appealed to my country, -so that we should be allowed, through the strength and impulse of -private initiative, to build laboratories to be devoted, not only to the -prophylactic treatment of hydrophobia, but also to the study of virulent -and contagious diseases--on that day again, France gave in handfuls.... -It is now finished, this great building, of which it might be said that -there is not a stone but what is the material sign of a generous -thought. All the virtues have subscribed to build this dwelling place -for work. - -“Alas! mine is the bitter grief that I enter it, a man ‘vanquished by -Time,’ deprived of my masters, even of my companions in the struggle, -Dumas, Bouley, Paul Bert, and lastly Vulpian, who, after having been -with you, my dear Grancher, my counsellor at the very first, became the -most energetic, the most convinced champion of this method. - -“However, if I have the sorrow of thinking that they are no more, after -having valiantly taken their part in discussions which I have never -provoked but have had to endure; if they cannot hear me proclaim all -that I owe to their counsels and support; if I feel their absence as -deeply as on the morrow of their death, I have at least the consolation -of believing that all that we struggled for together will not perish. -The collaborators and pupils who are now here share our scientific -faith....” He continued, as in a sort of testament: “Keep your early -enthusiasm, dear collaborators, but let it ever be regulated by rigorous -examinations and tests. Never advance anything which cannot be proved in -a simple and decisive fashion. - -“Worship the spirit of criticism. If reduced to itself, it is not an -awakener of ideas or a stimulant to great things, but, without it, -everything is fallible; it always has the last word. What I am now -asking you, and you will ask of your pupils later on, is what is most -difficult to an inventor. - -“It is indeed a hard task, when you believe you have found an important -scientific fact and are feverishly anxious to publish it, to constrain -yourself for days, weeks, years sometimes, to fight with yourself, to -try and ruin your own experiments and only to proclaim your discovery -after having exhausted all contrary hypotheses. - -“But when, after so many efforts, you have at last arrived at a -certainty, your joy is one of the greatest which can be felt by a human -soul, and the thought that you will have contributed to the honour of -your country renders that joy still deeper. - -“If science has no country, the scientist should have one, and ascribe -to it the influence which his works may have in this world. If I might -be allowed, M. le Président, to conclude by a philosophical remark -inspired by your presence in this Home of Work, I should say that two -contrary laws seem to be wrestling with each other nowadays; the one, a -law of blood and of death, ever imagining new means of destruction and -forcing nations to be constantly ready for the battlefield--the other, a -law of peace, work and health, ever evolving new means of delivering man -from the scourges which beset him. - -“The one seeks violent conquests, the other the relief of humanity. The -latter places one human life above any victory; while the former would -sacrifice hundreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. The -law of which we are the instruments seeks, even in the midst of carnage, -to cure the sanguinary ills of the law of war; the treatment inspired by -our antiseptic methods may preserve thousands of soldiers. Which of -those two laws will ultimately prevail, God alone knows. But we may -assert that French Science will have tried, by obeying the law of -Humanity, to extend the frontiers of Life.” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -1889--1895 - - -In this Institute, which Pasteur entered ill and weary, he contemplated -with joy those large laboratories, which would enable his pupils to work -with ease and to attract around them investigators from all countries. -He was happy to think that the material difficulties which had hampered -him would be spared those who came after him. He believed in the -realization of his wishes for peace, work, mutual help among men. -Whatever the obstacles, he was persuaded that science would continue its -civilizing progress and that its benefits would spread from domain to -domain. Differing from those old men who are ever praising the past, he -had an enthusiastic confidence in the future; he foresaw great -developments of his studies, some of which were already apparent. His -first researches on crystallography and molecular dissymmetry had served -as a basis to stereo-chemistry. But, while he followed the studies on -that subject of Le Bel and Van t’Hoff, he continued to regret that he -had not been able to revert to the studies of his youth, enslaved as he -had been by the inflexible logical sequence of his works. “Every time we -have had the privilege of hearing Pasteur speak of his early -researches,” writes M. Chamberland, in an article in the _Revue -Scientifique_, “we have seen the revival in him of a smouldering fire, -and we have thought that his countenance showed a vague regret at having -forsaken them. Who can now say what discoveries he might have made in -that direction?” “One day,” said Dr. Héricourt--who spent the summer -near Villeneuve l’Etang, and who often came into the Park with his two -sons--“he favoured me with an admirable, captivating discourse on this -subject, the like of which I have never heard.” - -Pasteur, instead of feeling regret, might have looked back with calm -pride on the progress he had made in other directions. - -In what obscurity were fermentation and infection enveloped before his -time, and with what light he had penetrated them! When he had discovered -the all-powerful rôle of the infinitesimally small, he had actually -mastered some of those living germs, causes of disease; he had -transformed them from destructive to preservative agents. Not only had -he renovated medicine and surgery, but hygiene, misunderstood and -neglected until then, was benefiting by the experimental method. Light -was being thrown on preventive measures. - -M. Henri Monod, Director of Hygiene and Public Charities, one day -quoted, à propos of sanitary measures, these words of the great English -Minister, Disraeli-- - -“Public health is the foundation upon which rest the happiness of the -people and the power of the State. Take the most beautiful kingdom, give -it intelligent and laborious citizens, prosperous manufactures, -productive agriculture; let arts flourish, let architects cover the land -with temples and palaces; in order to defend all these riches, have -first-rate weapons, fleets of torpedo boats--if the population remains -stationary, if it decreases yearly in vigour and in stature, the nation -must perish. And that is why I consider that the first duty of a -statesman is the care of Public Health.” - -In 1889, when the International Congress of Hygiene met in Paris, M. -Brouardel was able to say-- - -“If echoes from this meeting could reach them ... our ancestors would -learn that a revolution, the most formidable for thirty centuries, has -shaken medical science to its very foundations, and that it is the work -of a stranger to their corporation; and their sons do not cry Anathema, -they admire him, bow to his laws.... We all proclaim ourselves disciples -of Pasteur.” - -On the very day after those words were pronounced, Pasteur saw the -realization of one of his most ardent wishes, the inauguration of the -new Sorbonne. At the sight of the wonderful facilities for work offered -by this palace, he remembered Claude Bernard’s cellar, his own garret at -the Ecole Normale, and felt a movement of patriotic pride. - -In October, 1889, though his health remained shaken, he insisted on -going to Alais, where a statue was being raised to J. B. Dumas. Many of -his colleagues tried to dissuade him from this long and fatiguing -journey, but he said: “I am alive, I shall go.” At the foot of the -statue, he spoke of his master, one of those men who are “the tutelary -spirits of a nation.” - -The sericicultors, desiring to thank him for the five years he had spent -in studying the silkworm disease, offered him an artistic souvenir: a -silver heather twig laden with gold cocoons. - -Pasteur did not fail to remind them that it was at the request of their -fellow citizen that he had studied pébrine. He said, “In the expression -of your gratitude, by which I am deeply touched, do not forget that the -initiative was due to M. Dumas.” - -Thus his character revealed itself on every occasion. Every morning, -with a step rendered heavy by age and ill-health, he went from his rooms -to the Hydrophobia Clinic, arriving there long before the patients. He -superintended the preparation of the vaccinal marrows; no detail escaped -him. When the time came for inoculations, he was already informed of -each patient’s name, sometimes of his poor circumstances; he had a kind -word for every one, often substantial help for the very poor. The -children interested him most; whether severely bitten, or frightened at -the inoculation, he dried their tears and consoled them. How many -children have thus kept a memory of him! “When I see a child,” he used -to say, “he inspires me with two feelings: tenderness for what he is -now, respect for what he may become hereafter.” - - * * * * * - -Already in May, 1892, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway had formed various -Committees of scientists and pupils of Pasteur to celebrate his -seventieth birthday. In France, it was in November that the Medical and -Surgical Section of the Academy of Sciences constituted a Subscription -Committee to offer Pasteur an affectionate homage. Roty, the celebrated -engraver, was desired to finish a medal he had already begun, -representing Pasteur in profile, a skull cap on his broad forehead, the -brow strongly prominent, the whole face full of energy and meditation. -His shoulders are covered with the cape he usually wore in the morning -in the passages of his Institute. Roty had not time to design a -satisfactory reverse side; he surrounded with laurels and roses the -following inscription: “To Pasteur, on his seventieth birthday. France -and Humanity grateful.” - -On the morning of December 27, 1892, the great theatre of the Sorbonne -was filled. The seats of honour held the French and foreign delegates -from Scientific Societies, the members of the Institute, and the -Professors of Faculties. In the amphitheatre were the deputations from -the Ecoles Normale, Polytechnique, Centrale, of Pharmacy, Vétérinaires, -and of Agriculture--deep masses of students. People pointed out to each -other Pasteur’s pupils, Messrs. Duclaux, Roux, Chamberland, Metchnikoff, -in their places; M. Perdrix, a former Normalien, now an -_Agrégé-préparateur_; M. Edouard Calmette, a former student of the Ecole -Centrale, who had taken part in the studies on beer; and M. Denys -Cochin, who, thirteen years before, had studied alcoholic fermentation -in the laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm. The first gallery was full of those -who had subscribed towards the presentation about to be made to Pasteur. -In the second gallery, boys from _lycées_ crowned the immense assembly -with a youthful garland. - -At half past 10 o’clock, whilst the band of the Republican Guard played -a triumphal march, Pasteur entered, leaning on the arm of the President -of the Republic. Carnot led him to a little table, whereon the addresses -from the various delegates were to be laid. The Presidents of the Senate -and of the Chamber, the Ministers and Ambassadors, took their seats on -the platform. Behind the President of the Republic stood, in their -uniform, the official delegates of the five Academies which form the -Institut de France. The Academy of Medicine and the great Scientific -Societies were represented by their presidents and life-secretaries. - -M. Charles Dupuy, Minister of Public Instruction, rose to speak, and -said, after retracing Pasteur’s great works-- - -“Who can now say how much human life owes to you and how much more it -will owe to you in the future! The day will come when another Lucretius -will sing, in a new poem on Nature, the immortal Master whose genius -engendered such benefits. - -“He will not describe him as a solitary, unfeeling man, like the hero of -the Latin poet; but he will show him mingling with the life of his time, -with the joys and trials of his country, dividing his life between the -stern enjoyment of scientific research and the sweet communion of family -intercourse; going from the laboratory to his hearth, finding in his -dear ones, particularly in the helpmeet who has understood him so well -and loved him all the better for it, that comforting encouragement of -every hour and each moment, without which so many struggles might have -exhausted his ardour, arrested his perseverance, and enervated his -genius.... - -“May France keep you for many more years, and show you to the world as -the worthy object of her love, of her gratitude and pride.” - -The President of the Academy of Sciences, M. d’Abbadie, was chosen to -present to Pasteur the commemorative medal of this great day. - -Joseph Bertrand said that the same science, wide, accurate, and solid, -had been a foundation to all Pasteur’s works, each of them shining “with -such a dazzling light, that, in looking at either, one is inclined to -think that it eclipses all others.” - -After a few words from M. Daubrée, senior member of the Mineralogical -Section and formerly a colleague of Pasteur’s at the Strasburg Faculty, -the great Lister, who represented the Royal Societies of London and -Edinburgh, brought to Pasteur the homage of medicine and surgery. “You -have,” said he, “raised the veil which for centuries had covered -infectious diseases; you have discovered and demonstrated their -microbian nature.” - -When Pasteur rose to embrace Lister, the sight of those two men gave the -impression of a brotherhood of science labouring to diminish the sorrows -of humanity. - -After a speech from M. Bergeron, Life-Secretary of the Academy of -Medicine, and another from M. Sauton, President of the Paris Municipal -Council, the various delegates presented the addresses they had brought. -Each of the large cities of Europe had its representative. The national -delegates were called in their turn. A student from the Alfort -Veterinary School brought a medal offered by the united Veterinary -Schools of France. Amongst other offerings, Pasteur was given an album -containing the signatures of the inhabitants of Arbois, and another -coming from Dôle, in which were reproduced a facsimile of his -birth-certificate and a photograph of the house in which he was born. -The sight of his father’s signature at the end of the certificate moved -him more than anything else. - -The Paris Faculty of Medicine was represented by its Dean, Professor -Brouardel. “More fortunate than Harvey and than Jenner,” he said, “you -have been able to see the triumph of your doctrines, and what a -triumph!...” - -The last word of homage was pronounced by M. Devise, President of the -Students’ Association, who said to Pasteur, “You have been very great -and very good; you have given a beautiful example to students.” - -Pasteur’s voice, made weaken than usual by his emotion, could not have -been heard all over the large theatre; his thanks were read out by his -son-- - -“Monsieur le Président de la République, your presence transforms an -intimate fête into a great ceremony, and makes of the simple birthday of -a savant a special date for French science. - -“M. le Ministre, Gentlemen--In the midst of all this magnificence, my -first thought takes me back to the melancholy memory of so many men of -science who have known but trials. In the past, they had to struggle, -against the prejudices which hampered their ideas. After those -prejudices were vanquished, they encountered obstacles and difficulties -of all kinds. - -“Very few years ago, before the public authorities and the town councils -had endowed science with splendid dwellings, a man whom I loved and -admired, Claude Bernard, had, for a laboratory, a wretched cellar not -far from here, low and damp. Perhaps it was there that he contracted the -disease of which he died. When I heard what you were preparing for me -here, the thought of him arose in my mind; I hail his great memory. - -“Gentlemen, by an ingenious and delicate thought, you seem to make the -whole of my life pass before my eyes. One of my Jura compatriots, the -Mayor of Dôle, has brought me a photograph of the very humble home where -my father and mother lived such a hard life. The presence of the -students of the Ecole Normale brings back to me the glamour of my first -scientific enthusiasms. The representatives of the Lille Faculty evoke -memories of my first studies on crystallography and fermentation, which -opened to me a new world. What hopes seized upon me when I realized that -there must be laws behind so many obscure phenomena! You, my dear -colleagues, have witnessed by what series of deductions it was given to -me, a disciple of the experimental method, to reach physiological -studies. If I have sometimes disturbed the calm of our Academies by -somewhat violent discussions, it was because I was passionately -defending truth. - -“And you, delegates from foreign nations, who have come from so far to -give to France a proof of sympathy, you bring me the deepest joy that -can be felt by a man whose invincible belief is that Science and Peace -will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will unite, not to -destroy, but to build, and that the future will belong to those who will -have done most for suffering humanity. I appeal to you, my dear Lister, -and to you all, illustrious representatives of medicine and surgery. - -“Young men, have confidence in those powerful and safe methods, of which -we do not yet know all the secrets. And, whatever your career may be, do -not let yourselves become tainted by a deprecating and barren -scepticism, do not let yourselves be discouraged by the sadness of -certain hours which pass over nations. Live in the serene peace of -laboratories and libraries. Say to yourselves first: ‘What have I done -for my instruction?’ and, as you gradually advance, ‘What have I done -for my country?’ until the time comes when you may have the immense -happiness of thinking that you have contributed in some way to the -progress and to the good of humanity. But, whether our efforts are or -not favoured by life, let us be able to say, when we come near the great -goal, ‘I have done what I could.’ - -“Gentlemen, I would express to you my deep emotion and hearty gratitude. -In the same way as Roty, the great artist, has, on the back of this -medal, hidden under roses the heavy number of years which weigh on my -life, you have, my dear colleagues, given to my old age the most -delightful sight of all this living and loving youth.” - -The shouts “Vive Pasteur!” resounded throughout the building. The -President of the Republic rose, went towards Pasteur to congratulate -him, and embraced him with effusion. - - * * * * * - -Hearts went out to Pasteur even from distant countries. The Canadian -Government, acting on the suggestion of the deputies of the province of -Quebec, gave the name of Pasteur to a district on the borders of the -state of Maine. - -A few weeks after the fête, the Governor-General of Algeria, M. Cambon, -wrote to Pasteur as follows-- - -“Sir--Desirous of showing to you the special gratitude which Algeria -bears you for the immense services you have rendered to science and to -humanity by your great and fruitful discoveries, I have decided that -your name should be given to the village of Sériana, situated in the -_arrondissement_ of Batna, department of Constantine. I am happy that I -have been able to render this slight homage to your illustrious person.” -“I feel a deep emotion,” replied Pasteur, “in thinking that, thanks to -you, my name will remain attached to that corner of the world. When a -child of this village asks what was the origin of this denomination, I -should like the schoolmaster to tell him simply that it is the name of a -Frenchman who loved France very much, and who, by serving her, -contributed to the good of humanity. My heart is thrilled at the thought -that my name might one day awaken the first feelings of patriotism in a -child’s soul. I shall owe to you this great joy in my old age; I thank -you more than I can say.” The origin of Sériana is very ancient. M. -Stéphane Gsell relates that this village was occupied long before the -coming of the Romans, by a tribe which became Christian, as is seen by -ruins of chapels and basilicas. It is situated on the slope of a -mountain covered with oaks and cedars, and giving rise to springs of -fresh water. A bust of Pasteur was soon after erected in this village, -at the request of the inhabitants. - -Enthusiasm for Pasteur was spreading everywhere. Women understood that -science was entering their domain, since it served charity. They gave -magnificent gifts; clauses in wills bore these words: “To Pasteur, to -help in his humanitarian task.” In November, 1893, Pasteur saw an -unknown lady enter his study in the Rue Dutot, and heard her speak thus: -“There must be some students who love science and who, having to earn -their living, cannot give themselves up to disinterested work. I should -like to place at your disposal four scholarships, for four young men -chosen by you. Each scholarship would be of 3,000 fr.; 2,400 for the men -themselves, and 600 fr. for the expenses they would incur in your -laboratories. Their lives would be rendered easier. You could find -amongst them, either an immediate collaborator for your Institute or a -missionary whom you might send far away; and if a medical career tempted -them, they would be enabled by their momentary independence to prepare -themselves all the better for their profession. I only ask one thing, -which is that my name should not be mentioned.” - -Pasteur was infinitely touched by the scheme of this mysterious lady. -The scholarship foundation was for one year only, but other years were -about to follow and to resemble this one. - -Many letters brought to Pasteur requested that he should study or order -the study of such and such a disease. Some of these letters responded to -preoccupations which had long been in the mind of Pasteur and his -disciples. One day he received these lines: - -“You have done all the good a man could do on earth. If you will, you -can surely find a remedy for the horrible disease called diphtheria. Our -children, to whom we teach your name as that of a great benefactor, will -owe their lives to you.--A MOTHER.” - - * * * * * - -Pasteur, in spite of his failing strength, had hopes that he would yet -live to see the defeat of the foe so dreaded by mothers. In the -laboratory of the Pasteur Institute, Dr. Roux and Dr. Yersin were -obstinately pursuing the study of this disease. In their first paper on -the subject, modestly entitled _A Contribution to the Study of -Diphtheria_, they said: “Ever since Bretonneau, diphtheria has been -looked upon as a specific and contagious disease; its study has -therefore been undertaken of late years with the help of the microbian -methods which have already been the means of finding the cause of many -other infectious diseases.” - -In spite of the convictions of Bretonneau, who had, in 1818, witnessed a -violent epidemic of croup in the centre of France, his view was far from -being generally adopted. Velpeau, then a young student, wrote to him in -1820 that all the members, save two, of the Faculty of Medicine were -agreed in opposing or blaming his opinions. Another brilliant pupil of -Bretonneau’s, Dr. Trousseau, who never ceased to correspond with his old -master, wrote to him in 1854: “It remains to be proved that diphtheria -always comes from a germ. I hardly doubt this with regard to small-pox; -to be consistent, I ought not to doubt it either with regard to -diphtheria. I was thinking so this morning, as I was performing -tracheotomy on a poor child twenty-eight months old; opposite the bed, -there was a picture of his five-year-old brother, painted on his -death-bed. He had succumbed five years ago, to malignant angina.” - -Knowing Bretonneau’s ideas on contagion, Trousseau wrote further down: -“I shall have the beds and bedding burnt, the paper hangings also, for -they have a velvety and attractive surface; I shall tell the mother to -purify herself like a Hindoo--else what would you say to me!” - -A German of the name of Klebs discovered the bacillus of diphtheria in -1883, by studying the characteristic membranes; it was afterwards -isolated by Loeffler, another German. - -Pure cultures of this bacillus, injected on the surface of the -excoriated fauces of rabbits, guinea-pigs, and pigeons, produce the -diphtheritic membranes: Messrs. Roux and Yersin demonstrated this fact -and ascertained the method of its deadly action. - -Dr. Roux, in a lecture to the London Royal Society, in 1889, said: -“Microbes are chiefly dangerous on account of the toxic matters which -they produce.” He recalled that Pasteur had been the first to -investigate the action of the toxic products elaborated by the microbe -of chicken-cholera. By filtering the culture, Pasteur had obtained a -liquid which contained no microbes. Hens inoculated with this liquid -presented all the symptoms of cholera. “This experiment shows us,” -continued M. Roux, “that the chemical products contained in the culture -are capable by themselves of provoking the symptoms of the disease; it -is therefore very probable that the same products are prepared within -the body itself of a hen attacked with cholera. It has been shown since -then that many pathogenic microbes manufactured these toxic products. -The microbes of typhoid fever, of cholera, of blue pus, of acute -experimental septicæmia, of diphtheria, are great poison-producers. The -cultures of the diphtheria bacillus particularly are, after a certain -time, so full of the toxin that, without microbes, and in infinitesimal -doses, they cause the death of the animals with all the signs observed -after inoculation with the microbe itself. The picture of the disease is -complete, even presenting the ensuing paralysis if the injected dose is -too weak to bring about a rapid death. Death in infectious diseases is -therefore caused by intoxication.” - -This bacillus, like that of tetanus, secretes a poison which reaches the -kidneys, attacks the nervous system, and acts on the heart, the beats of -which are accelerated or suddenly arrested. Sheltered in the membrane -like a foe in an ambush, the microbe manufactures its deadly poison. -Diphtheria, as defined by M. Roux, is an intoxication caused by a very -active poison formed by the microbe within the restricted area wherein -it develops. - -It was sufficient to examine a portion of diphtheritic membrane to -distinguish the diphtheritic bacilli, tiny rods resembling short needles -laid across each other. Other microbes were frequently associated with -these bacilli, and it became necessary to study microbian associations -in diphtheria. The Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, disseminated in broth, gave -within a month or three weeks a richly toxic culture; the bottom of the -vessel was covered with a thick deposit of microbes, and a film of -younger bacilli floated on the surface. By filtering this broth and -freeing it from microbes, Messrs. Roux and Yersin made a great -discovery: they obtained pure toxin, capable of killing, in forty-eight -hours, a guinea-pig inoculated with one-tenth of a cubic centimetre of -it. - -Now that the toxin was found, the remedy, the antitoxin, could be -discovered. This was done by Behring, a German scientist, and by -Kitasato, a Japanese physician. Drs. Richet and Héricourt had already -opened the way in 1888, while studying another disease. - -M. Roux inoculated a horse with diphtheritic toxin mitigated by the -addition of iodine, in doses, very weak at first, but gradually -stronger; the horse grew by degrees capable of resisting strong doses of -pure toxin. It was then bled by means of a large trocar introduced into -the jugular vein, the blood received in a bowl was allowed to coagulate, -and the liquid part of it, the serum, was then collected; this serum was -antitoxic, antidiphtheritic--in one word, the long-desired cure. - -At the beginning of 1894, M. Roux had several horses rendered immune by -the above process. He desired to prove the efficiency of the serum in -the treatment of diphtheria, with the collaboration of MM. Martin and -Chaillou, who had, both clinically and bacteriologically, studied more -than 400 cases of diphtheria. - -There are in Paris two hospitals where diphtheritic children are taken -in. It was decided that the new treatment should be applied at the -hospital of the _Enfants Malades_, whilst the old system should be -continued at the Hôpital Trousseau. - -From February 1, MM. Roux, Martin, and Chaillou paid a daily visit to -the _Enfants Malades_; they treated all the little diphtheria patients -by injection, in the side, of a dose of twenty cubic centimetres of -serum, followed, twenty-four hours later, by another dose of twenty, or -only of ten cubic centimetres. Almost invariably, not only did the -membranes cease to increase during the twenty-four hours following the -first injection, but they began to come away within thirty-six or -forty-eight hours, the third day at the latest; the livid, leaden -paleness of the face disappeared; the child was saved. - -From 1890 to 1893 there had been 3,971 cases of diphtheria, fatal in -2,029 cases, the average mortality being therefore 51 per 100. The serum -treatment, applied to hundreds of children, brought it down to less than -24 per 100 in four months. At the Trousseau Hospital, where the serum -was not employed, the mortality during the same period was 60 per 100. - -In May, M. Roux gave a lecture on diphtheria at Lille, at the request of -the Provident Society of the Friends of Science, which held its general -meeting in that town. Pasteur, who was president of the Society, came to -Lille to thank its inhabitants for the support they had afforded for -forty years to the Society. - -The master and his disciple were received in the Hall of the Industrial -Society. Pasteur listened with an admiring emotion to his pupil, whose -rigorous experimentation, together with the beauty of the object in -view, filled him with enthusiasm. He who had said, “Exhaust every -combination, until the mind can conceive no others possible,” was -delighted to hear the methodical exposition of the manner in which this -great problem had been attacked and solved. - -At the Hygiene and Demography Congress at Buda-Pesth, M. Roux, repeating -and enlarging his lecture, made a communication on the serotherapy of -diphtheria which created a great sensation in Europe. - -In France, prefects asked the Minister of the Interior how local -physicians might obtain this antidiphtheritic serum. The _Figaro_ -newspaper opened a subscription towards preserving children from croup; -it soon reached more than a million francs. The Pasteur Institute was -now able to build stables, buy a hundred horses, render them immune, and -constitute a permanent organization for serotherapy. In three months, -50,000 doses of serum were about to be given away. - -Pasteur, who was then at Arbois, followed every detail with passionate -interest. Sitting under the old quinces in his little garden, he read -the lists of subscribers, names of little children, offering charitable -gifts as they entered this life, and names of sorrowing parents, giving -in the names of dear lost ones. - -When he started again for Paris, October 4, 1894, Pasteur was seized -again with the melancholy feeling which had attended his first departure -from his home, when he was sixteen years old. He saw the same grey sky, -the same fine rain and misty horizon, as he looked for the last time -upon the distant hills and wide plains he loved, perhaps conscious that -it was so. But he remained silent, as was his wont when troubled by his -thoughts, his sadness only revealing itself to those who lovingly -watched every movement of his countenance. - -On October 6, the Pasteur Institute was invaded by a crowd of medical -men; M. Martin gave a special lecture in compliance with the desire of -many practitioners unaccustomed to laboratory work, who desired to -understand the diagnosis of diphtheria and the mode in which the serum -should be used. Pasteur, from his study window, was watching all this -coming and going in his Institute. A twofold feeling was visible on his -worn features: a sorrowing regret that his age now disarmed him for -work, but also the satisfaction of feeling that his work was growing day -by day, and that other investigators would, in a similar spirit, pursue -the many researches which remained to be undertaken. About that time, M. -Yersin, now a physician in the colonies, communicated to the _Annals of -the Pasteur Institute_ the discovery of the plague bacillus. He had been -desired to go to China in order to study the nature of the scourge, its -conditions of propagation, and the most efficient means of preventing it -from attacking the French possessions. Pasteur had long recognized very -great qualities in this pupil whose habits of silent labour were almost -those of an ascete. M. Yersin started with a missionary’s zeal. When he -reached Hong-Kong, three hundred Chinese had already succumbed, and the -hospitals of the colony were full; he immediately recognized the -symptoms of the bubonic plague, which had ravaged Europe on many -occasions. He noticed that the epidemic raged principally in the slums -occupied by Chinese of the poorer classes, and that in the infected -quarters there were a great many rats which had died of the plague. -Pasteur read with the greatest interest the following lines, so exactly -in accordance with his own method of observation: “The peculiar aptitude -to contract plague possessed by certain animals,” wrote M. Yersin, -“enabled me to undertake an experimental study of the disease under very -favourable circumstances; it was obvious that the first thing to do was -to look for a microbe in the blood of the patients and in the bubonic -pulp.” When M. Yersin inoculated rats, mice, or guinea-pigs with this -pulp, the animals died, and he found several bacilli in the ganglions, -spleen, and blood. After some attempts at cultures and inoculations, he -concluded thus: “The plague is a contagious and inoculable disease. It -seems likely that rats constitute its principal vehicle, but I have also -ascertained that flies can contract the disease and die of it, and may -therefore become agents for its transmission.” - -At the very time when M. Yersin was discovering the specific bacillus of -the plague in the bubonic pulp, Kitasato was making similar -investigations. The foe now being recognized, hopes of vanquishing it -might be entertained. - -And whilst those good tidings were arriving, Pasteur was reading a new -work by M. Metchnikoff, a Russian scientist, who had elected to come to -France for the privilege of working by the side of Pasteur. M. -Metchnikoff explained by the action of the white corpuscles of the -blood, named “leucocytes,” the immunity or resistance, either natural or -acquired, of the organism against a defined disease. These corpuscles -may be considered as soldiers entrusted with the defence of the organism -against foreign invasions. If microbes penetrate into the tissues, the -defenders gather all their forces together and a free fight ensues. The -organism resists or succumbs according to the power or inferiority of -the white blood-cells. If the invading microbe is surrounded, eaten up, -and ingested by the victorious white corpuscles (also named -_phagocytes_), the latter find in their victory itself fresh reserve -forces against a renewed invasion. - - * * * * * - -On November 1, in the midst of all this laborious activity and daily -progress, Pasteur was about to pay his daily visit to his grandchildren, -when he was seized by a violent attack of uræmia. He was laid on his -bed, and remained nearly unconscious for four hours; the sweat of agony -bathed his forehead and his whole body, and his eyes remained closed. -The evening brought with it a ray of hope; he was able to speak, and -asked not to be left alone. Immediate danger seemed avoided, but great -anxiety continued to be felt. - -It was easy to organize a series of devoted nurses; all Pasteur’s -disciples were eager to watch by his bedside. Every evening, two persons -took their seats in his room: one a member of the family, and one a -“Pastorian.” About one a.m. they were replaced by another Pastorian and -another member of the family. From November 1 to December 25, the -laboratory workers continued this watching, regulated by Dr. Roux as -follows:-- - -Sunday night, Roux and Chantemesse; Monday, Queyrat and Marmier; -Tuesday, Borrel and Martin; Wednesday, Mesnil and Pottevin; Thursday, -Marchoux and Viala; Friday, Calmette and Veillon; Saturday, Renon and -Morax. A few alterations were made in this order; Dr. Marie claimed the -privilege. M. Metchnikoff, full of anxiety, came and went continually -from the laboratory to the master’s room. After the day’s work, each -faithful watcher came in, bringing books or notes, to go on with the -work begun, if the patient should be able to sleep. In the middle of the -night, Mme. Pasteur would come in and send away with a sweet authority -one of the two volunteer nurses. Pasteur’s loving and faithful wife was -straining every faculty of her valiant and tender soul to conjure the -vision of death which seemed so near. In spite of all her courage, there -were hours of weakness, at early dawn, when life was beginning to revive -in the quiet neighbourhood, when she could not keep her tears from -flowing silently. Would they succeed in saving him whose life was so -precious, so useful to others? In the morning, Pasteur’s two -grandchildren came into the bedroom. The little girl of fourteen, fully -realizing the prevailing anxiety, and rendered serious by the sorrow she -struggled to hide, talked quietly with him. The little boy, only eight -years old, climbed on to his grandfather’s bed, kissing him -affectionately and gazing on the loved face which always found enough -strength to smile at him. - -Dr. Chantemesse attended Pasteur with an incomparable devotion. Dr. -Gille, who had often been sent for by Pasteur when staying at Villeneuve -l’Etang, came to Paris from Garches to see him. Professor Guyon showed -his colleague the most affectionate solicitude. Professor Dieulafoy was -brought in one morning by M. Metchnikoff; Professor Grancher, who was -ill and away from Paris, hurried back to his master’s side. - -How often did they hang over him, anxiously following the respiratory -rhythm due to the uræmic intoxication! movements slow at first, then -rapid, accelerated, gasping, slackening again, and arrested in a long -pause of several seconds, during which all seemed suspended. - - * * * * * - -At the end of December, a marked improvement took place. On January 1, -after seeing all his collaborators, down to the youngest laboratory -attendant, Pasteur received the visit of one of his colleagues of the -Académie Française. It was Alexandre Dumas, carrying a bunch of roses, -and accompanied by one of his daughters. “I want to begin the year -well,” he said: “I am bringing you my good wishes.” Pasteur and -Alexandre Dumas, meeting at the Academy every Thursday for twelve years, -felt much attraction towards each other. Pasteur, charmed from the first -by this dazzling and witty intellect, had been surprised and touched by -the delicate attentions of a heart which only opened to a chosen few. -Dumas, who had observed many men, loved and admired Pasteur, a modest -and kindly genius; for this dramatic author hid a man thirsting for -moral action, his realism was lined with mysticism, and he placed the -desire to be useful above the hunger for fame. His blue eyes, usually -keen and cold, easily detecting secret thoughts and looking on them with -irony, were full of an expression of affectionate veneration when they -rested on “our dear and great Pasteur,” as he called him. Alexandre -Dumas’ visit gave Pasteur very great pleasure; he compared it to a ray -of sunshine. - -As he could not go out, those who did not come to see him thought him -worse than he really was. It was therefore with great surprise that -people heard that he would be pleased to receive the old Normaliens, who -were about to celebrate the centenary of their school, and who, after -putting up a memorial plate on the small laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm, -desired to visit the Pasteur Institute. They filed one after another -into the drawing-room on the first floor. Pasteur, seated by the fire, -seemed to revive the old times when he used to welcome young men into -his home circle on Sunday evenings. He had an affectionate word or a -smile for each of those who now passed before him, bowing low. Every one -was struck with the keen expression of his eyes; never had the strength -of his intellect seemed more independent of the weakness of his body. -Many believed in a speedy recovery and rejoiced. “Your health,” said -some one, “is not only national but universal property.” - -On that day, Dr. Roux had arranged on tables, in the large laboratory, -the little flasks which Pasteur had used in his experiments on so-called -spontaneous generation, which had been religiously preserved; also rows -of little tubes used for studies on wines; various preparations in -various culture media; microbes and bacilli, so numerous that it was -difficult to know which to see first. The bacteria of diphtheria and -bubonic plague completed this museum. - -Pasteur was carried into the laboratory about twelve o’clock, and Dr. -Roux showed his master the plague bacillus through a microscope. -Pasteur, looking at these things, souvenirs of his own work and results -of his pupils’ researches, thought of those disciples who were -continuing his task in various parts of the world. In France, he had -just sent Dr. Calmette to Lille, where he soon afterwards created a new -and admirable Pasteur Institute. Dr. Yersin was continuing his -investigations in China. A Normalien, M. Le Dantec, who had entered the -Ecole at sixteen at the head of the list, and who had afterwards become -a curator at the laboratory, was in Brazil, studying yellow fever, of -which he very nearly died. Dr. Adrien Loir, after a protracted mission -in Australia, was head of a Pasteur Institute at Tunis. Dr. Nicolle was -setting up a laboratory of bacteriology at Constantinople. “There is -still a great deal to do!” sighed Pasteur as he affectionately pressed -Dr. Roux’ hand. - -He was more than ever full of a desire to allay human suffering, of a -humanitarian sentiment which made of him a citizen of the world. But his -love for France was in no wise diminished, and the permanence of his -patriotic feelings was, soon after this, revealed by an incident. The -Berlin Academy of Sciences was preparing a list of illustrious -contemporary scientists to be submitted to the Kaiser with a view to -conferring on them the badge of the Order of Merit. As Pasteur’s protest -and return of his diploma to the Bonn University had not been forgotten, -the Berlin Academy, before placing his name on the list, desired to know -whether he would accept this distinction at the hands of the German -Emperor. Pasteur, while acknowledging with courteous thanks the honour -done to him as a scientist, declared that he could not accept it. - -For him, as for Victor Hugo, the question of Alsace-Lorraine was a -question of humanity; the right of peoples to dispose of themselves was -in question. And by a bitter irony of Fate, France, which had proclaimed -this principle all over Europe, saw Alsace tom away from her. And by -whom? by the very nation whom she had looked upon as the most -idealistic, with whom she had desired an alliance in a noble hope of -pacific civilization, a hope shared by Humboldt, the great German -scientist. - - * * * * * - -It was obvious to those who came near Pasteur that, in spite of the -regret caused in him by the decrease of his physical strength, his moral -energy remained unimpaired. He never complained of the state of his -health, and usually avoided speaking of himself. A little tent had been -put up for him in the new garden of the Pasteur Institute, under the -young chestnuts, the flowers of which were now beginning to fall, and he -often spent his afternoons there. One or other of those who had watched -over him through the long winter nights frequently came to talk with -him, and he would inquire, with all his old interest, into every detail -of the work going on. - -His old friend Chappuis, now Honorary Rector of the Academy of Dijon, -often came to sit with him under this tent. Their friendship remained -unchanged though it had lasted more than fifty years. Their conversation -now took a yet more exalted turn than in the days of their youth and -middle age. The dignity of Chappuis’ life was almost austere, though -tempered by a smiling philosophy. - -Pasteur, less preoccupied than Chappuis by philosophical discussions, -soared without an effort into the domain of spiritual things. Absolute -faith in God and in Eternity, and a conviction that the power for good -given to us in this world will be continued beyond it, were feelings -which pervaded his whole life; the virtues of the Gospel had ever been -present to him. Full of respect for the form of religion which had been -that of his forefathers, he came to it simply and naturally for -spiritual help in these last weeks of his life. - -On June 13, he came, for the last time, down the steps of the Pasteur -Institute, and entered the carriage which was to take him to Villeneuve -l’Etang. Every one spoke to him of this stay as if it were sure to bring -him back to health. Did he believe it? Did he try, in his tenderness for -those around him, to share their hopes? His face almost bore the same -expression as when he used to go to Villeneuve l’Etang to continue his -studies. When the carriage passed through Saint Cloud, some of the -inhabitants, who had seen him pass in former years, saluted him with a -mixture of emotion and respectful interest. - -At Villeneuve l’Etang, the old stables of the Cent Gardes had reverted -to their former purpose and were used for the preparation of the -diphtheria antitoxin. There were about one hundred horses there; old -chargers, sold by the military authorities as unfit for further work; -racehorses thus ending their days; a few, presents from their owners, -such as Marshal Canrobert’s old horse. - -Pasteur spent those summer weeks in his room or under the trees on the -lawns of the Park. A few horses had been put out to grass, the stables -being quite full, and occasionally came near, looking over their hurdles -towards him. Pasteur felt a deep thankfulness in watching the busy -comings and goings of Dr. Roux and his curator, M. Martin, and of the -veterinary surgeon, M. Prévôt, who was entrusted with the bleeding -operations and the distribution of the flasks of serum. He thought of -all that would survive him and felt that his weakened hand might now -drop the torch which had set so many others alight. And, more than -resigned, he sat peacefully under a beautiful group of pines and purple -beeches, listening to the readings of Mme. Pasteur and of his daughter. -They smiled on him with that valiant smile which women know how to keep -through deepest anguish. - -Biographies interested him as of yore. There was at that time a renewal -of interest in memories of the First Empire; old letters, memoirs, war -anecdotes were being published every day. Pasteur never tired of those -great souvenirs. Many of those stories brought him back to the emotions -of his youth, but he no longer looked with the same eyes on the glory of -conquerors. The true guides of humanity now seemed to him to be those -who gave devoted service, not those who ruled by might. After enjoying -pages full of the thrill of battlefields, Pasteur admired the life of a -great and good man, St. Vincent de Paul. He loved this son of poor -peasants, proud to own his humble birth before a vainglorious society; -this tutor of a future cardinal, who desired to become the chaplain of -some unhappy convicts; this priest, who founded the work of the _Enfants -Trouvés_, and who established lay and religious alliance over the vast -domain of charity. - -Pasteur himself exerted a great and charitable influence. The unknown -lady who had put at his disposal four scholarships for young men -without means came to him in August and offered him the funds for a -Pasteur Hospital, the natural outcome, she said, of the Pastorian -discoveries. - -Pasteur’s strength diminished day by day, he now could hardly walk. When -he was seated in the Park, his grandchildren around him suggested young -rose trees climbing around the trunk of a dying oak. The paralysis was -increasing, and speech was becoming more and more difficult. The eyes -alone remained bright and clear; Pasteur was witnessing the ruin of what -in him was perishable. - -How willingly they would have given a moment of their lives to prolong -his, those thousands of human beings whose existence had been saved by -his methods: sick children, women in lying-in hospitals, patients -operated upon in surgical wards, victims of rabid dogs saved from -hydrophobia, and so many others protected against the infinitesimally -small! But, whilst visions of those living beings passed through the -minds of his family, it seemed as if Pasteur already saw those dead ones -who, like him, had preserved absolute faith in the Future Life. - -The last week in September he was no longer strong enough to leave his -bed, his weakness was extreme. On September 27, as he was offered a cup -of milk: “I cannot,” he murmured; his eyes looked around him with an -unspeakable expression of resignation, love and farewell. His head fell -back on the pillows, and he slept; but, after this delusive rest, -suddenly came the gaspings of agony. For twenty-four hours he remained -motionless, his eyes closed, his body almost entirely paralyzed; one of -his hands rested in that of Mme. Pasteur, the other held a crucifix. - -Thus, surrounded by his family and disciples, in this room of almost -monastic simplicity, on Saturday, September 28, 1895, at 4.40 in the -afternoon, very peacefully, he passed away. - - -THE END. - - - - -INDEX - -A - -Abbadie, d’, presents medals to Pasteur, 449 - -Abdul Aziz, Sultan, 141 - -About, Edmond: - On Pasteur, 383 - On Pasteur’s lecture at Sorbonne, 122 - Pamphlet quoted, 177 - -Académie des Sciences, 29 _note_, 81 - During siege of Paris, 186 - -Académie Française, Pasteur’s reception at, 345 - -Aërobes, 99 - -_Agrégation_, 31 _note_ - -Alais: - Pasteur goes to, 115, 117, 129, 138, 155, 166 - Statue to J. B. Dumas at, 446 - -Alexandria, French mission to, 377 - -Alfort, experiments on sheep at, 306 - -Alsace-Lorraine question, 461 - -Amat, Mlle., 170 - -Anaërobes, 99, 220 - -Andral, Dr., 160 - Advice to Pasteur, 247 - -Anglada, work “On Contagion” quoted, 80 - -_Anguillulæ_, 150 - -_Anthrax_ (splenic fever, charbon), 257 _seqq._, 292 - Hens and, 267, 277 - Commission on, 278 - Vaccination against, 311, 312 - Experiment, 315, 317, 318, 320, 328, 367, 368 - Results, 325, 367, 368 - -Antirabic inoculation on man, 414 - Discussion on, 434 - -Anti-vivisection, Virchow on, 332 - -Aosta, Duke and Duchess of, 141 - -Arago, 27, 356 - On Monge, 195 - Speech before Chamber of Deputies, 245 - -Arbois: - Pasteur at, 6, 7, 180, 420, 437 - Presentation to Pasteur from, 449 - Prussians at, 202 - -Arboisian characteristics, 8 - -Arcis-sur-Aube, battle of, 4 - -Ardèche, 32 - -Ardouin, Dr., 380 - -Aristotle, allusions to hydrophobia, 407 - -Arsonval, M. d’, 280 - -Aselli, discoveries through vivisection, 336 - -Aspartic acid, 57, 70 - -_Aspergillus niger_, 204 - -Aubenas, tribute to Pasteur, 350, 351 - -Augier, Emile, 174 - -Aurillac, testimonial to Pasteur, 373 - - -B - -“Baccalauréat,” 10 _and note_ - -Baciocchi, Princess, leaves Villa Vicentina to Prince Imperial, 173 - -Bagnères-de-Luchon, 104 - -Balard, lecturer at Ecole Normale, 29, 31, 56, 59, 100, 106 - Advice to Pasteur, 217 - Appeal to Pasteur, 217 - Discovers bromin, 32 - Inspector-General of Higher Education, 145 - On Pasteur’s discovery, 40 - -Bar-sur-Aube, 3rd Regiment at, 3 - -Barbet Boarding School, 10, 12, 21 - -Barbet, M., 10, 22 - -Barbier, Captain, 10 - -Barrnel, Dumas’ Curator, 25 - -Bastian, Dr., attacks Pasteur, 253 _seqq._ - -Baudry, Paul, 127 - -Bazaine at Metz, 186 - -Beauce, 147 _note_ - Splenic fever in, 257, 276, 284, 314 - -Béchamp, theory of fermentation, 241 - -Béclard, Permanent Secretary of Académie de Médecine, 309 - On Commission on hydrophobia, 395 - -Beer, Pasteur studies manufacture of, 207 _seqq._ - -Béhier, Dr., 233 - -Behring discovers antitoxin for diphtheria, 455 - -Bellaguet, M., 137 - -Belle, Jeanne, wife of Claude Pasteur, 2 - -Bellevue, Château, Napoleon and William of Prussia meet at, 182 - -Belotti, M., 206 - -Berchon, sanitary director, Bordeaux, 340 - -Bergeron, Jules: - Annual Secretary of Académie de Médecine, 309 - On Pasteur’s treatment of hydrophobia, 424 - Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Bernard, Claude, 42 - At Académie de Médecine, 225 - At Tuileries, 154 - Discoveries, 135 - Experiment on dog, 335 - Experiments on fermentation, 280 - Illness, 134 - Joins in Pasteur’s experiments, 104 - Letter to Deville, 137 - Letter to Pasteur, 136 - On fermentation, 80 - -- Medicine, 226 - -- Pasteur’s researches, 72, 87 - -- Primary causes, 244 - -- Vivisection, 336 - Posthumous notes, 280, 287 - Senator, 174 - Studies cholera, 126 - -Bersot, Ernest, quoted on spontaneous generation, 92 - -Bert, Paul, 279, 374 - Classifies Pasteur’s work, 375 - Experiments, 263, 392 - On Commission on hydrophobia, 395 - Speech on Pasteur’s discoveries, 245, 246 - -Berthelot, M.: - Consulted by Pasteur, 439 - On alcoholic fermentation, 286 - -Berthollet, M., 248, 356 - Discoveries, 195 - -Bertillon, candidate for Académie de Médecine, 225 - -Bertin, M., 354 - At Ecole Normale, 19, 145, 161, 180, 188 - Character, 45, 145 - Professor of Physics, Strasburg, 45 - Welcomes Pasteur to Paris, 212 - -Bertrand, Joseph: - Letters to Pasteur, 138 - Sketch of, 419 - Speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 441 - Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Berzelius, 195 - Studies paratartaric acid, 25 - Theories of fermentation, 80, 241 - -Besançon, Jean Henri Pasteur at, 2, 4 - -Besson, candidature for Senate, 249 - -Beust, Baron von, superintendent of factories, 65 - -Bigo manufactures beetroot alcohol, 79 - -Biot, J. J., 27, 42, 55, 59, 204 - Attitude towards spontaneous generation, 89, 100 - Death, 101, 102 - Interview with Pasteur, 41 - Last letter, 103 - Letters to Joseph Pasteur, 57, 58, 71, 81 - Letter to Louis Pasteur, 59 - Oldest member of Institute, 81 - Passion for reading, 89 - Praises Pasteur, 55 - -Biot, M., veterinary surgeon, at Pouilly le Fort experiment, 316, 320 - -Bischoffsheim, Raphael, lends villa to Pasteur, 433 - -Bismarck, Prince: - Armistice with France, 193 - Interview with Jules Favre, 184 - On Napoleon III, 182 - -Blondeau, registrar of mortgages, 13 - -Bollène, Pasteur at, 360 - -Bonaparte, Elisa, at Villa Vicentina, 173 - -Bonn, _sous-préfecture_, 189 - University, 189 - -Bonnat, portrait of Pasteur, 440 - -Bordeaux, Pasteur at, 338 - -Bordighera: - Earthquake at, 436 - Pasteur at, 434 - -Borrel attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Bouchardat, M.: - On Commission of Hygiene, 186 - Report on remedies for hydrophobia, 408 - -Bouillaud, Dr., 229, 262, 294 - -Bouillier, M. F., Director of Ecole Normale, 145, 180 - -Bouley, H., 264, 278, 323, 354 - At experiment on earthworms, 304 - Chairman of Commission on hydrophobia, 395, 396, 397, 398 - Report, 398 - Death, 424 - Letters to Pasteur, 324, 329 - -- on Colin, 320 - -- germ of hydrophobia, 398 - -- methods of Delafond and Pasteur, 275 - -- microbes, 365, 367 - -- Pasteur’s treatment of hydrophobia, 423 - -- remedies for hydrophobia, 408 - -- virulence of bacteridia, 311 - Sketch of, 262 - Statistics of death from hydrophobia, 428 - Vaccinates sheep against anthrax, 306 - -Bourbaki, General: - Death, 193 - Retreat of Army Corps, 192 - -Bourboulon, Commandant, gives Pasteur news of his son, 193 - -Bourgeois, Philibert, 3 - -Bourrel sends dogs to laboratory, 390, 396 - -Boussingault, M., 354 - -Boutet, veterinary surgeon, 261, 283, 329 - On splenic fever, 276 - Report of vaccinated sheep, 363 - -Boutroux, curator in Pasteur’s laboratory, 255 - -Boyle, Robert, on fermentation, 223 - -Brand, Dr., treatment of typhoid, 364 - -Breithaupt, Professor of Mineralogy, 65 - -Bretonneau, on diphtheria, 453 - -Brie cattle suffer from anthrax, 257, 314 - -Brochin, candidate for Académie de Médecine, 225 - -Brongniart, Alexandre, 42 - On Commission on spontaneous generation, 106 - -Brouardel, Professor: - On antirabic cure, 434, 437 - Speech at Congress of Hygiene, 446 - Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Broussais, surgery under, 235 - -Bruce, Mrs., presents Pasteur with _Life of Livingstone_, 389 - -Buda-Pesth, Hygiene and Demography Congress at, 456 - -Budberg, M. de, Russian Ambassador, 127 - -Budin and antisepsis, 290 - -Buffon, theory of spontaneous generation, 90 - -Buonanni, recipe for producing worms, 89 - -Butyric fermentation, 99 - - -C - -Cagniard-Latour studies yeast, 80, 81 - -Cailletet invents apparatus for liquefaction of gases, 384 - -Cairo, cholera at, 377 - -Calmette, Edouard: - At Lille, 461 - At Pasteur Jubilee, 447 - Attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Cambon, Governor-General of Algeria, letter to Pasteur, 451 - -Cardaillac, M. de, 163 - -Cardinal cultivates silkworms, 139 - -Carnot, President, 248 - At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 440 - At Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - -Caro, deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - -Casabianca, Comte de, 168, 169 - -Celsus on hydrophobia, 407, 409 - -Chaffois, 192, 193 - -Chaillou collaborates with Roux, 455 - -Chamalières brewery, 207 - -Chamberland, M.: - At Pasteur Jubilee, 447 - Collaborates with Pasteur, 260, 269, 271, 283, - 289, 303, 305, 306, 308, 311, 317, 319, 321, 359, 420, 424 - Cross of Legion of Honour, 326 - On Pasteur’s early researches, 445 - Vaccinations against anthrax, 440 - -Chambéry, Pasteur at, 131 - -Chamecin, wood merchant, 3 - -Chamonix, Pasteur at, 97 - -Chantemesse, Dr.: - Attends on Pasteur, 459, 460 - On antirabic cure, 434 - Performs inoculations, 432 - -Chanzy, General, open letter, 190 - -Chappuis, Charles, 33 - Letter to Pasteur, 20 - On national testimonial to Pasteur, 246 - Sketch of, 18 - Visits Pasteur, 462 - -Chaptal, discoveries of, 195 - -Charbon. (_See Anthrax_) - -Charcot on Pasteur’s antirabic cure, 438 - -Charrière, schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, 7, 37 - -Charrin, Dr., performs inoculations, 432 - -Chartres: - Experiment on vaccination against anthrax near, 328 - Pasteur at, 284, 303 - Scientific congress at, 276 - -Chassaignac, Dr., on “laboratory surgery,” 228 - -Chauveau on contagion, 366 - -Chemists and Physicians, 224, 233 - -Chevreul, M., 59 - On siege of Paris, 188, 189 - -Chicken cholera, 297 _seqq._ - -Chiozza, letter to Pasteur, 200 - -Cholera, 126 - At Damietta and Cairo, 378 - -Christen, town councillor at Vaucresson, 406 - -Christophle, speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 441 - -Clermont Ferrand, Pasteur at, 206 - -Clouet invents system of manufacturing steel, 195 - -Coblentz, _préfecture_, 189 - -Cochin, Denys, at Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - -Colin, Professor G., 277, 278 - Advice to Biot, 319 - Experiments on anthrax, 264, 267, 268 - -Collège de France, 40 _note_, 146 - -Compiègne, Pasteur at, 127 - -Comte, Auguste, 124, 125 - Doctrine, 342 - -Conseil-Général de département, 78 _note_ - -Contagious diseases, problem of, 223 _seqq._ - -Conti, Napoleon III’s secretary, 153 - -Copenhagen Medical Congress, Pasteur at, 398 - -Coquelin: - Acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - Recites at Trocadéro fête, 431 - -Cornil, on acarus of itch, 366 - -Coulon, schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, 7, 36 - -Cribier, Mme., 161 - -Cuisance River, 6, 7, 181 - -Cuvier, 356 - - -D - -Daguerre, national testimonial to, 245 - -Dalimier, Paul, Pasteur’s advice to, 109 - -Dalloz, editor of _Moniteur_, 158 - -Damietta, cholera at, 378 - -Darboux, “doyen” of Faculty of Science, 31 - -Daremberg, Dr., on Pasteur at - Medical Congress, 332 - -Darlay as science master, 14 - -Darwin: - On earthworms, 304 - On vivisection, 337 - -Dastre, M., 279 - -Daubrée, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Daunas, sketch of, 14 - -David, Jeanne, wife of Denis Pasteur, 1 - -Davaine, Dr. C., 272, 278, 354 - At experiment on earthworms, 304 - Experiments on septicæmia, 229, 265 - On butyric ferment, 228, 258 - -Davy, Sir H., 195 - -Debray, M., 327 - -Déclat, Dr., on Pasteur’s experiments, 223 - Prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, 239 - -Delafond, Dr.: - On charbon blood, 258 - Studies anthrax, 275 - -Delafosse, Professor of Mineralogy, 33, 36 - -Delaunay acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - -Delesse, Professor of Science at Besançon, 45 - -Delort, General Baron, 30 - Native of Arbois, 202 - -Demarquay, Dr., prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, 239 - -Denmark, King and Queen of, at Medical Congress, 399 - -Denonvilliers, surgery under, 235 - -_Départements_, 52 _note_ - -Descartes in Holland, 200 - -Despeyroux, Professor of Chemistry, 171 - -Dessaignes, chemist, 70 - -Deville, Henri Sainte Claire, 42, 45, 137, 160 - Admiration for Pasteur’s precision, 287 - At Compiègne, 162 - At Tuileries, 154 - Character, 146 - Congratulates Pasteur on Testimonial, 246 - Death, 327 - Laboratory, 84 - Letter to Mme. Pasteur, 174 - On Académie and Science, 196 - On Commission of Hygiene, 186 - Scientific mission in Germany, 179 - Studies cholera, 126 - -Devise, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Diabetes, 135 - -Diderot on spontaneous generation, 90 - -Didon, gratitude to Pasteur, 144, 161 - -Dieffenbach, M., 335 - -Dieulafoy, Professor, attends Pasteur, 459 - -Diphtheria, 453 - Statistics of mortality, 456 - -Disraeli quoted on public health, 446 - -Dôle: - Jean Joseph Pasteur settles at, 5 - Memorial plate on Pasteur’s house at, 376 - Presentation to Pasteur from, 450 - -Douay village, 1 - -Doucet, Camille, on Pasteur’s speech, 345 - -Dresden, Pasteur at, 65 - -Droz, Joseph, his moral doctrine, 16 - -Dubois, Alphée, engraves medal for Pasteur, 354 - -Dubois, Paul, 127 - Bust of Pasteur, 401 - -Duboué, Dr., theory on hydrophobia, 393 - -Duc, Viollet le, 127, 128 - -Du Camp, Maxime, 346 - -Duchartre elected member of Académie, 100 - -Duclaux, M., 102, 103, 104, 131, 138, 169, 170, 204, 205 - Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, 250 - Advice to Pasteur, 217 - _Annals of Pasteur Institute_, 434 - At Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - Class of biological chemistry, 440 - Congratulates Pasteur on testimonial, 246 - On Bastian, 253 - On heating liquids, 255 - Professor of Chemistry at Clermont Ferrand, 206 - -Ducret, Antoine and Charles, shot, 202 - -Ducrot, General, 155 - -Dujardin-Beaumetz, on antirabic cure, 434 - -Dumas, Alexandre, 106, 107 - Pasteur and, 341 - Visits Pasteur, 460 - -Dumas, J. B., 418 - Académie sponsor for Pasteur, 344 - Advice to Pasteur, 89, 103 - Appreciation of Pasteur, 252 - At Alais, 170 - Death, 384 - Interest in sericiculture, 117 - _La Vie d’un Savant_, 383 _note_; - letter on, 383 - Laboratory, 42 - Letter to Bouley, 312 - Letters to Pasteur, 60, 166, 169 - On Académie and Science, 196 - -- Commission on spontaneous generation, 106 - -- _Critical Examination_, 287 - -- Destruction of Regnault’s instruments, 191 - -- Fermentation, 79, 80 - Presents Pasteur to Napoleon III, 104 - President of Monetary Commission, 145 - Requests Pasteur for article on - Lavoisier, 121, 122 - Senator, 174 - Sketch of, 356 - Sorbonne lecturer, 21, 25, 40, 44, 55, 59 - Speech at Péclet’s tomb, 328 - Speech to Pasteur, 354 - Statue at Alais to, 446 - -Dumont, Dr., 8 - -Dupuy, Charles, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - -Duran, Carolus, portrait of Pasteur, 439 - -Duruy, M., 106 - At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 441 - At Tuileries, 154 - Attitude towards Germany, 178 - Letter to Pasteur, 139 - Minister of Public Instruction, 130 - System of National Education, 140 - Visits Pasteur, 165 - - -E - -Earthworms, pathogenic action of, 304 - -Eastern Army Corps, 192, 193 - -_Ecole Normale_, 10 _and note_, 154 - An ambulance, 180, 188 - Disturbances at, 143 - _Scientific Annals of_, 110 - Students enlist, 180 - -Ecole Polytechnique, 43 _note_, 154 - -Edelfeldt, portrait of Pasteur, 440 - -Eggs, researches on alteration of, 231 - -Ehrenberg, discoveries on infusories, 214 - -Electric telegraph, birth of, 76 - -Elsinore, congress visit, 402 - -Emperor of Brazil, interest in Pasteur’s experiments, 403 - -Empress Eugénie: - At Bordighera, 436 - Interview with Pasteur, 127, 128 - Regent, 182 - -_Enfants Malades_ hospital: diphtheritic treatment at, 455 - -English commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - Report, 437 - -Erdmann, M., 64 - -Exhibition reward distribution, 141 - - -F - -_Facultés_, 31 _note_ - -Falloux, attitude towards liberty of teaching, 52 - -Fauvel, on Pasteur’s inductions, 369 - -Favé, General, 133, 147, 162, 163 - -Favre, Jules, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 182 - Armistice, 193 - Interview with Bismarck, 184 - -“February days,” 37 _note_ - -Feltz on puerperal fever, 292 - -Fermentation, teaching on, 80, 101, 222, 240 - Alcoholic, 85, 104, 113, 286 - Butyric, 99, 220, 228, 258 - Lactic, 83, 215 - of tan, 186 - Virus, 223 _seqq._ - -Ferrières Château, interview between Bismarck and Favre at, 184 - -Fikentscher, obtains racemic acid, 62 - -Fleming, Mr., 430 - On commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - -Flesschutt, Dr., 131 - -Fleys, Dr., proposes toast of Pasteur, 373 - -Flourens, on spontaneous generation, 105, 106 - -Fontainebleau, Napoleon at, 4 - -Formate of strontian crystals, 50 - -Fortoul, Minister of Public Instruction, 75 - -Fouqué, M., 327 - -Fourcroy, M., 248 - Discoveries of, 195 - -Foy, General, works of, 183 - -Franco-German War, 177 _seqq._ - -Franklin on scientific discovery, 76 - -Frederic III, sketch of, 330 - -Frémy, M.: - On origin of ferments, 216, 218 - Theory of fermentation, 241 - -French character, 207 - - -G - -Gaidot, Father, 12 - -Gaillard, M. de, 361 - -Galen: - Discoveries through vivisection, 336 - Remedy for hydrophobia, 407 - -Galtier, experiments on hydrophobia, 393 - -_Garde Nationale_, 37 _note_ - -Gardette, M. de la, 361 - -Gautier, Théophile, 125 - -Gay-Lussac, 356 - Lectures at _Jardin des Plantes_, 419 - Speech before Chamber of Peers, 245 - Studies racemic acid, 26 - -Gayon, researches on alteration of eggs, 231 - -Geneva Congress of Hygiene, 357 - -Germs, Pasteur’s theory of, 187 - -Gernez, M., 104, 161, 166, 169, 170, 327 - _Centenary of Ecole Normale_, 110 - Collaborates with Pasteur, 130, 138, 156, 204 - -Gérôme, Knight of Legion of Honour, 142 - -Gille, Dr., attends Pasteur, 459 - -Girard on vineyard labourers and Pasteur, 420 - -Girardin, St. Marc, 82 - -Girod, Henry, Royal Notary of Salins, 1 - -Glénard adopts Brand’s treatment of typhoid, 364 - -Godélier, Dr., 160 - -Goltz, M. de, Prussian Ambassador, 127 - -Gosselin, Dr., 240 - -Got acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - -Gounod conducts _Ave Maria_ at Trocadéro fête, 431 - -Grancher, Dr.: - Admiration for Pasteur’s experiments, 417, 424 - Advises Pasteur to winter in South, 432 - Attends Pasteur, 459 - On antirabic cure, 434 - Pasteur consults, 415 - Performs inoculations, 432 - Speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 441 - -Grandeau, M., 327 - Letter to Pasteur, 341 - -Gravière, Admiral Jurien de la, 433 - -Gréard, deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - -Greece, King and Queen of, at Medical Congress, 399 - -Grenet, Pasteur’s curator, 213 - -Gressier, M., Minister of Agriculture, 275 - -Grévy, Jules, supports Tamisier and Thurel, 248 - -Gridaine, Cunin, Minister of Agriculture, 275 - -Gsell, Stéphane, on origin of Sériana, 452 - -Guérin, Alphonse, on cause of purulent infection, 236 - -Guérin, Jules, on vaccine, 308 - -Guillaume, Eugène, deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - -Guillemin, M., 77 - Schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, 7 - -Guizot, M.: - Deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - Quoted on spontaneous generation, 112 - Welcomes Biot to Académie, 82 - -Guyon, Professor: - Accepts Pasteur’s advice, 232 - Attends Pasteur, 459 - - -H - -Hankel, Professor of Physics at Leipzig, 64 - -Hardy, M., welcomes Pasteur to Académie de Médecine, 370 - -Harvey, discoveries through vivisection, 336 - -Hautefeuille, M., 327 - -Heated wine, experiments on, 157 - -_Hemiorganism_, 216 - -Henner, portrait of Pasteur, 439 - -Henri IV plants mulberry trees, 116, 172 - -Hens and anthrax, 267, 277 - Commission on, 278 - -Héricourt, Dr., 455 - At Villeneuve l’Etang, 445 - -Hervé, Edouard, 427 - -Heterogenia. (_See_ Spontaneous generation) - -Hippocrates, allusions to hydrophobia, 407 - -Horsley, Victor, secretary to Commission on inoculation - for hydrophobia, 431, 437 - -Houssaye, Henry, on ovation to Pasteur, 426 - -Hugo, Victor, _Année Terrible_, 191 - -Huguenin, portrait of Bonaparte, 181 - -Humbert of Italy, Prince, 141 - -Humboldt, Alexander von, interview with J. B. Dumas, 356 - -Husson, M., 166 - _Researches on Vaccine_, 405 - -Huxley on Pasteur’s discoveries, 374, 375 - -Hydrophobia: - Dogs inoculated against, 395; - Commission, 395, 410 - English Commission on inoculation for, 430 - Report, 437 - Experiments on, 318, 363, 383, 390, 410, 422 _seqq._ - Former remedies, 407 - Origin of, 409 - -Hygiene: - Central Commission, 186 - International Congress of, 446 - - -I - -Iceland spar, 27 - -Ingenhousz, 100 - -_Institut de France_, 29 _note_ - -J - -Jacobsen, J. C., founds Carlsberg Brewery, 401 - -Jacquinet, sub-director of Ecole Normale, 84, 144, 145 - -Jaillard, experiments on _anthrax_, 258, 261 - -Jamin, M., 354 - On heterogenist dispute, 111 - -Jarry, Claude, royal notary, 2 - -Jenner, national rewards to, 374 - -Joinville, Prince de, 53 _and note_ - -Joly, Nicolas, professor of physiology, Toulouse, 95, 104, 138, 216, 255 - Demands Commission on spontaneous generation, 105, 111 - Lecture at Faculty of Medicine, 111 - -Jouassain, Mlle., acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - -Joubert, professor of physics at Collège Rollin, 254, 265, 269, 271 - -Jourdan, Gabrielle, wife of Jean Henri Pasteur, 2 - -_Journal de la Médecine et de la Chimie_ quoted, 310 - -Joux, forest of, 1 - -Jupille, J. B., bitten by mad dog, 421; - inoculated, 422 - - -K - -Kaempfen, director of fine arts, Dôle, 376 - -Kestner, produces paratartaric acid, 26, 62, 65, 68 - -Kitasato, discovers antitoxin for diphtheria, 455 - Studies plague, 458 - -Klebs, discovers bacillus of diphtheria, 454 - -Klein, Dr., _pneumo-enteritis of swine_, 362 - -Koch, Dr.: - At Thuillier’s funeral, 381 - Campaign against Pasteur, 357, 359, 363, 367 - Finds bacillus of tuberculosis, 227 - On _bacillus anthracis_, 259, 260 - Studies cholera, 379, 382 - -Kuhn, Chamalières brewer, 207 - -L - -Laboratories, 42, 84, 153 - -Lachadenède, M. de, 121, 171 - -Lactic fermentation, 83, 99 - -Lagrange, quoted on Lavoisier’s execution, 195 - -Lamartine, 36 _and note_ - -Lambert, Françoise, wife of Claude Etienne Pasteur, 2 - -Lamy, Auguste, 161 - -Landouzy, on ambulance ward (1870), 235 - -Lannelongue, Dr., 289, 391 - -Laplace, M., 356 - -Lapparent, M. de, Chairman of Commission on wine, 156, 157 - -Larrey Baron, 309 - On Jupille and Pasteur’s discovery, 423 - Surgery under, 235, 240 - -Laubespin, Comte de, 427 - -Lauder-Brunton, Dr., on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - -Laurent, Auguste, 55 - Sketch of, 31, 33 - -Laurent, Madame, 47 - -Laurent, Maria. (_See_ Pasteur, Mme. Louis) - -Laurent, M., Rector of Academy of Strasburg, 47, 156 - Sketch of, 47, 54 - -Lavoisier, death, 195 - Edition of his works, 122 - -Le Bel, studies on stereo-chemistry, 445 - -Le Dantec, studies on yellow fever in Brazil, 461 - -Le Fort, Léon: - On puerperal fever, 290 - Surgery under, 235, 270 - -Le Roux, _Dissertation sur la Rage_, 407 - -Le Verrier, 129 _note_, 131 - -Leblanc, statistics of deaths from hydrophobia, 428 - -Lechartier, M., 104, 327 - -Lefebvre, General, 4 - -Lefort, Mayor of Arbois, 202 - -Lemaire, Jules, prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, 239 - -Lemuy, situation of, 1 - -Leplat, experiments on _anthrax_, 258, 261 - -Lereboullet, on anthrax, 269 - -Lesseps, Ferdinand de, 142 - Deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - -Leval Division: - At Arcis-sur-Aube, 4 - At Bar-sur-Aube, 3 - -Lhéritier, candidate for Académie de Médecine, 225 - -Liberty of teaching, law on, 52 - -Liebig: - Ideas on fermentation, 175, 215, 222 - Interview with Pasteur, 176 - Theory of fermentation, 80, 81, 241 - -Lille: - Pasteur Dean of Faculté at, 75 - Pasteur Institute at, 461 - -Lister, Sir Joseph: - Appreciation of Pasteur, 252 - At Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - Letter to Pasteur, 238 - Method of surgery, 238, 239 - On Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - Surgical method, 187, 216 - -Littré: - _Medicine and Physicians_, 294 - On _Microbe_, 267 - On primary causes, 244 - Sketch of, 342 - -Loeffler, isolates bacillus of diphtheria, 454 - -Loir, Adrien, 54, 58, 360, 362, 402 - Dean of Lyons Faculty of Science, 194 - Head of Pasteur Institute, Tunis, 461 - -London, Pasteur visits, 210 - -London Medical Congress, Pasteur at, 329 - -London Society for Protection of Animals, complaints on vivisection, 336 - -Longet, Dr., _Treatise on Physiology_, 127 - -Lons-le-Saulnier, 192, 248 - -Louis XI introduces mulberry tree into Touraine, 116 - -Louis XVI, 171 - Proposal for balloon ascent, 405 - -Lucas-Championnière, Just: - Edits _Journal de la Médecine_, 310 - On dressing of wounds, 238 - -Lycée St. Louis, 11, 21, 22 - -Lyons, Pasteur at, 194 - -Lyons Commission on silkworm disease, 170 - - -M - -MacDonald, General, 4 - -Magendie, M.: - Experiment with rabic blood, 392 - Interview with Quaker, 334 - -Maillot, M.: - Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, 249 - Collaborates with Pasteur, 130, 138, 166, 169 - -Mairet, Bousson de, sketch of, 8 - -Maisonneuve, Dr., prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, 239 - -Malic acid, optical study of, 57, 59 - -Malus, Etienne Louis, discovers polarization of light, 27 - -Marat, conduct to Lavoisier, 195 - -Marchoux, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Marcou, geologist, 161 - -Marie, Dr., attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia, 141 - -Marmier, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Marnoz, Jean Joseph, Pasteur at, 6 - -Martin, M.: - Attends on Pasteur, 459 - Collaborates with Roux, 455 - Lecture on diphtheria, 457 - -Maternité, mortality at, 290 - -Mathilde, Princesse, 107 - Salon, 125 - -Maucuer, at Bollène, 360 - -Maunory, M., 284, 303 - -Maury, A., 137 - -Medici, Catherine de, plants mulberry tree in Orléannais, 116 - -Medicine, general condition (1873), 226, 233 - -Meissonier, Knight of Legion of Honour, 142 - -Meister, Joseph, 432 - Bitten by mad dog, 414 - Inoculated, 415, 429 - -Melun Agricultural Society, tribute to Pasteur, 350 - -Melun, experiment on vaccination of anthrax near, 314, 316 - -Méricourt, Le Roy de, 225 - -Méry, on anatomists, 226 - -Mesnil, M. du, 163 - Attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Metchnikoff: - At Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - Directs private laboratories, 440 - Work on “leucocytes,” 458 - -Metz surrendered, 185 - -Meudon, proposed laboratory at, 398 - -Mézières, mission to Edinburgh, 384 - -Michelet quoted on his friendship with Poinsat, 18 - -Microbe: - Rossignol on, 314 - Word invented, 266 - -Microscope, results of its invention, 90 - -Mièges, near Nozeroy, registers of, 1 - -Milan Congress of Sericiculture, Pasteur at, 249 - -Miller, M., 66 - -Milne-Edwards: - At Tuileries, 154 - On Commission on spontaneous generation, 106 - -Mina, Espoz y, sketch of, 3 - -Mitscherlich, chemist and crystallographer, 26 - In Paris, 61 - Theory of fermentation, 241 - -Moigno, Abbé, on spontaneous generation, 112 - -Molecular dissymmetry, 38, 72, 88, 199, 445 - -Monge, method of founding cannon, 195, 248 - -Monod, Henri, quotes Disraeli on public health, 446 - -Montaigne quoted on friendship, 18 - -Montalembert, attitude towards liberty of teaching, 52 - -Montanvert, 97, 105 - -Montpellier, Pasteur at, 353 - -Montrond, Pasteur at, 192 - -Moquin-Tandon, on Pasteur’s candidature for Académie, 100 - -Morax, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Moreau, Armand, 278, 279 - -Moritz, on chicken cholera, 297 - -Morveau, Guyton de, 195, 248 - -Mount Poupet, Pasteur climbs, 97 - -Mouthe Priory, 1 - -Mucors, Raulin’s experiments on, 204 - -Mulberry tree, 116 - -Musset, Charles, 120, 216, 255 - Demands Commission on spontaneous generation, 105 - New _Experimental Researches on Heterogenia_, 94 - -Mussy, Dr. Henry Gueneau de: - Congratulates Pasteur, 337 - Deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - Paper on contagium germ, 263 - -Mussy, Dr. Noël Guineau de, 160 - -Mycoderma, 101, 128 - -_Mycoderma aceti_, 148, 215, 230 - -_Mycoderma vini_, 218, 219, 230 - - -N - -Napoleon I: - At Fontainebleau, 4 - Respect for Science, 195 - Restores silk industry, 116 - -Napoleon III: - Distributes exhibition rewards, 141 - Grants laboratory to Pasteur, 147 - Interest in sericiculture, 128, 133, 174 - Interview with Pasteur, 104 - Invites Pasteur to Compiègne, 127 - Leaves Sedan and Paris, 181 - Letter on Pasteur’s laboratory, 162 - Summons scientists to Tuileries, 154 - -Napoleon, Prince, interviews with Pasteur, 436 - -National Testimonials, 245 - -Naumann, Dr. Maurice, 197 - Professor of mineralogy, 286 - -Needham, partisan of spontaneous generation, 90 - -Nélaton, on surgery (1870), 236 - -Ney, General, 4 - -Nicolle, Dr., laboratory of bacteriology at Constantinople, 461 - -Niepce, national testimonial to, 245 - -Nîmes, Pasteur at, 352, 354 - -Nisard, Professor: - Academic sponsor for Pasteur, 344 - Director of Ecole Normale, 84, 143 - Letters to Pasteur, 119, 303 - Sketch of, 345 - -Nocard, M., 307 - Goes to Alexandria, 379 - On hydrophobia, 403, 409 - - -O - -Oersted and modern telegraph, 76 - -“Ordonnances,” 8 _and note_. - -Orleans, Pasteur lectures on vinegar at, 148 - -Oudinot, General, 4 - -Ovariotomy, fatal results of, 235 - - -P - -Pagès, Dr., Mayor of Alais, 121, 172 - -Paget, Sir James: - At Copenhagen Medical Congress, 399 - President of Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - Speech at Medical Congress, 330 - -Paillerols, near Digne, 169 - -Panum, President of Copenhagen - Medical Congress, 399 - -Parandier, M., 43 - -Paratartaric (_racemic_) acid, 26, 38, 41, 62 - Pasteur in search of, 63 _seqq._ - -Pareau, Mayor of Arbois, 13 - -Parieu, M. de, Minister of Public Instruction, 54 - -Paris: - Bombarded, 188 - Capitulation, 193 - Prepares for siege, 183 - -Parmentier on potato, 171 - -Pasteur, Camille, 119, 121, 123 - -Pasteur, Cécile, 130 - -Pasteur, Claude, 1 - Marriage contract, 1 - -Pasteur, Claude Etienne, 2 - Enfranchised, 2 - -Pasteur, Denis, marries Jeanne David, 1 - -Pasteur Hospital, project for, 464 - -Pasteur Institute: - _Annals of_, 434, 435, 457 - Founded, 428 - Inauguration, 440 - Scholarships, 452 - Trocadéro fête for, 431 - -Pasteur, Jean Henri, at Besançon, 2 - -Pasteur, Jean Joseph, 250 - Character, 7, 22, 58 - Conscript, 3 - Death, 118 - In Paris, 12, 57 - Marriage, 5 - Sergeant-major, 4 - Studies, 31 - -Pasteur, Jeanne, death of, 86, 118 - -Pasteur, Josephine, 18, 30, 50 - -Pasteur, Louis: - Administration of Ecole Normale, 84, 109, 112 - Advice to Paul Dalimier, 109 - Advice to Raulin, 203 - Article on Claude Bernard’s works, 134 - -- indifference of public authorities, 151 - -- Lavoisier, 122, 124 - At Arbois, 7, 180, 420, 437 - -- Besançon Royal College, 14 _seqq._ - -- Bordeaux, 339 - -- Compiègne, 127 - -- Copenhagen Medical Congress, 398 - Speech, 399 - -- Geneva Congress of Hygiene, 358 - -- London Medical Congress, 357 - Lecture, 331, 337 - -- Milan Congress of Sericiculture, 250 - Speech, 251 - -- Villa Vicentina, 173 - -- Villeneuve l’Etang, 462 - Birth, 6 - Candidate for Academy of - Sciences, 81, 100 - Candidature for Senate, 247 - Characteristics, 9, 10, 12, 16, 22, 23, 25, 32, 60, - 151, 223, 246, 252, 295, 325, 462 - Chemistry and Physics theses, 34 - Consulted on inoculation for peripneumonia, 350 - Criticism of Bernard’s posthumous notes, 281, 287 - Curator in Balard’s laboratory, 32 - Crystallographic researches, 26, 38, 57, 60, 445 - Lecture on, 102 - Dean of Lille Faculté, 75, 249 - Death, 464 - Delegation to, 354 - Deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - Speech, 386 - Discovers constitution of partartaric acid, 39 - Discussion with Bastian, 253 - Dispute with Rammelsberg, 102 - Experiments on atmospheric air, 93 _seqq._ - Friendship for Charles Chappuis, 18, 20, 22 - Grand Cross of Legion of Honour, 326 - His masters, 146, 252 - His name given to district in Canada and to village in Algeria, 451 - His teaching, 77, 79 - Illness, 433, 439, 446, 458, 464 - Watchers, 459, 462 - In hospitals, 289, 291 - -- London, 210 - -- Paris, 11, 20, 57 - -- Strasburg, 45, 177 - Influence of his labours, 445 - _Influence of Oxygen on Development of Yeast_, 221 - Interview with Biot, 41 - -- Liebig, 176 - -- Mitscherlich and Rose, 61 - -- Napoleon III, 104, 128 - Jubilee celebration, 447 - Speech, 450 - Knight of Legion of Honour, 70 - Laboratory (new), 157, 162, 164, 194, 232, 445 - Laureat of Exhibition, 140 - Lecture on germ theory, 271 - Lectures on vinegar at Orleans, 148 - Letters, 23, 24, 28 - On experiment at Pouilly le Fort, 322, 323 - To Bellotti, 207 - -- Chappuis on Lille Faculty, 77 - -- Dumas, 141, 166, 250 - -- Duruy, 131 - -- Emperor of Brazil, 404 - -- Jupille, 427 - -- Laurent, 48 - -- Napoleon III, 146 - -- Raulin, 199 - -- Sainte Beuve, 126 - M.D. of Bonn, 154 - Returns diploma, 189, 190, 197 - Marks of gratitude from agriculturists, 372 - Marriage, 51 - Medal from Society of French Agricultors, 312 - Member of Académie de Médecine, 225 - Speech, 241, 242, 243 - -- Académie des Sciences, 103, 272 - -- Académie Française, 341, 345 - Memorial plate on house at Dôle, 376 - National testimonial, 245 - Obtains racemic acid, 69 - Offered professorship at Pisa, 200 - On chicken cholera, 299, 308 - -- Littré and Positivism, 342 - -- Science and religion, 244 - -- Scientific supremacy of France, 195 - -- Vaccine, 309, 311 - of anthrax, 311, 312 - -- Experiment, 314, 317, 318, 320, 323, 367 - Results, 325 - Paper on Plague, 301 - Paralytic stroke, 160, 439 - Pastel drawings, 12, 20 - Pension augmented, 374 - Permanent Secretary of Académie des Sciences, 439 - Portraits, 439 - Professor of Chemistry, Strasburg, 45 - Professor of Physics at Dijon, 42 - Proposed studies, 198 - Refuses German decoration, 461 - Reply to Dumas, 355 - “_Researches on Dimorphism_,” 36 - Researches on spontaneous generation, 87 _seqq._, 216, 222, 277 - Lecture at Sorbonne on, 106 - Speech on, 242 - Researches on stereo-chemistry, 445 - _Science’s Budget_, 153 - _Scientific Annals of Ecole Normale_, 110 - Searches for his son, 192 - Solicitude for patients, 416, 425, 427 - Speech at Aubenas, 351 - Speech at inauguration of Institute, 442 - Speech on Deville, 327 - Speech on Joseph Bertrand, 419, 426 - Studies beer, 207 _seqq._, 219, 229, 232, 282, 285 - Book on, 214, 219, 339 - -- Cholera, 126 - -- Contagious diseases, 224 _seqq._ - -- Fermentations, 79, 83, 85, 99, 113, 224, 240 - -- Hydrophobia, 318, 363, 383, 390 _seqq._ - Inoculates dogs, 395, 410 - Inoculates Joseph Meister, 416 - Inoculates Jupille, 422 - -- _Silkworm Disease_, 117, 120, 129, 139, 155, 168 - -- on Wine, 113, 158, 283 - Book on, 133 - -- Rouget of pigs, 360 - Report on, 362 - -- Splenic fever, 257, 259, 275, 284 - Travels in search of racemic acid, 62 _seqq._ - Trephines dog, 318 - Turin veterinary school and, 367, 371 - Vintage tour, 104 - Visitors, 420 - Visits Duclaux, 206 - -Pasteur, Madame Louis, 49, 52, 59, 108, 160, 172, 432, 459 - Goes to Alais, 130 - Letters to daughter, 318, 322, 325, 396 - -Paul, St. Vincent de, Life of, 463 - -Payen, paper on beer, 208 - -Pecquet, discoveries through vivisection, 336 - -_Peers of France_, 30 _note_ - -Pelletier, Louise, bitten by mad dog, 425 - -Pellico, Silvio, _Miei prigioni_, 16 - -Pelouze, M., 335 - -_Penicillium glaucum_, 204, 230 - -Perdrix, at Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - -Perraud, J. J., bust at Monay to, 421 - -Perreyve, Henri, on Poland, 184 - -Perroncito, on microbe of chicken cholera, 297 - -Perrot, deputy to Edinburgh, 384 - -Persoz, Professor of Chemistry, Strasburg, 45 - -Peter, M.: - Dispute with Pasteur, 364, 366, 369, 370 - On antirabic cure, 434 - -Philomathic Society, Pasteur member of, 102 - -Phthisis, theory of, 227 - -Phylloxera, 295 - -Physicians, attitude towards chemists, 224, 233 - -Picard, General, candidature for Senate, 249 - -Pidoux and Trousseau, _Traité de Thérapeutique_, 224 - -Pidoux, Dr.: - On disease, 227 - On tuberculosis, 227 - -Pierrefonds Castle restored, 127 - -Pierron, on Laurent at Riom, 47 - -Piorry, Dr.: - On disease and patient, 264 - On tuberculosis, 228 - -Pisa, Pasteur offered professorship at, 200 - -Pitt, on vote to Jenner, 374, 375 - -Plague bacillus discovered, 457 - -Plague, Pasteur’s paper on, 301 - -_Plaideurs_ acted at Compiègne, 128 - -Plénisette village, 1 - -Pliny the Elder, remedy for hydrophobia, 407 - -Poggiale, speech on spontaneous generation, 242 - -Pointurier, M., 12 - -Polarisation of light, 27 - -Polignac, Cardinal of, _Anti-Lucretius_, 90 - -Poligny, 192 - _Sous-préfet_ of, 9 - -Polytechnician, 43 _note_ - -Pontarlier, retreat to, 192 - -Positivist doctrine, 342 - -Potatoes, prejudice against, 171 - -Pottevin, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Pouchet, M., 98, 104, 138, 216, 255 - _Note on Vegetable and Animal Proto-organisms_, 92 - _The Universe_, 214 - Theory of fermentation, 241 - -Pouillet, Professor of Physics at Sorbonne, 27, 29, 43 - -Pouilly le Fort, experiment on vaccination of anthrax, 315, 316, 317, 319, 323 - Results, 324 - -Prague, Pasteur at, 66 - -Prévôt, at Villeneuve l’Etang, 462 - -Primary teaching, law on reorganization, 140 - -Prince Imperial, Villa Vicentina, 173 - -_Prix de Rome_, 191 _note_ - -_Prix Montyon_, 16 _note_ - -Provost, acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - -Provostaye, de la, work on crystallography, 33, 38 - -Prussia, Crown Prince of, 141 - -Puerperal fever, 290 _seqq._ - -Puiseux, Professor of Science at Besançon, 45 - -Putrefaction, 104 - - -Q - -Quain, Dr., on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - -Quatrefages, essay on history of silkworm, 116 - -Queyrat, attends on Pasteur, 459 - - -R - -Rabies and hydrophobia, 409 - -Rabies, Commission. (_See under_ Hydrophobia) - -Rabourdin, M., 284 - -Racemic. (_See_ Paratartaric acid) - -Raibaud-Lange, M., 169 - -Rammelsberg, dispute with Pasteur, 102 - -Randon, General, 166 - -Raspail, F. V., researches on origin of itch, 374 - -Rassmann, Dr., obtains racemic acid, 67 - -Raulin, Jules, 93, 130, 161, 166, 173, 209 - Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, 250 - Sketch of, 204 - -Raulin’s liquid, 205 - -Ravaisson, F., 137 - -Rayer, on charbon blood, 258 - -Raynaud, Dr. Maurice, 289 - On hydrophobia, 391 - -Reaudin, Auguste, on Lister’s methods, 239 - -Reclus, Dr., on purulent infection, 237 - -Reculfoz village, 1 - -Redi, Francesco, experiment on spontaneous generation, 89 - -Redtenbacher, M., 66 - -“Régiment Dauphin,” 4 - -Regnault, Henri, 50, 59 Death, 191 - -Regnier acts in _Plaideurs_, 128 - -Renan, E., 137 - On state of France, 199 - Quoted from _Revue Germanique_, 110 - Sketch of, 348 - Speech to Pasteur on hydrophobia, 390 - Welcomes Pasteur to Académie Française, 346 - -Renaud, M., 7 - -Renault, experiments with rabic blood, 392 - -Rencluse, 105 - -Renon, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Répécaud, Headmaster of Royal College, Besançon, 14 - -Rhenish provinces, 189 - -Richet, Dr., 455 - -Rigault, lectures at Collège de France, 82 - -Robin, Charles, sketch of, 124 - -Rochard, Dr., on plague, 303 - -Rochette, Baron de la, sketch of, 314 - -Rochleder, professor of chemistry, Prague, 67 - -Roger, on Pasteur’s services, 245 - -Rollin College, experiments in laboratory at, 411, 415, 432 - -Romanet, Headmaster of Arbois College, 9, 13, 30, 36 - -Romieu, sketch of, 53 - -“Rouget” of pigs (swine fever), 360, 362 - -Roqui, Jean Claude, 6 - -Roqui, Jeanne Etiennette, wife of Jean Joseph Pasteur, 6, 7 - Death, 40 - -Roscoe, Sir Henry, on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 430 - -Rose, G., crystallographer, in Paris, 61 - -Rossignol, M.: - Article in _Veterinary Press_ on microbe, 313 - Vaccination of sheep against anthrax and, 315, 321, 323 - -Rotz, Pasteur medal, 447 - -Rouher, at Tuileries, 154 - -Roux, Dr.: - Account of Thuillier’s death, 381 - At Pasteur Jubilee, 448 - Attends Pasteur, 459 - Collaborates with Pasteur, 289, 291, 303, 305, - 308, 317, 318, 321, 338, 359, 372, 393, 420, 424 - Cross of Legion of Honour, 326 - Goes to Alexandria, 379 - Inoculates horse with diphtheritic toxin, 455 - Lectures on diphtheria, 456 - Lectures on technical microbia, 440 - Lecture to London Royal Society, 454 - On Pasteur’s medical work, 283 - Performs inoculations, 432 - Sketch of, 233 - Studies diphtheria, 453 - -Roziers, Pilâtre de, balloon ascent, 405 - -Russian mujiks bitten by wolf, 429 - - -S - -Saccharimeter, 28 - -Sadowa, battle of, 178 - -Sainte Beuve: - Letters to Pasteur, 125 - On Biot’s character, 56 - Opinion of Joseph Droz, 14 - Pasteur attends his lectures, 123 - Philosophy, 123 - Speech at Senate, 143 - -St. Dizier, 4 - -St. Hippolyte la Fort, 165, 174 - -St. Victor, Paul de, on Germany, 188 - -Salimbeni, treatise on sericiculture, 159 - -Salins, 97 - Claude Etienne Pasteur settles at, 2 - -Sand, George, 107 - -Sandeau, Jules, 127 - -Sanderson, Professor Burdon, on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, 431 - -Sarcey, Francisque, 37 - -Saussure, Théodore de, 100 - -Sauton, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, 449 - -Say, Léon, Pasteur’s reply to, 417 - -Scheele discovers tartaric acid, 26 - -Schrotter, Professor, 66 - -Schwann, Dr., observations on fermentations, 80 - -Science and Religion, 244 - -Scientists meet at Tuileries, 154 - -Sedan, 181 - -Sédillot, Dr.: - Correspondence of Institute, 186 - Sketch of, 266 - -Senarmont, M. de, 50, 58, 59, 101 - Advice to Pasteur, 69 - Confidence in Pasteur, 89 - -Septicæmia, 229, 234, 263, 308, 368 - -Sériana village, Algeria, 451 - -Sericiculture, 115 - -Serotherapy. (_See_ Diphtheria) - -Serres, Olivier de, 172 - Statue to, 350, 352 - _Théâtre d’Agriculture_, 172 - _Treatise on Gathering of Silk_, 116, 120 - -Seybel, M., 66 - -Signol, experiments, 262 - -Silkworm disease, 116 _seqq_., 139, 155, 156, 168 - Lyons Commission on, 170 - -Simon, Jules, 144, 418 - At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, 441 - On Ecole Normale, 23 - -Sorbonne, 21 _note_, 146 - Inauguration of new, 446 - Pasteur Jubilee celebration, 447 - -Spallanzani, Abbé, experiments on animalculæ, 91 - -Splenic fever (charbon). (_See Anthrax_) - -Spontaneous generation, 87 _seqq._, 216, 222, 227, 232, 277 - Commission on, 106, 111 - Pasteur’s lecture at Sorbonne on, 106 - -Stoffel, Colonel Baron, 155 - -Strasburg, Pasteur at, 45, 71 - -Strasburg arsenal, 179, 185 - -Strasburg University, 189 - -Straus, M.: - Goes to Alexandria, 379 - On Cholera Commission, 382 - -Sully, opposes silk industry, 116 - -Sully-Prudhomme, love of France, 191 - -Supt village, 2 - -Surgery before Pasteur, 234 _seqq._ - -Susani, S., 250 - -Swine fever. (_See_ Rouget of pigs) - - -T - -Talmy, Dr., at Bordeaux, 339 - -Tamisier, candidature for Senate, 249 - -Tantonville brewery, 213 - -Tarnier, Dr., 289 - On puerperal fever, 289 - -Tartaric acid, constitution of, 26, 38 - -Teaching: - Law on liberty of, 52 - Law on primary, 140 - -Terrillon, Dr., 432 - -Thenard, Baron, 59, 356 - Sketch of, 45 - -Thierry, M., at Pouilly le Fort experiment, 316, 319 - -Thiers, M.: - Letter to Pasteur, 144 - On bravery of 3rd Regiment, 3 - -Third Regiment of Line, 3 - “Régiment Dauphin,” 4 - -Thorwaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, 402 - -Thuillier, Louis, 317 - Collaborates with Pasteur, 357, 359, 360, 362 - Death, 380 - Goes to Alexandria, 379 - Studies hydrophobia, 391 - -Thurel, candidature for Senate, 249 - -Tisserand, M., 354 - Director of Crown Agricultural establishments, 173 - On Commission on hydrophobia, 395 - -Toscanelli, S., 200, 201 - -Toul, on second line of fortifications, 179 - -Tourtel brewery at Tantonville, 213 - -Toussaint, professor at Toulouse - Veterinary School, 264, 284 - Studies microbe of chicken cholera, 297 - Vaccinates sheep against anthrax, 306, 307 - -Traube, Dr., on ammoniacal fermentation, 232 - -Trécul, Dr., 230 - On heterogenesis, 216, 218 - Theory of fermentation, 241 - -Trélat, Dr., surgeon at Maternité, 290 - On Commission of Hygiene, 186 - -Trocadéro fête for Pasteur Institute, 431 - -Troost, M., 327 - -Trousseau and Pidoux, _Traité de Thérapeutique_, 224 - -Trousseau, Dr.: - Lecture on ferments quoted, 229 - On diphtheria, 453 - On puerperal fever, 290 - -Tsar, sends Cross of St. Anne of Russia to Pasteur, 430 - -Tuberculosis, researches on, 227 - -Tuileries, scientists meet at, 154 - -Tunis, Pasteur Institute at, 461 - -Turin Veterinary School and Pasteur, 368, 371 - -Tyndall, Professor: - _Dust and Diseases_, 239 - Letter to Pasteur, 353 - -Typhoid fever, medical methods of treating, 364 - - -U - -Udressier, Claude François, Count of, 1 - -Udressier, Philippe-Marie-François, Count of, 2 - -Université, 44 _note_, 155 - -University of Edinburgh, Tercentenary, 384 - Degrees, 385 - - -V - -Vaccination, 300, 309, 311 - Against anthrax, 312 - Experiment, 314, 317, 318, 320, 328, 367 - Results, 325 - Against swine fever, 382 - -Vaillant, Field-Marshal, 142, 168 - At Tuileries, 154 - Silkworm nursery, 173 - -Vallisneri, medical professor of Padua, 90 - -Van Holmont, recipe for producing mice, 89 - -Van t’Hoff, studies on stereo-chemistry, 445 - -Van Tieghem, 217, 232 - -Vauquelin, tanning process, 29 - -Veillon, attends on Pasteur, 459 - -Velpeau: - On diphtheria, 453 - On pin prick, 234 - -Venasque Pass, 105 - -Vercel, Jules, 7, 36, 97, 192, 266 - Accompanies Pasteur to Paris, 10 - -Verneuil, M.: - On antirabic cure, 434 - On surgery (1870), 236 - -Vescovato, 169 - -Veuillot, Louis, 36 - On liberty of teaching, 53 - -Viala, Eugène: - Attends on Pasteur, 459 - Preparations for inoculations, 424 - Sketch of, 402 - -Vialla, M., Vice-President of Agricultural Society, Montpellier, 353 - -Vicat, national testimonial to, 245 - -Villa Vicentina, Illyria, 173 - -Villemin, Dr.: - Advises Pasteur to winter in south, 433, 434 - At experiment on earthworms, 304 - On Commission on hydrophobia, 395 - On contagion of tuberculosis, 367 - Researches on tuberculosis, 226, 227 - -Villeneuve l’Etang, branch establishment of laboratory at, 398, 406, 410 - Stables, 463 - -Villers-Farlay, Mayor of, writes to Pasteur, 421 - -Vinegar, Pasteur lectures on manufacture of, 148 - -Virchow, Professor: - At Copenhagen Medical Congress, 399 - At Edinburgh, 386 - On anti-vivisection, 332 - -_Virulent Diseases--Chicken Cholera_, 298 - -Virus ferments, 223 _seqq._ - -Vivisection: - Discoveries made through, 337 - Virchow on, 332 - -Volta, S., 195 - -Voltaire: - _Philosophic Dictionary_ quoted on God, 92 - _Singularities of Nature_, 92 - -Vone, Théodore, consults Pasteur, 414 - -Vulpian, 278 - Champions Pasteur, 435, 436 - Death, 438 - On Brand’s treatment of typhoid, 365 - On Commission on hydrophobia, 395 - Pasteur consults, 415 - Speech on Pasteur’s experiments on hydrophobia, 422, 438 - - -W - -Wales, Prince of, 141 - -Wallace, Sir Richard, founds dogs’ cemetery at Bagatelle, 411 - -Wasserzug, Etienne, interprets for Pasteur, 424 - -Weber, Dr., advises Mme. Meister to consult Pasteur, 414 - -William, King of Prussia, meets Napoleon, 182 - -Wine, studies on, 113, 158 - -Wissemburg, 178 - -Wolf-bites, statistics of death from, 430 - -Wurtz: - Laboratory, 42 - On Commission of Hygiene, 186 - - -Y - -Yeast, 80 - Pasteur’s paper on, 221, 230. - (_See also_ Fermentation) - -Yellow fever, Pasteur studies, 338 - -Yersin, Dr.: - Studies diphtheria, 453 - Studies plague in China, 458, 461 - -Younger, welcomes Pasteur to Edinburgh, 38 - - -Z - -Zevort, M., 47, 130 - -Zimmern, _sous-préfecture_, 189 - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] A great nation, said Disraeli, is a nation which produces great men. - -[2] _Ordonnances du 26 Juillet_, 1830. A royal Decree issued by Charles -X under the advice of his minister, Prince de Polignac; it was based -on a misreading of one of the articles of the Charter of 1814, and -dissolved the new Chamber of Deputies before it had even assembled; it -suppressed the freedom of the Press and created a new electoral system -to the advantage of the royalist party. These _ordonnances_ were the -cause of the 1830 Revolution, which placed Louis Philippe of Orleans on -the Throne. [Trans.] - -[3] _Ecole Normale Supérieure_, under the supervision of the Ministry -of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, founded in 1808 by Napoleon I, -with the object of training young professors. Candidates must (1) -be older than eighteen and younger than twenty-one; (2) pass one -written and one vivâ voce examination; (3) be already in possession -of their diploma as _bachelier_ of science or of letters, according -to the branch of studies which they wish to take up; and (4) sign an -engagement for ten years’ work in public instruction. The professors of -the Ecole Normale take the title of _Maître des Conférences_. [Trans.] - -[4] Baccalauréat (low Latin _bachalariatus_), first degree taken in a -French Faculty; the next is _licence_, and the next _doctorate_. It is -much more elementary than a bachelor’s degree in an English university. -There are two baccalauréats: (1) the baccalauréat _ès lettres_ required -of candidates for the Faculties of Medicine and of Law, to the Ecole -Normale Supérieure and to several public offices; (2) the baccalauréat -_ès sciences_, required for admission to the Schools of Medicine and of -Pharmacy, to the Ecole Normale Supérieure (scientific section), and the -Polytechnic, Military and Foresters’ Schools. [Trans.] - -[5] Philosophie class. In French secondary schools or _lycées_ the -forms or classes, in Pasteur’s time, were arranged as follows, starting -from the bottom-- - - 1º huitième. - 2º septième. - 6º sixième (French grammar was begun). - 5º cinquième (Latin was begun). - 6º quatrième (Greek was begun). - 7º troisième. - 8º seconde. - ------------------------------------------------- - | - 9º Mathématiques élémentaires. Rhétorique. -10º Mathématiques spéciales. Philosophie. - -The seconde students who intended to pass their _baccalauréat ès -sciences_ went into the mathématiques élémentaires class, whilst those -who were destined for letters or the law entered the rhétorique class, -from which they went on to the philosophie class. [Trans.] - -[6] Prix Montyon: a series of prizes founded at the beginning of the -nineteenth century by Baron de Montyon, a distinguished philanthropist, -and conferred on literary works for their moral worth, and on -individuals for acts of private virtue or self-sacrifice. The laureates -are chosen every year by the Académie Française, and in this way many -obscure heroes are deservedly rewarded, and many excellent books -brought to public notice. [Trans.] - -[7] Sorbonne. Name given to the Paris Faculty of Theology and the -buildings in which it was established. It was originally intended by -its founder, Robert de Sorbon (who was chaplain to St. Louis, King of -France, 1270) as a special establishment to facilitate theological -studies for poor students. This college became one of the most -celebrated in the world, and produced so many clever theologians that -it gave its name to all the members of the Faculty of Theology. It -was closed during the Revolution in 1789, and its buildings, which -had been restored by Richelieu in the seventeenth century, were given -to the Université in 1808. Since 1821 they have been the seat of the -Universitarian Academy of Paris, and used for the lectures of the -Faculties of Theology, of Letters, and of Sciences. [Trans.] - -[8] Accessit. A distinction accorded in French schools to those who -have come nearest to obtaining the prize in any given subject. [Trans.] - -[9] Concours Général. An open competition held every year at the -Sorbonne between the _élite_ of the students of all the colleges in -France, from the highest classes down to the _quatrième_. [Trans.] - -[10] _Institut de France._ Name given collectively to the five -following societies-- - -1. _Académie Française_, founded by Richelieu in 1635 in order to -polish and maintain the purity of the French language. It is composed -of forty Life members, and publishes from time to time a dictionary -which is looked upon as a standard test of correct French. - -2. _Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_, founded by Colbert in -1663. - -3. _Académie des Sciences_, also founded by Colbert in 1666. It has -published most valuable reports ever since 1699. - -4. _Académie des Beaux-Arts_, which includes the Academies of Painting, -of Sculpture, of Music, and of Architecture. - -5. _Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques._ - -It was in 1795 that these ancient academies, which had been suppressed -two years before by the Revolution, were reorganized and combined -together to form the _Institut de France_. [Trans.] - -[11] _Peers of France._ A supreme Council formed originally of the -First Vassals of the Crown; became in 1420 one of the Courts of -Parliament. In 1789 the Peerage was suppressed, but reinstated in 1814 -by the Restoration, when it again formed part of the Legislative Corps; -there were then hereditary peers and life-peers. In 1831 the hereditary -peerage was abolished and life-peers were nominated by the King under -certain restrictions. This House of Peers was suppressed in 1848, and -in 1852 the Senate was instituted in its stead. [Trans.] - -[12] _Facultés_, Government establishments for superior studies; there -are in France Faculties of Theology, of Law, of Medicine, of Sciences -and of Letters, distributed among the larger provincial towns as well -as in Paris. The administrator of a faculty is styled _doyen_ (dean) -and is chosen among the professors. [Trans.] - -[13] _Agrégation._ An annual competition for recruiting professors -for faculties and secondary schools or _lycées_. A candidate for the -_lycées agrégation_ must have passed his _licence_ examination, and a -candidate for the superior _agrégation_ must be in possession of his -doctorate. [Trans.] - -[14] This celebrated poet took a large share in the Revolution of 1848, -when his popularity became enormous. His political talents, however, -apart from his wonderful eloquence, were less than mediocre, and he -retired into private life within three years. - -His “Meditations,” “Jocelyn,” “Recueillements,” etc., etc., are -beautiful examples of lyrical poetry, and may be considered as forming -part of the literature of the world. [Trans.] - -[15] Garde Nationale. A city militia, intended to preserve order and -to maintain municipal liberties; it was improvised in 1789, and its -first Colonel was General Lafayette, of American Independence fame. Its -cockade united the King’s white to the Paris colours, blue and red, and -thus was inaugurated the celebrated Tricolour. - -The National Guard was preserved by the Restoration, but Charles -X disbanded it as being dangerously Liberal in its tendencies. It -re-formed itself of its own accord in 1830, and helped to overthrow the -elder branch of Bourbon. It proved a source of disorder in 1848 and -was reorganized under the second Empire, but, having played an active -and disastrous part in the Commune (1871), it was disarmed and finally -suppressed. [Trans.] - -[16] February days. The Republicans had organized a banquet in Paris -for February 22, 1848. The Government prohibited it, with the result -that an insurrection took place. Barricades were erected and some -fighting ensued; on the 24th, the insurgents were masters of the -situation. Louis Philippe abdicated (vainly) in favour of his grandson, -the Comte de Paris, and fled to England. [Trans.] - -[17] Collège de France. An establishment of superior studies founded -in Paris by Francis I in 1530, and where public lectures are given on -languages, literature, history, mathematics, physical science, etc. -It was formerly independent, but is now under the jurisdiction of the -Ministry of Public Instruction. [Trans.] - -[18] Polytechnician. A student of the Ecole Polytechnique, a military -and engineering school under the jurisdiction of the Minister of -War, founded in 1794. Candidates for admission must be older than -sixteen and younger than twenty, but the limit of age is raised to -twenty-five in the case of private soldiers and non-commissioned -officers. They must also have passed their _baccalauréat ès lettres_ -or _ès sciences_--preferably the latter. After two years’ residence -(compulsory) students pass a leaving examination, and are entered -according to their list number as engineers of the Navy, Mines, or -Civil Works, or as officers in the military Engineers or in the -Artillery; the two last then have to go through one of the military -training schools (Ecoles d’Application). [Trans.] - -[19] _Université._ The celebrated body known as Université de -Paris, and instituted by Philippe Auguste in 1200, possessed great -privileges from its earliest times. It had the monopoly of teaching -and a jurisdiction of its own. It took a share in public affairs on -several occasions, and had long struggles to maintain against several -religious orders. The Université was suppressed by the Convention, but -re-organized by Napoleon I in 1808. It is now subdivided into sixteen -_Académies Universitaires_, each of which is administered by a Rector. -The title of Grand Master of the Université always accompanies that of -Minister of Public Instruction. [Trans.] - -[20] _Départements._ The present divisions of French territory, -numbering eighty-seven in all. Each department is administered by a -_préfet_, and subdivided into _arrondissements_, each of which has a -_sous-préfet_. [Trans.] - -[21] _Prince de Joinville._ Third son of Louis Philippe, and an Admiral -in the French navy. It was he who was sent to fetch Napoleon’s remains -from St. Helena. [Trans.] - -[22] Of the Legion of Honour. - -[23] Hectare: French measure of surface, about 2⅓ acres. [Trans.] - -[24] _Conseil-Général de département._ A representative assembly for -the general management of each département, somewhat similar to the -County Councils in England. [Trans.] - -[25] Le Verrier, a celebrated astronomer, at that time Director of the -Paris Observatory. His calculations led him to surmise the existence of -the planet Neptune, which was discovered accordingly. Adam, an English -astronomer, attained the same result, by the same means, at the same -time, each of the two scientists being in absolute ignorance of the -work of the other. Le Verrier was the first to publish his discovery. -[Trans.] - -[26] Ancient name of the high flat ground surrounding Chartres and -including parts of the Departments of Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher, -Loiret and Seine et Oise. These plains are very fertile, the soil being -extremely rich, and produce cereals chiefly. [Trans.] - -[27] _Val-de-Grâce._ A handsome monument of the seventeenth century, -now a military hospital. [Trans.] - -[28] By Dr. Smiles. [Trans.] - -[29] Ps. cxxxvii. 9. - -[30] _Prix de Rome._ A competition takes place every year amongst the -students of the _Ecole des Beaux Arts_ for this prize; the successful -competitor is sent to Rome for a year at the expense of the Ecole. -[Trans.] - -[31] _Assistance Publique_, official organisation of the charitable -works supported by the State. [Trans.] - -[32] _La Vie d’un Savant_, by the author of the present work. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The life of Pasteur - -Author: René Vallery-Radot - -Contributor: William Osler - -Translator: R. L. Devonshire - -Release Date: December 18, 2019 [EBook #60956] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF PASTEUR *** - - - - -Produced by Turgut Dincer, Chuck Greif and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -book was produced from images made available by the -HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" -style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; -padding:1%;"> -<tr><td> - -<p class="c"><a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a> -<br /> -<a href="#INDEX">Index</a>: -<a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">E</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#K">K</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#O">O</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#Q">Q</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#U">U</a>, -<a href="#V">V</a>, -<a href="#W">W</a>, -<a href="#Y">Y</a>, -<a href="#Z">Z</a> </p> -<p class="c">Some minor typographical errors have been corrected.</p> -<p class="c">(etext transcriber's note)</p></td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="328" height="500" alt="" title="" /> -</div> - - -<p class="c">THE LIFE OF PASTEUR</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_i" id="page_i">{i}</a></span></p> - -<p class="dedic">“L’œuvre de Pasteur est admirable; elle montre son génie, mais il faut -avoir vécu dans son intimité pour connaître toute la bonté de son -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ii" id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span> -cœur.”—<span class="smcap">Dr. Roux.</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iii" id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/frontispiece_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="371" height="500" alt="[Image: Portrait of LOUIS PASTEUR. -unavailable.]" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">LOUIS PASTEUR.</span> -</div> - -<h1> -THE<br /> -LIFE OF PASTEUR</h1> - -<p class="c">BY RENÉ VALLERY-RADOT<br /> -<br /><small> -TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY</small><br /> -MRS. R. L. DEVONSHIRE<br /> -<br /> -<br /><small> -WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</small><br /> -<br /> -SIR WILLIAM OSLER, BART., M.D., F.R.S.<br /><small> -REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY</small><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -NEW YORK<br /> -DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY<br /> -1920<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iv" id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><small> -<span class="smcap">Printed in Great Britain by<br /> -Richard Clay & Sons, Limited</span>,<br /> -BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E. 1,<br /> -AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.</small></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_v" id="page_v">{v}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> - -<div class="blockquotsml"><p>L’homme en ce siècle a pris une connaissance toute nouvelle des -ressource de la nature et, par l’application de son intelligence il -a commencé à les faire fructifier. Il a refait, par la géologie et -la paléontologie, l’histoire de la terre, entraînée elle-même par -la grande loi de l’évolution. Il connaît mieux, grâce à Pasteur -surtout, les conditions d’existence de son propre organisme et peut -entreprendre d’y combattre les causes de destruction.—Monod, -<i>L’Europe Contemporaine</i>.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Whether</span> to admire more the man or his method, the life or the work, I -leave for the readers of this well-told story to decide. Among the -researches that have made the name of Pasteur a household word in the -civilised world, three are of the first importance—a knowledge of the -true nature of the processes in fermentation—a knowledge of the chief -maladies which have scourged man and animals—a knowledge of the -measures by which either the body may be protected against these -diseases, or the poison neutralised when once within the body.</p> - -<h3>I.</h3> - -<p>Our knowledge of disease has advanced in a curiously uniform way. The -objective features, the symptoms, naturally first attracted attention. -The Greek physicians, Hippocrates, Galen, and Aretaeus, gave excellent -accounts of many diseases; for example, the forms of malaria. They knew, -too, very well, their modes of termination, and the art of prognosis was -studied carefully. But of the actual causes of disease they knew little -or nothing, and any glimmerings of truth were obscured in a cloud of -theory. The treatment was haphazard, partly the outcome of experience, -partly based upon false theories of the cause of the disease. This may -be said to have been the sort of knowledge possessed by the profession -until<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vi" id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span> men began to study the “seats and causes” of disease, and to -search out the changes <i>inside</i> the body, corresponding to the outward -symptoms and the external appearances. Morbid anatomy began to be -studied, and in the hundred years from 1750 to 1850 such colossal -strides were made that we knew well the post-mortem appearances of the -more common diseases; the recognition of which was greatly helped by a -study of the relation of the pathological appearances with the signs and -symptoms. The 19th century may be said to have given us an -extraordinarily full knowledge of the changes which disease produces in -the solids and fluids of the body. Great advances, too, were made in the -treatment of disease. We learned to trust Nature more and drugs less; we -got rid (in part) of treatment by theory, and we ceased to have a drug -for every symptom. But much treatment was, and still is, irrational, not -based on a knowledge of the cause of the disease. In a blundering way -many important advances were made, and even specifics were -discovered—cinchona, for example, had cured malaria for a hundred and -fifty years before Laveran found the cause. At the middle of the last -century we did not know much more of the actual causes of the great -scourges of the race, the plagues, the fevers and the pestilences, than -did the Greeks. Here comes in Pasteur’s great work. Before him Egyptian -darkness; with his advent a light that brightens more and more as the -years give us ever fuller knowledge. The facts that fevers were -catching, that epidemics spread, that infection could remain attached to -particles of clothing, etc., all gave support to the view that the -actual cause was something alive, a <i>contagium vivum</i>. It was really a -very old view, the germs of which may be found in the Fathers, but which -was first clearly expressed—so far as I know—by Frascastorius, a -Veronese physician in the 16th century, who spoke of the seeds of -contagion passing from one person to another; and he first drew a -parallel between the processes of contagion and the fermentation of -wine. This was more than one hundred years before Kircher, Leeuwenhoek, -and others, began to use the microscope and to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span> animalculæ, etc., in -water, and so gave a basis for the “infinitely little” view of the -nature of disease germs. And it was a study of the processes of -fermentation that led Pasteur to the sure ground on which we now stand. -Starting as a pure chemist, and becoming interested in the science of -crystallography, it was not until his life at Lille, a town with -important brewing industries, that Pasteur became interested in the -biological side of chemical problems. Many years before it had been -noted by Cagniard-Latour that yeast was composed of cells capable of -reproducing themselves by a sort of budding, and he made the keen -suggestion that it was possibly through some effect of their vegetation -that the sugar was transformed. But Liebig’s view everywhere prevailed -that the ferment was an alterable, organic substance which exercised a -catalytic force, transforming the sugar. It was in August, 1857, that -Pasteur sent his famous paper on <i>Lactic Acid Fermentation</i> to the Lille -Scientific Society; and in December of the same year he presented to the -Academy of Sciences a paper on <i>Alcoholic Fermentation</i>, in which he -concluded that the deduplication of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid -is correlevant to a phenomena of life. These studies had the signal -effect of diverting the man from the course of his previous more -strictly chemical studies. It is interesting to note how slowly these -views dislocated the dominant theories of Liebig. More than ten years -after their announcement I remember that we had in our chemical lectures -the catalytic theory very fully presented.</p> - -<p>Out of these researches arose a famous battle which kept Pasteur hard at -work for four or five years—the struggle over spontaneous generation. -It was an old warfare, but the microscope had revealed a new world, and -the experiments on fermentation had lent great weight to the <i>omne vivum -ex ovo</i> doctrine. The famous Italians, Redi and Spallanzani, had led the -way in their experiments, and the latter had reached the conclusion that -there is no vegetable and no animal that has not its own germ. But -heterogenesis became the burning question, and Pouchet in France, and -Bastian in England,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span> led the opposition to Pasteur. The many famous -experiments carried conviction to the minds of scientific men, and -destroyed for ever the old belief in spontaneous generation. All along -the analogy between disease and fermentation must have been in Pasteur’s -mind; and then came the suggestion: “What would be most desirable would -be to push those studies far enough to prepare the road for a serious -research into the origin of various diseases.” If the changes in lactic, -alcohol and butyric fermentations are due to minute living organisms, -why should not the same tiny creatures make the changes which occur in -the body in the putrid and suppurative diseases. With an accurate -training as a chemist, having been diverted in his studies upon -fermentation into the realm of biology, and nourishing a strong -conviction of the identity between putrefactive changes of the body and -fermentation, Pasteur was well prepared to undertake investigations, -which had hitherto been confined to physicians alone.</p> - -<p>The first outcome of the researches of Pasteur upon fermentation and -spontaneous generation represents a transformation in the practice of -surgery, which, it is not too much to say, has been one of the greatest -boons ever conferred upon humanity. It had long been recognised that now -and again a wound healed without the formation of pus, that is without -suppuration, but both spontaneous and operative wounds were almost -invariably associated with that change; and, moreover, they frequently -became putrid, as it was then called—infected, as we should say; the -general system became involved, and the patient died of blood poisoning. -So common was this, particularly in old, ill-equipped hospitals, that -many surgeons feared to operate, and the general mortality in all -surgical cases was very high. Believing that from outside the germs came -which caused the decomposition of wounds, just as from the atmosphere -the sugar solution got the germs which caused the fermentation, a young -surgeon at Glasgow, Joseph Lister, applied the principles of Pasteur’s -experiments to their treatment. It may be well here to quote from -Lister’s original paper in the <i>Lancet</i>, 1867:—“Turning now to the -question<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix">{ix}</a></span> how the atmosphere produces decomposition of organic -substances, we find that a flood of light has been thrown upon this most -important subject by the philosophic researches of M. Pasteur, who has -demonstrated by thoroughly convincing evidence that it is not to its -oxygen or to any of its gaseous constituents that the air owes this -property, but to minute particles suspended in it, which are the germs -of various low forms of life, long since revealed by the microscope, and -regarded as merely accidental concomitants of putrescence, but now shown -by Pasteur to be its essential cause, resolving the complex organic -compounds into substances of simpler chemical constitution, just as the -yeast plant converts sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid.” From these -beginnings modern surgery took its rise, and the whole subject of wound -infection, not only in relation to surgical diseases, but to child-bed -fever, forms now one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of -Preventive Medicine.</p> - -<h3>II.</h3> - -<p>Pasteur was early impressed with the analogies between fermentation and -putrefaction and the infectious diseases, and in 1863 he assured the -French Emperor that his ambition was “to arrive at the knowledge of the -causes of putrid and contagious diseases.” After a study upon the -diseases of wines, which has had most important practical bearings, an -opportunity came of the very first importance, which not only changed -the whole course of his career, but had great influence in the -development of medical science. A disease of the silkworm had, for some -years, ruined one of the most important industries of France, and in -1865 the Government asked Pasteur to give up the laboratory work and -teaching, and to devote his whole energies to the task of investigating -it. The story of the brilliant success which followed years of -application to the problem will be read with deep interest by every -student of science. It was the first of his victories in the application -of the experimental methods of a trained chemist to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x">{x}</a></span> problems of -biology, and it placed his name high in the group of the most -illustrious benefactors of practical industries.</p> - -<p>The national tragedy of 1870-2 nearly killed Pasteur. He had a terrible -pilgrimage to make in search of his son, a sergeant in Bourbaki’s force. -“The retreat from Moscow cannot have been worse than this,” said the -<i>savant</i>. In October, 1868, he had had a stroke of paralysis, from which -he recovered in a most exceptional way, as it seemed to have diminished -neither his enthusiasm nor his energy. In a series of studies on the -diseases of beer, and on the mode of production of vinegar, he became -more and more convinced that these studies on fermentation had given him -the key to the nature of the infectious diseases. It is a remarkable -fact that the distinguished English philosopher of the seventeenth -century, the man who more than any one else of his century appreciated -the importance of the experimental method, Robert Boyle, had said that -he who could discover the nature of ferments and fermentation, would be -more capable than anyone else of explaining the nature of certain -diseases. The studies on spontaneous generation, and Lister’s -application of the germ theory to the treatment of wounds, had aroused -the greatest interest in the medical world, and Villemin, in a series of -most brilliant experiments, had demonstrated the infectivity of -tuberculosis. An extraordinary opportunity now offered for the study of -a widespread epidemic disease, known as anthrax, which in many parts of -France killed from 25 to 30 per cent. of the sheep and cattle, and which -in parts of Europe had been pandemic, attacking both man and beast. As -far back as 1838 minute rods had been noted in the blood of animals -which had died from the disease; and in 1863 Devaine thought that these -little bodies, which he called bacteridia, were the cause of the -disease. In 1876 a young German district physician, Robert Koch, began a -career, which in interest and importance rivals that of the subject of -this memoir. Koch confirmed in every point the old researches of -Devaine; but he did much more, and for the first time isolated the -organism in pure culture outside the body, grew successive generations, -showed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">{xi}</a></span> remarkable spore formation, and produced the disease -artificially in animals by inoculating with the cultures. Pasteur -confirmed these results, and in the face of extraordinary opposition -succeeded in convincing his opponents. Out of this study came a still -more important discovery, namely, that it was possible so to attenuate -or weaken the virus or poison that the animal could be inoculated, and -have a slight attack, recover, and be protected against the disease. -More than eighty years had passed since, on May 14th, 1796, Jenner, with -a small bit of virus taken from a cow-pox on the hand of the milkmaid, -Sarah Newlme, had vaccinated a child, and thus proved that a slight -attack of one disease would protect the body from disease of a similar -character. It was an occasion famous in the history of medicine, when, -in the spring of 1881, at Melun, at the farmyard of Pouilly le Fort, the -final test case was determined, and the flock of vaccinated sheep -remained well, while every one of the unvaccinated, inoculated from the -same material, had died. It was indeed a great triumph.</p> - -<p>The studies on chicken cholera, yellow fever, and on swine plague helped -to further the general acceptance of the germ theory. I well remember at -the great meeting of the International Congress in 1881, the splendid -reception accorded to the distinguished Frenchman, who divided with -Virchow the honours of the meeting. Finally came the work upon one of -the most dreaded of all diseases—hydrophobia, an infection of a most -remarkable character, the germ of which remains undiscovered. The -practical results of Pasteur’s researches have given us a prophylactic -treatment of great efficacy. Before its introduction the only means of -preventing the development of the disease was a thorough cauterisation -of the disease wound within half an hour after its infliction. Pasteur -showed that animals could be made immune to the poison, and devised a -method by which the infection conveyed by the bite could be neutralised. -Pasteur Institutes for the treatment of hydrophobia have been -established in different countries, and where the disease is widely -prevalent have been of the greatest benefit. Except at the London -Congress, the only occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">{xii}</a></span> on which I saw the great master was in 1891 -or 1892, when he demonstrated at the Institute to a group of us the -technique of the procedure, and then superintended the inoculations of -the day. A large number of persons are treated in the course of the -year; a good many, of course, have not been bitten by mad dogs; but a -very careful classification is made:—</p> - -<p>(<i>a</i>) Includes persons bitten by dogs proved experimentally to have been -mad.</p> - -<p>(<i>b</i>) Persons bitten by dogs declared to be mad by competent veterinary -surgeons.</p> - -<p>(<i>c</i>) All other cases.</p> - -<p>The mortality even in Class A is very slight, though many patients are -not brought until late. Incidentally it may be remarked the lesson of -this country in its treatment of hydrophobia is one of the most -important ever presented in connection with an infectious disease. There -are no Pasteur Institutes; there are no cases. Why? The simple muzzling -order has prevented the transmission of the disease from dog to dog, and -once exterminated in the dog, the possibility of the infection in man -had gone. In 1888 the crowning work of Pasteur’s life was the -establishment of an Institute to serve as a centre of study on -contagious disease, and a dispensary for the treatment of hydrophobia, -which is to-day the most important single centre of research in the -world. The closing years of his life were full of interest in the work -of his colleagues and assistants, and he had the great satisfaction of -participating, with his assistant Roux, in another great victory over -the dread scourge, diphtheria. Before his death in 1895 he had seen his -work prosper in a way never before granted to any great discoverer. To -no one man has it ever been given to accomplish work of such great -importance for the well-being of humanity. As Paul Bert expressed it in -the report to the French Government, Pasteur’s work constitutes three -great discoveries, which may be thus formulated. 1. Each fermentation is -produced by the development of a special microbe.</p> - -<p>2. Each infectious disease is produced by the development within the -organism of a special microbe.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii">{xiii}</a></span></p> - -<p>3. The microbe of an infectious disease culture, under certain -detrimental condition is attenuated in its pathogenic activity; from a -virus it has become a vaccine.</p> - -<p>In an address delivered in Edinburgh by Sir James Simpson in 1853, in -which he extolled the recent advancement of physic, occur these -words:—“I do not believe, that, at the present moment, any individual -in the profession, who, in surgery or in midwifery, could point out some -means of curing—or some prophylactic means of averting by antecedent -treatment—the liability to these analogous or identical diseases—viz., -surgical or puerperal fever—such a fortunate individual would, I say, -make, in relation to surgery and midwifery, a greater and more important -discovery than could possibly be attained by any other subject of -investigation. Nor does such a result seem hopelessly unattainable.” -Little did he think that the fulfilment of these words was in the -possession of a young Englishman who had just gone to Edinburgh as an -assistant to his colleague, Professor Syme. Lister’s recognition of the -importance of Pasteur’s studies led to the fulfilment within this -generation of the pious hope expressed by Simpson. In Institutions and -Hospitals surgical infection and puerperal fevers are things of the -past, and for this achievement if for nothing else, the names of Louis -Pasteur and Joseph Lister will go down to posterity among those of the -greatest benefactors of humanity.</p> - -<h3>III.</h3> - -<p>In his growth the man kept pace with the scientist—heart and head held -even sway in his life. To many whose estimate of French character is -gained from “yellow” literature this story will reveal the true side of -a great people, in whom filial piety, brotherly solicitude, generosity, -and self-sacrifice are combined with a rare devotion to country. Was -there ever a more charming picture than that of the family at Dôle! -Napoleon’s old sergeant, Joseph Pasteur, is almost as interesting a -character as his illustrious son; and we follow the joys and sorrows of -the home with unflagging attention. Rarely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiv" id="page_xiv">{xiv}</a></span> has a great man been able to -pay such a tribute to his father as that paid by Pasteur:—“For thirty -years I have been his constant care, I owe everything to him.”</p> - -<p>This is a biography for young men of science, and for others who wish to -learn what science has done, and may do, for humanity. From it may be -gleaned three lessons.</p> - -<p>The value of method, of technique, in the hands of a great master has -never been better illustrated. Just as Harvey, searching out Nature by -way of experiment, opened the way for a study of the functions of the -body in health, so did Pasteur, bringing to the problems of biology the -same great <i>organon</i>, shed a light upon processes the nature of which -had defied the analysis of the keenest minds. From Dumas’s letter to -Pasteur, quoted in Chapter VI., a paragraph may be given in -illustration:—“The art of observation and that of experiment are very -distinct. In the first case, the fact may either proceed from logical -reasons or be mere good fortune; it is sufficient to have some -penetration and the sense of truth in order to profit by it. But the art -of experimentation leads from the first to the last link of the chain, -without hesitation and without a blank, making successive use of Reason, -which suggests an alternative, and of Experience, which decides on it, -until, starting from a faint glimmer, the full blaze of light is -reached.” Pasteur had the good fortune to begin with chemistry, and with -the science of crystallography, which demanded extraordinary accuracy, -and developed that patient persistence so characteristic of all his -researches.</p> - -<p>In the life of a young man the most essential thing for happiness is the -gift of friendship. And here is the second great lesson. As a Frenchman, -Pasteur had the devotion that marks the students of that nation to their -masters, living and dead. Not the least interesting parts of this work -are the glimpses we get of the great teachers with whom he came in -contact. What a model of a scientific man is shown in the character of -Biot, so keenly alive to the interests of his young friend, whose -brilliant career he followed with the devotion of a second father. One -of the most touching incidents recorded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xv" id="page_xv">{xv}</a></span> in the book relates to -Pasteur’s election to the Academy of Sciences:—“The next morning when -the gates of the Montparnasse cemetery were opened, a woman walked -towards Biot’s grave with her hands full of flowers. It was Mme. Pasteur -who was bringing them to him ... who had loved Pasteur with so deep an -affection.” Pasteur looked upon the cult of great men as a great -principle in national education. As he said to the students of the -University of Edinburgh:—“Worship great men”;<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and this reverence for -the illustrious dead was a dominant element in his character, though the -doctrines of Positivism seemed never to have had any attraction for him. -A dark shadow in the scientific life is often thrown by a spirit of -jealousy, and the habit of suspicious, carping criticism. The hall-mark -of a small mind, this spirit should never be allowed to influence our -judgment of a man’s work, and to young men a splendid example is here -offered of a man devoted to his friends, just and generous to his -rivals, and patient under many trying contradictions and vexatious -oppositions.</p> - -<p>And the last great lesson is humility before the unsolved problems of -the Universe. Any convictions that might be a comfort in the sufferings -of human life had his respectful sympathy. His own creed was beautifully -expressed in his eulogy upon <i>Littré</i>:—“He who proclaims the existence -of the Infinite, and none can avoid it—accumulates in that affirmation -more of the supernatural than is to be found in all the miracles of all -the religions; for the notion of the Infinite presents that double -character that it forces itself upon us and yet is incomprehensible. -When this notion seizes upon our understanding, we can but kneel.... I -see everywhere the inevitable expression of the Infinite in the world; -through it, the supernatural is at the bottom of every heart. The idea -of God is a form of the idea of the Infinite. As long as the mystery of -the Infinite weighs on human thought, temples will be erected for the -worship of the Infinite, whether God is called Brahma, Allah, Jehovah, -or Jesus; and on the pavement<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvi" id="page_xvi">{xvi}</a></span> of those temples, men will be seen -kneeling, prostrated, annihilated in the thought of the Infinite.” And -modern Pantheism has never had a greater disciple, whose life and work -set forth the devotion to an ideal—that service to humanity is service -to God:—“Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and -who obeys it: ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of the gospel -virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions; -they all reflect light from the Infinite.”</p> - -<p>The future belongs to Science. More and more she will control the -destinies of the nations. Already she has them in her crucible and on -her balances. In her new mission to humanity she preaches a new gospel. -In the nineteenth century renaissance she has had great apostles, -Darwin, for example, whose gifts of heart and head were in equal -measure, but after re-reading for the third or fourth time the <i>Life of -Louis Pasteur</i>, I am of the opinion, expressed recently by the anonymous -writer of a beautiful tribute in the <i>Spectator</i>, “that he was the most -perfect man who has ever entered the Kingdom of Science.”</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">William Osler.</span><br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xvii" id="page_xvii">{xvii}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><td>Introduction by Sir William Osler, Bart., M.D., F.R.S., v.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br /> -1822—1843</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Origin of the Pasteur Family, <a href="#page_1">1</a>—Jean Joseph Pasteur, a Conscript in -1811; Sergeant-major in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, <a href="#page_3">3</a>; a Knight -of the Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_4">4</a>; his Marriage, <a href="#page_5">5</a>; the Tannery at Dôle, -6—Birth of Louis Pasteur, his Childhood and Youth, <a href="#page_6">6</a>. Studies in -Arbois College, <a href="#page_7">7</a>. Departure for Paris, <a href="#page_11">11</a>. Arrival in Paris, <a href="#page_11">11</a>; -the Barbet Boarding School, Home Sickness, <a href="#page_11">11</a>. Return to Jura, -Pasteur a Portrait Painter, <a href="#page_12">12</a>; enters Besançon Royal College, <a href="#page_13">13</a>; -a Bachelier ès Lettres, a Preparation Master, <a href="#page_14">14</a>; his Readings, <a href="#page_15">15</a>. -Friendship with Chappuis, <a href="#page_18">18</a>; a Bachelier ès Sciences, <a href="#page_20">20</a>; Pasteur -admitted to the Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; Sorbonne Lectures, Impression -produced by J. B. Dumas, <a href="#page_21">21</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br /> -1844—1849</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">First Crystallographic Researches, <a href="#page_26">26</a>; Pasteur a Curator in Balard’s -Laboratory, works with Auguste Laurent, <a href="#page_32">32</a>. Chemistry and -Physics Theses, <a href="#page_34">34</a>. Pasteur reads a Paper at the Académie des -Sciences, <a href="#page_36">36</a>. February days, 1848, <a href="#page_37">37</a>. Molecular Dissymmetry, -38; J. J. Biot’s Emotion at Pasteur’s first Discovery, <a href="#page_41">41</a>. Pasteur -Professor of Physics at Dijon, <a href="#page_43">43</a>. Professor of Chemistry at the -Strasburg Faculty, his Friend Bertin, <a href="#page_45">45</a>; M. Laurent, Rector of -the Strasburg Academy, <a href="#page_47">47</a>; Pasteur’s Marriage, <a href="#page_51">51</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br /> -1850—1854</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Disgrace of the Strasburg Rector, <a href="#page_54">54</a>. Letter from Biot to Pasteur’s -Father, <a href="#page_57">57</a>. Letter from J. B. Dumas, <a href="#page_60">60</a>. Interview with Mitscherlich, -61. Pasteur in quest of Racemic Acid, in Germany, Austria -and Bohemia, <a href="#page_62">62</a>. Pasteur a Knight of the Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_70">70</a>. -Biot’s Congratulations, <a href="#page_70">70</a>. Proposed Work, <a href="#page_72">72</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br /> -1855—1859</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Pasteur Dean of the new Lille Faculty, <a href="#page_75">75</a>; his Teaching, <a href="#page_77">77</a>; First -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xviii" id="page_xviii">{xviii}</a></span>Studies on Fermentations, <a href="#page_79">79</a>. First Candidature for the Academy -of Sciences, <a href="#page_81">81</a>. Lactic Fermentation, <a href="#page_83">83</a>. Pasteur Administrator -of the Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_84">84</a>. Alcoholic Fermentation, <a href="#page_85">85</a>. Death of -Pasteur’s eldest Daughter, <a href="#page_86">86</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br /> -1860—1864</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">So-called spontaneous Generation, <a href="#page_88">88</a>. Polemics and Experiments, <a href="#page_92">92</a>. -Renewed Candidature for the Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_100">100</a>. Lectures -on Crystallography, <a href="#page_102">102</a>. Pasteur elected a Member of the Académie -des Sciences, <a href="#page_103">103</a>. Conversation with Napoleon III, <a href="#page_104">104</a>. Lecture -at the Sorbonne on so-called spontaneous Generation, <a href="#page_106">106</a>. Pasteur -and the Students of the Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_109">109</a>. Discussions raised -by the question of spontaneous Generation, <a href="#page_111">111</a>. Studies on -Wine, <a href="#page_113">113</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br /> -1865—1870</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">The Silkworm Disease; Pasteur sent to Alais, <a href="#page_115">115</a>. Death of Jean -Joseph Pasteur, <a href="#page_118">118</a>. Return to Paris, <a href="#page_121">121</a>; Pasteur’s Article on -J. B. Dumas’ Edition of Lavoisier’s Works, <a href="#page_122">122</a>. Death of his -Daughter Camille, <a href="#page_123">123</a>. Candidature of Ch. Robin for the Académie -des Sciences, <a href="#page_124">124</a>. Letters exchanged between Ste. Beuve and -Pasteur, <a href="#page_124">124</a>. The Cholera, <a href="#page_126">126</a>. Pasteur at Compiègne Palace, -127. Return to the Gard, <a href="#page_130">130</a>; Pasteur’s Collaborators, <a href="#page_130">130</a>. Death -of his Daughter Cécile, <a href="#page_131">131</a>. Letter to Duruy, <a href="#page_131">131</a>. Publication of -the <i>Studies on Wine</i>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>. Pasteur’s Article on Claude Bernard’s -Work, <a href="#page_134">134</a>. Pasteur’s Work in the South of France, <a href="#page_138">138</a>. Letter -from Duruy, <a href="#page_139">139</a>. Pasteur a Laureate of the Exhibition, <a href="#page_140">140</a>; -solemn Distribution of Rewards, <a href="#page_141">141</a>. Ste. Beuve at the Senate, -142. Disturbance at the Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_143">143</a>. Pasteur’s Letter to -Napoleon III, <a href="#page_147">147</a>. Lecture on the Manufacture of Vinegar at -Orleans, <a href="#page_148">148</a>. Council of Scientists at the Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a>. Studies -on Silkworm Diseases (continued), <a href="#page_155">155</a>. Heating of Wines, <a href="#page_157">157</a>. -Paralytic Stroke, <a href="#page_160">160</a>; Illness, <a href="#page_161">161</a>; private Reading, <a href="#page_163">163</a>. Enlargement -of the Laboratory, <a href="#page_164">164</a>. Pasteur in the South, <a href="#page_166">166</a>. Success -of his Method of opposing Silkworm Diseases, <a href="#page_168">168</a>. Pasteur at -Villa Vicentina, Austria, <a href="#page_173">173</a>. Interview with Liebig, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br /> -1870—1872</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Pasteur in Strasburg, <a href="#page_177">177</a>; the War, <a href="#page_179">179</a>; Pasteur at Arbois, <a href="#page_180">180</a>. The -Académie des Sciences during the Siege of Paris, <a href="#page_186">186</a>. Pasteur -returns his Doctor’s Diploma to the Bonn Faculty of Medicine, <a href="#page_189">189</a>. -Retreat of Bourbaki’s Army Corps, <a href="#page_192">192</a>; Pasteur at Pontarlier, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xix" id="page_xix">{xix}</a></span>192. Pasteur at Lyons, <a href="#page_194">194</a>. “Why France found no superior Men -in the Hours of Peril,” <a href="#page_194">194</a>. Proposed Studies, <a href="#page_198">198</a>. Professorship -offered to Pasteur at Pisa, <a href="#page_200">200</a>; his Refusal, <a href="#page_200">200</a>. The Prussians -at Arbois, <a href="#page_201">201</a>. Pasteur and his Pupil Raulin, <a href="#page_203">203</a>. Pasteur at -Clermont Ferrand; stays with his Pupil M. Duclaux, <a href="#page_206">206</a>. Studies -on Beer, <a href="#page_207">207</a>. Visit to London Breweries, <a href="#page_210">210</a>. Renewed Discussions -at the Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br /> -1873—1877</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Pasteur elected to the Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a>. General Condition -of Medicine, <a href="#page_226">226</a>. Surgery before Pasteur, <a href="#page_234">234</a>. Influence of his -Work, <a href="#page_236">236</a>. Letter from Lister, <a href="#page_238">238</a>. Debates at the Académie de -Médecine, <a href="#page_240">240</a>; Science and Religion, <a href="#page_244">244</a>. National Testimonial, -245. Pasteur a Candidate for the Senate, <a href="#page_248">248</a>. Speech at the Milan -Congress of Sericiculture, <a href="#page_251">251</a>. Letter from Tyndall, <a href="#page_252">252</a>. Discussion -with Dr. Bastian, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br /> -1877—1879</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Charbon, or Splenic Fever, <a href="#page_257">257</a>; Pasteur studies it, <a href="#page_259">259</a>. Traditional -Medicine and Pastorian Doctrines, <a href="#page_263">263</a>. Progress of Surgery, <a href="#page_266">266</a>. -The word Microbe invented, <a href="#page_266">266</a>; renewed Attacks against Pasteur, -267. Charbon given to Hens—experiment before the Académie de -Médecine, <a href="#page_268">268</a>. Pasteur’s Note on the Germ Theory, <a href="#page_271">271</a>. Campaign -of Researches on Charbon, <a href="#page_275">275</a>. Critical Examination of a -posthumous Note by Claude Bernard, <a href="#page_281">281</a>. Pasteur in the Hospitals, -289; Puerperal Fever, <a href="#page_289">289</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br /> -1880—1882</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Chicken Cholera, <a href="#page_297">297</a>. Attenuation of the Virus, <a href="#page_299">299</a>. Suggested Researches -on the bubonic Plague, <a href="#page_301">301</a>. The Share of Earthworms -in the Development of Charbon, <a href="#page_304">304</a>; an Incident at the Académie -de Médecine, <a href="#page_309">309</a>. The Vaccine of Charbon, <a href="#page_311">311</a>; public Experiment -at Pouilly le Fort on the Vaccination of Splenic Fever, <a href="#page_316">316</a>. First -Experiments on Hydrophobia, <a href="#page_318">318</a>. Death of Sainte-Claire Deville, -326; Pasteur’s Speech, <a href="#page_327">327</a>. Pasteur at the London Medical Congress, -329; Virchow and Anti-vivisection, <a href="#page_332">332</a>. Yellow Fever, <a href="#page_338">338</a>; -Pasteur at Pauillac, <a href="#page_338">338</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br /> -1882—1884</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Pasteur elected a Member of the Académie Française, <a href="#page_341">341</a>; his Opinions -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xx" id="page_xx">{xx}</a></span>on Positivism, <a href="#page_342">342</a>; J. B. Dumas and Nisard, his Sponsors, <a href="#page_344">344</a>; -Pasteur welcomed by Renan into the Académie Française, <a href="#page_346">346</a>. -Homage from Melun, from Aubenas, <a href="#page_350">350</a>; Pasteur at Nîmes and -at Montpellier, <a href="#page_353">353</a>. Speech of J. B. Dumas, <a href="#page_354">354</a>; Pasteur’s -Answer, <a href="#page_355">355</a>. Pasteur at the Geneva Conference of Hygiene, <a href="#page_358">358</a>. -Studies on the Rouget of Pigs—Journey to Bollène, <a href="#page_360">360</a>. Typhoid -Fever and the Champions of old Medical Methods, <a href="#page_364">364</a>. Pasteur -and the Turin Veterinary School, <a href="#page_368">368</a>. Marks of Gratitude from -Agriculturists, <a href="#page_372">372</a>; Pasteur at Aurillac, <a href="#page_373">373</a>. Another Testimonial -of national Gratitude, <a href="#page_374">374</a>; a commemorative Plate on the House -where Pasteur was born, <a href="#page_376">376</a>; his Speech at the Ceremony, <a href="#page_377">377</a>. -Cholera, <a href="#page_378">378</a>; French Mission to Alexandria, <a href="#page_379">379</a>. Death of -Thuillier, <a href="#page_380">380</a>. J. B. Dumas’ last Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_383">383</a>. Third -Centenary of the University of Edinburgh—the French Delegation, -384; Ovation to Pasteur, <a href="#page_386">386</a>; Pasteur’s Speech, <a href="#page_386">386</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br /> -1884—1885</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">The Hydrophobia Problem, <a href="#page_390">390</a>; preventive Inoculations on Dogs, <a href="#page_395">395</a>. -Experiments on Hydrophobia verified by a Commission, <a href="#page_396">396</a>. The -Copenhagen Medical Congress, Pasteur in Denmark, <a href="#page_399">399</a>. Installation -at Villeneuve l’Etang of a Branch Establishment of -Pasteur’s Laboratory, <a href="#page_406">406</a>. Former Remedies against Hydrophobia, -407. Kennels at Villeneuve l’Etang, <a href="#page_410">410</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII<br /> -1885—1888</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">First Antirabic Inoculation on Man, <a href="#page_414">414</a>; the little Alsatian Boy, Joseph -Meister, <a href="#page_415">415</a>. Pasteur at Arbois; his Speech for the Welcome of -Joseph Bertrand, succeeding J. B. Dumas at the Académie Française, -418. Perraud the Sculptor, <a href="#page_421">421</a>. Inoculation of the Shepherd -Jupille, <a href="#page_422">422</a>; the Discovery of the Preventive Treatment of Rabies -announced to the Académie des Sciences and the Académie de -Médecine, <a href="#page_422">422</a>. Death of Louise Pelletier, <a href="#page_426">426</a>; Pasteur’s Solicitude -for inoculated Patients, <a href="#page_427">427</a>. Foundation of the Pasteur -Institute, <a href="#page_428">428</a>; the Russians from Smolensk, <a href="#page_429">429</a>; English Commission -for the Verification of the Inoculations against Hydrophobia, -430. Fête at the Trocadéro, <a href="#page_431">431</a>. Temporary Buildings in the Rue -Vauquelin for the Treatment of Hydrophobia, <a href="#page_432">432</a>. Ill-health of -Pasteur, <a href="#page_433">433</a>; his Stay at Bordighera, <a href="#page_434">434</a>. Foundation of the -<i>Annals of the Pasteur Institute</i>, <a href="#page_434">434</a>. Discussions on Rabies at the -Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_434">434</a>. Earthquake at Bordighera, <a href="#page_436">436</a>. -Pasteur returns to France, <a href="#page_437">437</a>. Report of the English Commission -on the Treatment of Rabies, <a href="#page_437">437</a>. Pasteur elected Permanent -Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_439">439</a>; his Resignation, <a href="#page_439">439</a>. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxi" id="page_xxi">{xxi}</a></span>Inauguration of the Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_440">440</a>. -</td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV<br /> -1889—1895</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd" colspan="2">Influence of Pasteur’s Labours, <a href="#page_445">445</a>; his Jubilee, <a href="#page_447">447</a>; Speech, <a href="#page_450">450</a>. -Pasteur’s Name given to a District in Canada and to a Village in -Algeria, <a href="#page_451">451</a>. Diphtheria, M. Roux’ Studies in Serotherapy, <a href="#page_453">453</a>; -Pasteur at Lille; Lecture by M. Roux on Serotherapy, <a href="#page_456">456</a>; repeated -at the Buda-Pesth Congress, <a href="#page_456">456</a>. Subscription for the Organization -of the Antidiphtheritic Treatment, <a href="#page_456">456</a>. Pasteur’s Disciples, -457. Pasteur’s Illness, <a href="#page_458">458</a>; Visit from Alexandre Dumas, <a href="#page_460">460</a>; -Visit from former Ecole Normale Students, <a href="#page_460">460</a>. Pasteur refuses a -German Decoration, <a href="#page_461">461</a>. Conversations with Chappuis, <a href="#page_462">462</a>. Departure -for Villeneuve l’Etang, <a href="#page_462">462</a>; last Weeks, <a href="#page_463">463</a>. Project for -a Pasteur Hospital, <a href="#page_464">464</a>. Death of Pasteur, <a href="#page_464">464</a>.</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="indd">Index: -<a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">E</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#K">K</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#O">O</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#Q">Q</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#U">U</a>, -<a href="#V">V</a>, -<a href="#W">W</a>, -<a href="#Y">Y</a>, -<a href="#Z">Z</a></td><td class="rt"><a href="#page_465">465</a></td></tr> - -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xxii" id="page_xxii">{xxii}</a></span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span> </p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> -1822—1843</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> origin of even the humblest families can be traced back by -persevering search through the ancient parochial registers. Thus the -name of Pasteur is to be found written at the beginning of the -seventeenth century in the old registers of the Priory of Mouthe, in the -province of Franche Comté. The Pasteurs were tillers of the soil, and -originally formed a sort of tribe in the small village of Reculfoz, -dependent on the Priory, but they gradually dispersed over the country.</p> - -<p>The registers of Mièges, near Nozeroy, contain an entry of the marriage -of Denis Pasteur and Jeanne David, dated February 9, 1682. This Denis, -after whom the line of Pasteur’s ancestors follows in an unbroken -record, lived in the village of Plénisette, where his eldest son Claude -was born in 1683. Denis afterward sojourned for some time in the village -of Douay, and ultimately forsaking the valley of Mièges came to Lemuy, -where he worked as a miller for Claude François Count of Udressier, a -noble descendant of a secretary of the Emperor Charles V.</p> - -<p>Lemuy is surrounded by wide plains affording pasture for herds of oxen. -In the distance the pine trees of the forest of Joux stand close -together, like the ranks of an immense army, their dark masses deepening -the azure of the horizon. It was in those widespreading open lands that -Pasteur’s ancestors lived. Near the church, overshadowed by old beech -and lime trees, a tombstone is to be found overgrown with grass. Some -members of the family lie under that slab naïvely inscribed: “Here lie, -each by the side of the others....”</p> - -<p>In 1716, in the mill at Lemuy, ruins of which still exist, the marriage -contract of Claude Pasteur was drawn up and signed in the presence of -Henry Girod, Royal notary of Salins. The father and mother declared -themselves unable to write,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> but we have the signatures of the affianced -couple, Claude Pasteur and Jeanne Belle, affixed to the record of the -quaint betrothal oath of the time. This Claude was in his turn a miller -at Lemuy, though at his death in 1746 he is only mentioned as a labourer -in the parish register. He had eight children, the youngest, whose name -was Claude Etienne, and who was born in the village of Supt, a few -kilometres from Lemuy, being Louis Pasteur’s great-grandfather.</p> - -<p>What ambition, what love of adventures induced him to leave the Jura -plains to come down to Salins? A desire for independence in the literal -sense of the word. According to the custom then still in force in -Franche Comté (in contradiction to the name of that province, as -Voltaire truly remarks), there were yet some serfs, that is to say, -people legally incapable of disposing of their goods or of their -persons. They were part of the possessions of a nobleman or of the lands -of a convent or monastery. Denis Pasteur and his son had been serfs of -the Counts of Udressier. Claude Etienne desired to be freed and -succeeded in achieving this at the age of thirty, as is proved by a -deed, dated March 20, 1763, drawn up in the presence of the Royal -notary, Claude Jarry. Messire Philippe-Marie-François, Count of -Udressier, Lord of Ecleux, Cramans, Lemuy and other places, consented -“by special grace” to free Claude Etienne Pasteur, a tanner, of Salins, -his serf. The deed stipulated that Claude Etienne and his unborn -posterity should henceforth be enfranchised from the stain of mortmain. -Four gold pieces of twenty-four livres were paid then and there in the -mansion of the Count of Udressier by the said Pasteur.</p> - -<p>The following year, he married Françoise Lambert. After setting up -together a small tannery in the Faubourg Champtave they enjoyed the -fairy tale ideal of happiness: they had ten children. The third, Jean -Henri, through whom this genealogy continues, was born in 1769. On June -25, 1779, letters giving Claude Etienne Pasteur the freedom of the city -of Salins were delivered to him by the Town Council.</p> - -<p>Jean Henri Pasteur, in his twentieth year, went to Besançon to seek his -fortune as a tanner, but was not successful. His wife, Gabrielle -Jourdan, died at the age of twenty, and he married again, but himself -died at twenty-seven, leaving one little son by his first marriage, Jean -Joseph Pasteur, born March 16, 1791. This child, who was to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span> Louis -Pasteur’s father, was taken charge of by his grandmother at Salins; -later on, his father’s sisters, one married to a wood merchant named -Chamecin, and the other to Philibert Bourgeois, Chamecin’s partner, -adopted the orphan. He was carefully brought up, but without much -learning; it was considered sufficient in those days to be able to read -the Emperor’s bulletins; the rest did not seem to matter very much. -Besides, Jean Joseph had to earn his living at the tanner’s trade, which -had been his father’s and his grandfather’s before him.</p> - -<p>Jean Joseph was drawn as a conscript in 1811, and went through the -Peninsular War in 1812 and 1813. He belonged to the 3rd Regiment of the -Line, whose mission was to pursue in the northern Spanish provinces the -guerillas of the famous Espoz y Mina. A legend grew round this wonderful -man; he was said to make his own gunpowder in the bleak mountain passes; -his innumerable partisans were supplied with arms and ammunition by the -English cruisers. He dragged women and old men after him, and little -children acted as his scouts. Once or twice however, in May, 1812, the -terrible Mina was very nearly caught; but in July he was again as -powerful as ever. The French had to organize mobile columns to again -occupy the coast and establish communications with France. There was -some serious fighting. Mina and his followers were incessantly harassing -the small French contingent of the 3rd and 4th Regiments, which were -almost alone. “How many traits of bravery,” writes Tissot, “will remain -unknown which on a larger field would have been rewarded and honoured!”</p> - -<p>The records of the 3rd Regiment allow us to follow step by step this -valiant little troop, and among the rank and file, doing his duty -steadily through terrible hardships, that private soldier (a corporal in -July, 1812, and a sergeant in October, 1813) whose name was Pasteur. The -battalion returned to France at the end of January, 1814. It formed a -part of that Leval division which, numbering barely 8,000 men, had to -fight at Bar-sur-Aube against an army of 40,000 enemies. The 3rd -Regiment was called “brave amongst the brave.” “If Napoleon had had none -but such soldiers,” writes Thiers in his <i>History of the Consulate and -the Empire</i>, “the result of that great struggle would certainly have -been different.” The Emperor, touched by so much courage, distributed -crosses among the men. Pasteur was made a sergeant-major on March<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span> 10, -1814, and received, two days later, the cross of the Legion of Honour.</p> - -<p>At the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (March 21) the Leval division had again -to stand against 50,000 men—Russians, Austrians, Bavarians, and -Wurtembergers. Pasteur’s battalion, the 1st of the 3rd Regiment, came -back to St. Dizier and went on by forced marches to Fontainebleau, where -Napoleon had concentrated all his forces, arriving on April 4. The -battalion was now reduced to eight officers and 276 men. The next day, -at twelve o’clock, the Leval division and the remnant of the 7th corps -were gathered in the yard of the Cheval Blanc Inn and were reviewed by -Napoleon. The attitude of these soldiers, who had heroically fought in -Spain and in France, and who were still offering their passionate -devotion, gave him a few moments’ illusion. Their enthusiasm and -acclamations contrasted with the coldness, the reserve, the almost -insubordinations of Generals like Ney, Lefebvre, Oudinot and MacDonald, -who had just declared that to march on Paris would be folly.</p> - -<p>Marmont’s defection hastened events; the Emperor, seeing himself -forsaken, abdicated. Jean Joseph Pasteur had not, like Captain Coignet, -the sad privilege of witnessing the Emperor’s farewell, his battalion -having been sent into the department of Eure on April 9. On April 23 the -white cockade replaced the tricolour.</p> - -<p>On May 12, 1814, a royal order gave to the 3rd line Regiment the name of -“Régiment Dauphin”; it was reorganized at Douai, where Sergeant-major -Pasteur received his discharge from the service. He returned to Besançon -with grief and anger in his heart: for him, as for many others risen -from the people, Napoleon was a demi-god. Lists of victories, principles -of equality, new ideas scattered throughout the nations, had followed -each other in dazzling visions. It was a cruel trial for half-pay -officers, old sergeants, grenadiers, peasant soldiers, to come down from -this imperial epic to every-day monotony, police supervision, and the -anxieties of poverty; their wounded patriotism was embittered by -feelings of personal humiliation. Jean Joseph resigned himself to his -fate and went back to his former trade. The return from Elba was a ray -of joy and hope in his obscure life, only to be followed by renewed -darkness.</p> - -<p>He was living in the Faubourg Champtave a solitary life in accordance -with his tastes and character when this solitude was interrupted for an -instant. The Mayor of Salins, a knight<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> of Malta and an ardent royalist, -ordered all the late soldiers of Napoleon, the “<i>brigands de la Loire</i>” -as they were now called, to bring their sabres to the Mairie. Joseph -Pasteur reluctantly obeyed; but when he heard that these glorious -weapons were destined to police service, and would be used by police -agents, further submission seemed to him intolerable. He recognized his -own sergeant-major’s sabre, which had just been given to an agent, and, -springing upon the man, wrested the sword from him. Great excitement -ensued—a mixture of indignation, irritation and repressed enthusiasm; -the numerous Bonapartists in the town began to gather together. An -Austrian regiment was at that time still garrisoned in the town. The -Mayor appealed to the colonel, asking him to repress this disobedience; -but the Austrian officer refused to interfere, declaring that he both -understood and approved the military feelings which actuated the -ex-sergeant-major. Pasteur was allowed to keep his sword, and returned -home accompanied by sympathizers who were perhaps more noisily -enthusiastic than he could have wished.</p> - -<p>Having peacefully resumed his work he made the acquaintance of a -neighbouring family of gardeners, whose garden faced his tannery on the -other bank of the “Furieuse,” a river rarely deserving its name. From -the steps leading to the water Jean Joseph Pasteur often used to watch a -young girl working in the garden at early dawn. She soon perceived that -the “old soldier”—very young still; he was but twenty-five years -old—was interested in her every movement. Her name was Jeanne -Etiennette Roqui.</p> - -<p>Her parents, natives of Marnoz, a village about four kilometres from -Salins, belonged to one of the most ancient plebeian families of the -country. The Salins archives mention a Roqui working in vineyards as far -back as 1555, and in 1659 there were Roqui lampmakers and plumbers. The -members of this family were in general so much attached to each other -that “to love like the Roqui” had become proverbial; their wills and -testaments mentioned legacies or gifts from brother to brother, uncle to -nephew. In 1816 the father and mother of Jeanne Etiennette were living -very quietly in the old Salins faubourg. Their daughter was modest, -intelligent and kind; Jean Joseph Pasteur asked for her hand in -marriage. They seemed made for each other; the difference in their -natures only strengthened their mutual affection: he was reserved,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> -almost secretive, with a slow and careful mind apparently absorbed in -his own inner life; she was very active, full of imagination, and ready -enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>The young couple migrated to Dôle and settled down in the Rue des -Tanneurs. Their first child only lived a few months; in 1818 a little -daughter came. Four years later in a small room of their humble home, on -Friday, December 27, 1822, at 2 a.m., Louis Pasteur was born.</p> - -<p>Two daughters were born later—one at Dôle and the other at Marnoz, in -the house of the Roqui. Jean Joseph Pasteur’s mother-in-law, now a -widow, considering that her great age no longer allowed her to -administer her fortune, had divided all she possessed between her son -Jean Claude Roqui, a landed proprietor at Marnoz, and Jeanne Etiennette -her daughter.</p> - -<p>Thus called away from Dôle by family interests, Jean Joseph Pasteur came -to live at Marnoz. The place was not very favourable to his trade, -though a neighbouring brook rendered the establishment of a tannery -possible. The house, though many times altered, still bears the name of -“Maison Pasteur.” On one of the inner doors the veteran, who had a taste -for painting, had depicted a soldier in an old uniform now become a -peasant and tilling the soil. This figure stands against a background of -grey sky and distant hills; leaning on his spade the man suspends his -labours and dreams of past glories. It is easy to criticize the faults -in the painting, but the sentimental allegory is full of feeling.</p> - -<p>Louis Pasteur’s earliest recollections dated from that time; he could -remember running joyously along the Aiglepierre road. The Pasteur family -did not remain long at Marnoz. A tannery was to let in the neighbourhood -by the town of Arbois, near the bridge which crosses the Cuisance, and -only a few kilometres from the source of the river. The house, behind -its modest frontage, presented the advantage of a yard where pits had -been dug for the preparation of the skins. Joseph Pasteur took this -little house and settled there with his wife and children.</p> - -<p>Louis Pasteur was sent at first to the “Ecole Primaire” attached to the -college of Arbois. Mutual teaching was then the fashion; scholars were -divided into groups: one child taught the rudiments of reading to -others, who then spelt aloud in a sort of sing-song. The master, M. -Renaud, went from group to group designating the monitors. Louis soon -desired<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> to possess this title, perhaps all the more so because he was -the smallest scholar. But those who would decorate the early years of -Louis Pasteur with wonderful legends would be disappointed: when a -little later he attended the daily classes at the Arbois college he -belonged merely to the category of good average pupils. He took several -prizes without much difficulty; he rather liked buying new lesson books, -on the first page of which he proudly wrote his name. His father, who -wished to instruct himself as well as to help his son, helped him with -his home preparation. During holidays, the boy enjoyed his liberty. Some -of his schoolfellows—Vercel, Charrière, Guillemin, Coulon—called for -him to come out with them and he followed them with pleasure. He -delighted in fishing parties on the Cuisance, and much admired the net -throwing of his comrade Jules Vercel. But he avoided bird trapping; the -sight of a wounded lark was painful to him.</p> - -<p>The doors of Louis Pasteur’s home were not usually open except to his -schoolboy friends, who, when they did not fetch him away, used to come -and play in the tannery yard with remnants of bark, stray bits of iron, -etc. Joseph Pasteur, though not considered a proud man, did not easily -make friends. His language and manners were not those of a retired -sergeant; he never spoke of his campaigns and never entered a café. On -Sundays, wearing a military-looking frock coat, spotlessly clean and -adorned with the showy ribbon of the Legion of Honour (worn very large -at that time), he invariably walked out towards the road from Arbois to -Besançon. This road passes between vine-planted hills. On the left, on a -wooded height above the wide plain towards Dôle, the ruins of the Vadans -tower invest the whole landscape with a lingering glamour of heroic -times. In these solitary meditations, he dwelt more anxiously on the -future than on present difficulties, the latter being of little account -in this hard-working family. What would become of this son of his, -conscientious and studious, but, though already thirteen years old, with -no apparent preference for anything but drawing? The epithet of <i>artist</i> -given to Louis Pasteur by his Arboisian friends only half pleased the -paternal vanity. And yet it is impossible not to be struck by the -realism of his first original effort, a very bold pastel drawing. This -pastel represents Louis’ mother, one morning that she was going to -market, with a white cap and a blue and green tartan shawl. Her son -insisted on painting<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span> her just as she was. The portrait is full of -sincerity and not unlike the work of a conscientious pre-Raphaelite. The -powerful face is illumined by a pair of clear straightforward eyes.</p> - -<p>Though they did not entertain mere acquaintances, the husband and wife -were happy to receive those who seemed to them worthy of affection or -esteem by reason of some superiority of the mind or of the heart. In -this way they formed a friendship with an old army doctor then -practising in the Arbois hospital, Dr. Dumont, a man who studied for the -sake of learning and who did a great deal of good while avoiding -popularity.</p> - -<p>Another familiar friend was a philosopher named Bousson de Mairet. An -indefatigable reader, he never went out without a book or pamphlet in -his pocket. He spent his life in compiling from isolated facts annals in -which the characteristics of the Francs-Comtois, and especially the -Arboisians, were reproduced in detail, with labour worthy of a -Benedictine monk. He often came to spend a quiet evening with the -Pasteur family, who used to question him and to listen to his -interesting records of that strange Arboisian race, difficult to -understand, presenting as it does a mixture of heroic courage and that -slightly ironical good humour which Parisians and Southerners mistake -for naïveness. Arboisians never distrust themselves, but are sceptical -where others are concerned. They are proud of their local history, and -even of their rodomontades.</p> - -<p>For instance, on August 4, 1830, they sent an address to the Parisians -to express their indignation against the “Ordonnances”<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and to assure -them that all the available population of Arbois was ready to fly to the -assistance of Paris. In April, 1834, a lawyer’s clerk, passing one -evening through Arbois by the coach, announced to a few <i>gardes -nationaux</i> who were standing about that the Republic was proclaimed at -Lyons. Arbois immediately rose in arms; the insurgents armed themselves -with guns from the Hôtel de Ville. Louis Pasteur watched the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> arrival -from Besançon of 200 grenadiers, four squadrons of light cavalry, and a -small battery of artillery sent to reduce the rebels. The <i>sous-préfet</i> -of Poligny having asked the rioters who were their leaders, they -answered with one voice, “We are all leaders.” A few days later the -great, the good news was published in all the newspapers: “Arbois, -Lyons, and Paris are pacified.” The Arboisians called their neighbours -“the Braggarts of Salins,” probably with the ingenious intention of -turning such a well-deserved accusation from themselves.</p> - -<p>Louis Pasteur, whose mind already had a serious bent, preferred to these -recent anecdotes such historical records as that of the siege of Arbois -under Henry IV, when the Arboisians held out for three whole days -against a besieging army of 25,000 men. His childish imagination, after -being worked upon by these stories of local patriotism, eagerly seized -upon ideals of a higher patriotism, and fed upon the glory of the French -people as represented by the conquests of the Empire.</p> - -<p>He watched his parents, day by day working under dire necessity and -ennobling their weary task by considering their children’s education -almost as essential as their daily bread; and, as in all things the -father and mother took an interest in noble motives and principles, -their material life was lightened and illumined by their moral life.</p> - -<p>One more friend, the headmaster of Arbois college, M. Romanet, exerted a -decisive influence on Louis Pasteur’s career. This master, who was -constantly trying to elevate the mind and heart of his pupils, inspired -Louis with great admiration as well as with respect and gratitude. -Romanet considered that whilst instruction doubled a man’s value, -education, in the highest sense of the word, increased it tenfold. He -was the first to discover in Louis Pasteur the hidden spark that had not -yet revealed itself by any brilliant success in the hardworking -schoolboy. Louis’ mind worked so carefully that he was considered slow; -he never affirmed anything of which he was not absolutely sure; but with -all his strength and caution he also had vivid imaginative faculties.</p> - -<p>Romanet, during their strolls round the college playground, took -pleasure in awakening with an educator’s interest the leading qualities -of this young nature—circumspection and enthusiasm. The boy, who had -been sitting over his desk<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> with all-absorbing attention, now listened -with sparkling eyes to the kind teacher talking to him of his future and -opening to him the prospect of the great <i>Ecole Normale</i>.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -<p>An officer of the Paris municipal guard, Captain Barbier, who always -came to Arbois when on leave, offered to look after Louis Pasteur if he -were sent to Paris. But Joseph Pasteur—in spite of all—hesitated to -send his son, not yet sixteen years old, a hundred leagues away from -home. Would it not be wiser to let him go to Besançon college and come -back to Arbois college as professor? What could be more desirable than -such a position? Surely Paris and the Ecole Normale were quite -unnecessary! The question of money also had to be considered.</p> - -<p>“That need not trouble you,” said Captain Barbier. “In the Latin -Quarter, Impasse des Feuillantines, there is a preparatory school, of -which the headmaster, M. Barbet, is a Franc-Comtois. He will do for your -son what he has done for many boys from his own country—that is, take -him at reduced school fees.”</p> - -<p>Joseph Pasteur at last allowed himself to be persuaded, and Louis’ -departure was fixed for the end of October, 1838. He was not going -alone: Jules Vercel, his dear school friend, was also going to Paris to -work for his “baccalauréat.”<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This youth had a most happy temperament: -unambitious, satisfied with each day’s work as it came, he took pride -and pleasure in the success of others, and especially in that of -“Louis,” as he then and always fraternally called his friend. The two<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span> -boys’ friendship went some way to alleviate the natural anxieties felt -by both families. The slowness and difficulty of travelling in those -days gave to farewells a sort of solemn sadness; they were repeated -twenty times whilst the horses were being harnessed and the luggage -hoisted on to the coach in the large courtyard of the “Hôtel de la -Poste.” On that bleak October morning, amidst a shower of rain and -sleet, the two lads had to sit under the tarpaulin behind the driver; -there were no seats left inside or under the hood. In spite of Vercel’s -habit of seeing the right side of things and his joy in thinking that in -forty-eight hours he, the country boy, would see the wonders of -Paris—in spite of Pasteur’s brave resolve to make the most of his -unexpected opportunities of study, of the now possible entrance into the -“Ecole Normale”—both looked with heavy hearts at the familiar scene -they were leaving behind them—their homes, the square tower of Arbois -church, the heights of the Ermitage in the grey distance.</p> - -<p>Every native of Jura, though he affects to feel nothing of the kind, -has, at the bottom of his heart, a strong feeling of attachment for the -corner of the world where he has spent his childhood; as soon as he -forsakes his native soil his thoughts return to it with a painful and -persistent charm. The two boys did not take much interest in the towns -where the coach stopped to change horses, Dôle, Dijon, Auxerre, Joigny, -Sens, Fontainebleau, etc.</p> - -<p>When Louis Pasteur reached Paris he did not feel like Balzac’s student -hero, confidently defying the great city. In spite of the strong will -already visible in his pensive features, his grief was too deep to be -reasoned away. No one at first suspected this; he was a reserved youth, -with none of the desire to talk which leads weak natures to ease their -sorrows by pouring them out; but, when all was quiet in the Impasse des -Feuillantines and his sleeping comrades could not break in upon his -regrets, he would lie awake for hours thinking of his home and repeating -the mournful line—</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">How endless unto watchful anguish<br /></span> -<span class="i4">Night doth seem.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The students of the Barbet school attended the classes of the Lycée St. -Louis. In spite of his willingness and his passionate love of study, -Louis was overcome with despair at being away from home. Never was -homesickness more acute. “If<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> I could only get a whiff of the tannery -yard,” he would say to Jules Vercel, “I feel I should be cured.” M. -Barbet endeavoured in vain to amuse and turn the thoughts of this lad of -fifteen so absorbed in his sorrow. At last he thought it his duty to -warn the parents of this state of mind, which threatened to become -morbid.</p> - -<p>One morning in November Louis Pasteur was told with an air of mystery -that he was wanted. “They are waiting for you close by,” said the -messenger, indicating a small café at the corner of the street. Louis -entered and found a man sitting at a small table at the back of the -shop, his face in his hands. It was his father. “I have come to fetch -you,” he said simply. No explanations were necessary; the father and son -understood each other’s longings.</p> - -<p>What took place in Pasteur’s mind when he found himself again at Arbois? -After the first few days of relief and joy, did he feel, when he went -back to Arbois college, any regret, not to say remorse, at not having -overcome his homesickness? Was he discouraged by the prospect of a -restricted career in that small town? Little is known of that period -when his will had been mastered by his feelings; but from the indecision -of his daily life we may hazard a guess at the disquieted state of his -mind at this time. At the beginning of that year (1839) he returned for -a time to his early tastes; he went back to his coloured chalks, left -aside for the last eighteen months, ever since one holiday time when he -had drawn Captain Barbier, proudly wearing his uniform, and with the -high colour of excellent health.</p> - -<p>He soon got beyond the powers of his drawing master, M. Pointurier, a -good man who does not seem to have seen any scientific possibilities in -the art of drawing.</p> - -<p>Louis’ pastel drawings soon formed a portrait gallery of friends. An old -cooper of seventy, Father Gaidot, born at Dôle, but now living at -Arbois, had his turn. Gaidot appears in a festive costume, a blue coat -and a yellow waistcoat, very picturesque with his wrinkled forehead and -close-shaven cheeks. Then there are all the members of a family named -Roch. The father and the son are drawn carefully, portraits such as are -often seen in country villages; but the two daughters Lydia and Sophia -are more delicately pencilled; they live again in the youthful grace of -their twenty summers. Then we have a notary, the wide collar of a frock -coat framing his rubicund<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> face; a young woman in white; an old nun of -eighty-two in a fluted cap, wearing a white hood and an ivory cross; a -little boy of ten in a velvet suit, a melancholy-looking child, not -destined to grow to manhood. Pasteur obligingly drew any one who wished -to have a portrait. Among all these pastels, two are really remarkable. -The first represents, in his official garb, a M. Blondeau, registrar of -mortgages, whose gentle and refined features are perfectly delineated. -The other is the portrait of a mayor of Arbois, M. Pareau; he wears his -silver-embroidered uniform, with a white stock. The cross of the Legion -of Honour and the tricolour scarf are discreetly indicated. The whole -interest is centred in the smiling face, with hair brushed up <i>à la</i> -Louis Philippe, and blue eyes harmonizing with a blue ground.</p> - -<p>The compliments of this local dignitary and Romanet’s renewed counsels -at the end of the year—when Pasteur took more school prizes than he -could carry—reawakened within him the ambition for the Ecole Normale.</p> - -<p>There was no “philosophy”<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> class in the college of Arbois, and a -return to Paris seemed formidable. Pasteur resolved to go to the college -at Besançon, where he could go on with his studies, pass his -baccalauréat and then prepare for the examinations of the Ecole Normale. -Besançon is only forty kilometres from Arbois, and Joseph Pasteur was in -the habit of going there several times a year to sell some of his -prepared skins. This was by far the wisest solution of the problem.</p> - -<p>On his arrival at the Royal College of Franche Comté Pasteur found -himself under a philosophy master, M. Daunas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> who had been a student at -the Ecole Normale and was a graduate of the University; he was young, -full of eloquence, proud of his pupils, of awakening their faculties and -directing their minds. The science master, M. Darlay, did not inspire -the same enthusiasm; he was an elderly man and regretted the good old -times when pupils were less inquisitive. Pasteur’s questions often -embarrassed him. Louis’ reputation as a painter satisfied him no longer, -though the portrait he drew of one of his comrades was exhibited. “All -this does not lead to the Ecole Normale,” he wrote to his parents in -January, 1840. “I prefer a first place at college to 10,000 praises in -the course of conversation.... We shall meet on Sunday, dear father, for -I believe there is a fair on Monday. If we see M. Daunas, we will speak -to him of the Ecole Normale. Dear sisters, let me tell you again, work -hard, love each other. When one is accustomed to work it is impossible -to do without it; besides, everything in this world depends on that. -Armed with science, one can rise above all one’s fellows.... But I hope -all this good advice to you is superfluous, and I am sure you spend many -moments every day learning your grammar. Love each other as I love you, -while awaiting the happy day when I shall be received at the Ecole -Normale.” Thus was his whole life filled with tenderness as well as with -work. He took the degree of “bachelier ès lettres” on August 29, 1840. -The three examiners, doctors “ès lettres,” put down his answers as “good -in Greek on Plutarch and in Latin on Virgil, good also in rhetoric, -medicine, history and geography, good in philosophy, very good in -elementary science, good in French composition.”</p> - -<p>At the end of the summer holidays the headmaster of the Royal College of -Besançon, M. Répécaud, sent for him and offered him the post of -preparation master. Certain administrative changes and an increased -number of pupils were the reason of this offer, which proved the -master’s esteem for Pasteur’s moral qualities, his first degree not -having been obtained with any particular brilliancy.</p> - -<p>The youthful master was to be remunerated from the month of January, -1841. A student in the class of special mathematics, he was his -comrades’ mentor during preparation time. They obeyed him without -difficulty; simple and yet serious-minded, his sense of individual -dignity made authority easy to him. Ever thoughtful of his distant home, -he strengthened<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> the influence of the father and mother in the education -of his sisters, who had not so great a love of industry as he had. On -November 1, 1840—he was not eighteen yet—pleased to hear that they -were making some progress, he wrote the following, which, though -slightly pedantic, reveals the warmth of his feelings—“My dear parents, -my sisters, when I received at the same time the two letters that you -sent me I thought that something extraordinary had happened, but such -was not the case. The second letter you wrote me gave me much pleasure; -it tells me that—perhaps for the first time—my sisters have <i>willed</i>. -To <i>will</i> is a great thing, dear sisters, for Action and Work usually -follow Will, and almost always Work is accompanied by success. These -three things, Will, Work, Success, fill human existence. Will opens the -door to success both brilliant and happy; Work passes these doors, and -at the end of the journey Success comes to crown one’s efforts. And so, -my dear sisters, if your resolution is firm, your task, be it what it -may, is already begun; you have but to walk forward, it will achieve -itself. If perchance you should falter during the journey, a hand would -be there to support you. If that should be wanting, God, who alone could -take that hand from you, would Himself accomplish its work.... May my -words be felt and understood by you, dearest sisters. I impress them on -your hearts. May they be your guide. Farewell. Your brother.”</p> - -<p>The letters he wrote, the books he loved, the friends he chose, bear -witness to the character of Pasteur in those days of early youth. As he -now felt, after the discouraging trial he had gone through in Paris, -that the development of the will should hold the first place in -education, he applied all his efforts to the bringing out of this -leading force. He was already grave and exceptionally matured; he saw in -the perfecting of self the great law of man, and nothing that could -assist in that improvement seemed to him without importance. Books read -in early life appeared to him to have an almost decisive influence. In -his eyes a good book was a good action constantly renewed, a bad one an -incessant and irreparable fault.</p> - -<p>There lived at that time in Franche Comté an elderly writer, whom Sainte -Beuve considered as the ideal of the upright man and of the man of -letters. His name was Joseph Droz, and his moral doctrine was that -vanity is the cause of many wrecked and aimless lives, that moderation -is a form of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> wisdom and an element of happiness, and that most men -sadden and trouble their lives by causeless worry and agitation. His own -life was an example of his precepts of kindliness and patience, and was -filled to the utmost with all the good that a pure literary conscience -can bestow; he was all benevolence and cordiality. It seemed natural -that he should publish one after another numberless editions of his -<i>Essay on the Art of being Happy</i>.</p> - -<p>“I have still,” wrote Pasteur to his parents, “that little volume of M. -Droz which he was kind enough to lend me. I have never read anything -wiser, more moral or more virtuous. I have also another of his works; -nothing was ever better written. At the end of the year I shall bring -you back these books. One feels in reading them an irresistible charm -which penetrates the soul and fills it with the most exalted and -generous feelings. There is not a word of exaggeration in what I am -writing. Indeed I take his books with me to the services on Sundays to -read them, and I believe that in so acting, in spite of all that -thoughtless bigotry might say, I am conforming to the very highest -religious ideas.”</p> - -<p>Those ideas Droz might have summarized simply by Christ’s words, “Love -ye one another.” But this was a time of circumlocution. Young people -demanded of books, of discourses, of poetry, a sonorous echo of their -own secret feelings. In the writings of the Besançon moralist, Pasteur -saw a religion such as he himself dreamed of, a religion free from all -controversy and all intolerance, a religion of peace, love and devotion.</p> - -<p>A little later, Silvio Pellico’s <i>Miei Prigioni</i> developed in him an -emotion which answered to his instinctive sympathy for the sorrows of -others. He wrote advising his sisters to read “that interesting work, -where you breathe with every page a religious perfume which exalts and -ennobles the soul.” In reading <i>Miei Prigioni</i> his sisters would light -upon a passage on fraternal love and all the deep feelings which it -represents.</p> - -<p>“For my sisters,” he wrote in another letter, “I bought, a few days ago, -a very pretty book; I mean by very pretty something very interesting. It -is a little volume which took the Montyon<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> prize a few years ago, and -it is called, <i>Picciola</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> How could it have deserved the Montyon -prize,” he added, with an edifying respect for the decisions of the -Academy, “if the reading of it were not of great value?”</p> - -<p>“You know,” he announced to his parents when his appointment was -definitely settled, “that a supplementary master has board and lodging -and 300 francs a year!” This sum appeared to him enormous. He added, on -January 20: “At the end of this month money will already be owing to me; -and yet I assure you I am not really worth it.”</p> - -<p>Pleased with this situation, though such a modest one, full of eagerness -to work, he wrote in the same letter: “I find it an excellent thing to -have a room of my own; I have more time to myself, and I am not -interrupted by those endless little things that the boys have to do, and -which take up a good deal of time. Indeed I am already noticing a change -in my work; difficulties are getting smoothed away because I have more -time to give to overcoming them; in fact I am beginning to hope that by -working as I do and shall continue to do I may be received with a good -rank at the Ecole. But do not think that I am overworking myself at all; -I take every recreation necessary to my health.”</p> - -<p>Besides his ordinary work, he had been entrusted with the duty of giving -some help in mathematics and physical science to the youths who were -reading for their baccalauréat.</p> - -<p>As if reproaching himself with being the only member of the family who -enjoyed the opportunity of learning, he offered to pay for the schooling -of his youngest sister Josephine in a girls’ college at -Lons-le-Saulnier. He wrote, “I could easily do it by giving private -lessons. I have already refused to give some to several boys at 20 or 25 -fr. a month. I refused because I have not too much time to give to my -work.” But he was quite disposed to waive this motive in deference to -superior judgment. His parents promised to think over this fraternal -wish, without however accepting his generous suggestion, offering even -to supplement his small salary of 24 francs a month by a little -allowance, in case he wished for a few private lessons to prepare -himself more thoroughly for the Ecole Normale. They quite recognized his -right to advise;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> and—as he thought that his sister should prepare -herself beforehand for the class she was to enter—he wrote to his -mother with filial authority, “Josephine should work a good deal until -the end of the year, and I would recommend to Mother that she should not -continually be sent out on errands; she must have time to work.”</p> - -<p>Michelet, in his recollections, tells of his hours of intimacy with a -college friend named Poinsat, and thus expresses himself: “It was an -immense, an insatiable longing for confidences, for mutual revelations.” -Pasteur felt something of the sort for Charles Chappuis, a <i>philosophie</i> -student at Besançon college. He was the son of a notary at St. Vit, one -of those old-fashioned provincial notaries, who, by the dignity of their -lives, their spirit of wisdom, the perpetual preoccupation of their -duty, inspired their children with a sense of responsibility. His son -had even surpassed his father’s hopes. Of this generous, gentle-faced -youth there exists a lithograph signed “Louis Pasteur.” A book entitled -<i>Les Graveurs du XIXᵐᵉ Siècle</i> mentions this portrait, giving Pasteur an -unexpected form of celebrity. Before the <i>Graveurs</i>, the <i>Guide de -l’Amateur des Œuvres d’Art</i> had already spoken of a pastel drawing -discovered in the United States near Boston. It represents another -schoolfellow of Pasteur’s, who, far from his native land, carefully -preserved the portrait of Chappuis as well as his own. Everything that -friendship can give in strength and disinterestedness, everything that, -according to Montaigne—who knew more about it even that -Michelet—“makes souls merge into each other so that the seam which -originally joined them disappears,” was experienced by Pasteur and -Chappuis. Filial piety, brotherly solicitude, friendly -confidences—Pasteur knew the sweetness of all these early human joys; -the whole of his life was permeated with them. The books he loved added -to this flow of generous emotions. Chappuis watched and admired this -original nature, which, with a rigid mind made for scientific research -and always seeking the proof of everything, yet read Lamartine’s -<i>Meditations</i> with enthusiasm. Differing in this from many science -students, who are indifferent to literature—just as some literature -students affect to disdain science—Pasteur kept for literature a place -apart. He looked upon it as a guide for general ideas. Sometimes he -would praise to excess some writer or orator merely because he had found -in one page or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span> in one sentence the expression of an exalted sentiment. -It was with Chappuis that he exchanged his thoughts, and together they -mapped out a life in common. When Chappuis went to Paris, the better to -prepare himself for the Ecole Normale, Pasteur felt an ardent desire to -go with him. Chappuis wrote to him with that open spontaneity which is -such a charm in youth, “I shall feel as if I had all my Franche Comté -with me when you are here.” Pasteur’s father feared a crisis like that -of 1838, and, after hesitating, refused his consent to an immediate -departure. “Next year,” he said.</p> - -<p>In October, 1841, though still combining the functions of master and -student, Pasteur resumed his attendance of the classes for special -mathematics. But he was constantly thinking of Paris, “Paris, where -study is deeper.” One of Chappuis’ comrades, Bertin, whom Pasteur had -met during the holidays, had just entered the Ecole Normale at the head -of the list after attending in Paris a class of special mathematics.</p> - -<p>“If I do not pass this year,” Pasteur wrote to his father on November 7, -“I think I should do well to go to Paris for a year. But there is time -to think of that and of the means of doing so without spending too much, -if the occasion should arise. I see now what great advantage there is in -giving two years to mathematics; everything becomes clearer and easier. -Of all our class students who tried this year for the Ecole -Polytechnique and the Ecole Normale, not a single one has passed, not -even the best of them, a student who had already done one year’s -mathematics at Lyons. The master we have now is very good. I feel sure I -shall do a great deal this year.”</p> - -<p>He was twice second in his class; once he was first in physics. “That -gives me hope for later on,” he said. He wrote about another -mathematical competition, “If I get a good place it will be well -deserved, for this work has given me a pretty bad headache; I always do -get one, though, whenever we have a competition.” Then, fearful of -alarming his parents, he hastily adds, “But those headaches never last -long, and it is only an hour and a half since we left off.”</p> - -<p>Anxious to stifle by hard work his growing regrets at not having -followed Chappuis to Paris, Pasteur imagined that he might prepare -himself for the Ecole Polytechnique as well as for the Ecole Normale. -One of his masters, M. Bouché, had led him to hope that he might be -successful. “I shall try this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> year for both schools,” Pasteur wrote to -his friend (January 22, 1842). “I do not know whether I am right in -deciding to do so. One thing tells me that I am wrong: it is the idea -that we might thus be parted; and when I think of that, I firmly believe -that I cannot possibly be admitted this year into the Ecole -Polytechnique. I feel quite superstitious about it. I have but one -pleasure, your letters and those from my family. Oh! do write often, -very long letters!”</p> - -<p>Chappuis, concerned at this sudden resolve, answered in terms that did -credit to his heart and youthful wisdom. “Consult your tastes, think of -the present, of the future. You must think of yourself; it is your own -fate that you have to direct. There is more glitter on the one side; on -the other the gentle quiet life of a professor, a trifle monotonous -perhaps, but full of charm for him who knows how to enjoy it. You too -appreciated it formerly, and I learned to do so when we thought we -should both go the same way. Anyhow, go where you think you will be -happy, and think of me sometimes. I hope your father will not blame me. -I believe he looks upon me as your evil genius. These last holidays I -wanted you to come to me, then I advised you to go to Paris; each time -your father created some obstacle! But do what he wishes, and never -forget that it is perhaps because he loves you too much that he never -does what you ask him.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur soon thought no more of his Polytechnic fancy, and gave himself -up altogether to his preparation for the Ecole Normale. But the study of -mathematics seemed to him dry and exhausting. He wrote in April, “One -ends by having nothing but figures, formulas and geometrical forms -before one’s eyes.... On Thursday I went out and I read a charming -story, which, much to my astonishment, made me weep. I had not done such -a thing for years. Such is life.”</p> - -<p>On August 13, 1842, he went up for his examination (<i>baccalauréat ès -sciences</i>) before the Dijon Faculty. He passed less brilliantly even -than he had done for the <i>baccalauréat ès lettres</i>. In chemistry he was -only put down as “<i>médiocre</i>.” On August 26 he was declared admissible -to the examinations for the Ecole Normale. But he was only fifteenth out -of twenty-two candidates. He considered this too low a place, and -resolved to try again the following year. In October, 1842, he started -for Paris with Chappuis. On the eve of his departure Louis drew a last -pastel, a portrait of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> father. It is a powerful face, with -observation and meditation apparent in the eyes, strength and caution in -the mouth and chin.</p> - -<p>Pasteur arrived at the Barbet Boarding School, no longer a forlorn lad, -but a tall student capable of teaching and engaged for that purpose. He -only paid one-third of the pupil’s fees, and in return had to give to -the younger pupils some instruction in mathematics every morning from -six to seven. His room was not in the school, but in the same Impasse -des Feuillantines; two pupils shared it with him.</p> - -<p>“Do not be anxious about my health and work,” he wrote to his friends a -few days after his arrival. “I need hardly get up till 5.45; you see it -is not so very early.” He went on outlining the programme of his time. -“I shall spend my Thursdays in a neighbouring library with Chappuis, who -has four hours to himself on that day. On Sundays we shall walk and work -a little together; we hope to do some Philosophy on Sundays, perhaps too -on Thursdays; I shall also read some literary works. Surely you must see -that I am not homesick this time.”</p> - -<p>Besides attending the classes of the Lycée St. Louis, he also went to -the Sorbonne<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> to hear the Professor, who, after taking Gay-Lussac’s -place in 1832, had for the last ten years delighted his audience by an -eloquence and talent which opened boundless horizons before every mind.</p> - -<p>In a letter dated December 9, 1842, Pasteur wrote, “I attend at the -Sorbonne the lectures of M. Dumas, a celebrated chemist. You cannot -imagine what a crowd of people come to these lectures. The room is -immense, and always quite full. We have to be there half an hour before -the time to get a good place, as you would in a theatre; there is also a -great deal of applause; there are always six or seven hundred people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span>” -Under this rostrum, Pasteur became, in his own words, a “disciple” full -of the enthusiasm inspired by Dumas.</p> - -<p>Happy in this industrious life, he wrote in response to an expression of -his parents’ provincial uneasiness as to the temptations of the Latin -Quarter. “When one wishes to keep straight, one can do so in this place -as well as in any other; it is those who have no strength of will that -succumb.”</p> - -<p>He made himself so useful at Barbet’s that he was soon kept free of all -expense. But the expenses of his Parisian life are set out in a small -list made about that time. His father wished him to dine at the Palais -Royal on Thursdays and Sundays with Chappuis, and the price of each of -those dinners came to a little less than two francs. He had, still with -the inseparable Chappuis, gone four times to the theatre and once to the -opera. He had also hired a stove for his stone-floored room; for eight -francs he had bought some firewood, and also a two-franc cloth for his -table, which he said had holes in it, and was not convenient to write -on.</p> - -<p>At the end of the school year, 1843, he took at the Lycée St. Louis two -“Accessits,”<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and one first prize in physics, and at the “<i>Concours -Général</i>”<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> a sixth “Accessit” in physics. He was admitted fourth on -the list to the Ecole Normale. He then wrote from Arbois to M. Barbet, -telling him that on his half-holidays he would give some lessons at the -school of the Impasse des Feuillantines as a small token of his -gratitude for past kindness. “My dear Pasteur,” answered M. Barbet, “I -accept with pleasure the offer you have made me to give to my school -some of the leisure that you will have during your stay at the Ecole -Normale. It will indeed be a means of frequent and intimate intercourse -between us, in which we shall both find much advantage.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was in such a hurry to enter the Ecole Normale that he arrived -in Paris some days before the other students. He solicited permission to -come in as another might have begged permission to come out. He was -readily allowed to sleep in the empty dormitory. His first visit was to -M. Barbet. The Thursday half-holiday, usually from one to seven, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> -now from one to eight. “There is nothing more simple,” he said, “than to -come regularly at six o’clock on Thursdays and give the schoolboys a -physical science class.”</p> - -<p>“I am very pleased,” wrote his father, “that you are giving lessons at -M. Barbet’s. He has been so kind to us that I was anxious that you -should show him some gratitude; be therefore always most obliging -towards him. You should do so, not only for your own sake, but for -others; it will encourage him to show the same kindness to other -studious young men, whose future might depend upon it.”</p> - -<p>Generosity, self-sacrifice, kindliness even to unknown strangers, cost -not the least effort to the father and son, but seemed to them the most -natural thing possible. Just as their little house at Arbois was -transformed by a ray of the ideal, the broken down walls of the old -Ecole Normale—then a sort of annexe of the Louis Le Grand college, and -looking, said Jules Simon, like an old hospital or barracks—reflected -within them the ideas and sentiments which inspire useful lives. Joseph -Pasteur wrote (Nov. 18, 1843): “The details you give me on the way your -work is directed please me very much; everything seems organized so as -to produce distinguished scholars. Honour be to those who founded this -School.” Only one thing troubled him, he mentioned it in every letter. -“You know how we worry about your health; you do work so immoderately. -Are you not injuring your eyesight by so much night work? Your ambition -ought to be satisfied now that you have reached your present position!” -He also wrote to Chappuis: “Do tell Louis not to work so much; it is not -good to strain one’s brain. That is not the way to succeed but to -compromise one’s health.” And with some little irony as to the -cogitations of Chappuis the philosopher: “Believe me, you are but poor -philosophers if you do not know that one can be happy even as a poor -professor in Arbois College.”</p> - -<p>Another letter, December, 1843, to his son this time: “Tell Chappuis -that I have bottled some 1834 bought on purpose to drink the health of -the Ecole Normale during the next holidays. There is more wit in those -100 litres than in all the books on philosophy in the world; but, as to -mathematical formulæ, there are none, I believe. Mind you tell him that -we shall drink the first bottle with him. Remain two good friends.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s letters during this first period at the Normale have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span> been -lost, but his biography continues without a break, thanks to the letters -of his father. “Tell us always about your studies, about your doings at -Barbet’s. Do you still attend M. Pouillet’s lectures, or do you find -that one science hampers the other? I should think not; on the contrary, -one should be a help to the other.” This observation should be -interesting to a student of heredity; the idea casually mentioned by the -father was to receive a vivid demonstration in the life-work of the -son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> -1844—1849</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pasteur</span> often spent his leisure moments in the library of the Ecole -Normale. Those who knew him at that time remember him as grave, quiet, -almost shy. But under these reflective characteristics lay the latent -fire of enthusiasm. The lives of illustrious men, of great scientists, -of great patriots inspired him with a generous ardour. To this ardour he -added a great eagerness of mind; whether studying a book, even a -commonplace one—for he was so conscientious that he did not even know -what it was to “skim” through a book—or coming away from one of J. B. -Dumas’ lectures, or writing his student’s notes in his small fine -handwriting, he was always thirsting to learn more, to devote himself to -great researches. There seemed to him no better way of spending a -holiday than to be shut up all Sunday afternoon at the Sorbonne -laboratory or coaxing a private lesson from the celebrated Barruel, -Dumas’ curator.</p> - -<p>Chappuis—anxious to obey the injunctions of Pasteur’s father, who in -every letter repeated “Do not let him work too much!” desirous also of -enjoying a few hours’ outing with his friend—used to wait -philosophically, sitting on a laboratory stool, until the experiments -were over. Conquered by this patient attitude and reproachful silence -Pasteur would take off his apron, saying half angrily, half gratefully, -“Well, let us go for a walk.” And, when they were out in the street, the -same serious subjects of conversation would inevitably crop up—classes, -lectures, readings, etc.</p> - -<p>One day, in the course of those long talks in the gardens of the -Luxembourg, Pasteur carried Chappuis with him very far away from -philosophy. He began to talk of tartaric acid and of paratartaric acid. -The former had been known since 1770, thanks to the Swedish chemist -Scheele, who discovered it in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> the thick crusty formations within wine -barrels called “tartar”; but the latter was disconcerting to chemists. -In 1820 an Alsatian manufacturer, Kestner, had obtained by chance, -whilst preparing tartaric acid in his factory at Thann, a very singular -acid which he was unable to reproduce in spite of various attempts. He -had kept some of it in stock. Gay-Lussac, having visited the Thann -factory in 1826, studied this mysterious acid; he proposed to call it -<i>racemic</i> acid. Berzelius studied it in his turn, and preferred to call -it <i>paratartaric</i>. Either name may be adopted; it is exactly the same -thing: men of letters or in society are equally frightened by the word -paratartaric or racemic. Chappuis certainly was when Pasteur repeated to -him word for word a paragraph by a Berlin chemist and crystallographer -named Mitscherlich. Pasteur had pondered over this paragraph until he -knew it by heart; often indeed, absorbed in reading the reports for 1844 -of the Académie des Sciences, in the dark room which was then the -library of the Ecole Normale, he had wondered if it were possible to get -over a difficulty which seemed insurmountable to scientists such as -Mitscherlich and Biot. This paragraph related to two saline -combinations—tartrate and paratartrate of soda or ammonia—and may be -epitomized as follows: in these two substances of similar crystalline -form, the nature and number of the atoms, their arrangement and -distances are the same. Yet dissolved tartrate rotates the plane of -polarized light and paratartrate remains inactive.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had the gift of making scientific problems interesting in a few -words, even to minds least inclined to that particular line of thought. -He rendered his listener’s attention very easy; no question surprised -him and he never smiled at ignorance. Though Chappuis, absorbed in the -series of lectures on philosophy given at that time by Jules Simon, was -deep in a train of thought very far away from Mitscherlich’s -perplexities, he gradually became interested in this optical inactivity -of paratartrate, which so visibly affected his friend. Pasteur liked to -look back into the history of things, giving in this way a veritable -life to his explanations. Thus, à propos of the optical phenomenon which -puzzled Mitscherlich, Pasteur was speaking to his friend of crystallized -carbonate of lime, called Iceland spar, which presents a double -refraction—that is to say: if you look at an object through this -crystal, you perceive two reproductions of that object. In describing -this, Pasteur was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span> giving to Chappuis a vague notion of some piece -of crystal in a glass case, but was absolutely evoking a vision of the -beautiful crystal, perfectly pure and transparent, brought from Iceland -in 1669 to a Danish physicist. Pasteur almost seemed to experience the -surprise and emotion of this scientist, when, observing a ray of light -through this crystal, he saw it suddenly duplicated. Pasteur also spoke -enthusiastically of an officer of Engineers under the First Empire, -Etienne Louis Malus. Malus was studying double refraction, and holding -in his hands a piece of spar crystal, when, from his room in the Rue de -l’Enfer, it occurred to him to observe through the crystal the windows -of the Luxembourg Palace, then lighted up by the setting sun. It was -sufficient to make the crystal rotate slowly round the visual ray (as on -an axis) to perceive the periodic variations in the intensity of the -light reflected by the windows. No one had yet suspected that light, -after being reflected under certain conditions, would acquire properties -quite different from those it had before its reflection. Malus gave the -name of polarized light to light thus modified (by reflection in this -particular case). Scientists admitted in those days, in the theory of -emission, the existence of luminous molecules, and they imagined that -these molecules “suffered the same effects simultaneously when they had -been reflected on glass at a certain angle.... They were all turned in -the same direction.” Pouillet, speaking of this discovery of Malus in -the class on physics that Pasteur attended, explained that the -consequent persuasion was “that those molecules had rotatory axes and -poles, around which their movements could be accomplished under certain -influences.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur spoke feverishly of his regrets that Malus should have died at -thirty-seven in the midst of his researches; of Biot, and of Arago, who -became illustrious in the path opened by Malus. He explained to Chappuis -that, by means of a polarizing apparatus, it could be seen that certain -quartz crystals deflected to the right the plane of polarized light, -whilst others caused it to turn to the left. Chappuis also learned that -some natural organic material, such as solutions of sugar or of tartaric -acid, when placed in such an apparatus, turned to the right the plane of -polarization, whilst others, like essence of turpentine or quinine, -deflected it to the left; whence the expression “rotatory polarization.”</p> - -<p>These would seem dry researches, belonging altogether to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> the domain of -science. And yet, thanks to the saccharimeter, which is a polarizing -apparatus, a manufacturer can ascertain the quantity of pure sugar -contained in the brown sugar of commerce, and a physiologist can follow -the progress of diabetes.</p> - -<p>Chappuis, who knew what powers of investigation his friend could bring -to bear on the problem enunciated by Mitscherlich, thought with regret -that the prospect of such examinations as that for the <i>licence</i> and for -the <i>agrégation</i> did not allow Pasteur to concentrate all his forces on -such a special scientific point. But Pasteur was resolved to come back -definitely to this subject as soon as he should have become “<i>docteur ès -sciences</i>.”</p> - -<p>When writing to his father he did not dwell upon tartrate and -paratartrate; but his ambition was palpable. He was ever eager to do -double work, to go up for his examination at the very earliest. “Before -being a captain,” answered the old sergeant-major, “you must become a -lieutenant.”</p> - -<p>These letters give one the impression of living amongst those lives, -perpetually reacting upon each other. The thoughts of the whole family -were centred upon the great School, where that son, that brother, was -working, in whom the hopes of each were placed. If one of his bulky -letters with the large post mark was too long in coming, his father -wrote to reproach him gently: “Your sisters were counting the days. -Eighteen days, they said! Louis has never kept us waiting so long! Can -he be ill? It is a great joy to me,” adds the father, “to note your -attachment to each other. May it always remain so.”</p> - -<p>The mother had no time to write much; she was burdened with all the -cares of the household and with keeping the books of the business. But -she watched for the postman with a tender anxiety increased by her vivid -imagination. Her thoughts were ever with the son whom she loved, not -with a selfish love, but for himself, sharing his happiness in that he -was working for a useful career.</p> - -<p>So, between that corner in the Jura and the Ecole Normale, there was a -continual exchange of thoughts; the smallest incidents of daily life -were related. The father, knowing that he should inform the son of the -fluctuations of the family budget, spoke of his more or less successful -sales of leathers at the Besançon fair. The son was ever hunting in the -progress of industry anything that could tend to lighten the father’s -heavy handicraft. But though the father declared himself ready to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> -examine Vauquelin’s new tanning process, which obviated the necessity of -keeping the skins so long in the pits, he asked himself with scrupulous -anxiety whether leathers prepared in that way would last as long as the -others. Could he safely guarantee them to the shoemakers, who were -unanimous in praising the goods of the little tannery-yard, but alas -equally unanimous in forgetting to reward the disinterested tanner by -prompt payment? He supplied his family with the necessaries of life: -what more did he want? When he had news of his <i>Normalien</i> he was -thoroughly happy. He associated himself with his son’s doings, sharing -his enthusiasm over Dumas’ lectures, and taking an interest in -Pouillet’s classes: Pouillet was a Franc-Comtois, and had been a student -at the Ecole Normale; he was now Professor of Physics at the Sorbonne -and a member of the <i>Institut</i>.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> When Balard, a lecturer at the -Ecole, was nominated to the Académie des Sciences, Louis told his father -of it with the delight of an admiring pupil.</p> - -<p>Like J. B. Dumas, Balard had been an apothecary’s pupil. When he spoke -of their humble beginnings, Dumas was wont to say rather -pompously—“Balard and I were initiated into our scientific life under -the same conditions.” When, at the age of forty-two, he was made a -member of the Institute, Balard could not contain his joy; he was quite -a Southerner in his language and gestures, and the adjective <i>exubérant</i> -might have been invented for him. But this same Southerner, ever on the -move as he was, belonged to a special race: he always kept his word. “I -was glad to note your pleasure at this nomination,” wrote Joseph Pasteur -to his son; “it proves<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> that you are grateful to your masters.” About -that same time the headmaster of Arbois College, M. Romanet, used to -read out to the older boys the letters, always full of gratitude, which -he received from Louis Pasteur. These letters reflected life in Paris, -such as Pasteur understood it—a life of hard work and exalted ambition. -M. Romanet, in one of his replies, asked him to become librarian <i>in -partibus</i> for the college and to choose and procure books on science and -literature. The headmaster also begged of the young man some lectures -for the <i>rhétorique</i> class during the holidays. “It would seem to the -boys like an echo of the Sorbonne lectures! And you would speak to us of -our great scientific men,” added M. Romanet, “amongst whom we shall one -day number him who once was one of our best pupils and will ever remain -one of our best friends.”</p> - -<p>A corresponding member of Arbois College, and retained as vacation -lecturer, Pasteur now undertook a yet more special task. He had often -heard his father deplore his own lack of instruction, and knew well the -elder man’s desire for knowledge. By a touching exchange of parts, the -child to whom his father had taught his alphabet now became his father’s -teacher; but with what respect and what delicacy did this filial master -express himself! “It is in order that you may be able to help Josephine -that I am sending you this work to do.” He took most seriously his task -of tutor by correspondence; the papers he sent were not always easy. His -father wrote (Jan. 2, 1845)—“I have spent two days over a problem which -I afterwards found quite easy; it is no trifle to learn a thing and -teach it directly afterwards.” And a month later: “Josephine does not -care to rack her brains, she says; however I promise you that you will -be pleased with her progress by the next holidays.”</p> - -<p>The father would often sit up late at night over rules of grammar and -mathematical problems, preparing answers to send to his boy in Paris.</p> - -<p>Some Arboisians, quite forgotten now, imagined that they would add -lustre to the local history. General Baron Delort, a peer of France,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> -aide de camp to Louis Philippe, Grand Cross<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> of the Legion of Honour and -the first personage in Arbois—where he beguiled his old age by -translating Horace—used to go across the Cuisance bridge without so -much as glancing at the tannery where the Pasteur family lived. Whilst -the general in his thoughts bequeathed to the town of Arbois his books, -his papers, his decorations, even his uniform, he was far from -foreseeing that the little dwelling by the bridge would one day become -the cynosure of all eyes.</p> - -<p>Months went by and happy items of news succeeded one another. The -<i>Normalien</i> was chiefly interested in the transformations of matter, and -was practising in order to become capable of assisting in experiments; -difficulties only stimulated him. At the chemistry class that he -attended, the process of obtaining phosphorus was merely explained, on -account of the length of time necessary to obtain this elementary -substance; Pasteur, with his patience and desire for proven knowledge, -was not satisfied. He therefore bought some bones, burnt them, reduced -them to a very fine ash, treated this ash with sulphuric acid, and -carefully brought the process to its close. What a triumph it seemed to -him when he had in his possession sixty grammes of phosphorus, extracted -from bones, which he could put into a phial labelled “phosphorus.” This -was his first scientific joy.</p> - -<p>Whilst his comrades ironically (but with some discernment) called him a -“laboratory pillar,” some of them, more intent upon their examinations, -were getting ahead of him.—M. Darboux, the present “doyen” of the -Faculty<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> of Science, finds in the Sorbonne registers that Pasteur was -placed 7th at the <i>licence</i> examination; two other students having -obtained equal marks with him, the jury (Balard, Dumas and Delafosse), -mentioned his name after theirs.</p> - -<p>Those who care for archives would find in the <i>Journal Général de -l’Instruction Publique</i> of September 17, 1846, a report of the -<i>agrégation</i><a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> competition (physical science). Out<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> of fourteen -candidates only four passed and Pasteur was the third. His lessons on -physics and chemistry caused the jury to say, “He will make an excellent -professor.”</p> - -<p>Many <i>Normaliens</i> of that time fancied themselves called to a destiny -infinitely superior to his. Some of them, in later times, used to -complacently allude to this momentary superiority when speaking to their -pupils. Of all Pasteur’s acquaintances Chappuis was the only one who -divined the future. “You will see what Pasteur will be,” he used to say, -with an assurance generally attributed to friendly partiality. -Chappuis—Pasteur’s confidant—was well aware of his friend’s powers of -concentration.</p> - -<p>Balard also realised this; he had the happy idea of taking the young -<i>agrégé</i> into his laboratory, and intervened vehemently when the -Minister of Public Instruction desired—a few months later—that Pasteur -should teach physics in the Tournon Lycée. It would be rank folly, -Balard declared, to send 500 kilometres away from Paris a youth who only -asked for the modest title of curator, and had no ambition but to work -from morning till night, preparing for his doctor’s degree. There would -be time to send him away later on. It was impossible to resist this -torrent of words founded on solid sense. Balard prevailed.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was profoundly grateful to him for preserving him from exile to -the little town in Ardèche; and, as he added to his Franc-Comtois -patience and reflective mind a childlike heart and deep enthusiasm, he -was delighted to remain with a master like Balard, who had become -celebrated, at the age of twenty-four, as the discoverer of bromin.</p> - -<p>At the end of 1846, a newcomer entered Balard’s laboratory, a strange -delicate-looking man, whose ardent eyes were at the same time proud and -yet anxious. This man, a scientist and a poet, was a professor of the -Bordeaux Faculty, named Auguste Laurent. Perhaps he had had some -friction with his Bordeaux chiefs, possibly he merely wished for a -change; at all events, he now desired to live in Paris. Laurent was -already known in the scientific world, and had recently been made a -correspondent of the Académie des Sciences. He had foreseen and -confirmed the theory of substitutions, formulated by Dumas as early as -1834 before the Académie. Dumas had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span> expressed himself thus: “Chlorine -possesses the singular power of seizing upon the hydrogen in certain -substances, and of taking its place atom by atom.”</p> - -<p>This theory of substitutions was—according to a simple and vivid -comparison of Pasteur’s—a way of looking upon chemical bodies as upon -“molecular edifices, in which one element could be replaced by another -without disturbing the structure of the edifice; as if one were to -replace, one by one, every stone of a monument by a new stone.” Original -researches, new and bold ideas, appealed to Pasteur. But his cautious -mind prevented his boldness from leading him into errors, surprises or -hasty conclusions. “That is possible,” he would say, “but we must look -more deeply into the subject.”</p> - -<p>When asked by Laurent to assist him with some experiments upon certain -theories, Pasteur was delighted at this suggested collaboration, and -wrote to his friend Chappuis: “Even if the work should lead to no -results worth publishing, it will be most useful to me to do practical -work for several months with such an experienced chemist.”</p> - -<p>It was partly due to Laurent, that Pasteur entered more deeply into the -train of thought which was to lead him to grapple with Mitscherlich’s -problem. “One day” (this is a manuscript note of Pasteur’s) “one day it -happened that M. Laurent—studying, if I mistake not, some tungstate of -soda, perfectly crystallized and prepared from the directions of another -chemist, whose results he was verifying—showed me through the -microscope that this salt, apparently very pure, was evidently a mixture -of three distinct kinds of crystals, easily recognizable with a little -experience of crystalline forms. The lessons of our modest and excellent -professor of mineralogy, M. Delafosse, had long since made me love -crystallography; so, in order to acquire the habit of using the -goniometer, I began to carefully study the formations of a very fine -series of combinations, all very easily crystallized, tartaric acid and -the tartrates.” He appreciated any favourable influence on his work; we -find in the same note: “Another motive urged me to prefer the study of -those particular forms. M. de la Provostaye had just published an almost -complete work concerning them; this allowed me to compare as I went -along my own observations with those, always so precise, of that clever -scientist.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur and Laurent’s work in common was interrupted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> Laurent was -appointed as Dumas’ assistant at the Sorbonne. Pasteur did not dwell -upon his own disappointment, but rejoiced to see honour bestowed upon a -man whom he thought worthy of the first rank. Some judges have thought -that Laurent, in his introductory lesson, was too eager to expound his -own ideas; but is not every believer an apostle? When a mind is full of -ideas, it naturally overflows. It is probable that Pasteur in Laurent’s -place would have kept his part as an assistant more in the background. -He did not give vent to the slightest criticism, but wrote to Chappuis. -“Laurent’s lectures are as bold as his writings, and his lessons are -making a great sensation amongst chemists.” Whether one of criticism or -of approbation, this sensation was a living element of success. In order -to answer some insinuations concerning Laurent’s ambition and constant -thirst for change, Pasteur proclaimed in his thesis on chemistry how -much he had been “enlightened by the kindly advice of a man so -distinguished, both by his talent and by his character.”</p> - -<p>This essay was entitled “<i>Researches into the saturation capacity of -arsenious acid. A study of the arsenites of potash, soda and ammonia.</i>” -This, to Pasteur’s mind, was but schoolboy work. He had not yet, he -said, enough practice and experience in laboratory work. “In physics,” -he wrote to Chappuis, “I shall only present a programme of some -researches that I mean to undertake next year, and that I merely -indicate in my essay.”</p> - -<p>This essay on physics was a “<i>Study of phenomena relative to the -rotatory polarization of liquids</i>.” In it he rendered full homage to -Biot, pointing out the importance of a branch of science too much -neglected by chemists; he added that it was most useful, in order to -throw light upon certain difficult chemical problems, to obtain the -assistance of crystallography and physics. “Such assistance is -especially needed in the present state of science.”</p> - -<p>These two essays, dedicated to his father and mother, were read on -August 23, 1847. He only obtained one white ball and two red ones for -each. “We cannot judge of your essays,” wrote his father, in the name of -the whole family, “but our satisfaction is no less great. As to a -doctor’s degree, I was far from hoping as much; all <i>my</i> ambition was -satisfied with the <i>agrégation</i>.” Such was not the case with his son.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span> -“Onwards” was his motto, not from a desire for a diploma, but from an -insatiable thirst for knowledge.</p> - -<p>After spending a few days with his family and friends, he wanted to go -to Germany with Chappuis to study German from morning till night. The -prospect of such industrious holidays enchanted him. But he had -forgotten a student’s debt. “I cannot carry out my project,” he sadly -wrote, on September 3, 1847; “I am more than ruined by the cost of -printing my thesis.”</p> - -<p>On his return to Paris he shut himself up in the laboratory. “I am -extremely happy. I shall soon publish a paper on crystallography.” His -father writes (December 25, 1847): “We received your letter yesterday; -it is absolutely satisfactory, but it could not be otherwise coming from -you; you have long, indeed ever, been all satisfaction to me.” And in -response to his son’s intentions of accomplishing various tasks, fully -understanding that nothing will stop him: “You are doing right to make -for your goal; it was only out of excessive affection that I have often -written in another sense. I only feared that you might succumb to your -work; so many noble youths have sacrificed their health to the love of -science. Knowing you as I do, this was my only anxiety.”</p> - -<p>After being reproved for excessive work, Louis was reprimanded for too -much affection (January 1, 1848). “The presents you sent have just -arrived; I shall leave it to your sisters to write their thanks. For my -part, I should prefer a thousand times that this money should still be -in your purse, and thence to a good restaurant, spent in some good meals -that you might have enjoyed with your friends. There are not many -parents, my dearest boy, who have to write such things to their son; my -satisfaction in you is indeed deeper than I can express.” At the end of -this same letter, the mother adds in her turn: “My darling boy, I wish -you a happy new year. Take great care of your health.... Think what a -worry it is to me that I cannot be with you to look after you. Sometimes -I try to console myself for your absence by thinking how fortunate I am -in having a child able to raise himself to such a position as yours -is—such a happy position, as it seems to be from your last letter but -one.” And in a strange sentence, where it would seem that a presentiment -of her approaching death made worldly things appear at their true -value:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> “Whatever happens to you, do not grieve; nothing in life is more -than a chimera. Farewell, my son.”</p> - -<p>On March 20, 1848, Pasteur read to the Académie des Sciences a portion -of his treatise on “<i>Researches on Dimorphism</i>.” There are some -substances which crystallize in two different ways. Sulphur, for -instance, gives quite dissimilar crystals according to whether it is -melted in a crucible or dissolved in sulphide of carbon. Those -substances are called dimorphous. Pasteur, kindly aided by the learned -M. Delafosse (with his usual gratefulness he mentions this in the very -first pages) had made out a list—as complete as possible—of all -dimorphous substances. When M. Romanet, of Arbois College, received this -paper he was quite overwhelmed. “It is much too stiff for you,” he said -with an infectious modesty to Vercel, Charrière, and Coulon, Pasteur’s -former comrades. Perhaps the head master desired to palliate his own -incompetence in the eyes of coming generations, for on the title page of -the copy of Pasteur’s booklet still to be found in the Arbois library, -he wrote this remark, which he signed with his initial -R.:—“<i>Dimorphisme</i>; this word is not even to be found in the -<i>Dictionnaire de l’Académie</i>”!! The approbation of several members of -the Académie des Sciences compensated for the somewhat summary judgment -of M. Romanet, whose good wishes continued to follow the rapid course of -his old pupil.</p> - -<p>After this very special study, dated at the beginning of 1848, one might -imagine the graduate-curator closing his ears to all outside rumours and -little concerned with political agitation, but that would be doing him -an injustice. Those who witnessed the Revolution of 1848 remember how -during the early days France was exalted with the purest patriotism. -Pasteur had visions of a generous and fraternal Republic; the words -<i>drapeau</i> and <i>patrie</i> moved him to the bottom of his soul. -Lamartine<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> as a politician inspired him with an enthusiastic -confidence; he delighted in the sight of a poet leader of men. Many -others shared the same illusions. France, as Louis Veuillot has it, made -the mistake of choosing her band-master<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> as colonel of the regiment. -Enrolled with his fellow students, Pasteur wrote thus to his parents: “I -am writing from the Orleans Railway, where as a <i>garde national</i><a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> I -am stationed. I am glad that I was in Paris during the February days<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> -and that I am here still; I should be sorry to leave Paris just now. It -is a great and a sublime doctrine which is now being unfolded before our -eyes ... and if it were necessary I should heartily fight for the holy -cause of the Republic.” “What a transformation of our whole being!” has -written one who was then a candidate to the Ecole Normale, already noted -by his masters for his good sense, Francisque Sarcey. “How those magical -words of liberty and fraternity, this renewal of the Republic, born in -the sunshine of our twentieth year, filled our hearts with unknown and -absolutely delicious sensations! With what a gallant joy we embraced the -sweet and superb image of a people of free men and brethren! The whole -nation was moved as we were; like us, it had drunk of the intoxicating -cup. The honey of eloquence flowed unceasingly from the lips of a great -poet, and France believed, in childlike faith, that his word was -efficacious to destroy abuses, cure evils and soothe sorrows.”</p> - -<p>One day when Pasteur was crossing the Place du Panthéon, he saw a -gathering crowd around a wooden erection, decorated with the words: -<i>Autel de la Patrie</i>. A neighbour told him that pecuniary offerings -might be laid upon this altar. Pasteur goes back to the Ecole Normale, -empties a drawer of all his savings, and returns to deposit it in -thankful hands.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span></p> - -<p>“You say,” wrote his father on April 28, 1848, “that you have offered to -France all your savings, amounting to 150 francs. You have probably kept -a receipt of the office where this payment was made, with mention of the -date and place?” And considering that this action should be made known, -he advises him to publish it in the journal <i>Le National</i> or <i>La -Réforme</i> in the following terms, “Gift to the <i>Patrie</i>: 150 francs, by -the son of an old soldier of the Empire, Louis Pasteur of the Ecole -Normale.” He wrote in the same letter, “You should raise a subscription -in your school in favour of the poor Polish exiles who have done so much -for us; it would be a good deed.”</p> - -<p>After those days of national exaltation, Pasteur returned to his -crystals. He studied tartrates under the influence of certain ideas that -he himself liked to expound. Objects considered merely from the point of -view of form, may be divided into two great categories. First, those -objects which, placed before a mirror, give an image which can be -superposed to them: these have a symmetrical plan; secondly, those which -have an image which cannot be superposed to them: they are -dissymmetrical. A chair, for instance, is symmetrical, or a straight -flight of steps. But a spiral staircase is not symmetrical, its own -image cannot be laid over it. If it turns to the right, its image turns -to the left. In the same way the right hand cannot be superposed to the -left hand, a righthand glove does not fit a left hand, and a right hand -seen in a mirror gives the image of a left hand.</p> - -<p>Pasteur noticed that the crystals of tartaric acid and the tartrates had -little faces, which had escaped even the profound observation of -Mitscherlich and La Provostaye. These faces, which only existed on one -half of the edges or similar angles, constituted what is called a -hemihedral form. When the crystal was placed before a glass the image -that appeared could not be superposed to the crystal; the comparison of -the two hands was applicable to it. Pasteur thought that this aspect of -the crystal might be an index of what existed within the molecules, -dissymmetry of form corresponding with molecular dissymmetry. -Mitscherlich had not perceived that his tartrate presented these little -faces, this dissymmetry, whilst his paratartrate was without them, was -in fact not hemihedral. Therefore, reasoned Pasteur, the deviation to -the right of the plane of polarization produced by tartrate and the -optical neutrality<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> of paratartrates would be explained by a structural -law. The first part of these conclusions was confirmed; all the crystals -of tartrate proved to be hemihedral. But when Pasteur came to examine -the crystals of paratartrate, hoping to find none of them hemihedral, he -experienced a keen disappointment. The paratartrate also was hemihedral, -but the faces of some of the crystals were inclined to the right, and -those of others to the left. It then occurred to Pasteur to take up -these crystals one by one and sort them carefully, putting on one side -those which turned to the left, and on the other those which turned to -the right. He thought that by observing their respective solutions in -the polarizing apparatus, the two contrary hemihedral forms would give -two contrary deviations; and then, by mixing together an equal number of -each kind, as no doubt Mitscherlich had done, the resulting solution -would have no action upon light, the two equal and directly opposite -deviations exactly neutralizing each other.</p> - -<p>With anxious and beating heart he proceeded to this experiment with the -polarizing apparatus and exclaimed, “I have it!” His excitement was such -that he could not look at the apparatus again; he rushed out of the -laboratory, not unlike Archimedes. He met a curator in the passage, -embraced him as he would have embraced Chappuis, and dragged him out -with him into the Luxembourg garden to explain his discovery. Many -confidences have been whispered under the shade of the tall trees of -those avenues, but never was there greater or more exuberant joy on a -young man’s lips. He foresaw all the consequences of his discovery. The -hitherto incomprehensible constitution of paratartaric or racemic acid -was explained; he differentiated it into righthand tartaric acid, -similar in every way to the natural tartaric acid of grapes, and -lefthand tartaric acid. These two distinct acids possess equal and -opposite rotatory powers which neutralize each other when these two -substances, reduced to an aqueous solution, combine spontaneously in -equal quantities.</p> - -<p>“How often,” he wrote to Chappuis (May 5), whom he longed to have with -him, “how often have I regretted that we did not both take up the same -study, that of physical science. We who so often talked of the future, -we did not understand. What splendid work we could have undertaken and -would be undertaking now; and what could we not have done united by the -same ideas, the same love of science, the same ambition!<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> I would we -were twenty and with the three years of the Ecole before us!” Always -fancying that he could have done more, he often had such retrospective -regrets. He was impatient to begin new researches, when a sad blow fell -upon him—his mother died almost suddenly of apoplexy. “She succumbed in -a few hours,” he wrote to Chappuis on May 28, “and when I reached home -she had already left us. I have asked for a holiday.” He could no longer -work; he remained steeped in tears and buried in his sorrow. For weeks -his intellectual life was suspended.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>In Paris, in the scientific world perhaps even more than in any other, -everything gets known, repeated, discussed. Pasteur’s researches were -becoming a subject of conversation. Balard, with his strident voice, -spoke of them in the library at the Institute, which is a sort of -drawing-room for talkative old Academicians. J. B. Dumas listened -gravely; Biot, old Biot, then seventy-four years old, questioned the -story with some scepticism. “Are you quite sure?” he would ask, his head -a little on one side, his words slow and slightly ironical. He could -hardly believe, on first hearing Balard, that a new doctor, fresh from -the Ecole Normale, should have overcome a difficulty which had proved -too much for Mitscherlich. He did not care for long conversations with -Balard, and as the latter continued to extol Pasteur, Biot said, “I -should like to investigate that young man’s results.”</p> - -<p>Besides Pasteur’s deference for all those whom he looked upon as his -teachers, he also felt a sort of general gratitude for their services to -Science. Partly from an infinite respect and partly from an ardent -desire to convince the old scientist, he wrote on his return to Paris to -Biot, whom he did not know personally, asking him for an interview. Biot -answered: “I shall be pleased to verify your results if you will -communicate them confidentially to me. Please believe in the feelings of -interest inspired in me by all young men who work with accuracy and -perseverance.”</p> - -<p>An appointment was made at the Collège de France,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> where Biot lived. -Every detail of that interview remained for ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> fixed in Pasteur’s -memory. Biot began by fetching some paratartaric acid. “I have most -carefully studied it,” he said to Pasteur; “it is absolutely neutral in -the presence of polarized light.” Some distrust was visible in his -gestures and audible in his voice. “I shall bring you everything that is -necessary,” continued the old man, fetching doses of soda and ammonia. -He wanted the salt prepared before his eyes.</p> - -<p>After pouring the liquid into a crystallizer, Biot took it into a corner -of his room to be quite sure that no one would touch it. “I shall let -you know when you are to come back,” he said to Pasteur when taking -leave of him. Forty-eight hours later some crystals, very small at -first, began to form; when there was a sufficient number of them, -Pasteur was recalled. Still in Biot’s presence, Pasteur withdrew, one by -one, the finest crystals and wiped off the mother-liquor adhering to -them. He then pointed out to Biot the opposition of their hemihedral -character, and divided them into two groups—left and right.</p> - -<p>“So you affirm,” said Biot, “that your righthand crystals will deviate -to the right the plane of polarization, and your lefthand ones will -deviate it to the left?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Pasteur.</p> - -<p>“Well, let me do the rest.”</p> - -<p>Biot himself prepared the solutions, and then sent again for Pasteur. -Biot first placed in the apparatus the solution which should deviate to -the left. Having satisfied himself that this deviation actually took -place, he took Pasteur’s arm and said to him these words, often -deservedly quoted: “My dear boy, I have loved Science so much during my -life, that this touches my very heart.”</p> - -<p>“It was indeed evident,” said Pasteur himself in recalling this -interview, “that the strongest light had then been thrown on the cause -of the phenomenon of rotatory polarization and hemihedral crystals; a -new class of isomeric substances was discovered; the unexpected and -until then unexampled constitution of the racemic or paratartaric acid -was revealed; in one word a great and unforeseen road was opened to -science.”</p> - -<p>Biot now constituted himself the sponsor in scientific matters of his -new young friend, and undertook to report upon Pasteur’s paper entitled: -“<i>Researches on the relations which may exist between crystalline form, -chemical composition, and the direction of rotatory power</i>”—destined -for the Académie des Sciences.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span></p> - -<p>Biot did full justice to Pasteur; he even rendered him homage, and—not -only in his own name but also in that of his three colleagues, Regnault, -Balard, and Dumas—he suggested that the Académie should declare its -highest approbation of Pasteur’s treatise.</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not conceive greater happiness than his laboratory life, and -yet the laboratories of that time were very unlike what they are -nowadays, as we should see if the laboratories of the Collège de France, -of the Sorbonne, of the Ecole Normale had been preserved. They were all -that Paris could offer Europe, and Europe certainly had no cause to -covet them. Nowadays the most humble college, in the smallest provincial -town, would not accept such dens as the State offered (when it offered -them any) to the greatest French scientists. Claude Bernard, Magendie’s -curator, worked at the Collège de France in a regular cellar. Wurtz only -had a lumber-room in the attics of the Dupuytren Museum. Henri Sainte -Claire Deville, before he became head of the Besançon Faculty, had not -even as much; he was relegated to one of the most miserable corners of -the Rue Lafarge. J. B. Dumas did not care to occupy the unhealthy room -reserved for him at the Sorbonne; his father-in-law, Alexandre -Brongniart, having given him a small house in the Rue Cuvier, opposite -the Jardin des Plantes, he had had it transformed into a laboratory and -was keeping it up at his own expense. He was therefore comfortably -situated, but he was exceptionally fortunate. Every scientist who had no -private means to draw upon had to choose between the miserable cellars -and equally miserable garrets which were all that the State could offer. -And yet it was more tempting than a Professor’s chair in a College or -even in a Faculty, for there one could not give oneself up entirely to -one’s work.</p> - -<p>Nothing would have seemed more natural than to leave Pasteur to his -experiments. But his appointment to some definite post could no longer -be deferred, in spite of Balard’s tumultuous activity. The end of the -summer vacation was near, there was a vacancy: Pasteur was made a -Professor of Physics at the Dijon Lycée. The Minister of Public -Instruction consented to allow him to postpone his departure until the -beginning of November, in order to let him finish some work begun under -the eye of Biot, who thought and dreamt of nothing but these new -investigations. During thirty years Biot had studied the phenomena of -rotatory polarization. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> had called the attention of chemists to these -phenomena, but his call had been unheeded. Continuing his solitary -labour, he had—in experimenting on cases both simple and -complex—studied this molecular rotatory power, without suspecting that -this power bore a definite relation to the hemihedral form of some -crystals. And now that the old man was a witness of a triumphant sequel -to his own researches, now that he had the joy of seeing a young man -with a thoughtful mind and an enthusiastic heart working with him, now -that the hope of this daily collaboration shed a last ray on the close -of his life, Pasteur’s departure for Dijon came as a real blow. “If at -least,” he said, “they were sending you to a Faculty!” He turned his -wrath on to the Government officials. “They don’t seem to realize that -such labours stand above everything else! If they only knew it, two or -three such treatises might bring a man straight to the Institut!”</p> - -<p>Nevertheless Pasteur had to go. M. Pouillet gave him a letter for a -former Polytechnician,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> now a civil engineer at Dijon, a M. -Parandier, in which he wrote—</p> - -<p>“M. Pasteur is a most distinguished young chemist. He has just completed -some very remarkable work, and I hope it will not be long before he is -sent to a first-class Faculty. I need add nothing else about him; I know -no more honest, industrious, or capable young man. Help him as much as -you can at Dijon; you will not regret it.”</p> - -<p>Those first weeks away from his masters and from his beloved pursuits -seemed very hard to Pasteur. But he was anxious to prove himself a good -teacher. This duty appeared to him to be a noble ideal, and to involve a -wide responsibility. He felt none of the self satisfaction which is -sometimes a source of strength to some minds conscious of their -superiority to others. He did not even do himself the justice of feeling -that he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span> absolutely sure of his subject. He wrote to Chappuis -(November 20, 1848): “I find that preparing my lessons takes up a great -deal of time. It is only when I have prepared a lesson very carefully -that I succeed in making it very clear and capable of compelling -attention. If I neglect it at all I lecture badly and become -unintelligible.”</p> - -<p>He had both first and second year pupils; these two classes took up all -his time and all his strength. He liked the second class; it was not a -very large one. “They all work,” Pasteur wrote, “some very -intelligently.” As to the first year class, what could he do with eighty -pupils? The good ones were kept back by the bad. “Don’t you think,” he -wrote, “that it is a mistake not to limit classes to fifty boys at the -most? It is with great difficulty that I can secure the attention of all -towards the end of the lesson. I have only found one means, which is to -multiply experiments at the last moment.”</p> - -<p>Whilst he was eagerly and conscientiously giving himself up to his new -functions—not without some bitterness, for he really was entitled to an -appointment in a Faculty, and he could not pursue his favourite -studies—his masters were agitating on his behalf. Balard was clamouring -to have him as an assistant at the Ecole Normale. Biot was appealing to -Baron Thenard. This scientist was then Chairman of the Grand Council of -the Université.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> He had been a pupil of Vauquelin, a friend of -Laplace, and a collaborator of Gay-Lussac; he had lectured during thirty -years at the Sorbonne, at the Collège de France, and at the Ecole -Polytechnique; he could truthfully boast that he had had 40,000 pupils. -He was, like J. B. Dumas, a born professor. But, whilst Dumas was always -self possessed and dignified in his demeanour, his very smile serious, -Thenard, a native of Burgundy, threw his whole personality into his -work, a broad smile on his beaming face.</p> - -<p>He was now (1848) seventy years old, and the memory of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> teaching, -the services rendered to industry by his discoveries, the <i>éclat</i> of his -name and titles contrasted with his humble origin, all combined to -render him more than a Chancellor of the University; he was in fact a -sort of Field Marshal of science, and all powerful. Three years -previously he had much scandalized certain red-tape officials by -choosing three very young men—Puiseux, Delesse, and H. Sainte Claire -Deville—as professors for the new Faculty of Science at Besançon. He -had accentuated this authoritative measure by making Sainte Claire -Deville Dean of the Faculty. In the unknown professor of twenty-six, he -had divined the future celebrated scientist.</p> - -<p>At the end of the year 1848 Pasteur solicited the place of assistant to -M. Delesse, who was taking a long leave of absence. This would have -brought him near Arbois, besides placing him in a Faculty. He asked for -nothing more. Thenard, who had Biot’s report in his hands, undertook to -transmit to the Minister this modest and natural request. He was opposed -by an unexpected argument—the presentation of assistantships belonged -to each Faculty. This custom was unknown to Pasteur. Thenard was unable -to overcome this routine formality. Pasteur thought that the unanimous -opinion of Thenard, Biot, and Pouillet ought to have prevailed. “I can -practically do nothing here,” he wrote on the sixth of December, -thinking of his interrupted studies. “If I cannot go to Besançon, I -shall go back to Paris as a curator.”</p> - -<p>His father, to whom he paid a visit for the new year, persuaded him to -look upon things more calmly, telling him that wisdom repudiated too -much hurry. Louis deferred to his father’s opinion to the extent of -writing, on January 2, 1849, to the Minister of Public Instruction, -begging him to overlook his request. However, the members of the -Institute who had taken up his cause did not intend to be thwarted by -minor difficulties. Pasteur’s letter was hardly posted when he received -an assistantship, not at the Besançon Faculty but at Strasburg, to take -the place of M. Persoz, Professor of Chemistry, who was desirous of -going to Paris.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, on his arrival at Strasburg (January 15) was welcomed by the -Professor of Physics, his old school friend, the Franc-Comtois Bertin. -“First of all, you are coming to live with me,” said Bertin gleefully. -“You could not do better; it is a stone’s throw from the Faculté.” By -living with Bertin, Pasteur acquired a companion endowed with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> rare -combination of qualities—a quick wit and an affectionate heart. Bertin -was too shrewd to be duped, and a malicious twinkle often lit up his -kindly expression; with one apparently careless word, he would hit the -weak point of the most self satisfied. He loved those who were simple -and true, hence his affection for Pasteur. His smiling philosophy -contrasted with Pasteur’s robust faith and ardent impetuosity. Pasteur -admired, but did not often imitate, the peaceful manner with which -Bertin, affirming that a disappointment often proved to be a blessing in -disguise, accepted things as they came. In order to prove that this was -no paradox, Bertin used to tell what had happened to him in 1839, when -he was mathematical preparation master at the College of Luxeuil. He was -entitled to 200 francs a month, but payment was refused him. This -injustice did not cause him to recriminate, but he quietly tendered his -resignation. He went in for the Ecole Normale examination, entered the -school at the head of the list, and subsequently became Professor of -Physics at the Strasburg Faculty. “If it had not been for my former -disappointment, I should still be at Luxeuil.” He was now perfectly -satisfied, thinking that nothing could be better than to be a Professor -in a Faculty; but this absence of any sort of ambition did not prevent -him from giving his teaching the most scrupulous attention. He prepared -his lessons with extreme care, endeavouring to render them absolutely -clear. He took great personal interest in his pupils, and often helped -them with his advice in the interval between class hours. This excellent -man’s whole life was spent in working for others, and to be useful was -ever to him the greatest satisfaction.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Pasteur was stimulated by Bertin’s example to give excessive -importance to minor matters in his first lessons. He writes: “I gave too -much thought to the style of my two first lectures, and they were -anything but good; but I think the subsequent ones were more -satisfactory, and I feel I am improving.” His lectures were well -attended, for the numerous industries of Alsace gave to chemistry quite -a place by itself.</p> - -<p>Everything pleased him in Strasburg save its distance from Arbois. He -who could concentrate his thoughts for weeks, for months even, on one -subject, who could become as it were a prisoner of his studies, had -withal an imperious longing for family life. His rooms in Bertin’s house -suited him all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> better that they were large enough for him to -entertain one of his relations. His father wrote in one of his letters: -“You say that you will not marry for a long time, that you will ask one -of your sisters to live with you. I could wish it for you and for them, -for neither of them wishes for a greater happiness. Both desire nothing -better than to look after your comfort; you are absolutely everything to -them. One may meet with sisters as good as they are, but certainly with -none better.”</p> - -<p>Louis Pasteur’s circle of dear ones was presently enlarged by his -intimacy with another family. The new Rector of the Academy of -Strasburg, M. Laurent, had arrived in October. He was no relation to the -chemist of the same name, and the place he was about to take in -Pasteur’s life was much greater than that held by Auguste Laurent at the -time when they were working together in Balard’s laboratory.</p> - -<p>After having begun, in 1812, as preparation master in the then Imperial -College of Louis le Grand, M. Laurent had become, in 1826, head master -of the College of Riom. He found at Riom more tutors than pupils; there -were only three boys in the school! Thanks to M. Laurent, those three -soon became one hundred and thirty-four. From Riom he was sent to -Guéret, then to Saintes, to save a college in imminent danger of -disappearing; there were struggles between the former head master and -the Mayor, the town refused the subsidies, all was confusion. Peace -immediately followed his arrival. “Those who have known him,” wrote M. -Pierron in the <i>Revue de l’Instruction Publique</i>, “will not be surprised -at such miracles coming from a man so intelligent and so active, so -clever, amiable, and warm-hearted.” Wherever he was afterwards sent, at -Orleans, Angoulême, Douai, Toulouse, Cahors, he worked the same charm, -born of kindness. At Strasburg, he had made of the Académie a home where -all the Faculty found a simple and cordial welcome. Madame Laurent was a -modest woman who tried to efface herself, but whose exquisite qualities -of heart and mind could not remain hidden. The eldest of her daughters -was married to M. Zevort, whose name became doubly dear to the -Université. The two younger ones, brought up in habits of industry and -unselfishness which seemed natural to them, brightened the home by their -youthful gaiety.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span></p> - -<p>When Pasteur on his arrival called on this family, he had the feeling -that happiness lay there. He had seen at Arbois how, through the daily -difficulties of manual labour, his parents looked at life from an -exalted point of view, appreciating it from that standard of moral -perfection which gives dignity and grandeur to the humblest existence. -In this family—of a higher social position than his own—he again found -the same high ideal, and, with great superiority of education, the same -simple-mindedness. When Pasteur entered for the first time the Laurent -family circle, he immediately felt the delightful impression of being in -a thoroughly congenial atmosphere; a communion of thoughts and feelings -seemed established after the first words, the first looks exchanged -between him and his hosts.</p> - -<p>In the evening, at the restaurant where most of the younger professors -dined, he heard others speak of the kindliness and strict justice of the -Rector; and everyone expressed respect for his wonderfully united -family.</p> - -<p>At one of M. Laurent’s quiet evening “at homes,” Bertin was saying of -Pasteur, “You do not often meet with such a hard worker; no attraction -ever can take him away from his work.” The attraction now came, however, -and it was such a powerful one that, on February 10, only a fortnight -after his arrival, Pasteur addressed to M. Laurent the following -official letter:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—</p> - -<p>“An offer of the greatest importance to me and to your family is -about to be made to you on my behalf; and I feel it my duty to put -you in possession of the following facts, which may have some -weight in determining your acceptance or refusal.</p> - -<p>“My father is a tanner in the small town of Arbois in the Jura, my -sisters keep house for him, and assist him with his books, taking -the place of my mother whom we had the misfortune to lose in May -last.</p> - -<p>“My family is in easy circumstances, but with no fortune; I do not -value what we possess at more than 50,000 francs, and, as for me, I -have long ago decided to hand over to my sisters the whole of what -should be my share. I have therefore absolutely no fortune. My only -means<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> are good health, some courage, and my position in the -Université.</p> - -<p>“I left the Ecole Normale two years ago, an <i>agrégé</i> in physical -science. I have held a Doctor’s degree eighteen months, and I have -presented to the Académie a few works which have been very well -received, especially the last one, upon which a report was made -which I now have the honour to enclose.</p> - -<p>“This, Sir, is all my present position. As to the future, unless my -tastes should completely change, I shall give myself up entirely to -chemical research. I hope to return to Paris when I have acquired -some reputation through my scientific labours. M. Biot has often -told me to think seriously about the Institute; perhaps I may do so -in ten or fifteen years’ time, and after assiduous work; but this -is but a dream, and not the motive which makes me love Science for -Science’s sake.</p> - -<p>“My father will himself come to Strasburg to make this proposal of -marriage.</p> - -<p>“Accept, Sir, the assurance of my profound respect, etc.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—I was twenty-six on December 27.”</p></div> - -<p>A definite answer was adjourned for a few weeks. Pasteur, in a letter to -Madame Laurent, wrote, “I am afraid that Mlle. Marie may be influenced -by early impressions, unfavourable to me. There is nothing in me to -attract a young girl’s fancy. But my recollections tell me that those -who have known me very well have loved me very much.”</p> - -<p>Of these letters, religiously preserved, fragments like the following -have also been obtained. “All that I beg of you, Mademoiselle (he had -now been authorised to address himself directly to her) is that you will -not judge me too hastily, and therefore misjudge me. Time will show you -that below my cold, shy and unpleasing exterior, there is a heart full -of affection for you!” In another letter, evidently remorseful at -forsaking the laboratory, he says, “I, who did so love my crystals!”</p> - -<p>He loved them still, as is proved by an answer from Biot to a proposal -of Pasteur’s. In order to spare the old man’s failing sight, Pasteur had -the ingenious idea of cutting out of pieces of cork, with exquisite -skill, some models of crystalline types greatly enlarged. He had tinted -the edges and faces,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span> and nothing was easier than to recognize their -hemihedral character. “I accept with great pleasure,” wrote Biot on -April 7, “the offer you make me of sending me a small quantity of your -two acids, with models of their crystalline types.” He meant the -righthand tartaric acid and the lefthand tartaric acid, which -Pasteur—not to pronounce too hastily on their identity with ordinary -tartaric acid—then called <i>dextroracemic</i> and <i>lævoracemic</i>.</p> - -<p>Pasteur wished to go further; he was now beginning to study the -crystallizations of formate of strontian. Comparing them with those of -the paratartrates of soda and ammonia, surprised and uneasy at the -differences he observed, he once exclaimed, “Ah! formate of strontian, -if only I had got you!” to the immense amusement of Bertin, who long -afterwards used to repeat this invocation with mock enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was about to send these crystals to Biot, but the latter wrote, -“Keep them until you have thoroughly investigated them.... You can -depend on my wish to serve you in every circumstance when my assistance -can be of any use to you, and also on the great interest with which you -have inspired me.”</p> - -<p>Regnault and Senarmont had been invited by Biot to examine the valuable -samples received from Strasburg, the dextroracemic and lævoracemic -acids. Biot wrote to Pasteur, “We might make up our minds to sacrifice a -small portion of the two acids in order to reconstitute the racemic, but -we doubt whether we should be capable of discerning it with certainty by -those crystals when they are formed. You must show it us yourself, when -you come to Paris for the holidays. Whilst arranging my chemical -treasures, I came upon a small quantity of racemic acid which I thought -I had lost. It would be sufficient for the microscopical experiments -that I might eventually have to make. So if the small phial of it that -you saw here would be useful to you, let me know, and I will willingly -send it. In this, as in everything else, you will always find me most -anxious to second you in your labours.”</p> - -<p>This period was all happiness. Pasteur’s father and his sister Josephine -came to Strasburg. The proposal of marriage was accepted, the father -returned to Arbois, Josephine staying behind. She remained to keep house -and to share the everyday life of her brother, whom she loved with a -mixture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span> pride, tenderness and solicitude. In her devoted sisterly -generosity, she resigned herself to the thought that her happy dream -must be of short duration. The wedding was fixed for May 29.</p> - -<p>“I believe,” wrote Pasteur to Chappuis, “that I shall be very happy. -Every quality I could wish for in a wife I find in her. You will say, -‘He is in love!’ Yes, but I do not think I exaggerate at all, and my -sister Josephine quite agrees with me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> -1850—1854</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the very beginning Mme. Pasteur not only admitted, but approved, -that the laboratory should come before everything else. She would -willingly have adopted the typographic custom of the Académie des -Sciences Reports, where the word Science is always spelt with a capital -S. It was indeed impossible to live with her husband without sharing his -joys, anxieties and renewed hopes, as they appeared day by day reflected -in his admirable eyes—eyes of a rare grey-green colour like the sparkle -of a Ceylon gem. Before certain scientific possibilities, the flame of -enthusiasm shone in those deep eyes, and the whole stern face was -illumined. Between domestic happiness and prospective researches, -Pasteur’s life was complete. But this couple, who had now shared -everything for more than a year, was to suffer indirectly through the -new law on the liberty of teaching.</p> - -<p>Devised by some as an effort at compromise between the Church and the -University, considered by others as a scope for competition against -State education, the law of 1850 brought into the Superior Council of -Public Instruction four archbishops or bishops, elected by their -colleagues. In each Department<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> an Academy Council was instituted, -and, in this parcelling out of University jurisdiction, the right of -presence was recognized as belonging to the bishop or his delegate. But -all these advantages did not satisfy those who called themselves -Catholics before everything else. The rupture between Louis Veuillot on -one side and, on the other, Falloux and Montalembert, the principal -authors of this law, dates from that time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span></p> - -<p>“What we understood by the liberty of teaching,” wrote Louis Veuillot, -“was not a share given to the Church, but the destruction of -monopoly.... No alliance with the University! Away with its books, -inspectors, examinations, certificates, diplomas! All that means the -hand of the State laid on the liberty of the citizen; it is the breath -of incredulity on the younger generation.” Confronted by the violent -rejection of any attempt at reconciliation and threatened interference -with the University on the part of the Church, the Government was trying -to secure to itself the whole teaching fraternity.</p> - -<p>The primary schoolmasters groaned under the heavy yoke of the prefects. -“These deep politicians only know how to dismiss.... The rectors will -become the valets of the prefects ...” wrote Pasteur with anger and -distress in a letter dated July, 1850. After the primary schools, the -attacks now reached the colleges. The University was accused of -attending exclusively to Latin verse and Greek translations, and of -neglecting the souls of the students. Romieu, who ironically dubbed the -University “Alma Parens,” and attacked it most bitterly, seemed hardly -fitted for the part of justiciary. He was a former pupil of the Ecole -Polytechnique, who wrote vaudevilles until he was made a prefect by -Louis Philippe. He was celebrated for various tricks which amused Paris -and disconcerted the Government, much to the joy of the Prince de -Joinville,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> who loved such mystifications. After the fall of Louis -Philippe, Romieu became a totally different personality. He had been -supposed to take nothing seriously; he now put a tragic construction on -everything. He became a prophet of woe, declaring that “gangrene was -devouring the souls of eight year old children.” According to him, -faith, respect, all was being destroyed; he anathematized Instruction -without Education, and stigmatized village schoolmasters as “obscure -apostles” charged with “preaching the doctrines of revolt.” This -violence was partly oratory, but oratory does not minimize violence, it -excites it. Every pamphleteer ends by being a bond-slave to his own -phraseology.</p> - -<p>When Romieu appeared in Strasburg as an Envoy Extraordinary entrusted by -the Government with a general inquiry, he found that M. Laurent did not -answer to that ideal of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> functionary which was entertained by a -certain party. M. Laurent had the very highest respect for justice; he -distrusted the upstarts whose virtues were very much on the surface; he -never decided on the fate of an inferior without the most painstaking -inquiry; he did not look on an accidental mistake as an unpardonable -fault; he refused to take any immediate and violent measures: all this -caused him to be looked upon with suspicion. “The influence of the -Rector” (thus ran Romieu’s official report) “is hardly, if at all, -noticeable. He should be replaced by a safe man.”</p> - -<p>The Minister of Public Instruction, M. de Parieu, had to bow before the -formal wish of the Minister of the Interior, founded upon peremptory -arguments of this kind. M. Laurent was offered the post of Rector at -Châteauroux, a decided step downward. He refused, left Strasburg, and, -with no complaint or recriminations, retired into private life at the -age of fifty-five.</p> - -<p>It was when this happy family circle was just about to be enlarged that -its quiet was thus broken into by this untoward result of political -agitation. M. Laurent’s youngest daughter soon after became engaged to -M. Loir, a professor at the Strasburg Pharmaceutical School, who had -been a student at the Ecole Normale, and who ultimately became Dean of -the Faculty of Sciences at Lyons. He was then preparing, assisted by -Pasteur, his “thesis” for the degree of Doctor of Science. In this he -announced some new results based on the simultaneous existence of -hemihedral crystalline forms and the rotatory power. He wrote, “I am -happy to have brought new facts to bear upon the law that M. Pasteur has -enunciated.”</p> - -<p>“Why are you not a professor of physics or chemistry!” wrote Pasteur to -Chappuis; “we should work together, and in ten years’ time we would -revolutionize chemistry. There are wonders hidden in crystallization, -and, through it, the inmost construction of substances will one day be -revealed. If you come to Strasburg, you <i>shall</i> become a chemist; I -shall talk to you of nothing but crystals.”</p> - -<p>The vacation was always impatiently awaited by Pasteur. He was able to -work more, and to edit the result of his researches in an extract for -the Académie des Sciences. On October 2 his friend received the -following letter: “On Monday I presented this year’s work to the -‘Institut.’ I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> read a long extract from it, and then gave a vivâ voce -demonstration relative to some crystallographic details. This -demonstration, which I had been specially desired to give, was quite -against the prevailing customs of the Académie. I gave it with my usual -delight in that sort of thing, and it was followed with great attention. -Fortunately for me, the most influential members of the Académie were -present. M. Dumas sat almost facing me. I looked at him several times, -and he expressed by an approving nod of his head that he understood and -was much interested. He asked me to his house the next day, and -congratulated me. He said, amongst other things, that I was a proof that -when a Frenchman took up crystallography he knew what he was about, and -also that if I persevered, as he felt sure I should, I should become the -founder of a school.</p> - -<p>“M. Biot, whose kindness to me is beyond all expression, came to me -after my lecture and said, ‘It is as good as it can possibly be.’ On -October 14 he will give his report on my work; he declares I have -discovered a very California. Do not suppose I have done anything -wonderful this year. This is but a satisfactory consequence of preceding -work.”</p> - -<p>In his report (postponed until October 28) Biot was more enthusiastic. -He praised the numerous and unforeseen results brought out by Pasteur -within the last two years. “He throws light upon everything he touches,” -he said.</p> - -<p>To be praised by Biot was a rare favour; his diatribes were better -known. In a secret committee of the Académie des Sciences (January, -1851) the Académie had to pronounce on the merits of two candidates for -a professorship at the Collège de France: Balard, a professor of the -Faculty of Science, chief lecturer of the Ecole Normale, and Laurent the -chemist, who in order to live had been compelled to accept a situation -as assayer at the Mint. Biot, with his halting step, arrived at the -Committee room and spoke thus: “The title of Member of the Institute is -the highest reward and the greatest honour that a French scientist can -receive, but it does not constitute a privilege of inactivity that need -only be claimed in order to obtain everything.... For several years, M. -Balard has been in possession of two large laboratories where he might -have executed any work dictated to him by his zeal, whilst nearly all M. -Laurent’s results have been effected by his unaided personal efforts at -the cost of heavy sacrifices. If you give the college<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> vacancy to M. -Balard, you will add nothing to the opportunities for study which he -already has; but it will take away from M. Laurent the means of work -that he lacks and that we have now the opportunity of providing for him. -The chemical section, and indeed the whole Academy will easily judge on -which side are scientific justice and the interests of future progress.”</p> - -<p>Biot had this little speech printed and sent a copy of it to Pasteur. -The incident led to a warm dispute, and Biot lost his cause. Pasteur -wrote to Chappuis, “M. Biot has done everything that was possible to do -in order that M. Laurent should win, and the final result is a great -grief to him. But really,” the younger man added, more indulgent than -the old man, and divided between his wishes for Laurent and the fear of -the sorrow Balard would have felt, “M. Balard would not have deserved so -much misfortune. Think of the disgrace it would have been to him if -there had been a second vote favourable to Laurent, especially coming -from the Institute of which he is a member.” At the end of that -campaign, Biot in a fit of misanthropy which excepted Pasteur alone, and -knowing that Pasteur had spoken with effusion of their mutual feelings, -wrote to him as follows: “I am touched by your acknowledgment of my deep -and sincere affection for you, and I thank you for it. But whilst -keeping your attachment for me as I preserve mine for you, let me for -the future rejoice in it in the secret recesses of my heart and of -yours. The world is jealous of friendships however disinterested, and my -affection for you is such that I wish people to feel that they honour -themselves by appreciating you, rather than that they should know that -you love me and that I love you. Farewell. Persevere in your good -feelings as in your splendid career, and be happy. Your friend.”</p> - -<p>The character of Biot, a puzzle to Sainte Beuve, seems easier to -understand after reading those letters, written in a small conscientious -hand. The great critic wrote: “Who will give us the secret key to Biot’s -complex nature, to the curiosities, aptitudes, envies, prejudices, -sympathies, antipathies, folds and creases of every kind in his -character?” Even with no other documents, the history of his relations -with Pasteur would throw light upon this nature, not so “complex” after -all. From the day when Pasteur worked out his first experiment before -Biot, at first suspicious, then astonished and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> finally touched to the -heart, until the period of absolute mutual confidence and friendship, we -see rising before us the image of this true scientist, with his rare -independence, his good-will towards laborious men and his mercilessness -to every man who, loving not Science for its own sake, looked upon a -discovery as a road to fortune, pecuniary or political.</p> - -<p>He loved both science and letters, and, now that age had bent his tall -form, instead of becoming absorbed in his own recollections and the -contemplation of his own labours, he kept his mind open, happy to learn -more every day and to anticipate the future of Pasteur.</p> - -<p>During the vacation of 1851 Pasteur came to Paris to bring Biot the -results of new researches on aspartic and malic acids, and he desired -his father to join him in order to efface the sad impression left by his -former journey in 1838. Biot and his wife welcomed the father and son as -they would have welcomed very few friends. Touched by so much kindness, -Joseph Pasteur on his return in June wrote Biot a letter full of -gratitude, venturing at the same time to send the only thing it was in -his power to offer, a basket of fruit from his garden. Biot answered as -follows: “Sir, my wife and I very much appreciate the kind expressions -in the letter you have done me the honour of writing me. Our welcome to -you was indeed as hearty as it was sincere, for I assure you that we -could not see without the deepest interest such a good and honourable -father sitting at our modest table with so good and distinguished a son. -I have never had occasion to show that excellent young man any feelings -but those of esteem founded on his merit, and an affection inspired by -his personality. It is the greatest pleasure that I can experience in my -old age, to see young men of talent working industriously and trying to -progress in a scientific career by means of steady and persevering -labour, and not by wretched intriguing. That is what has made your son -dear to me, and his affection for me adds yet to his other claims and -increases that which I feel for him. We are therefore even with one -another. As to your kindness in wishing that I should taste fruit from -your garden, I am very grateful for it, and I accept it as cordially as -you send it.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur had also brought Biot some other products—a case full of new -crystals. Starting from the external configuration of crystals, he -penetrated the individual constitution of their molecular groups, and -from this point of departure, he then<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> had recourse to the resources of -chemistry and optics. Biot never ceased to admire the sagacity of the -young experimentalist who had turned what had until then been a mere -crystallographic character into an element of chemical research.</p> - -<p>Equally interested by the general consequences of these studies, so -delicate and so precise, M. de Senarmont wished in his turn to examine -the crystals. No one approved more fully than he the expressions of the -old scientist, who ended in this way his 1851 report: “If M. Pasteur -persists in the road he has opened, it may be predicted of him that what -he has found is nothing to what he will find.” And, delighted to see the -important position that Pasteur was taking at Strasburg and the -unexpected extension of crystallography, Biot wrote to him: “I have read -with much interest the thesis of your brother-in-law, M. Loir. It is -well conceived and well written, and he establishes with clearness many -very curious facts. M. de Senarmont has also read it with very great -pleasure, and I beg you will transmit our united congratulations to your -brother-in-law.” Biot added, mixing as he was wont family details with -scientific ideas: “We highly appreciated your father, the rectitude of -his judgment, his firm, calm, simple reason and the enlightened love he -bears you.”</p> - -<p>“My plan of study is traced for this coming year,” wrote Pasteur to -Chappuis at the end of December. “I am hoping to develop it shortly in -the most successful manner.... I think I have already told you that I am -on the verge of mysteries, and that the veil which covers them is -getting thinner and thinner. The nights seem to me too long, yet I do -not complain, for I prepare my lectures easily, and often have five -whole days a week that I can give up to the laboratory. I am often -scolded by Mme. Pasteur, but I console her by telling her that I shall -lead her to fame.”</p> - -<p>He already foresaw the greatness of his work. However he dare not speak -of it, and kept his secret, save with the confidante who was now a -collaborator, ever ready to act as secretary, watching over the precious -health of which he himself took no account, an admirable helpmeet, to -whom might be applied the Roman definition, <i>socia rei humanæ atque -divinæ</i>. Never did life shower more affection upon a man. Everything at -that time smiled upon him. Two fair children in the home, great security -in his work, no enemies, and the comfort of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> receiving the approval and -counsel of masters who inspired him with a feeling of veneration.</p> - -<p>“At my age,” wrote Biot to Pasteur, “one lives only in the interest one -takes in those one loves. You are one of the small number who can -provide such food for my mind.” And alluding in that same letter -(December 22, 1851) to four reports successively approved of by Balard, -Dumas, Regnault, Chevreul, Senarmont and Thenard: “I was very happy to -see, in those successive announcements of ideas of so new and so -far-reaching a nature, that you have said—and that we have made you -say—nothing that should now be contradicted or objected to in one -single point. I still have in my hands the pages of your last paper -concerning the optical study of malic acid. I have not yet returned them -to you, as I wish to extract from them some results that I shall place -to your credit in a paper I am now writing.”</p> - -<p>It was no longer Biot and Senarmont only who were watching the growing -importance of Pasteur’s work. At the beginning of the year 1852 the -physicist Regnault thought of making Pasteur a corresponding member of -the Institute. Pasteur was still under thirty. There was a vacancy in -the General Physics section, why not offer it to him? said Regnault, -with his usual kindliness. Biot shook his head: “It is to the Chemistry -section that he ought to belong.” And, with the courage of sincere -affection, he wrote to Pasteur, “Your work marks your place in chemistry -rather than physics, for in chemistry you are in the front rank of -inventors, whilst in physics you have applied processes already known -rather than invented new ones. Do not listen to people, who, without -knowing the ground, would cause you to desire, and even to hastily -obtain, a distinction which would be above your real and recognized -claims.... Besides, you can see for yourself how much your work of the -last four years has raised you in every one’s estimation. And that -place, which you have made for yourself in the general esteem, has the -advantage of not being subject to the fluctuations of the ballot. -Farewell, dear friend, write to me when you have time, and be assured -that my interest in hard workers is about the only thing which yet makes -me wish to live. Your friend.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur gratefully accepted these wise counsels. In an excess of -modesty, he wrote to Dumas that he should not apply<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span> as candidate even -if a place for a correspondent were vacant in the Chemistry section. “Do -you then believe,” answered Dumas with a vivacity very unlike his usual -solemn calmness, “do you believe that we are insensible to the glory -which your work reflects on French chemistry, and on the Ecole from -whence you come? The very day I entered the Ministry, I asked for the -Cross<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> for you. I should have had in giving it to you myself a -satisfaction which you cannot conceive. I don’t know whence the delay -and difficulty arise. But what I do know is that you make my blood boil -when you speak in your letter of the necessity of leaving a free place -in chemistry to the men you mention, one or two excepted.... What -opinion have you then of our judgment? When there <i>is</i> a vacant place, -you shall be presented, supported and elected. It is a question of -justice and of the great interests of science: we shall make them -prevail.... When the day comes, there will be means found to do what is -required for the interests of science, of which you are one of the -firmest pillars, and one of the most glorious hopes. Heartily yours.”</p> - -<p>“My dear father,” wrote Pasteur, sending his father a copy of this -letter, “I hope you will be proud of M. Dumas’ letter. It surprised me -very much. I did not believe that my work deserved such a splendid -testimony, though I recognize its great importance.”</p> - -<p>Thus were associated in Pasteur the full consciousness of his great -mental power with an extreme ingenuousness. Instead of the pride and -egotism provoked, almost excusably, in so many superior men by excessive -strength, his character presented the noblest delicacy.</p> - -<p>Another arrangement occurred to Regnault: that he himself should accept -the direction of the Sèvres Manufactory, and give up to Pasteur his -professorship at the Ecole Polytechnique. Others suggested that Pasteur -should become chief lecturer at the Ecole Normale. Rumours of these -possibilities reached Strasburg, but Pasteur’s thoughts were otherwise -absorbed. He was concerned with the manner in which he could modify the -crystalline forms of certain substances which, though optically active, -did not at the first view present the hemihedral character, and with the -possibility of provoking the significant faces by varying the nature of -the dissolving agents. Biot was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> anxious that he should not be disturbed -in these ingenious researches, and advised him to remain at Strasburg in -terms as vigorous as any of his previous advice. “As to the accidents -which come from or depend on men’s caprice, be strong-minded enough to -disdain them yet awhile. Do not trouble about anything, but pursue -indefatigably your great career. You will be rewarded in the end, the -more certainly and unquestionably that you will have deserved it more -fully. The time is not far when those who can serve you efficiently will -feel as much pride in doing so as shame and embarrassment in not having -done so already.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur came to Paris in August, for what he might have called his -annual pilgrimage, Biot had reserved for him a most agreeable surprise. -Mitscherlich was in Paris, where he had come, accompanied by another -German crystallographer, G. Rose, to thank the Académie for appointing -him a foreign Associate. They both expressed a desire to see Pasteur, -who was staying in a hotel in the Rue de Tournon. Biot, starting for his -daily walk round the Luxembourg Garden, left this note: “Please come to -my house to-morrow at 8 a.m., if possible with your products. M. -Mitscherlich and M. Rose are coming at 9 to see them.” The interview was -lengthy and cordial. In a letter to his father—who now knew a great -deal about crystals and their forms, thanks to Pasteur’s lucid -explanations—we find these words. “I spent two and a half hours with -them on Sunday at the Collège de France, showing them my crystals. They -were much pleased, and highly praised my work. I dined with them on -Tuesday at M. Thenard’s; you will like to see the names of the guests: -Messrs. Mitscherlich, Rose, Dumas, Chevreul, Regnault, Pelouze, Péligot, -C. Prévost, and Bussy. You see I was the only outsider, they are all -members of the Académie.... But the chief advantage of my meeting these -gentlemen is that I have heard from them the important fact that there -is a manufacturer in Germany who again produces some racemic acid. I -intend to go and see him and his products, so as to study thoroughly -that singular substance.”</p> - -<p>At the time when scientific novels were in fashion, a whole chapter -might have been written on Pasteur in search of that acid. In order to -understand in a measure his emotion on learning that a manufacturer in -Saxony possessed this mysterious acid, we must remember that the racemic -acid<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span>—produced for the first time by Kestner at Thann in 1820, through -a mere accident in the manufacture of tartaric acid—had suddenly ceased -to appear, in spite of all efforts to obtain it again. What then was the -origin of it?</p> - -<p>Mitscherlich believed that the tartars employed by this Saxony -manufacturer came from Trieste. “I shall go to Trieste,” said Pasteur; -“I shall go to the end of the world. I <i>must</i> discover the source of -racemic acid, I must follow up the tartars to their origin.” Was the -acid existent in crude tartars, such as Kestner received in 1820 from -Naples, Sicily, or Oporto? This was all the more probable from the fact -that from the day when Kestner began to use semi-refined tartars he had -no longer found any racemic acid. Should one conclude that it remained -stored up in the mother-liquor?</p> - -<p>With a feverish impetuosity that nothing could soothe, Pasteur begged -Biot and Dumas to obtain for him a mission from the Ministry or the -Académie. Exasperated by red tape delays, he was on the point of writing -directly to the President of the Republic. “It is a question,” he said, -“that France should make it a point of honour to solve through one of -her children.” Biot endeavoured to moderate this excessive impatience. -“It is not necessary to set the Government in motion for this,” he said, -a little quizzically. “The Academy, when informed of your motives might -very well contribute a few thousand francs towards researches on the -racemic acid.” But when Mitscherlich gave Pasteur a letter of -recommendation to the Saxony manufacturer, whose name was Fikentscher -and who lived near Leipzig, Pasteur could contain himself no longer, and -went off, waiting for nothing and listening to no one. His travelling -impressions were of a peculiar nature. We will extract passages from a -sort of diary addressed to Madame Pasteur so that she might share the -emotions of this pursuit. He starts his campaign on the 12th September. -“I do not stop at Leipzig, but go on to Zwischau, and then to M. -Fikentscher. I leave him at nightfall and go back to him the next -morning very early. I have spent all to-day, Sunday, with him. M. -Fikentscher is a very clever man, and he has shown me his whole -manufactory in every detail, keeping no secrets from me.... His factory -is most prosperous. It comprises a group of houses which, from a -distance, and situated on a height as they are, look almost like a -little village.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> It is surrounded by 20 hectares<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> of well cultivated -ground. All this is the result of a few years’ work. As to <i>the</i> -question, here is a little information that you will keep strictly to -yourself for the present. M. Fikentscher obtained racemic acid for the -first time about twenty-two years ago. He prepared at that time rather a -large quantity. Since then only a very small amount has been formed in -the process of manufacture and he has not troubled to preserve it. When -he used to obtain most, his tartars came from Trieste. This confirms, -though not in every point, what I heard from M. Mitscherlich. Anyhow, -here is my plan: Having no laboratory at Zwischau, I have just returned -to Leipzig with two kinds of tartars that M. Fikentscher now uses, some -of which come from Austria, and some from Italy. M. Fikentscher has -assured me that I should be very well received here by divers -professors, who know my name very well, he says. To-morrow Monday -morning, I will go to the Université and set up in some laboratory or -other. I think that in five or six days I shall have finished my -examination of these tartars. Then I shall start for Vienna, where I -shall stay two or three days and rapidly study Hungarian tartars.... -Finally I shall go to Trieste, where I shall find tartars of divers -countries, notably those of the Levant, and those of the neighbourhood -of Trieste itself. On arriving here at M. Fikentscher’s I have -unfortunately discovered a very regrettable circumstance. It is that the -tartars he uses have already been through one process in the country -from which they are exported, and this process is such that it evidently -eliminates and loses the greater part of the racemic acid. At least I -think so. I must therefore go to the place itself. If I had enough money -I should go on to Italy; but that is impossible, it will be for next -year. I shall give ten years to it if necessary; but it will not be, and -I am sure that in my very next letter I shall be able to tell you that I -have some good results. For instance, I am almost sure to find a prompt -means of testing tartars from the point of view of racemic acid. That is -a point of primary importance for my work. I want to go quickly through -examining all these different tartars; that will be my first study.... -M. Fikentscher will take nothing for his products. It is true that I -have given him hints and some of my own enthusiasm. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span> wants to prepare -for commercial purposes some <i>left</i> tartaric acid, and I have given him -all the necessary crystallographic indications. I have no doubt he will -succeed.”</p> - -<p><i>Leipzig, Wednesday, September 15, 1852.</i> “My dear Marie, I do not want -to wait until I have the results of my researches before writing to you -again. And yet I have nothing to tell you, for I have not left the -laboratory for three days, and I know nothing of Leipzig but the street -which goes from the Hôtel de Bavière to the Université. I come home at -dusk, dine, and go to bed. I have only received, in M. Erdmann’s study, -the visit of Professor Hankel, professor of physics of the Leipzig -Université, who has translated all my treatises in a German paper edited -by M. Erdmann. He has also studied hemihedral crystals, and I enjoyed -talking with him. I shall also soon meet the professor of mineralogy, M. -Naumann.</p> - -<p>“To-morrow only shall I have a first result concerning racemic acid. I -shall stay about ten days longer in Leipzig. It is more than I told you, -and the reason lies in rather a happy circumstance. M. Fikentscher has -kindly written to me and to a firm in Leipzig, and I heard yesterday -from the head of that firm that, very likely, they can get me to-morrow -some tartars absolutely crude and of the same origin as M. -Fikentscher’s. The same gentleman has given me some information about a -factory at Venice, and will give me a letter of recommendation to a firm -in that city, also for Trieste. In this way the journey I proposed to -make in that town will not simply be a pleasure trip.... I shall write -to M. Biot as soon as I have important results. To-day has been a good -day, and in about three or four more you will no doubt receive a -satisfactory letter.”</p> - -<p><i>Leipzig, September 18, 1852.</i> “My dear Marie, the very question which -has brought me here is surrounded with very great difficulties.... I -have only studied one tartar thoroughly since I have been here; it comes -from Naples and has been refined once. It contains racemic acid, but in -such infinitesimal proportions that it can only be detected by the most -delicate process. It is only by manufacture on a very large scale that a -certain quantity could be prepared. But I must tell you that the first -operation undergone by this tartar must have deprived it almost entirely -of racemic acid. Fortunately M. Fikentscher is a most enlightened man, -he perfectly understands the importance of this acid and he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> prepared -to follow most minutely the indications that I shall give him in order -to obtain this singular substance in quantities such that it can again -be easily turned into commercial use. I can already conceive the history -of this product. M. Kestner must have had at his disposal in 1820 some -Neapolitan tartars, as indeed he said he had, and he must have operated -on crude tartar. That is the whole secret.... But is it certain that -almost the whole of the acid is lost in the first manufacture undergone -by tartar? I believe it is. But it must be proved. There are at Trieste -and at Venice two tartar refineries of which I have the addresses. I -also have letters of introduction. I shall examine there (if I find a -laboratory) the residual products, and I shall make minute inquiries -respecting the places the tartars used in those two cities come from. -Finally, I shall procure a few kilogrammes, which I shall carefully -study when I get back to France....”</p> - -<p><i>Freiberg, September 23, 1852.</i> “I arrived on the evening of the 21st at -Dresden, and I had to wait until eleven the next morning to have my -passport <i>visé</i>, so I could not start for Freiberg before seven p.m. I -took advantage of that day to visit the capital of Saxony, and I can -assure you that I saw some admirable things. There is a most beautiful -museum containing pictures by the first masters of every school. I spent -over four hours in the galleries, noting on my catalogue the pictures I -most enjoyed. Those I liked I marked with a cross; but I soon put two, -three crosses, according to the degree of my enthusiasm. I even went as -far as four.</p> - -<p>“I also visited what they call the green vault room, an absolutely -unique collection of works of art, gems, jewels ... then some churches, -avenues, admirable bridges across the Elbe....</p> - -<p>“I then started for Freiberg at 7.... My love of crystals took me first -to the learned Professor of mineralogy, Breithaupt, who received me as -one would not be received in France. After a short colloquy, he passed -into the next room, came back in a black tail-coat with three little -decorations in his button hole, and told me he would first present me to -the Baron von Beust, Superintendent of Factories, so as to obtain a -permit to visit the latter.... Then he took me for a walk, talking -crystals the whole time....”</p> - -<p>P.S.—“Mind you tell M. Biot how I was received; it will please him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span>”</p> - -<p><i>Vienna, September 27, 1852.</i> “Yesterday, Monday morning, I set out to -call upon several people. Unfortunately, I hear that Professor Schrotten -is at Wiesbaden, at a scientific congress, as well as M. Seybel, a -manufacturer of tartaric acid. M. Miller, a merchant for whom I had a -letter of recommendation, was kind enough to ask M. Seybel’s business -manager for permission for me to visit the factory in his absence. He -refused, saying he was not authorized. But I did not give in; I asked -for the addresses of Viennese professors, and I fortunately came upon -that of a very well known scientific man, M. Redtenbacher, who has been -kind to me beyond all description. At 6 a.m. he came to my hotel, and we -took the train at 7 for the Seybel manufactory, which is at a little -distance from Vienna. We were received by the chemist of the factory, -who made not the slightest difficulty in introducing us into the -sanctuary, and after many questions we ended by being convinced that the -famous racemic acid was seen there last winter.... I reserve for later -many details of great interest, for here they have operated for years on -crude tartar. I came away very happy.</p> - -<p>“There is another factory of tartaric acid in Vienna. We go there; I -repeat through M. Redtenbacher my string of questions. They have seen -nothing. I ask to see their products, and I come upon a barrel full of -tartaric acid crystals, on the surface of which I think I perceive <i>the</i> -substance. A first test made with dirty old glasses then and there -confirms my doubts; they become a certainty a few moments later at M. -Redtenbacher’s laboratory. We dine together; then we go back to the -factory, where we learn, miraculous to relate, that they are just now -embarrassed in their manufacturing process, and, almost certainly, the -product which hinders them—though it is in a very small quantity, and -they take it for sulphate of potash—is no other than racemic acid. I -wish I could give you more details of this eventful day. I was to have -left Vienna to-day, but, as you will understand, I shall stay until I -have unravelled this question. I have already in the laboratory three -kinds of products from the factory. To-morrow night, or the day after, I -shall know what to think....</p> - -<p>“You remember what I used to say to you and to M. Dumas, that almost -certainly the first operation which tartar goes through in certain -factories causes it to lose all or nearly all its racemic acid. Well, in -the two Viennese factories, it is only<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span> two years since they began to -operate on crude tartar, and it is only two years since they first saw -the supposed sulphate of potash, the supposed sulphate of magnesia. For, -at M. Seybel’s, they had taken for sulphate of magnesia the little -crystals of racemic acid.</p> - -<p>“Shortly, this is as far as I have come—I spare you many details:—</p> - -<p>1. “The Naples tartar contains racemic acid.</p> - -<p>2. “The Austrian tartar (neighbourhood of Vienna) contains racemic acid.</p> - -<p>3. “The tartars of Hungary, Croatia, Carniola contain racemic acid.</p> - -<p>4. “The tartar of Naples contains notably more than the latter, for it -presents racemic acid even after one refining process, whilst that from -Austria and Hungary only presents it when in the crude state.</p> - -<p>“I believe it now to be extremely probable that I shall find some -racemic acid in French tartars, but in very small quantities; and if it -is not detected it is because all the circumstances of the manufacture -of tartaric acid are unknown or unappreciated, or because some little -precaution is neglected that would preserve it or make it visible.</p> - -<p>“You see, dear Marie, how useful was my journey.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Vienna, September 30, 1852.</i> I am not going to Trieste; I shall start -for Prague this evening.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Prague, October 1, 1852.</i> Here is a startling piece of news. I arrive -in Prague; I settle down in the Hôtel d’Angleterre, have lunch, and call -on M. Rochleder, Professor of chemistry, so that he may introduce me to -the manufacturer. I go to the chemist of the factory, Dr. Rassmann, for -whom I had a letter from M. Redtenbacher, his former master. That letter -contained all the questions that I usually make to the manufacturers of -tartaric acid.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Rassmann hardly took time to read the letter; he saw what it dealt -with, and said to me: ‘I have long obtained racemic acid. The Paris -Pharmaceutical Society offered a prize for whoever manufactured it. It -is a product of manufacture; I obtain it with the assistance of tartaric -acid.’ I took the chemist’s hand affectionately, and made him repeat -what he had said. Then I added: ‘You have made one of the greatest -discoveries that it is possible to make in chemistry. Perhaps you do not -realise as I do the full importance of it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span> But allow me to tell you -that, with my ideas, I look upon that discovery as impossible. I do not -ask for your secret; I shall await the publication of it with the -greatest impatience. So that is really true? You take a kilogramme of -pure tartaric acid, and with that you make racemic acid?’</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Yes,’ he said; ‘but it is still’ ... and as he had some difficulty in -expressing himself, I said: ‘It is still surrounded with great -difficulties?’</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Yes, monsieur.’</p> - -<p>“Great heavens! what a discovery! if he had really done what he says! -But no; it is impossible. There is an abyss to cross, and chemistry is -yet too young.”</p> - -<p><i>Second letter, same date.</i> “M. Rassmann is mistaken.... He has never -obtained racemic acid with pure tartaric acid. He does what M. -Fikentscher and the Viennese manufacturers do, with slight differences, -which confirm the general opinion I expressed in my letter to M. Dumas a -few days ago.”</p> - -<p>That letter, and also another addressed to Biot, indicated that racemic -acid was formed in varying quantities in the mother-liquor, which -remained after the purification of crude tartars.</p> - -<p>“I can at last,” Pasteur wrote from Leipzig to his wife, “turn my steps -again towards France. I want it; I am very weary.”</p> - -<p>In an account of this journey in a newspaper called <i>La Vérité</i> there -was this sentence, which amused everybody, Pasteur included: “Never was -treasure sought, never adored beauty pursued over hill and vale with -greater ardour.”</p> - -<p>But the hero of scientific adventures was not satisfied. He had foreseen -by the examination of crystalline forms, the correlation between -hemihedral dissymmetry and rotatory power; this was, to his mind, a -happy foresight. He had afterwards succeeded in separating the racemic -acid, inactive on polarized light, into two acids, left and right, -endowed with equal but contrary rotatory powers; this was a discovery -deservedly qualified as memorable by good judges in those matters. Now -he had indicated the mother-liquor as a source of racemic acid, and this -was a precious observation that Kestner, who was specially interested in -the question, confirmed in a letter to the Académie des Sciences -(December, 1852), sending at the same time three large phials of racemic -acid, one of which, made of thin glass, broke in Biot’s hands. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> a -great advance, apparently unrealizable, remained yet to be accomplished. -Could not racemic acid be produced by the aid of tartaric acid?</p> - -<p>Pasteur himself, as he told the optimist Rassmann, did not believe such -a transformation possible. But, by dint of ingenious patience, of -trials, of efforts of all sorts, he fancied he was nearing the goal. He -wrote to his father: “I am thinking of one thing only, of the hope of a -brilliant discovery which seems not very far. But the result I foresee -is so extraordinary that I dare not believe it.” He told Biot and -Senarmont of this hope. Both seemed to doubt. “I advise you,” wrote -Senarmont, “not to speak until you can say: ‘I obtain racemic acid -artificially with some tartaric acid, of which I have myself verified -the purity; the artificial acid, like the natural, divides itself into -equal equivalents of left and right tartaric acids, and those acids have -the forms, the optical properties, all the chemical properties of those -obtained from the natural acid.’ Do not believe that I want to worry -you; the scruples I have for you I should have for myself; it is well to -be doubly sure when dealing with such a fact.” But with Biot, Senarmont -was less reserved; he believed the thing done. He said so to Biot, who, -prudent and cautious, still desirous of warning Pasteur, wrote to him on -May 27, 1853, speaking of Senarmont: “The affection with which your -work, your perseverance and your moral character have inspired him makes -him desire impossible prodigies for you. My friendship for you is less -hastily hopeful and harder to convince. However, enjoy his friendship -fully, and be as unreserved with him as you are with me. You can do so -in full security; I do not know a stronger character than his. I have -said and repeated to him how happy I am to see the affection he bears -you. For there will be at least one man who will love you and understand -you when I am gone. Farewell; enough sermons for to-day; a man must be -as I am, in his eightieth year, to write such long homilies. Fortunately -you are accustomed to mine, and do not mind them.”</p> - -<p>At last, on the first of June, here is the letter announcing the great -fact: “My dear father, I have just sent out the following telegram: -<i>Monsieur Biot, Collège de France, Paris. I transform tartaric acid into -racemic acid; please inform MM. Dumas and Senarmont.</i> Here is at last -that racemic acid (which I went to seek at Vienna) artificially obtained -through<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> tartaric acid. I long believed that that transformation was -impossible. This discovery will have incalculable consequences.”</p> - -<p>“I congratulate you,” answered Biot on the second of June. “Your -discovery is now complete. M. de Senarmont will be as delighted as I am. -Please congratulate also Mme. Pasteur from me; she must be as pleased as -you.” It was by maintaining tartrate of cinchonin at a high temperature -for several hours that Pasteur had succeeded in transforming tartaric -acid into racemic acid. Without entering here into technical details -(which are to be found in a report of the Paris Pharmaceutical Society, -concerning the prize accorded to Pasteur for the artificial production -of racemic acid) it may be added that he had also produced the neutral -tartaric acid—that is: with no action on polarized light—which -appeared at the expense of racemic acid already formed. There were -henceforth four different tartaric acids:—(1) the right or -dextro-tartaric acid; (2) the left or lævo-tartaric acid; (3) the -combination of the right and the left or racemic acid; and (4) the -meso-tartaric acid, optically inactive.</p> - -<p>The reports of the Académie des Sciences also contain accounts of -occasional discoveries, of researches of all kinds accessory to the -history of racemic acid. Thus aspartic acid had caused Pasteur to make a -sudden journey from Strasburg to Vendôme. A chemist named -Dessaignes—who was municipal receiver of that town, and who found time -through sheer love of science for researches on the constitution of -divers substances—had announced a fact which Pasteur wished to verify; -it turned out to be inaccurate.</p> - -<p>One whole sitting of the Académie, the third of January, 1853, was given -up to Pasteur’s name and growing achievements.</p> - -<p>After all this Pasteur came back to Arbois with the red ribbon of the -Legion of Honour. He had not won it in the same way as his father had, -but he deserved it as fully. Joseph Pasteur, delighting in his -illustrious son, wrote effusively to Biot; indeed the old scientist had -had his share in this act of justice. Biot answered in the following -letter, which is a further revelation of his high and independent ideal -of a scientific career.</p> - -<p>“Monsieur, your good heart makes out my share to be greater than it is. -The splendid discoveries made by your<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> worthy and excellent son, his -devotion to science, his indefatigable perseverance, the conscientious -care with which he fulfils the duties of his situation, all this had -made his position such that there was no need to solicit for him what he -had so long deserved. But one might boldly point out that it would be a -real loss to the Order if he were not promptly included within its -ranks. That is what I did, and I am very glad to see that the too long -delay is now at an end. I wished for this all the more as I knew of your -affectionate desire that this act of justice should be done. Allow me to -add, however, that in our profession our real distinction depends on us -alone, fortunately, and not on the favour or indifference of a minister. -In the position that your son has acquired, his reputation will grow -with his work, no other help being needed; and the esteem he already -enjoys, and which will grow day by day, will be accorded to him, without -gainsaying or appeal, by the Grand Jury of scientists of all nations—an -absolutely just tribunal, the only one we recognize.</p> - -<p>“Allow me to add to my congratulations the expression of the esteem and -cordial affection with which you have inspired me.”</p> - -<p>On his return to Strasburg Pasteur went to live in a house in the Rue -des Couples, which suited him as being near the Académie and his -laboratory; it also had a garden where his children could play. He was -full of projects, and what he called the “spirit of invention” daily -suggested some new undertaking. The neighbourhood of Germany, at that -time a veritable hive of busy bees, was a fertile stimulant to the -French Faculty at Strasburg.</p> - -<p>But material means were lacking. When Pasteur received the prize of -1,500 francs given him by the Pharmaceutical Society, he gave up half of -it to buying instruments which the Strasburg laboratory was too poor to -afford. The resources then placed by the State at his disposal by way of -contribution to the expenses of a chemistry class only consisted of -1,200 francs under the heading “class expenses.” Pasteur had to pay the -wages of his laboratory attendant out of it. Now that he was better -provided, thanks to his prize, he renewed his studies on crystals.</p> - -<p>Taking up an octahedral crystal, he broke off a piece of it, then -replaced it in its mother-liquor. Whilst the crystal was growing larger -in every direction by a deposit of crystalline par<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span>ticles, a very active -formation was taking place on the mutilated part; after a few hours the -crystal had again assumed its original shape. The healing up of wounds, -said Pasteur, might be compared to that physical phenomenon. Claude -Bernard, much struck later on by these experiments of Pasteur’s and -recalling them with much praise, said in his turn—</p> - -<p>“These reconstituting phenomena of crystalline redintegration afford a -complete comparison with those presented by living beings in the case of -a wound more or less deep. In the crystal as in the animal, the damaged -part heals, gradually taking back its original shape, and in both cases -the reformation of tissue is far more active in that particular part -than under ordinary evolutive conditions.”</p> - -<p>Thus those two great minds saw affinities hidden under facts apparently -far apart. Other similarities yet more unexpected carried Pasteur away -towards the highest region of speculation. He spoke with enthusiasm of -molecular dissymmetry; he saw it everywhere in the universe. These -studies in dissymmetry gave birth twenty years later to a new science -arising immediately out of his work, viz. stereo-chemistry, or the -chemistry of space. He also saw in molecular dissymmetry the influence -of a great cosmic cause—</p> - -<p>“The universe,” he said one day, “is a dissymmetrical whole. I am -inclined to think that life, as manifested to us, must be a function of -the dissymmetry of the universe and of the consequences it produces. The -universe is dissymmetrical; for, if the whole of the bodies which -compose the solar system were placed before a glass moving with their -individual movements, the image in the glass could not be superposed to -the reality. Even the movement of solar life is dissymmetrical. A -luminous ray never strikes in a straight line the leaf where vegetable -life creates organic matter. Terrestrial magnetism, the opposition which -exists between the north and south poles in a magnet, that offered us by -the two electricities positive and negative, are but resultants from -dissymmetrical actions and movements.”</p> - -<p>“Life,” he said again, “is dominated by dissymmetrical actions. I can -even foresee that all living species are primordially, in their -structure, in their external forms, functions of cosmic dissymmetry.”</p> - -<p>And there appeared to him to be a barrier between mineral or artificial -products and products formed under the influence<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> of life. But he did -not look upon it as an impassable one, and he was careful to say, “It is -a distinction of fact and not of absolute principle.” As nature -elaborates immediate principles of life by means of dissymmetrical -forces, he wished that the chemist should imitate nature, and that, -breaking with methods founded upon the exclusive use of symmetrical -forces, he should bring dissymmetrical forces to bear upon the -production of chemical phenomena. He himself, after using powerful -magnets to attempt to introduce a manifestation of dissymmetry into the -form of crystals, had had a strong clockwork movement constructed, the -object of which was to keep a plant in continual rotatory motion first -in one direction then in another. He also proposed to try to keep a -plant alive, from its germination under the influence of solar rays -reversed by means of a mirror directed by a heliostat.</p> - -<p>But Biot wrote to him: “I should like to be able to turn you from the -attempts you wish to make on the influence of magnetism on vegetation. -M. de Senarmont agrees with me. To begin with, you will spend a great -deal on the purchase of instruments with the use of which you are not -familiar, and of which the success is very doubtful. They will take you -away from the fruitful course of experimental researches which you have -followed hitherto, where there is yet so much for you to do, and will -lead you from the certain to the uncertain.”</p> - -<p>“Louis is rather too preoccupied with his experiments,” wrote Mme. -Pasteur to her father-in-law; “you know that those he is undertaking -this year will give us, if they succeed, a Newton or a Galileo.”</p> - -<p>But success did not come. “My studies are going rather badly,” wrote -Pasteur in his turn (December 30). “I am almost afraid of failing in all -my endeavours this year, and of having no important achievement to -record by the end of next year. I am still hoping, though I suppose it -was rather mad to undertake what I have undertaken.”</p> - -<p>Whilst he was thus struggling, an experiment, which for others would -have been a mere chemical curiosity, interested him passionately. -Recalling one day how his first researches had led him to the study of -ferments: “If I place,” he said, “one of the salts of racemic acid, -paratartrate or racemate of ammonia, for instance, in the ordinary -conditions of fermentation, the dextro-tartaric acid alone ferments, the -other remains in the liquor. I may say, in passing, that this is the -best means<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span> of preparing lævo-tartaric acid. Why does the -dextro-tartaric acid alone become putrefied? Because the ferments of -that fermentation feed more easily on the right than on the left -molecules.”</p> - -<p>“I have done yet more,” he said much later, in a last lecture to the -Chemical Society of Paris; “I have kept alive some little seeds of -<i>penicillium glaucum</i>—that mucor which is to be found everywhere—on -the surface of ashes and paratartaric acid and I have seen the -lævo-tartaric acid appear....”</p> - -<p>What seemed to him startling in those two experiments was to find -molecular dissymmetry appear as a modifying agent on chemical affinities -in a phenomenon of the physiological order.</p> - -<p>By an interesting coincidence it was at the very moment when his studies -were bringing him towards fermentations that he was called to a country -where the local industry was to be the strongest stimulant to his new -researches.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> -1855—1859</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> September, 1854, he was made Professor and Dean of the new Faculté -des Sciences at Lille. “I need not, Sir,” wrote the Minister of Public -Instruction, M. Fortoul, in a letter where private feelings were mixed -with official solemnity, “recall to your mind the importance which is -attached to the success of this new Faculty of Science, situated in a -town which is the richest centre of industrial activity in the north of -France. By giving you the direction of it, I show the entire confidence -which I have placed in you. I am convinced that you will fulfil the -hopes which I have founded upon your zeal.”</p> - -<p>Built at the expense of the town, the Faculté was situated in the Rue -des Fleurs. In the opening speech which he pronounced on December 7, -1854, the young Dean expressed his enthusiasm for the Imperial decree of -August 22, which brought two happy innovations into the Faculties of -Science: (1) The pupils might, for a small annual sum, enter the -laboratory and practise the principal experiments carried out before -them at the classes; and (2) a new diploma was created. After two years -of practical and theoretical study the young men who wished to enter an -industrial career could obtain this special diploma and be chosen as -foremen or overseers. Pasteur was overjoyed at being able to do useful -work in that country of distilleries, and to attract large audiences to -the new Faculty. “Where in your families will you find,” he said, to -excite indolent minds—“where will you find a young man whose curiosity -and interest will not immediately be awakened when you put into his -hands a potato, when with that potato he may produce sugar, with that -sugar alcohol, with that alcohol æther and vinegar? Where is he that -will not be happy to tell his family in the evening that he has just -been working out an electric telegraph? And, gentlemen, be convinced of -this, such studies are seldom if ever forgotten. It is somewhat as if -geography were to be taught<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> by travelling; such geography is remembered -because one has seen the places. In the same way your sons will not -forget what the air we breathe contains when they have once analysed it, -when in their hands and under their eyes the admirable properties of its -elements have been resolved.”</p> - -<p>After stating his wish to be directly useful to these sons of -manufacturers and to put his laboratory at their disposal, he eloquently -upheld the rights of theory in teaching—</p> - -<p>“Without theory, practice is but routine born of habit. Theory alone can -bring forth and develop the spirit of invention. It is to you specially -that it will belong not to share the opinion of those narrow minds who -disdain everything in science which has not an immediate application. -You know Franklin’s charming saying? He was witnessing the first -demonstration of a purely scientific discovery, and people round him -said: ‘But what is the use of it?’ Franklin answered them: ‘What is the -use of a new-born child?’ Yes, gentlemen, what is the use of a new-born -child? And yet, perhaps, at that tender age, germs already existed in -you of the talents which distinguish you! In your baby boys, fragile -beings as they are, there are incipient magistrates, scientists, heroes -as valiant as those who are now covering themselves with glory under the -walls of Sebastopol. And thus, gentlemen, a theoretical discovery has -but the merit of its existence: it awakens hope, and that is all. But -let it be cultivated, let it grow, and you will see what it will become.</p> - -<p>“Do you know when it first saw the light, this electric telegraph, one -of the most marvellous applications of modern science? It was in that -memorable year, 1822: Oersted, a Danish physicist, held in his hands a -piece of copper wire, joined by its extremities to the two poles of a -Volta pile. On his table was a magnetized needle on its pivot, and he -suddenly saw (by chance you will say, but chance only favours the mind -which is prepared) the needle move and take up a position quite -different from the one assigned to it by terrestrial magnetism. A wire -carrying an electric current deviates a magnetized needle from its -position. That, gentlemen, was the birth of the modern telegraph. -Franklin’s interlocutor might well have said when the needle moved: ‘But -what is the use of that?’ And yet that discovery was barely twenty years -old when it produced by its application the almost supernatural effects -of the electric telegraph!<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The small theatre where Pasteur gave his chemistry lessons soon became -celebrated in the students’ world.</p> - -<p>The faults had disappeared with which Pasteur used to reproach himself -when he first taught at Dijon and later at Strasburg. He was sure of -himself, he was clear in his explanations; the chain of thought, the -fitness of words, all was perfect. He made few experiments, but those -were decisive. He endeavoured to bring out every observation or -comparison they might suggest. The pupil who went away delighted from -the class did not suspect the care each of those apparently easy lessons -had cost. When Pasteur had carefully prepared all his notes, he used to -make a summary of them; he had these summaries bound together -afterwards. We may thus sketch the outline of his work; but who will -paint the gesture of demonstration, the movement, the grave penetrating -voice, the life in short?</p> - -<p>After a few months the Minister wrote to M. Guillemin, the rector, that -he was much pleased with the success of this Faculty of Sciences at -Lille, “which already owes it to the merit of the teaching—solid and -brilliant at the same time—of that clever Professor, that it is able to -rival the most flourishing Faculties.” The Minister felt he must add -some official advice: “But M. Pasteur must guard against being carried -away by his love for science, and he must not forget that the teaching -of the Faculties, whilst keeping up with scientific theory, should, in -order to produce useful and far-reaching results, appropriate to itself -the special applications suitable to the real wants of the surrounding -country.”</p> - -<p>A year after the inauguration of the new Faculty, Pasteur wrote to -Chappuis: “Our classes are very well attended; I have 250 to 300 people -at my most popular lectures, and we have twenty-one pupils entered for -laboratory experiments. I believe that this year, like last year, Lille -holds the first rank for that innovation, for I am told that at Lyons -there were but eight entries.” It was indeed a success to distance -Lyons. “The zeal of all is a pleasure to watch (January, 1856). It -reaches that point that four of the professors take the trouble to have -their manuscript lessons printed; there are already 120 subscribers for -the course of applied mechanics.</p> - -<p>“Our building is fortunately completed; it is large and handsome, but -will soon become insufficient owing to the progress of practical -teaching.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span></p> - -<p>“We are very comfortably settled on the first floor, and I have (on the -ground floor immediately below) what I have always wished for, a -laboratory where I can go at any time. This week, for instance, the gas -remains on, and operations follow their course whilst I am in bed. In -this way I try to make up a little of the time which I have to give to -the direction of all the rather numerous departments in our Faculties. -Add to this that I am a member of two very active societies, and that I -have been entrusted, at the suggestion of the Conseil-Général,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> with -the testing of manures for the département of the Nord, a considerable -work in this rich agricultural land, but one which I have accepted -eagerly, so as to popularize and enlarge the influence of our young -Faculty.</p> - -<p>“Do not fear lest all this should keep me from the studies I love. I -shall not give them up, and I trust that what is already accomplished -will grow without my help, with the growth that time gives to everything -that has within it the germ of life. Let us all work; that only is -enjoyable. I am quoting M. Biot, who certainly is an authority on that -subject. You saw the share he took the other day in a great discussion -at the Académie des Sciences; his presence of mind, high reasoning -powers, and youthfulness were magnificent, and he is eighty-four!”</p> - -<p>In a mere study on Pasteur as a scientific man, the way in which he -understood his duties as Dean would only be a secondary detail. It is -not so here, the very object of this book being to paint what he was in -all the circumstances, all the trials of life. Besides his professional -obligations, his kindness in leaving his laboratory, however hard the -sacrifice, bears witness to an ever present devotion. For instance, he -took his pupils round factories and foundries at Aniche, Denain, -Valenciennes, St. Omer. In July, 1856, he organized for the same pupils -a tour in Belgium. He took them to visit factories, iron foundries, -steel and metal works, questioning the foremen with his insatiable -curiosity, pleased to induce in his tall students a desire to learn. All -returned from these trips with more pleasure in their work; some with -the fiery enthusiasm that Pasteur wished to see.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span></p> - -<p>The sentence in his Lille speech, “in the fields of observation, chance -only favours the mind which is prepared,” was particularly applicable to -him. In the summer of 1856 a Lille manufacturer, M. Bigo, had, like many -others that same year, met with great disappointments in the manufacture -of beetroot alcohol. He came to the young Dean for advice. The prospect -of doing a kindness, of communicating the results of his observations to -the numerous hearers who crowded the small theatre of the Faculty, and -of closely studying the phenomena of fermentation which preoccupied him -to such a degree, caused Pasteur to consent to make some experiments. He -spent some time almost daily at the factory. On his return to his -laboratory—where he only had a student’s microscope and a most -primitive coke-fed stove—he examined the globules in the fermentation -juice, he compared filtered with non-filtered beetroot juice, and -conceived stimulating hypotheses often to be abandoned in face of a fact -in contradiction with them. Above some note made a few days previously, -where a suggested hypothesis had not been verified by fact, he would -write: “error,” “erroneous,” for he was implacable in his criticism of -himself.</p> - -<p>M. Bigo’s son, who studied in Pasteur’s laboratory, has summed up in a -letter how these accidents of manufacture became a starting point to -Pasteur’s investigations on fermentation, particularly alcoholic -fermentation. “Pasteur had noticed through the microscope that the -globules were round when fermentation was healthy, that they lengthened -when alteration began, and were quite long when fermentation became -lactic. This very simple method allowed us to watch the process and to -avoid the failures in fermentation which we used so often to meet -with.... I had the good fortune to be many times the confidant of the -enthusiasms and disappointments of a great man of science.” Young Bigo -indeed remembered the series of experiments, the numerous observations -noted, and how Pasteur, whilst studying the causes of those failures in -the distillery, had wondered whether he was not confronted with a -general fact, common to all fermentations. Pasteur was on the road to a -discovery the consequences of which were to revolutionize chemistry. -During months and months he worked to assure himself that he was not a -prey to error.</p> - -<p>In order to appreciate the importance of the ideas which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span> from that -small laboratory were about to inundate the world, and in order to take -account of the effort necessitated to obtain the triumph of a theory -which was to become a doctrine, it is necessary to go back to the -teachings of that time upon the subject of fermentations. All was -darkness, pierced in 1836 by a momentary ray of light. The physicist -Cagniard-Latour, studying the ferment of beer called yeast, had observed -that that ferment was composed of cells “susceptible of reproduction by -a sort of budding, and probably acting on sugar through some effect of -their vegetation.” Almost at the same time the German doctor Schwann was -making analogous observations. However, as the fact seemed isolated, -nothing similar being met with elsewhere, Cagniard-Latour’s remark was -but a curious parenthesis in the history of fermentations.</p> - -<p>When such men as J. B. Dumas said that perhaps there might be a sequel -to Cagniard-Latour’s statement, they emitted the idea so timidly that, -in a book <i>On Contagion</i> published at Montpellier in 1853, Anglada, the -well known author, expressed himself thus—</p> - -<p>“M. Dumas, who is an authority, looks upon the act of fermentation as -<i>strange and obscure</i>; he declares that it gives rise to phenomena the -knowledge of which is only tentative at present. Such a competent -affirmation is of a nature to discourage those who claim to unravel the -mysteries of contagion by the comparative study of fermentation. What is -the advantage of explaining one through the other since both are equally -mysterious!” This word, <i>obscure</i>, was to be found everywhere. Claude -Bernard used the same epithet at the Collège de France in March, 1850, -to qualify those phenomena.</p> - -<p>Four months before the request of the Lille manufacturer, Pasteur -himself, preparing on a loose sheet of paper a lesson on fermentation, -had written these words: “What does fermentation consist of?—Mysterious -character of the phenomenon.—A word on lactic acid.” Did he speak in -that lesson of his ideas of future experiments? Did he insist upon the -mystery he intended to unveil? With his powers of concentration it is -probable that he restrained himself and decided to wait another year.</p> - -<p>The theories of Berzelius and of Liebig then reigned supreme. To the -mind of Berzelius, the Swedish chemist, fermentation was due to contact. -It was said that there was a catalytic force. In his opinion, what -Cagniard-Latour<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> believed he had seen, was but “an immediate vegetable -principle, which became precipitated during the fermentation of beer, -and which, in precipitating, presented forms analogous to the simpler -forms of vegetable life, but formation does not constitute life.”</p> - -<p>In the view of the German chemist Liebig, chemical decomposition was -produced by influence: the ferment was an extremely alterable organic -substance which decomposed, and in decomposing set in motion, by the -rupture of its own elements, the molecules of the fermentative matter; -it was the dead portion of the yeast, that which had lived and was being -altered, which acted upon the sugar. These theories were adopted, -taught, and to be found in all treatises on chemistry.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>A vacancy at the Académie des Sciences took Pasteur away from his -students for a time and obliged him to go to Paris. Biot, Dumas, Balard -and Senarmont had insisted upon his presenting himself in the section of -mineralogy. He felt himself unfit for the candidature. He was as -incapable of election manœuvres as he was full of his subject when he -had to convince an interlocutor or to interest an audience in his works -on crystallography. (These works had just procured the bestowal on him -of the great Rumford medal, conferred by the London Royal Society.) -During this detested canvassing campaign he had one happy day: he was -present on February 5, 1857, at the reception of Biot by the Académie -Française.</p> - -<p>Biot, who had entered the Académie des Sciences fifty-four years -earlier, and was now the oldest member of the Institute, took advantage -of his great age to distribute, in the course of his speech, a good deal -of wise counsel, much applauded by Pasteur from the ranks of the -audience. Biot, with his calm irony, aimed this epigram at men of -science who disdained letters: “Their science was not the more apparent -through their want of literary culture.” He ended by remarks which -formed a continuation of his last letter to Pasteur’s father. Making an -appeal to those whose high ambition is to consecrate themselves to pure -science, he proudly said: “Perhaps your name, your existence will be -unknown to the crowd. But you will be known, esteemed, sought after by a -small number of eminent men scattered over the face of the earth, your -rivals, your peers in the intellectual Senate of minds; they alone have -the right to appreciate you and to assign to you your rank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span> a -well-merited rank, which no princely will, no popular caprice can give -or take away, and which will remain yours as long as you remain faithful -to Science, which bestows it upon you.”</p> - -<p>Guizot, to whom it fell to welcome Biot to the Académie, rendered homage -to his independence, to his worship of disinterested research, to his -ready counsels. “The events which have overturned everything around -you,” he said, “have never turned the course of your free and firm -judgment, or of your peaceful labours.” On that occasion the decline of -Biot’s life seemed like a beautiful summer evening in the north, before -nightfall, when a soft light still envelops all things. No disciple ever -felt more emotion than Pasteur when participating in that last joy of -his aged master. In Regnault’s laboratory, a photograph had been taken -of Biot seated with bent head and a weary attitude, but with the old -sparkle in his eyes. Biot offered it to Pasteur, saying: “If you place -this proof near a portrait of your father, you will unite the pictures -of two men who have loved you very much in the same way.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, between two canvassing visits, gave himself the pleasure of -going to hear a young professor that every one was then speaking of. “I -have just been to a lecture by Rigault, at the Collège de France,” he -wrote on March 6, 1857. “The room is too small, it is a struggle to get -in. I have come away delighted; it is a splendid success for the -Université, there is nothing to add, nothing to retrench. Fancy a -professor in one of the Paris <i>lycées</i> making such a début at the -Collège de France!”</p> - -<p>Pasteur preferred Rigault to St. Marc Girardin. “And Rigault is only -beginning!” But, under Rigault’s elegance and apparent ease, lurked -perpetual constraint. One day that St. Marc Girardin was congratulating -him, “Ah,” said Rigault, “you do not see the steel corsets that I wear -when I am speaking!” That comparison suited his delicate, ingenious, -slightly artificial mind, never unrestrained even in simple -conversation, at the same time conscientious and self-conscious. He who -had once written that “Life is a work of art to be fashioned by a -skilful hand if the faculties of the mind are to be fully enjoyed,” made -the mistake of forcing his nature. He died a few months after that -lecture.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s enthusiastic lines about Rigault show the joy he felt at the -success of others. He did not understand envy, ill-will, or jealousy, -and was more than astonished, indeed amazed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span> when he came across such -feelings. One day that he had read an important paper at the Académie -des Sciences, “Would you believe it,” he wrote to his father, “I met a -Paris Professor of chemistry the very next day, whom I know to have been -present, who had indeed come purposely to hear my reading, and he never -said a word! I then remembered a saying of M. Biot’s: ‘When a colleague -reads a paper and no one speaks to him about it afterwards, it is -because it has been thought well of....’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>The election was at hand. Pasteur wrote (March 11): “My dear father, I -am certain to fail.” He thought he might count upon twenty votes; thirty -were necessary. He resigned himself philosophically. His candidature -would at any rate bring his works into greater prominence. In spite of a -splendid report by Senarmont, enumerating the successive steps by which -Pasteur had risen since his first discoveries concerning the connection -between internal structure and external crystalline forms, Pasteur only -obtained sixteen votes.</p> - -<p>On his return to Lille he set to work with renewed energy; he took up -again his study of fermentations, and in particular that of sour milk, -called lactic fermentation; he made notes of his experiments day by day; -he drew in a notebook the little globules, the tiny bodies that he found -in a grey substance sometimes arranged in a zone. Those globules, much -smaller than those of yeast, had escaped the observation of chemists and -naturalists because it was easy to confound them with other products of -lactic fermentation. After isolating and then scattering in a liquid a -trace of that grey substance, Pasteur saw some well-characterized lactic -fermentation appear. That matter, that grey substance was indeed the -ferment.</p> - -<p>Whilst all the writings of the chemists who followed in the train of -Liebig and Berzelius united in rejecting the idea of an influence of -life in the cause of fermentations, Pasteur recognized therein a -phenomenon correlative to life. That special lactic yeast, Pasteur could -see budding, multiplying, and offering the same phenomena of -reproduction as beer yeast.</p> - -<p>It was not to the Académie des Sciences, as is generally believed, that -Pasteur sent the paper on lactic fermentation, the fifteen pages of -which contained such curious and unexpected facts. With much delicacy of -feeling, Pasteur made to the Lille Scientific Society this communication -(August, 1857) which the Académie des Sciences only saw three months -later.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span></p> - -<p>How was it that he desired to leave this Faculty at Lille to which he -had rendered such valuable service? The Ecole Normale was going through -difficult times. “In my opinion,” wrote Pasteur with a sadness that -betrayed his attachment to the great school, “of all the objects of care -to the authorities, the Ecole Normale should be the first; it is now but -the shadow of its former self.” He who so often said, “Do not dwell upon -things already acquired!” thought that the Lille Faculty was henceforth -sure of its future and needed him no longer. Was it not better to come -to the assistance of the threatened weak point? At the Ministry of -Public Instruction his wish was understood and approved of. Nisard had -just been made Director of the Ecole Normale with high and supreme -powers; his sub-director of literary studies was M. Jacquinet. The -administration was reserved for Pasteur, who was also entrusted with the -direction of the scientific studies. To that task were added “the -surveillance of the economic and hygienic management, the care of -general discipline, intercourse with the families of the pupils and the -literary or scientific establishments frequented by them.”</p> - -<p>The rector of the Lille Faculty announced in these terms the departure -of the Dean: “Our Faculty loses a professor and a scientist of the very -first order. You have yourselves, gentlemen, been able to appreciate -more than once all the vigour and clearness of that mind at once so -powerful and so capable.”</p> - -<p>At the Ecole Normale, Pasteur’s labours were not at first seconded by -material convenience. The only laboratory in the Rue d’Ulm building was -occupied by Henri Sainte Claire Deville who, in 1851, had taken the -place of Balard, the latter leaving the Ecole Normale for the Collège de -France. Dark rooms, a very few instruments, and a credit of 1,800 francs -a year, that was all Sainte Claire Deville had been able to obtain. It -would have seemed like a dream to Pasteur. He had to organize his -scientific installation in two attics under the roof of the Ecole -Normale; he had no assistance of any kind, not even that of an ordinary -laboratory attendant. But his courage was not of the kind which -evaporates at the first obstacle, and no difficulty could have kept him -from work: he climbed the stairs leading to his pseudo-laboratory with -all the cheerfulness of a soldier’s son. Biot—who had been grieved to -see the chemist Laurent working in a sort of cellar, where that -scientist’s health suffered (he died at forty-three)—was angry that -Pasteur should<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> be relegated to an uninhabitable garret. Neither did he -understand the “economic and hygienic surveillance” attributed to -Pasteur. He hoped Pasteur would reduce to their just proportions those -secondary duties. “They have made him an administrator,” he said with -mock pomposity; “let them believe that he will administrate.” Biot was -mistaken. The <i>de minimis non curat</i> did not exist for Pasteur.</p> - -<p>On one of his agenda leaves, besides subjects for lectures, we find -notes such as these: “Catering; ascertain what weight of meat per pupil -is given out at the Ecole Polytechnique. Courtyard to be strewn with -sand. Ventilation of classroom. Dining hall door to be repaired.” Each -detail was of importance in his eyes, when the health of the students -was in question.</p> - -<p>He inaugurated his garret by some work almost as celebrated as that on -lactic fermentation. In December, 1857, he presented to the Académie des -Sciences a paper on alcoholic fermentation. “I have submitted,” he said, -“alcoholic fermentation to the method of experimentation indicated in -the notes which I recently had the honour of presenting to the Académie. -The results of those labours should be put on the same lines, for they -explain and complete each other.” And in conclusion: “The deduplication -of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid is correlative to a phenomenon -of life, an organization of globules....”</p> - -<p>The reports of the Académie des Sciences for 1858 show how Pasteur -recognized complex phenomena in alcoholic fermentation. Whilst chemists -were content to say: “So much sugar gives so much alcohol and so much -carbonic acid,” Pasteur went further. He wrote to Chappuis in June: “I -find that alcoholic fermentation is constantly accompanied by the -production of glycerine; it is a very curious fact. For instance, in one -litre of wine there are several grammes of that product which had not -been suspected.” Shortly before that he had also recognized the normal -presence in alcoholic fermentation of succinic acid. “I should be -pursuing the consequences of these facts,” he added, “if a temperature -of 36° C. did not keep me from my laboratory. I regret to see the -longest days in the year lost to me. Yet I have grown accustomed to my -attic, and I should be sorry to leave it. Next holidays I hope to -enlarge it. You too are struggling against material hindrances in your -work; let it stimulate us, my dear fellow, and not discourage us. Our -discoveries will have the greater merit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The year 1859 was given up to examining further facts concerning -fermentation. Whence came those ferments, those microscopic bodies, -those transforming agents, so weak in appearance, so powerful in -reality? Great problems were working in his mind; but he was careful not -to propound them hastily, for he was the most timid, the most hesitating -of men until he held proofs in his hands. “In experimental science,” he -wrote, “it is always a mistake not to doubt when facts do not compel you -to affirm.”</p> - -<p>In September he lost his eldest daughter. She died of typhoid fever at -Arbois, where she was staying with her grandfather. On December 30 -Pasteur wrote to his father: “I cannot keep my thoughts from my poor -little girl, so good, so happy in her little life, whom this fatal year -now ending has taken away from us. She was growing to be such a -companion to her mother and to me, to us all.... But forgive me, dearest -father, for recalling these sad memories. She is happy; let us think of -those who remain and try as much as lies in our power to keep from them -the bitterness of this life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> -1860—1864</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">On</span> January 30, 1860, the Académie des Sciences conferred on Pasteur the -Prize for Experimental Physiology. Claude Bernard, who drew up the -report, recalled how much Pasteur’s experiments in alcoholic -fermentation, lactic fermentation, the fermentation of tartaric acid, -had been appreciated by the Académie. He dwelt upon the great -physiological interest of the results obtained. “It is,” he concluded, -“by reason of that physiological tendency in Pasteur’s researches, that -the Commission has unanimously selected him for the 1859 Prize for -Experimental Physiology.”</p> - -<p>That same January, Pasteur wrote to Chappuis: “I am pursuing as best I -can these studies on fermentation which are of great interest, connected -as they are with the impenetrable mystery of Life and Death. I am hoping -to mark a decisive step very soon by solving, without the least -confusion, the celebrated question of spontaneous generation. Already I -could speak, but I want to push my experiments yet further. There is so -much obscurity, together with so much passion, on both sides, that I -shall require the accuracy of an arithmetical problem to convince my -opponents by my conclusions. I intend to attain even that.”</p> - -<p>This progress was depicted to his father in the following letter, dated -February 7, 1860—</p> - -<p>“I think I told you that I should read a second and last lecture on my -old researches on Friday, at the Chemical Society, before several -members of the Institute—amongst others, Messrs. Dumas and Claude -Bernard. That lecture has had the same success as the first. M. Biot -heard about it the next day through some distinguished persons who were -in the audience, and sent for me in order to kindly express his great -satisfaction.</p> - -<p>“After I had finished, M. Dumas, who occupied the chair,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span> rose and -addressed me in these words. After praising the zeal I had brought to -this novel kind of teaching at the Society’s request, and the <i>so great -penetration I had given proof of, in the course of the work I had just -expounded, he added, ‘The Académie, sir, rewarded you a few days ago for -other profound researches; your audience of this evening will applaud -you as one of the most distinguished professors we possess.</i>’</p> - -<p>“All I have underlined was said in those very words by M. Dumas, and was -followed by great applause.</p> - -<p>“All the students of the scientific section of the Ecole Normale were -present; they felt deeply moved and several of them have expressed their -emotion to me.</p> - -<p>“As for myself, I saw the realization of what I had foreseen. You know -how I have always told you confidentially that time would see the growth -of my researches on the molecular dissymmetry of natural organic -products. Founded as they were on varied notions borrowed from divers -branches of science—crystallography, physics, and chemistry—those -studies could not be followed by most scientists so as to be fully -understood. On this occasion I presented them in the aggregate with some -clearness and power and every one was struck by their importance.</p> - -<p>“It is not by their form that these two lectures have delighted my -hearers, it is by their contents; it is the future reserved to those -great results, so unexpected, and opening such entirely new vistas to -physiology. I have dared to say so, for at these heights all sense of -personality disappears, and there only remains that sense of dignity -which is ever inspired by true love of science.</p> - -<p>“God grant that by my persevering labours I may bring a little stone to -the frail and ill-assured edifice of our knowledge of those deep -mysteries of Life and Death where all our intellects have so lamentably -failed.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—Yesterday I presented to the Academy my researches on spontaneous -generation; they seemed to produce a great sensation. More later.”</p> - -<p>When Biot heard that Pasteur wished to tackle this study of spontaneous -generation, he interposed, as he had done seven years before, to arrest -him on the verge of his audacious experiments on the part played by -dissymmetrical forces in the development of life. Vainly Pasteur, -grieved at Biot’s disapprobation, explained that this question, in the -course of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span> such researches, had become an imperious necessity; Biot -would not be convinced. But Pasteur, in spite of his quasi-filial -attachment to Biot, could not stop where he was; he had to go through to -the end.</p> - -<p>“You will never find your way out,” cried Biot.</p> - -<p>“I shall try,” said Pasteur modestly.</p> - -<p>Angry and anxious, Biot wished Pasteur to promise that he would -relinquish these apparently hopeless researches. J. B. Dumas, to whom -Pasteur related the more than discouraging remonstrances of Biot, -entrenched himself behind this cautious phrase—</p> - -<p>“I would advise no one to dwell too long on such a subject.”</p> - -<p>Senarmont alone, full of confidence in the ingenious curiosity of the -man who could read nature by dint of patience, said that Pasteur should -be allowed his own way.</p> - -<p>It is regrettable that Biot—whose passion for reading was so -indefatigable that he complained of not finding enough books in the -library at the Institute—should not have thought of writing the history -of this question of spontaneous generation. He could have gone back to -Aristotle, quoted Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Pliny. Philosophers, poets, -naturalists, all believed in spontaneous generation. Time went on, and -it was still believed in. In the sixteenth century, Van Helmont—who -should not be judged by that one instance—gave a celebrated recipe to -create mice: any one could work that prodigy by putting some dirty linen -in a receptacle, together with a few grains of wheat or a piece of -cheese. Some time later an Italian, Buonanni, announced a fact no less -fantastic: certain timberwood, he said, after rotting in the sea, -produced worms which engendered butterflies, and those butterflies -became birds.</p> - -<p>Another Italian, less credulous, a poet and a physician, Francesco Redi, -belonging to a learned society calling itself The Academy of Experience, -resolved to carefully study one of those supposed phenomena of -spontaneous generation. In order to demonstrate that the worms found in -rotten meat did not appear spontaneously, he placed a piece of gauze -over the meat. Flies, attracted by the odour, deposited their eggs on -the gauze. From those eggs were hatched the worms, which had until then -been supposed to begin life spontaneously in the flesh itself. This -simple experiment marked some progress. Later on another Italian, a -medical professor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span> Padua, Vallisneri, recognized that the grub in a -fruit is also hatched from an egg deposited by an insect before the -development of the fruit.</p> - -<p>The theory of spontaneous generation, still losing ground, appeared to -be vanquished when the invention of the microscope at the end of the -seventeenth century brought fresh arguments to its assistance. Whence -came those thousands of creatures, only distinguishable on the slide of -the microscope, those infinitely small beings which appeared in rain -water as in any infusion of organic matter when exposed to the air? How -could they be explained otherwise than through spontaneous generation, -those bodies capable of producing 1,000,000 descendants in less than -forty-eight hours.</p> - -<p>The world of salons and of minor courts was pleased to have an opinion -on this question. The Cardinal of Polignac, a diplomat and a man of -letters, wrote in his leisure moments a long Latin poem entitled the -<i>Anti-Lucretius</i>. After scouting Lucretius and other philosophers of the -same school, the cardinal traced back to one Supreme Foresight the -mechanism and organization of the entire world. By ingenious -developments and circumlocutions, worthy of the Abbé Delille, the -cardinal, while vaunting the wonders of the microscope, which he called -“eye of our eye,” saw in it only another prodigy offered us by Almighty -Wisdom. Of all those accumulated and verified arguments, this simple -notion stood out: “The earth, which contains numberless germs, has not -produced them. Everything in this world has its germ or seed.”</p> - -<p>Diderot, who disseminated so many ideas (since borrowed by many people -and used as if originated by them), wrote in some tumultuous pages on -nature: “Does living matter combine with living matter? how? and with -what result? And what about dead matter?”</p> - -<p>About the middle of the eighteenth century the problem was again raised -on scientific ground. Two priests, one an Englishman, Needham, and the -other an Italian, Spallanzani, entered the lists. Needham, a great -partisan of spontaneous generation, studied with Buffon some microscopic -animalculæ. Buffon afterwards built up a whole system which became -fashionable at that time. The force which Needham found in matter, a -force which he called productive or vegetative, and which he regarded as -charged with the formation of the organic world, Buffon explained by -saying that there are certain primi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span>tive and incorruptible parts common -to animals and to vegetables. These organic molecules cast themselves -into the moulds or shapes which constituted different beings. When one -of those moulds was destroyed by death, the organic molecules became -free; ever active, they worked the putrefied matter, appropriating to -themselves some raw particles and forming, said Buffon, “by their -reunion, a multitude of little organized bodies, of which some, like -earthworms, and fungi, seem to be fair-sized animals or vegetables, but -of which others, in almost infinite numbers, can only be seen through -the microscope.”</p> - -<p>All those bodies, according to him, only existed through spontaneous -generation. Spontaneous generation takes place continually and -universally after death and sometimes during life. Such was in his view -the origin of intestinal worms. And, carrying his investigations -further, he added, “The eels in flour paste, those of vinegar, all those -so-called microscopic animals, are but different shapes taken -spontaneously, according to circumstances, by that ever active matter -which only tends to organization.”</p> - -<p>The Abbé Spallanzani, armed with a microscope, studied these -infinitesimal beings. He tried to distinguish them and their mode of -life. Needham had affirmed that by enclosing putrescible matter in vases -and by placing those vases on warm ashes, he produced animalculæ. -Spallanzani suspected: firstly that Needham had not exposed the vases to -a sufficient degree of heat to kill the seeds which were inside; and -secondly, that seeds could easily have entered those vases and given -birth to animalculæ, for Needham had only closed his vases with cork -stoppers, which are very porous.</p> - -<p>“I repeated that experiment with more accuracy,” wrote Spallanzani. “I -used hermetically sealed vases. I kept them for an hour in boiling -water, and after having opened them and examined their contents within a -reasonable time I found not the slightest trace of animalculæ, though I -had examined with the microscope the infusions from nineteen different -vases.”</p> - -<p>Thus dropped to the ground, in Spallanzani’s eyes, Needham’s singular -theory, this famous vegetative force, this occult virtue. Yet Needham -did not own himself beaten. He retorted that Spallanzani had much -weakened, perhaps destroyed, the vegetative force of the infused -substances by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span> leaving his vases in boiling water during an hour. He -advised him to try with less heat.</p> - -<p>The public took an interest in this quarrel. In an opuscule entitled -<i>Singularities of Nature</i> (1769), Voltaire, a born journalist, laughed -at Needham, whom he turned into an Irish Jesuit to amuse his readers. -Joking on this race of so-called eels which began life in the gravy of -boiled mutton, he said: “At once several philosophers exclaimed at the -wonder and said, ‘There is no germ; all is made, all is regenerated by a -vital force of nature.’ ‘Attraction,’ said one; ‘Organized matter,’ said -another, ‘they are organic molecules which have found their casts.’ -Clever physicists were taken in by a Jesuit.”</p> - -<p>In those pages, lightly penned, nothing remained of what Voltaire called -“the ridiculous mistake, the unfortunate experiments of Needham, so -triumphantly refuted by M. Spallanzani and rejected by whoever has -studied nature at all.” “It is now demonstrated to sight and to reason -that there is no vegetable, no animal but has its own germ.” In his -<i>Philosophic Dictionary</i>, at the word God, “It is very strange,” said -Voltaire, “that men should deny a creator and yet attribute to -themselves the power of creating eels!” The Abbé Needham, meeting with -these religious arguments, rather unexpected from Voltaire, endeavoured -to prove that the hypothesis of spontaneous generation was in perfect -accordance with religious beliefs. But both on Needham’s side and on -Spallanzani’s there was a complete lack of conclusive proofs.</p> - -<p>Philosophic argumentation always returned to the fore. As recently as -1846 Ernest Bersot (a moralist who became later a director of the Ecole -Normale) wrote in his book on Spiritualism: “The doctrine of spontaneous -generation pleases simplicity-loving minds; it leads them far beyond -their own expectations. But it is yet only a private opinion, and, were -it recognized, its virtue would have to be limited and narrowed down to -the production of a few inferior animals.”</p> - -<p>That doctrine was about to be noisily re-introduced.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>On December 20, 1858, a correspondent of the Institute, M. Pouchet, -director of the Natural History Museum of Rouen, sent to the Académie -des Sciences a <i>Note on Vegetable and Animal Proto-organisms -spontaneously Generated in Artificial Air and in Oxygen Gas</i>. The note -began thus: “At this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> time when, seconded by the progress of science, -several naturalists are endeavouring to reduce the domain of spontaneous -generation or even to deny its existence altogether, I have undertaken a -series of researches with the object of elucidating this vexed -question.” Pouchet, declaring that he had taken excessive precautions to -preserve his experiments from any cause of error, proclaimed that he was -prepared to demonstrate that “animals and plants could be generated in a -medium absolutely free from atmospheric air, and in which, therefore, no -germ of organic bodies could have been brought by air.”</p> - -<p>On one copy of that communication, the opening of a four years’ -scientific campaign, Pasteur had underlined the passages which he -intended to submit to rigorous experimentation. The scientific world was -discussing the matter; Pasteur set himself to work.</p> - -<p>A new installation, albeit a summary one, allowed him to attempt some -delicate experiments. At one of the extremities of the façade of the -Ecole Normale, on the same line as the doorkeeper’s lodge, a pavilion -had been built for the school architect and his clerk. Pasteur succeeded -in obtaining possession of this small building, and transformed it into -a laboratory. He built a drying stove under the staircase; though he -could only reach the stove by crawling on his knees, yet this was better -than his old attic. He also had a pleasant surprise—he was given a -curator. He had deserved one sooner, for he had founded the institution -of <i>agrégés préparateurs</i>. Remembering his own desire, on leaving the -Ecole Normale, to have a year or two for independent study, he had -wished to facilitate for others the obtaining of those few years of -research and perhaps inspiration. Thanks to him, five places as -laboratory curators were exclusively reserved to Ecole Normale students -who had taken their degree (<i>agrégés</i>). The first curator who entered -the new laboratory was Jules Raulin, a young man with a clear and -sagacious mind, a calm and tenacious character, loving difficulties for -the sake of overcoming them.</p> - -<p>Pasteur began by the microscopic study of atmospheric air. “If germs -exist in atmosphere,” he said, “could they not be arrested on their -way?” It then occurred to him to draw—through an aspirator—a current -of outside air through a tube containing a little plug of cotton wool. -The current as it passed deposited on this sort of filter some of the -solid corpuscles<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span> contained in the air; the cotton wool often became -black with those various kinds of dust. Pasteur assured himself that -amongst various detritus those dusts presented spores and germs. “There -are therefore in the air some organized corpuscles. Are they germs -capable of vegetable productions, or of infusions? That is the question -to solve.” He undertook a series of experiments to demonstrate that the -most putrescible liquid remained pure indefinitely if placed out of the -reach of atmospheric dusts. But it was sufficient to place in a pure -liquid a particle of the cotton-wool filter to obtain an immediate -alteration.</p> - -<p>A year before starting any discussion Pasteur wrote to Pouchet that the -results which he had attained were “not founded on facts of a faultless -exactitude. I think you are wrong, not in believing in spontaneous -generation (for it is difficult in such a case not to have a -preconceived idea), but in affirming the existence of spontaneous -generation. In experimental science it is always a mistake not to doubt -when facts do not compel affirmation.... In my opinion, the question is -whole and untouched by decisive proofs. What is there in air which -provokes organization? Are they germs? is it a solid? is it a gas? is it -a fluid? is it a principle such as ozone? All this is unknown and -invites experiment.”</p> - -<p>After a year’s study, Pasteur reached this conclusion: “Gases, fluids, -electricity, magnetism, ozone, things known or things occult, there is -nothing in the air that is conditional to life, except the germs that it -carries.”</p> - -<p>Pouchet defended himself vigorously. To suppose that germs came from air -seemed to him impossible. How many millions of loose eggs or spores -would then be contained in a cubic millimetre of atmospheric air?</p> - -<p>“What will be the outcome of this giant’s struggle?” grandiloquently -wrote an editor of the <i>Moniteur Scientifique</i> (April, 1860). Pouchet -answered this anonymous writer by advising him to accept the doctrine of -spontaneous generation adopted of old by so many “men of genius.” -Pouchet’s principal disciple was a lover of science and of letters, M. -Nicolas Joly, an <i>agrégé</i> of natural science, doctor of medicine, and -professor of physiology at Toulouse. He himself had a pupil, Charles -Musset, who was preparing a thesis for his doctor’s degree under the -title: <i>New Experimental Researches on Heterogenia, or Spontaneous -Generation</i>. By the words<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span> heterogenia or spontaneous generation Joly -and Musset agreed in affirming that “they did not mean a creation out of -nothing, but the production of a new organized being, lacking parents, -and of which the primordial elements are drawn from ambient organic -matter.”</p> - -<p>Thus supported, Pouchet multiplied objections to the views of Pasteur, -who had to meet every argument. Pasteur intended to narrow more and more -the sphere of discussion. It was an ingenious operation to take the -dusts from a cotton-wool filter, to disseminate them in a liquid, and -thus to determine the alteration of that liquid; but the cotton wool -itself was an organic substance and might be suspected. He therefore -substituted for the cotton wool a plug of asbestos fibre, a mineral -substance. He invented little glass flasks with a long curved neck; he -filled them with an alterable liquid, which he deprived of germs by -ebullition; the flask was in communication with the outer air through -its curved tube, but the atmospheric germs were deposited in the curve -of the neck without reaching the liquid; in order that alteration should -take place, the vessel had to be inclined until the point where the -liquid reached the dusts in the neck.</p> - -<p>But Pouchet said, “How could germs contained in the air be numerous -enough to develop in every organic infusion? Such a crowd of them would -produce a thick mist as dense as iron.” Of all the difficulties this -last seemed to Pasteur the hardest to solve. Could it not be that the -dissemination of germs was more or less thick according to places? -“Then,” cried the heterogenists, “there would be sterile zones and -fecund zones, a most convenient hypothesis, indeed!” Pasteur let them -laugh whilst he was preparing a series of flasks reserved for divers -experiments. If spontaneous generation existed, it should invariably -occur in vessels filled with the same alterable liquid. “Yet it is ever -possible,” affirmed Pasteur, “to take up in certain places a notable -though limited volume of ordinary air, having been submitted to no -physical or chemical change, and still absolutely incapable of producing -any alteration in an eminently putrescible liquor.” He was ready to -prove that nothing was easier than to increase or to reduce the number -either of the vessels where productions should appear or of the vessels -where those productions should be lacking. After introducing into a -series of flasks of a capacity of 250 cubic centimetres a very easily -corrupted liquid, such as yeast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> water, he submitted each flask to -ebullition. The neck of those vessels was ended off in a vertical point. -Whilst the liquid was still boiling, he closed, with an enameller’s -lamp, the pointed opening through which the steam had rushed out, taking -with it all the air contained in the vessel. Those flasks were indeed -calculated to satisfy both partisans or adversaries of spontaneous -generation. If the extremity of the neck of one of these vessels was -suddenly broken, all the ambient air rushed into the flask, bringing in -all the suspended dusts; the bulb was closed again at once with the -assistance of a jet of flame. Pasteur could then carry it away and place -it in a temperature of 25-30° C., quite suitable for the development of -germs and mucors.</p> - -<p>In those series of tests some flasks showed some alteration, others -remained pure, according to the place where the air had been admitted. -During the beginning of the year 1860 Pasteur broke his bulb points and -enclosed ordinary air in many different places, including the cellars of -the Observatory of Paris. There, in that zone of an invariable -temperature, the absolutely calm air could not be compared to the air he -gathered in the yard of the same building. The results were also very -different: out of ten vessels opened in the cellar, closed again and -placed in the stove, only one showed any alteration; whilst eleven -others, opened in the yard, all yielded organized bodies.</p> - -<p>In a letter to his father (June, 1860), Pasteur wrote: “I have been -prevented from writing by my experiments, which continue to be very -curious. But it is such a wide subject that I have almost too many ideas -of experiments. I am still being contradicted by two naturalists, M. -Pouchet of Rouen and M. Joly of Toulouse. But I do not waste my time in -answering them; they may say what they like, truth is on my side. They -do not know how to experiment; it is not an easy art; it demands, -besides certain natural qualities, a long practice which naturalists -have not generally acquired nowadays.”</p> - -<p>When the long vacation approached, Pasteur, who intended to go on a -voyage of experiments, laid in a store of glass flasks. He wrote to -Chappuis, on August 10, 1860: “I fear from your letter that you will not -go to the Alps this year.... Besides the pleasure of having you for a -guide, I had hoped to utilize your love of science by offering you the -modest part of curator. It is by some study of air on heights afar from -habitations and vegetation that I want to conclude my work on so-called -spon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span>taneous generation. The real interest of that work for me lies in -the connection of this subject with that of ferments which I shall take -up again November.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur started for Arbois, taking with him seventy-three flasks; he -opened twenty of them not very far from his father’s tannery, on the -road to Dôle, along an old road, now a path which leads to the mount of -the Bergère. The vine labourers who passed him wondered what this -holiday tourist could be doing with all those little phials; no one -suspected that he was penetrating one of nature’s greatest secrets. -“What would you have?” merrily said his old friend, Jules Vercel; “it -amuses him!” Of those twenty vessels, opened some distance away from any -dwelling, eight yielded organized bodies.</p> - -<p>Pasteur went on to Salins and climbed Mount Poupet, 850 metres above the -sea-level. Out of twenty vessels opened, only five were altered. Pasteur -would have liked to charter a balloon in order to prove that the higher -you go the fewer germs you find, and that certain zones absolutely pure -contain none at all. It was easier to go into the Alps.</p> - -<p>He arrived at Chamonix on September 20, and engaged a guide to make the -ascent of the Montanvert. The very next morning this novel sort of -expedition started. A mule carried the case of thirty-three vessels, -followed very closely by Pasteur, who watched over the precious burden -and walked alongside of precipices supporting the case with one hand so -that it should not be shaken.</p> - -<p>When the first experiments were started an incident occurred. Pasteur -has himself related this fact in his report to the Académie. “In order -to close again the point of the flasks after taking in the air, I had -taken with me an eolipyle spirit-lamp. The dazzling whiteness of the ice -in the sunlight was such that it was impossible to distinguish the jet -of burning alcohol, and as moreover that was slightly moved by the wind, -it never remained on the broken glass long enough to hermetically seal -my vessel. All the means I might have employed to make the flame visible -and consequently directable would inevitably have given rise to causes -of error by spreading strange dusts into the air. I was therefore -obliged to bring back to the little inn of Montanvert, unsealed, the -flasks which I had opened on the glacier.”</p> - -<p>The inn was a sort of hut, letting in wind and rain. The thirteen open -vessels were exposed to all the dusts in the room<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> where Pasteur slept; -nearly all of them presented alterations.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile the guide was sent to Chamonix where a tinker undertook -to modify the lamp in view of the coming experiment.</p> - -<p>The next morning, twenty flasks, which have remained celebrated in the -world of scientific investigators, were brought to the Mer de Glace. -Pasteur gathered the air with infinite precautions; he used to enjoy -relating these details to those people who call everything easy. After -tracing with a steel point a line on the glass, careful lest dusts -should become a cause of error, he began by heating the neck and fine -point of the bulb in the flame of the little spirit-lamp. Then raising -the vessel above his head, he broke the point with steel nippers, the -long ends of which had also been heated in order to burn the dusts which -might be on their surface and which would have been driven into the -vessel by the quick inrush of the air. Of those twenty flasks, closed -again immediately, only one was altered. “If all the results are -compared that I have obtained until now,” he wrote, on March 5, 1880, -when relating this journey to the Académie, “it seems to me that it can -be affirmed that the dusts suspended in atmospheric air are the -exclusive origin, the necessary condition of life in infusions.”</p> - -<p>And in an unnoticed little sentence, pointing already then to the goal -he had in view, “What would be most desirable would be to push those -studies far enough to prepare the road for a serious research into the -origin of various diseases.” The action of those little beings, agents -not only of fermentation but also of disorganization and putrefaction, -already dawned upon him.</p> - -<p>While Pasteur was going from the Observatoire cellars to the Mer de -Glace, Pouchet was gathering air on the plains of Sicily, making -experiments on Etna, and on the sea. He saw everywhere, he wrote, “air -equally favourable to organic genesis, whether surcharged with detritus -in the midst of our populous cities, or taken on the summit of a -mountain, or on the sea, where it offers extreme purity. With a cubic -decimetre of air, taken where you like, I affirm that you can ever -produce legions of microzoa.”</p> - -<p>And the heterogenists proclaimed in unison that “everywhere, strictly -everywhere, air is constantly favourable to life.” Those who followed -the debate nearly all leaned towards<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span> Pouchet. “I am afraid,” wrote a -scientific journalist in <i>La Presse</i> (1860), “that the experiments you -quote, M. Pasteur, will turn against you.... The world into which you -wish to take us is really too fantastic....”</p> - -<p>And yet some adversaries should have been struck by the efforts of a -mind which, while marching forward to establish new facts, was ever -seeking arguments against itself, and turned back to strengthen points -which seemed yet weak. In November, Pasteur returned to his studies on -fermentations in general and lactic fermentation in particular. -Endeavouring to bring into evidence the animated nature of the lactic -ferment, and to indicate the most suitable surroundings for the -self-development of that ferment, he had come across some complications -which hampered the purity and the progress of that culture. Then he had -perceived another fermentation, following upon lactic fermentation and -known as butyric fermentation. As he did not immediately perceive the -origin of this butyric acid—which causes the bad smell in rancid -butter—he ended by being struck by the inevitable coincidence between -the (then called) infusory animalculæ and the production of this acid.</p> - -<p>“The most constantly repeated tests,” he wrote in February, 1861, “have -convinced me that the transformation of sugar, mannite and lactic acid -into butyric acid is due exclusively to those Infusories, and they must -be considered as the real butyric ferment.” Those vibriones that Pasteur -described as under the shape of small cylindric rods with rounded ends, -sliding about, sometimes in a chain of three or four articles, he sowed -in an appropriate medium, as he sowed beer yeast. But, by a strange -phenomenon, “those infusory animalculæ,” he said, “live and multiply -indefinitely, without requiring the least quantity of air. And not only -do they live without air, but air actually kills them. It is sufficient -to send a current of atmospheric air during an hour or two through the -liquor where those vibriones were multiplying to cause them all to -perish and thus to arrest butyric fermentation, whilst a current of pure -carbonic acid gas passing through that same liquor hindered them in no -way. Thence this double proposition,” concluded Pasteur; “the butyric -ferment is an infusory; that infusory lives without free oxygen.” He -afterwards called anaërobes those beings which do not require air, in -opposition to the name of aërobes given to other microscopic beings who -require air to live.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span></p> - -<p>Biot, without knowing all the consequences of these studies, had not -been long in perceiving that he had been far too sceptical, and that -physiological discoveries of the very first rank would be the outcome of -researches on so-called spontaneous generation. He would have wished, -before he died, not only that Pasteur should be the unanimously selected -candidate for the 1861 Zecker prize in the Chemistry Section, but also -that his friend, forty-eight years younger than himself, should be a -member of the Institute. At the beginning of 1861, there was one vacancy -in the Botanical Section. Biot took advantage of the researches pursued -by Pasteur within the last three years, to say and to print that he -should be nominated as a candidate. “I can hear the commonplace -objection: he is a chemist, a physicist, not a professional botanist.... -But that very versatility, ever active and ever successful, should be a -title in his favour.... Let us judge of men by their works and not by -the destination more or less wide or narrow that they have marked out -for themselves. Pasteur made his début before the Académie in 1848, with -the remarkable treatise which contained by implication the resolution of -the paratartaric acid into its two components, right and left. He was -then twenty-six; the sensation produced is not forgotten. Since then, -during the twelve years which followed, he has submitted to your -appreciation twenty-one papers, the last ten relating to vegetable -physiology. All are full of new facts, often very unexpected, several -very far reaching, not one of which has been found inaccurate by -competent judges. If to-day, by your suffrage, you introduce M. Pasteur -into the Botanical Section, as you might safely have done for Théodore -de Saussure or Ingenhousz, you will have acquired for the Académie and -for that particular section an experimentalist of the same order as -those two great men.”</p> - -<p>Balard, who in this academic campaign made common cause with Biot, was -also making efforts to persuade several members of the Botanical -Section. He was walking one day in the Luxembourg with Moquin-Tandon, -pouring out, in his rasping voice, arguments in favour of Pasteur. -“Well,” said Moquin-Tandon, “let us go to Pasteur’s, and if you find a -botanical work in his library I shall put him on the list.” It was a -witty form given to the scruples of the botanists. Pasteur only had -twenty-four votes; Duchartre was elected.</p> - -<p>The study of a microscopic fungus, capable by itself of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span> transforming -wine into vinegar, the bringing to light of the action of that -mycoderma, endowed with the power of taking oxygen from air and fixing -it upon alcohol, thus transforming the latter into acetic acid; the most -ingenious experiments to demonstrate the absolute and exclusive power of -the little plant, all gave reason to Biot’s affirmation that such skill -in the observation of inferior vegetables equalled any botanist’s claim. -Pasteur, showing that the interpretations of the causes which act in the -formation of vinegar were false, and that alone the microscopic fungus -did everything, was constantly dwelling on this power of the -infinitesimally small. “Mycoderma,” he said, “can bring the action of -combustion of the oxygen in air to bear on a number of organic materia. -If microscopic beings were to disappear from our globe, the surface of -the earth would be encumbered with dead organic matter and corpses of -all kinds, animal and vegetable. It is chiefly they who give to oxygen -its powers of combustion. Without them, life would become impossible -because death would be incomplete.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s ideas on fermentation and putrefaction were being adopted by -disciples unknown to him. “I am sending you,” he wrote to his father, “a -treatise on fermentation, which was the subject of a recent competition -at the Montpellier Faculty. This work is dedicated to me by its author, -whom I do not know at all, a circumstance which shows that my results -are spreading and exciting some attention.</p> - -<p>“I have only read the last pages, which have pleased me; if the rest is -the same, it is a very good <i>résumé</i>, entirely conceived in the new -direction of my labours, evidently well understood by this young doctor.</p> - -<p>“M. Biot is very well, only suffering a little from insomnia. He has, -fortunately for his health, finished that great account of my former -results which will be the greatest title I can have to the esteem of -scientists.”</p> - -<p>Biot died without having realized his last wish, which was to have -Pasteur for a colleague. It was only at the end of the year 1862 that -Pasteur was nominated by the Mineralogical Section for the seat of -Senarmont. This new candidature did not go without a hitch. In his study -on tartrates, Pasteur, as will be remembered, had discovered that their -crystalline forms were hemihedral. When he examined the characteristic -faces, he held the crystal in a particular way and said: “It is -hemihedral on the right side.” A German mineralogist, named<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span> -Rammelsberg, holding the crystal in the opposite direction, said: “It is -hemihedral on the left side.” It was a mere matter of conventional -orientation; nothing was changed in the scientific results announced by -Pasteur. But some adversaries made a weapon of that inverted crystal; -not a dangerous weapon, thought Pasteur at first, fancying that a few -words would clear the misunderstanding. But the campaign persisted, with -insinuations, murmurs, whisperings. When Pasteur saw this simple -difference in the way the crystal was held stigmatised as a cause of -error, he desired to cut short this quarrel made in Germany. He then had -with him no longer Raulin, but M. Duclaux, who was beginning his -scientific life. M. Duclaux remembers one day when Pasteur, seeing that -incontrovertible arguments were required, sent for a cabinet maker with -his tools. He superintended the making of a complete wooden set of the -crystalline forms of tartrates, a gigantic set, such as Gulliver might -have seen in Brobdingnag if he had studied geometrical forms in that -island. A coating of coloured paper finished the work; green paper -marked the hemihedral face. A member of the Philomathic Society, Pasteur -asked the Society to give up the meeting of November 8, 1862, to the -discussion of that subject. Several of his colleagues vainly endeavoured -to dissuade him from that intention; Pasteur hearkened to no one. He -took with him his provision of wooden crystals, and gave a vivid and -impassioned lecture. “If you know the question,” he asked his -adversaries, “where is your conscience? If you know it not, why meddle -with it?” And with one of his accustomed sudden turns, “What is all -this?” he added. “One of those incidents to which we all, more or less, -are exposed by the conditions of our career; no bitterness remains -behind. Of what account is it in the presence of those mysteries, so -varied, so numerous, that we all, in divers directions, are working to -clear? It is true I have had recourse to an unusual means of defending -myself against attacks not openly published, but I think that means was -safe and loyal, and deferential towards you. And,” he added, thinking of -Biot and Senarmont, “will you have my full confession? You know that I -had during fifteen years the inestimable advantage of the intercourse of -two men who are no more, but whose scientific probity shone as one of -the beacons of the Académie des Sciences. Before deciding on the course -I have now followed, I questioned my memory and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span> endeavoured to revive -their advice, and it seemed to me that they would not have disowned me.”</p> - -<p>M. Duclaux said about this meeting: “Pasteur has since then won many -oratorical victories. I do not know of a greater one than that deserved -by that acute and penetrating improvisation. He was still much heated as -we were walking back to the Rue d’Ulm, and I remember making him laugh -by asking him why, in the state of mind he was in, he had not concluded -by hurling his wooden crystals at his adversaries’ heads.”</p> - -<p>On December 8, 1862, Pasteur was elected a member of the Académie des -Sciences; out of sixty voters he received thirty-six suffrages.</p> - -<p>The next morning, when the gates of the Montparnasse cemetery were -opened, a woman walked towards Biot’s grave with her hands full of -flowers. It was Mme. Pasteur who was bringing them to him who lay there -since February 5, 1862, and who had loved Pasteur with so deep an -affection.</p> - -<p>A letter picked up at a sale of autographs, one of the last Biot wrote, -gives a finishing touch to his moral portrait. It is addressed to an -unknown person discouraged with this life. “Sir,—The confidence you -honour me with touches me. But I am not a physician of souls. However, -in my opinion, you could not do better than seek remedies to your moral -suffering in work, religion, and charity. A useful work taken up with -energy and persevered in will revive by occupation the forces of your -mind. Religious feelings will console you by inspiring you with -patience. Charity manifested to others will soften your sorrows and -teach you that you are not alone to suffer in this life. Look around -you, and you will see afflicted ones more to be pitied than yourself. -Try to ease their sufferings; the good you will do to them will fall -back upon yourself and will show you that a life which can thus be -employed is not a burden which cannot, which must not be borne.”</p> - -<p>On his entering the Académie des Sciences, Balard and Dumas advised -Pasteur to let alone his wooden crystals and to continue his studies on -ferments. He undertook to demonstrate that “the hypothesis of a -phenomenon of mere contact is not more admissible than the opinion which -placed the ferment character exclusively in dead albuminoid matter.” -Whilst continuing his researches on beings which could live without air, -he tried, as he went along, à propos of spontaneous generation, to find -some weak point in his work. Until now the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span> liquids he had used, however -alterable they were, had been brought up to boiling point. Was there not -some new and decisive experiment to make? Could he not study organic -matter as constituted by life and expose to the contact of air deprived -of its germs some fresh liquids, highly putrescible, such as blood and -urine? Claude Bernard, joining in these experiments of Pasteur’s, -himself took some blood from a dog. This blood was sealed up in a glass -phial, with every condition of purity, and the phial remained in a stove -constantly heated up to 30°C. from March 3 until April 20, 1862, when -Pasteur laid it on the Académie table. The blood had suffered no sort of -putrefaction; neither had some urine treated in the same way. “The -conclusions to which I have been led by my first series of experiments,” -said Pasteur before the Académie, “are therefore applicable in all cases -to organic substances.”</p> - -<p>While studying putrefaction, which is itself but a fermentation applied -to animal materia, while showing the marvellous power of the -infinitesimally small, he foresaw the immensity of the domain he had -conquered, as will be proved by the following incident. Some time after -the Académie election, in March, 1863, the Emperor, who took an interest -in all that took place in the small laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm, desired -to speak with Pasteur. J. B. Dumas claimed the privilege of presenting -his former pupil, and the interview took place at the Tuileries. -Napoleon questioned Pasteur with a gentle, slightly dreamy insistence. -Pasteur wrote the next day: “I assured the Emperor that all my ambition -was to arrive at the knowledge of the causes of putrid and contagious -diseases.”</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile, the chapter on ferments was not yet closed; Pasteur -was attracted by studies on wine. At the beginning of the 1863 holidays, -just before starting for Arbois, he drew up this programme with one of -his pupils: “From the 20th to the 30th (August) preparation in Paris of -all the vessels, apparatus, products, that we must take. September 1, -departure for the Jura; installation; purchase of the products of a -vineyard. Immediate beginning of tests of all kinds. We shall have to -hurry; grapes do not keep long.”</p> - -<p>Whilst he was preparing this vintage tour, which he intended to make -with three “Normaliens,” Duclaux, Gernez and Lechartier, the three -heterogenists, Pouchet, Joly and Musset, proposed to use that same time -in fighting Pasteur on his own ground. They started from -Bagnères-de-Luchon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span> followed by several guides and taking with them all -kinds of provisions and some little glass flasks with a slender pointed -neck. They crossed the pass of Venasque without incident, and decided to -go further, to the Rencluse. Some isard-stalkers having come towards the -strange-looking party, they were signalled away; even the guides were -invited to stand aside. It was necessary to prevent any dusts from -reaching the bulbs, which were thus opened at 8 p.m. at a height of -2,083 metres. But eighty-three metres higher than the Montanvert did not -seem to them enough, they wished to go higher. “We shall sleep on the -mountain,” said the three scientists. Fatigue and bitter cold, they -withstood everything with the courage inspired by a problem to solve. -The next morning they climbed across that rocky chaos, and at last -reached the foot of one of the greatest glaciers of the Maladetta, 3,000 -metres above the sea-level. “A very deep narrow crevasse,” says Pouchet, -“seemed to us the most suitable place for our experiments.” Four phials -(filled with a decoction of hay) were opened and sealed again with -precautions that Pouchet considered as exaggerated.</p> - -<p>Pouchet, in his merely scientific report, does not relate the return -journey, yet more perilous than the ascent. At one of the most dangerous -places, Joly slipped, and would have rolled into a precipice, but for -the strength and presence of mind of one of the guides. All three at -last came back to Luchon, forgetful of dangers run, and glorying at -having reached 1,000 metres higher than Pasteur. They triumphed when -they saw alteration in their flasks! “Therefore,” said Pouchet, “the air -of the Maladetta, and of high mountains in general, is not incapable of -producing alteration in an eminently putrescible liquor; therefore -heterogenia or the production of a new being devoid of parents, but -formed at the expense of ambient organic matter, is for us a reality.”</p> - -<p>The Academy of Sciences was taking more and more interest in this -debate. In November, 1863, Joly and Musset expressed a wish that the -Academy should appoint a Commission, before whom the principal -experiments of Pasteur and of his adversaries should be repeated. On -this occasion Flourens expressed his opinion thus: “I am blamed in -certain quarters for giving no opinion on the question of spontaneous -generation. As long as my opinion was not formed, I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span> nothing to say. -It is now formed, and I give it: M. Pasteur’s experiments are decisive. -If spontaneous generation is real, what is required to obtain -animalculæ? Air and putrescible liquor. M. Pasteur puts air and -putrescible liquor together and nothing happens. Therefore spontaneous -generation is not. To doubt further is to misunderstand the question.”</p> - -<p>Already in the preceding year, the Académie itself had evidenced its -opinion by giving Pasteur the prize of a competition proposed in these -terms: “To attempt to throw some new light upon the question of -so-called spontaneous generation by well-conducted experiments.” -Pasteur’s treatise on <i>Organized Corpuscles existing in Atmosphere</i> had -been unanimously preferred. Pasteur might have entrenched himself behind -the suffrages of the Academy, but begged it, in order to close those -incessant debates, to appoint the Commission demanded by Joly and -Musset.</p> - -<p>The members of the Commission were Flourens, Dumas, Brongniart, -Milne-Edwards, and Balard. Pasteur wished that the discussion should -take place as soon as possible, and it was fixed for the first fortnight -in March. But Pouchet, Joly and Musset asked for a delay on account of -the cold. “We consider that it might compromise, perhaps prevent, our -results, to operate in a temperature which often goes below zero even in -the south of France. How do we know that it will not freeze in Paris -between the first and fifteenth of March?” They even asked the -Commission to adjourn experiments until the summer. “I am much -surprised,” wrote Pasteur, “at the delay sought by Messrs. Pouchet, Joly -and Musset; it would have been easy with a stove to raise the -temperature to the degree required by those gentlemen. For my part I -hasten to assure the Academy that I am at its disposal, and that in -summer, or in any other season, I am ready to repeat my experiments.”</p> - -<p>Some evening scientific lectures had just been inaugurated at the -Sorbonne; such a subject as spontaneous generation was naturally on the -programme. When Pasteur entered the large lecture room of the Sorbonne -on April 7, 1864, he must have been reminded of the days of his youth, -when crowds came, as to a theatrical performance, to hear J. B. Dumas -speak. Dumas’ pupil, now a master, in his turn found a still greater -crowd invading every corner. Amongst the professors and students, such -celebrities as Duruy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span> Alexandre Dumas senior, George Sand, Princess -Mathilde, were being pointed out. Around them, the inevitable “smart” -people who must see everything and be seen everywhere, without whom no -function favoured by fashion would be complete; in short what is known -as the “Tout Paris.” But this “Tout Paris” was about to receive a novel -impression, probably a lasting one. The man who stood before this -fashionable audience was not one of those speakers who attempt by an -insinuating exordium to gain the good graces of their hearers; it was a -grave-looking man, his face full of quiet energy and reflective force. -He began in a deep, firm voice, evidently earnestly convinced of the -greatness of his mission as a teacher: “Great problems are now being -handled, keeping every thinking man in suspense; the unity or -multiplicity of human races; the creation of man 1,000 years or 1,000 -centuries ago, the fixity of species, or the slow and progressive -transformation of one species into another; the eternity of matter; the -idea of a God unnecessary. Such are some of the questions that humanity -discusses nowadays.”</p> - -<p>He had now, he continued, entered upon a subject accessible to -experimentation, and which he had made the object of the strictest and -most conscientious studies. Can matter organize itself? Can living -beings come into the world without having been preceded by beings -similar to them? After showing that the doctrine of spontaneous -generation had gradually lost ground, he explained how the invention of -the microscope had caused it to reappear at the end of the seventeenth -century, “in the face of those beings, so numerous, so varied, so -strange in their shapes, the origin of which was connected with the -presence of all dead vegetable and animal matter in a state of -disorganization.” He went on to say how Pouchet had taken up this study, -and to point out the errors that this new partisan of an old doctrine -had committed, errors difficult to recognize at first. With perfect -clearness and simplicity, Pasteur explained how the dusts which are -suspended in air contain germs of inferior organized beings and how a -liquid preserved, by certain precautions, from the contact of these -germs can be kept indefinitely, giving his audience a glimpse of his -laboratory methods.</p> - -<p>“Here,” he said, “is an infusion of organic matter, as limpid as -distilled water, and extremely alterable. It has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span> prepared to-day. -To-morrow it will contain animalculæ, little infusories, or flakes of -mouldiness.</p> - -<p>“I place a portion of that infusion into a flask with a long neck, like -this one. Suppose I boil the liquid and leave it to cool. After a few -days, mouldiness or animalculæ will develop in the liquid. By boiling, I -destroyed any germs contained in the liquid or against the glass; but -that infusion being again in contact with air, it becomes altered, as -all infusions do. Now suppose I repeat this experiment, but that, before -boiling the liquid, I draw (by means of an enameller’s lamp) the neck of -the flask into a point, leaving, however, its extremity open. This being -done, I boil the liquid in the flask, and leave it to cool. Now the -liquid of this second flask will remain pure not only two days, a month, -a year, but three or four years—for the experiment I am telling you -about is already four years old, and the liquid remains as limpid as -distilled water. What difference is there, then, between those two -vases? They contain the same liquid, they both contain air, both are -open! Why does one decay and the other remain pure? The only difference -between them is this: in the first case, the dusts suspended in air and -their germs can fall into the neck of the flask and arrive into contact -with the liquid, where they find appropriate food and develop; thence -microscopic beings. In the second flask, on the contrary, it is -impossible, or at least extremely difficult, unless air is violently -shaken, that dusts suspended in air should enter the vase; they fall on -its curved neck. When air goes in and out of the vase through diffusions -or variations of temperature, the latter never being sudden, the air -comes in slowly enough to drop the dusts and germs that it carries at -the opening of the neck or in the first curves.</p> - -<p>“This experiment is full of instruction; for this must be noted, that -everything in air save its dusts can easily enter the vase and come into -contact with the liquid. Imagine what you choose in the -air—electricity, magnetism, ozone, unknown forces even, all can reach -the infusion. Only one thing cannot enter easily, and that is dust, -suspended in air. And the proof of this is that if I shake the vase -violently two or three times, in a few days it contains animalculæ or -mouldiness. Why? because air has come in violently enough to carry dust -with it.</p> - -<p>“And, therefore, gentlemen, I could point to that liquid and say to you, -I have taken my drop of water from the immensity of creation, and I have -taken it full of the elements appropriated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span> to the development of -inferior beings. And I wait, I watch, I question it, begging it to -recommence for me the beautiful spectacle of the first creation. But it -is dumb, dumb since these experiments were begun several years ago; it -is dumb because I have kept it from the only thing man cannot produce, -from the germs which float in the air, from Life, for Life is a germ and -a germ is Life. Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation -recover from the mortal blow of this simple experiment.”</p> - -<p>The public enthusiastically applauded these words, which ended the -lecture:</p> - -<p>“No, there is now no circumstance known in which it can be affirmed that -microscopic beings came into the world without germs, without parents -similar to themselves. Those who affirm it have been duped by illusions, -by ill-conducted experiments, spoilt by errors that they either did not -perceive or did not know how to avoid.”</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile, besides public lectures and new studies, Pasteur -succeeded in “administering” the Ecole Normale in the most complete -sense of the word. His influence was such that students acquired not a -taste but a passion for study; he directed each one in his own line, he -awakened their instincts. It was already through his wise inspiration -that five “Normaliens agrégés” should have the chance of the five -curators’ places; but his solicitude did not stop there. If some -disappointment befell some former pupil, still in that period of youth -which doubts nothing or nobody, he came vigorously to his assistance; he -was the counsellor of the future. A few letters will show how he -understood his responsibility.</p> - -<p>A Normalien, Paul Dalimier, received 1st at the <i>agrégation</i> of Physics -in 1858, afterwards Natural History curator at the Ecole, and who, -having taken his doctor’s degree, asked to be sent to a Faculty, was -ordered to go to the Lycée of Chaumont.</p> - -<p>In the face of this almost disgrace he wrote a despairing letter to -Pasteur. He could do nothing more, he said, his career was ruined. “My -dear sir,” answered Pasteur, “I much regret that I could not see you -before your departure for Chaumont. But here is the advice which I feel -will be useful to you. Do not manifest your just displeasure; but -attract attention from the very first by your zeal and talent. In a -word, aggravate, by your fine discharge of your new duties, the -injustice which has been committed. The discouragement expressed in -your<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> last letter is not worthy of a man of science. Keep but three -objects before your eyes: your class, your pupils and the work you have -begun.... Do your duty to the best of your ability, without troubling -about the rest.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur undertook the rest himself. He went to the Ministry to complain -of the injustice and unfairness, from a general point of view, of that -nomination.</p> - -<p>“Sir,” answered the Chaumont exile, “I have received your kind letter. -My deep respect for every word of yours will guarantee my intention to -follow your advice. I have given myself up entirely to my class. I have -found here a Physics cabinet in a deplorable state, and I have -undertaken to reorganise it.”</p> - -<p>He had not time to finish: justice was done, and Paul Dalimier was made -<i>maître des conférences</i> at the Ecole Normale. He died at twenty-eight.</p> - -<p>The wish that masters and pupils should remain in touch with each other -after the three years at the Ecole Normale had already in 1859 inspired -Pasteur to write a report on the desirableness of an annual report -entitled, <i>Scientific Annals of the Ecole Normale</i>.</p> - -<p>The initiative of pregnant ideas often is traced back to France. But, -through want of tenacity, she allows those same ideas to fall into decay -and they are taken up by other nations, transplanted, developed, until -they come back unrecognized to their mother country. Germany had seen -the possibilities of such a publication as Pasteur’s projected <i>Annals</i>. -Renan wrote about that time to the editors of the <i>Revue Germanique</i>, a -Review intended to draw France and Germany together: “In France, nothing -is made public until achieved and ripened. In Germany, a work is given -out provisionally, not as a teaching, but as an incitement to think, as -a ferment for the mind.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur felt all the power of that intellectual ferment. In the volume -entitled <i>Centenary of the Ecole Normale</i>, M. Gernez has recalled -Pasteur’s enthusiasm when he spoke of those <i>Annals</i>. Was it not for -former pupils, away in the provinces, a means of collaborating with -their old masters and of keeping in touch with Paris?</p> - -<p>It was in June, 1864, that Pasteur presented the first number of this -publication to the Académie des Sciences. M. Gernez, who was highly -thought of by Pasteur, has not related in the <i>Centenary</i> that the book -opened with some of his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span> researches on the rotatory power of certain -liquids and their steam.</p> - -<p>At that same time, the heterogenists had at last placed themselves at -the disposal of the Académie and were invited to meet Pasteur before the -Natural History Commission at M. Chevreul’s laboratory. “I affirm,” said -Pasteur, “that in any place it is possible to take up from the ambient -atmosphere a determined volume of air containing neither egg nor spore -and producing no generation in putrescible solutions.” The Commission -declared that, the whole contest bearing upon one simple fact, one -experiment only should take place. The heterogenists wanted to -recommence a whole series of experiments, thus reopening the discussion. -The Commission refused, and the heterogenists, unwilling to concede the -point, retired from the field, repudiating the arbiters that they had -themselves chosen.</p> - -<p>And yet Joly had written to the Académie, “If one only of our flasks -remains pure, we will loyally own our defeat.” A scientist who later -became Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, Jamin, wrote -about this conflict: “The heterogenists, however they may have coloured -their retreat, have condemned themselves. If they had been sure of the -fact—which they had solemnly engaged to prove or to own themselves -vanquished,—they would have insisted on showing it, it would have been -the triumph of their doctrine.”</p> - -<p>The heterogenists appealed to the public. A few days after their defeat, -Joly gave a lecture at the Faculty of Medicine. He called the trial, as -decided on by the Commission, a “circus competition”; he was applauded -by those who saw other than scientific questions in the matter. The -problem was now coming down from mountains and laboratories into the -arena of society discussions. If all comes from a germ, people said, -whence came the first germ? We must bow before that mystery, said -Pasteur; it is the question of the origin of all things, and absolutely -outside the domain of scientific research. But an invincible curiosity -exists amongst most men which cannot admit that science should have the -wisdom to content itself with the vast space between the beginning of -the world and the unknown future. Many people transform a question of -fact into a question of faith. Though Pasteur had brought into his -researches a solely scientific preoccupation, many people approved or -blamed him as the defender of a religious cause.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span></p> - -<p>Vainly had he said, “There is here no question of religion, philosophy, -atheism, materialism, or spiritualism. I might even add that they do not -matter to me as a scientist. It is a question of fact; when I took it up -I was as ready to be convinced by experiments that spontaneous -generation exists as I am now persuaded that those who believe it are -blindfolded.”</p> - -<p>It might have been thought that Pasteur’s arguments were in support of a -philosophical theory! It seemed impossible to those whose ideas came -from an ardent faith, from the influence of their surroundings, from -personal pride or from interested calculations to understand that a man -should seek truth for its own sake and with no other object than to -proclaim it. Hostilities were opened, journalists kept up the fire. A -priest, the Abbé Moigno spoke of converting unbelievers through the -proved non-existence of spontaneous generation. The celebrated novelist, -Edmond About, took up Pouchet’s cause with sparkling irony. “M. Pasteur -preached at the Sorbonne amidst a concert of applause which must have -gladdened the angels.”</p> - -<p>Thus, among the papers and reviews of that time we can follow the divers -ideas brought out by these discussions. Guizot, then almost eighty, -touched on this problem with the slightly haughty assurance of one -conscious of having given much thought to his beliefs and destiny. “Man -has not been formed through spontaneous generation, that is by a -creative and organizing force inherent in matter; scientific observation -daily overturns that theory, by which, moreover, it is impossible to -explain the first appearance upon the earth of man in his complete -state.” And he praised “M. Pasteur, who has brought into this question -the light of his scrupulous criticism.”</p> - -<p>Nisard was a wondering witness of what took place in the small -laboratory of the Ecole Normale. Ever preoccupied by the relations -between science and religion, he heard with some surprise Pasteur saying -modestly, “Researches on primary causes are not in the domain of -Science, which only recognizes facts and phenomena which it can -demonstrate.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not disinterest himself from the great problems which he -called the eternal subjects of men’s solitary meditations. But he did -not admit the interference of religion with science any more than that -of science with religion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span></p> - -<p>His eagerness during a conflict was only equalled by his absolute -forgetfulness after the conflict was over. He answered some one who, -years later, reminded him of that past so full of attacks and praises. -“A man of science should think of what will be said of him in the -following century, not of the insults or the compliments of one day.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, anxious to regain lost time, hurried to return to his studies -on wine. “Might not the diseases of wines,” he said at the Académie des -Sciences in January, 1864, “be caused by organized ferments, microscopic -vegetations, of which the germs would develop when certain circumstances -of temperature, of atmospheric variations, of exposure to air, would -favour their evolution or their introduction into wines?... I have -indeed reached this result that the alterations of wines are co-existent -with the presence and multiplication of microscopic vegetations.” Acid -wines, bitter wines, “ropy” wines, sour wines, he had studied them all -with a microscope, his surest guide in recognizing the existence and -form of the evil.</p> - -<p>As he had more particularly endeavoured to remedy the cause of the -acidity which often ruins the Jura red or white wines in the wood, the -town of Arbois, proud of its celebrated rosy and tawny wines, placed an -impromptu laboratory at his disposal during the holidays of 1864; the -expenses were all to be covered by the town. “This spontaneous offer -from a town dear to me for so many reasons,” answered Pasteur to the -Mayor and Town Council, “does too much honour to my modest labours, and -the way in which it is made covers me with confusion.” He refused it -however, fearing that the services he might render should not be -proportionate to the generosity of the Council. He preferred to camp out -with his curators in an old coffee room at the entrance of the town, and -they contented themselves with apparatus of the most primitive -description, generally made by some local tinker or shoeing smith.</p> - -<p>The problem consisted, in Pasteur’s view, in opposing the development of -organized ferments or parasitic vegetations, causes of the diseases of -wines. After some fruitless endeavours to destroy all vitality in the -germs of these parasites, he found that it was sufficient to keep the -wine for a few moments at a temperature of 50° C. to 60° C. “I have also -ascertained that wine was never altered by that preliminary operation, -and as nothing prevents it afterwards from under<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span>going the gradual -action of the oxygen in the air—the only cause, as I think, of its -improvement with age—it is evident that this process offers every -advantage.”</p> - -<p>It seems as if that simple and practical means, applicable to every -quality of wine, now only had to be tried. But not so. Every progress is -opposed by prejudice, petty jealousies, indolence even. A devoted -obstinacy is required in order to overcome this opposition. Pasteur’s -desire was that his country should benefit by his discovery. An -Englishman had written to him: “People are astonished in France that the -sale of French wines should not have become more extended here since the -Commercial Treaties. The reason is simple enough. At first we eagerly -welcomed those wines, but we soon had the sad experience that there was -too much loss occasioned by the diseases to which they are subject.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was in the midst of those discussions, experimental sittings, -etc., when J. B. Dumas suddenly asked of him the greatest of sacrifices, -that of leaving the laboratory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> -1865—1870</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">An</span> epidemic was ruining in terrible proportions the industry of the -cultivation of silkworms. J. B. Dumas had been desired, as Senator, to -draw up a report on the wishes of over 3,500 proprietors in -sericicultural departments, all begging the public authorities to study -the question of the causes of the protracted epidemic. Dumas was all the -more preoccupied as to the fate of sericiculture that he himself came -from one of the stricken departments. He was born on July 14, 1800, in -one of the back streets of the town of Alais, to which he enjoyed -returning as a celebrated scientist and a dignitary of the Empire. He -gave much attention to all the problems which interested the national -prosperity and considered that the best judges in these matters were the -men of science. He well knew the conscientious tenacity—besides other -characteristics—which his pupil and friend brought into any -undertaking, and anxiously urged him to undertake this study. “Your -proposition,” wrote Pasteur in a few hurried lines, “throws me into a -great perplexity; it is indeed most flattering and the object is a high -one, but it troubles and embarrasses me! Remember, if you please, that I -have never even touched a silkworm. If I had some of your knowledge on -the subject I should not hesitate; it may even come within the range of -my present studies. However, the recollection of your many kindnesses to -me would leave me bitter regrets if I were to decline your pressing -invitation. Do as you like with me.” On May 17, 1865, Dumas wrote: “I -attach the greatest value to seeing your attention fixed on the question -which interests my poor country; the distress is beyond anything you can -imagine.”</p> - -<p>Before his departure for Alais, Pasteur had read an essay on the history -of the silkworm, published by one of his col<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span>leagues, Quatrefages, born -like Dumas in the Gard. Quatrefages attributed to an Empress of China -the first knowledge of the art of utilizing silk, more than 4,000 years -ago. The Chinese, in possession of the precious insect, had jealously -preserved the monopoly of its culture, even to the point of making it a -capital offence to take beyond the frontiers of the Empire the eggs of -the silkworm. A young princess, 2,000 years later, had the courage to -infringe this law for love of her betrothed, whom she was going to join -in the centre of Asia, and also through the almost equally strong desire -to continue her fairy-like occupation after her marriage.</p> - -<p>Pasteur appreciated the pretty legend, but was more interested in the -history of the acclimatizing of the mulberry tree. From Provence Louis -XI took it to Touraine: Catherine de Medici planted it in Orléanais. -Henry IV had some mulberry trees planted in the park at Fontainebleau -and in the Tuileries where they succeeded admirably. He also encouraged -a <i>Treatise on the Gathering of Silk</i> by Olivier de Serres. This -earliest agricultural writer in France was much appreciated by the king, -in spite of the opposition of Sully, who did not believe in this new -fortune for France. Documentary evidence is lacking as to the -development of the silk industry.</p> - -<p>From 1700 to 1788, wrote Quatrefages, France produced annually about -6,000,000 kilogrammes of cocoons. This was decreased by one-half under -the Republic; wool replaced silk perhaps from necessity, perhaps from -affectation.</p> - -<p>Napoleon I restored that luxury. The sericicultural industry prospered -from the Imperial Epoch until the reign of Louis Philippe, to such an -extent as to reach in one year a total of 20,000,000 kilogrammes of -cocoons, representing 100,000,000 francs. The name of Tree of Gold given -to the mulberry, had never been better deserved.</p> - -<p>Suddenly all these riches fell away. A mysterious disease was destroying -the nurseries. “Eggs, worms, chrysalides, moths, the disease may -manifest itself in all the organs,” wrote Dumas in his report to the -Senate. “Whence does it come? how is it contracted? No one knows. But -its invasion is recognized by little brown or black spots.” It was -therefore called “corpuscle disease”; it was also designated as -“<i>gattine</i>” from the Italian <i>gattino</i>, kitten; the sick worms held up -their heads and put out their hooked feet like cats about<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span> to scratch. -But of all those names, that of “pébrine” adopted by Quatrefages was the -most general. It came from the patois word <i>pébré</i> (pepper). The spots -on the diseased worms were, in fact, rather like pepper grains.</p> - -<p>The first symptoms had been noticed by some in 1845, by others in 1847. -But in 1849 it was a disaster. The South of France was invaded. In 1853, -seed had to be procured from Lombardy. After one successful year the -same disappointments recurred. Italy was attacked, also Spain and -Austria. Seed was procured from Greece, Turkey, the Caucasus, but the -evil was still on the increase; China itself was attacked, and, in 1864, -it was only in Japan that healthy seed could be found.</p> - -<p>Every hypothesis was suggested, atmospheric conditions, degeneration of -the race of silkworms, disease of the mulberry tree, etc.—books and -treatises abounded, but in vain.</p> - -<p>When Pasteur started for Alais (June 16, 1865), entrusted with this -scientific mission by the Minister of Agriculture, his mind saw but that -one point of interrogation, “What caused these fatal spots?” On his -arrival he sympathetically questioned the Alaisians. He received -confused and contradictory answers, indications of chimerical remedies; -some cultivators poured sulphur or charcoal powder on the worms, some -mustard meal or castor sugar; ashes and soot were used, quinine powders, -etc. Some cultivators preferred liquids, and syringed the mulberry -leaves with wine, rum or absinthe. Fumigations of chlorine, of coal tar, -were approved by some and violently objected to by others. Pasteur, more -desirous of seeking the origin of the evil than of making a census of -these remedies, unceasingly questioned the nursery owners, who -invariably answered that it was something like the plague or cholera. -Some worms languished on the frames in their earliest days, others in -the second stage only, some passed through the third and fourth -moultings, climbed the twig and spun their cocoon. The chrysalis became -a moth, but that diseased moth had deformed antennæ and withered legs, -the wings seemed singed. Eggs (technically called seed) from those moths -were inevitably unsuccessful the following year. Thus, in the same -nursery, in the course of the two months that a larva takes to become a -moth, the pébrine disease was alternately sudden or insidious: it burst -out or disappeared, it hid itself within the chrysalis and reappeared in -the moth or the eggs of a moth<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span> which had seemed sound. The discouraged -Alaisians thought that nothing could overcome pébrine.</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not admit such resignation. But he began by one aspect only -of the problem. He resolved to submit those corpuscles of the silkworm -which had been observed since 1849 to microscopical study. He settled -down in a small <i>magnanerie</i> near Alais; two series of worms were being -cultivated. The first set was full grown; it came from some Japanese -seed guaranteed as sound, and had produced very fine cocoons. The -cultivator intended to keep the seed of the moths to compensate himself -for the failure of the second set, also of Japanese origin, but not -officially guaranteed. The worms of this second series were sickly and -did not feed properly. And yet these worms, seen through the microscope, -only exceptionally presented corpuscles; whilst Pasteur was surprised to -find some in almost every moth or chrysalis from the prosperous nursery. -Was it then elsewhere than in the worms that the secret of the pébrine -was to be found?</p> - -<p>Pasteur was interrupted in the midst of his experiments by a sudden -blow. Nine days after his arrival, a telegram called him to Arbois: his -father was very ill. He started, full of anguish, remembering the sudden -death of his mother before he had had time to reach her, and that of -Jeanne, his eldest daughter, who had also died far away from him in the -little house at Arbois. His sad presentiment oppressed him during the -whole of the long journey, and was fully justified; he arrived to find, -already in his coffin, the father he so dearly loved and whose name he -had made an illustrious one.</p> - -<p>In the evening, in the empty room above the tannery, Pasteur wrote: -“Dear Marie, dear children, the dear grandfather is no more; we have -taken him this morning to his last resting place, close to little -Jeanne’s. In the midst of my grief I have felt thankful that our little -girl had been buried there.... Until the last moment I hoped I should -see him again, embrace him for the last time ... but when I arrived at -the station I saw some of our cousins all in black, coming from Salins; -it was only then that I understood that I could but accompany him to the -grave.</p> - -<p>“He died on the day of your first communion, dear Cécile; those two -memories will remain in your heart, my poor child. I had a presentiment -of it when that very morning, at the hour when he was struck down, I was -asking you to pray for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span> the grandfather at Arbois. Your prayers will -have been acceptable unto God, and perhaps the dear grandfather himself -knew of them and rejoiced with dear little Jeanne over Cécile’s piety.</p> - -<p>“I have been thinking all day of the marks of affection I have had from -my father. For thirty years I have been his constant care, I owe -everything to him. When I was young he kept me from bad company and -instilled into me the habit of working and the example of the most loyal -and best-filled life. He was far above his position both in mind and in -character.... You did not know him, dearest Marie, at the time when he -and my mother were working so hard for the children they loved, for me -especially, whose books and schooling cost so much.... And the touching -part of his affection for me is that it never was mixed with ambition. -You remember that he would have been pleased to see me the headmaster of -Arbois College? He foresaw that advancement would mean hard work, -perhaps detrimental to my health. And yet I am sure that some of the -success in my scientific career must have filled him with joy and pride; -his son! his name! the child he had guided and cherished! My dear -father, how thankful I am that I could give him some satisfaction!</p> - -<p>“Farewell, dearest Marie, dear children. We shall often talk of the dear -grandfather. How glad I am that he saw you all again a short time ago, -and that he lived to know little Camille. I long to see you all, but -must go back to Alais, for my studies would be retarded by a year if I -could not spend a few days there now.</p> - -<p>“I have some ideas on this disease, which is indeed a scourge for all -those southern departments. The one <i>arrondissement</i> of Alais has lost -an income of 120,000,000 francs during the last fifteen years. M. Dumas -is a million times right; it must be seen to, and I am going to continue -my experiments. I am writing to M. Nisard to have the admission -examinations in my absence, which can easily be done.”</p> - -<p>Nisard wrote to him (June 19): “My dear friend, I heard of your loss, -and I sympathize most cordially with you.... Take all the time necessary -to you. You are away in the service of science, probably of humanity. -Everything will be done according to your precise indications. I foresee -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span>no difficulty ... everything is going on well at the Ecole. In spite of -your reserve—which is a part of your talent—I see that you are on the -track, as M. Biot would have said, and that you will have your prey. -Your name will stand next to that of Olivier de Serres in the annals of -sericiculture.”</p> - -<p>On his return to Alais Pasteur went back to his observations with his -scientific ardour and his customary generous eagerness to lighten the -burden of others. He wrote in the introduction to his <i>Studies on -Silkworm Disease</i> the following heartfelt lines—</p> - -<p>“A traveller coming back to the Cévennes mountains after an absence of -fifteen years would be saddened to see the change wrought in that -countryside within such a short time. Formerly he might have seen robust -men breaking up the rock to build terraces against the side and up to -the summit of each mountain; then planting mulberry trees on these -terraces. These men, in spite of their hard work, were then bright and -happy, for ease and contentment reigned in their homes.</p> - -<p>“Now the mulberry plantations are abandoned, the ‘golden tree’ no longer -enriches the country, faces once beaming with health and good humour are -now sad and drawn. Distress and hunger have succeeded to comfort and -happiness.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur thought with sorrow of the sufferings of the Cévenol -populations. The scientific problem was narrowing itself down. Faced by -the contradictory facts that one successful set of cocoons had produced -corpuscled moths, while an apparently unsuccessful set of worms showed -neither corpuscles nor spots, he had awaited the last period of these -worms with an impatient curiosity. He saw, amongst those which had -started spinning, some which as yet showed no spots and no corpuscles. -But corpuscles were abundant in the chrysalides, those especially which -were in full maturity, on the eve of becoming moths; and none of the -moths were free from them. Perhaps the fact that the disease appeared in -the chrysalis and moth only explained the failures of succeeding series. -“It was a mistake,” wrote Pasteur (June 26, 1865), “to look for the -symptom, the corpuscle, exclusively in the eggs or the worms; either -might carry in themselves the germ of the disease, without presenting -distinct and microscopically visible corpuscles.” The evil developed -itself chiefly in the chrysalides and the moths, it was there that it -should chiefly be sought. There should be an infallible means of -procuring healthy seed by having recourse to moths free from -corpuscles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span></p> - -<p>This idea was like a searchlight flashed into the darkness. Pasteur thus -formulated his hypothesis: “Every moth containing corpuscles must give -birth to diseased seed. If a moth only has a few corpuscles, its eggs -will provide worms without any, or which will only develop them towards -the end of their life. If the moth is much infected, the disease will -show itself in the earliest stages of the worm, either by corpuscles or -by other unhealthy symptoms.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur studied hundreds of moths under the microscope. Nearly all, two -or three couples excepted, were corpuscled, but that restricted quantity -was increased by a precious gift. Two people, who had heard Pasteur -ventilate his theories, brought him five moths born of a local race of -silkworms and nurtured in the small neighbouring town of Anduze in the -Turkish fashion, i.e. without any of the usual precautions consisting in -keeping the worms in nurseries heated at an equal temperature. -Everything having been tried, this system had also had its turn, without -any appreciable success. By a fortunate circumstance, four out of those -five moths were healthy.</p> - -<p>Pasteur looked forward to the study in comparisons that the following -spring would bring when worms were hatched both from the healthy and the -diseased seed. In the meanwhile, only a few of the Alaisians, including -M. Pagès, the Mayor, and M. de Lachadenède, really felt any confidence -in these results. Most of the other silkworm cultivators were disposed -to criticize everything, without having the patience to wait for -results. They expressed much regret that the Government should choose a -“mere chemist” for those investigations instead of some zoologist or -silkworm cultivator. Pasteur only said, “Have patience.”</p> - -<p>He returned to Paris, where fresh sorrow awaited him: Camille, his -youngest child, only two years old, was seriously ill. He watched over -her night after night, spending his days at his task in the laboratory, -and returning in the evening to the bedside of his dying child. During -that same period he was asked for an article on Lavoisier by J. B. -Dumas, who had been requested by the Government to publish his works.</p> - -<p>“No one,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur—“has read Lavoisier with more -attention than you have; no one can judge of him better.... The chance -which caused me to be born before you has placed me in communication -with surroundings and with men in whom I have found the ideas and -feelings which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span> have guided me in this work. But, had it been yours, I -should have allowed no one else to be the first in drawing the world’s -attention to it. It is from this motive, also from a certain conformity -of tastes and of principles which has long made you dear to me, that I -now ask you to give up a few hours to Lavoisier.”</p> - -<p>“My dear and illustrious master,” answered Pasteur (July 18, 1865), “in -the face of your letter and its expressions of affectionate confidence, -I cannot refuse to submit to you a paper which you must promise to throw -away if it should not be exactly what you want. I must also ask you to -grant me much time, partly on account of my inexperience, and partly on -account of the fatigue both mental and bodily imposed on me by the -illness of our dear child.”</p> - -<p>Dumas replied: “Dear friend and colleague, I thank you for your kind -acquiescence in Lavoisier’s interests, which might well be your own, for -no one at this time represents better than you do his spirit and -method,—a method in which reasoning had more share than anything else.</p> - -<p>“The art of observation and that of experimentation are very distinct. -In the first case, the fact may either proceed from logical reasons or -be mere good fortune; it is sufficient to have some penetration and the -sense of truth in order to profit by it. But the art of experimentation -leads from the first to the last link of the chain, without hesitation -and without a blank, making successive use of Reason, which suggests an -alternative, and of Experience, which decides on it, until, starting -from a faint glimmer, the full blaze of light is reached. Lavoisier made -this art into a method, and you possess it to a degree which always -gives me a pleasure for which I am grateful to you.</p> - -<p>“Take your time. Lavoisier has waited seventy years! It is a century -since his first results were produced! What are weeks and months?</p> - -<p>“I feel for you with all my heart! I know how heartrending are those -moments by the deathbed of a suffering child. I hope and trust this -great sorrow will be spared you, as indeed you deserve that it should -be.”</p> - -<p>The promise made by Dumas to give to France an edition of Lavoisier’s -works dated very far back. It was in May, 1836, in one of his eloquent -lectures at the Collège de France, that Dumas had declared his intention -of raising a scientific monu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span>ment to the memory of this, perhaps the -greatest of all French scientists. He had hoped that a Bill would be -passed by the Government of Louis Philippe decreeing that this edition -of Lavoisier’s works would be produced at the expense of the State. But -the usual obstacles and formalities came in the way. Governments -succeeded each other, and it was only in 1861 that Dumas obtained the -decree he wished for and that the book appeared.</p> - -<p>Certainly Pasteur knew and admired as much as any one the discoveries of -Lavoisier. But, in the presence of the series of labours accomplished, -in spite of many other burdens, during that life cut off in its prime by -the Revolutionary Tribunal (1792), labours collated for the first time -by Dumas, Pasteur was filled with a new and vivid emotion. His logic in -reasoning and his patience in observing nature had in no wise diminished -the impetuous generosity of his feelings; a beautiful book, a great -discovery, a brilliant exploit or a humble act of kindness would move -him to tears. Concerning such a man as Lavoisier, Pasteur’s curiosity -became a sort of worship. He would have had the history of such a life -spread everywhere. “Though one discovery always surpasses another, and -though the chemical and physical knowledge accumulated since his time -has gone beyond all Lavoisier’s dreams,” wrote Pasteur, “his work, like -that of Newton and a few other rare spirits, will remain ever young. -Certain details will age, as do the fashions of another time, but the -foundation, the method, constitute one of those great aspects of the -human mind, the majesty of which is only increased by years....”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s article appeared in the <i>Moniteur</i> and was much praised by the -celebrated critic Sainte Beuve, whose literary lectures were often -attended by Pasteur, between 1857 and 1861. The chronological order that -we are following in this history of Pasteur’s life allows us to follow -the ideas and feelings with which he lived his life of hard daily work -combined with daily devotion to others. Joys and sorrows can be -chronicled, thanks to the confidences of those who loved him. His fame -is indeed part of the future, but the tenderness which he inspired -revives the memories of the past.</p> - -<p>In September, 1865, little Camille died. Pasteur took the tiny coffin to -Arbois and went back to his work. A letter written in November alludes -to the depth of his grief.</p> - -<p>It was à propos of a candidature to the Académie des<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span> Sciences, Sainte -Beuve was asked to help that of a young friend of his, Charles Robin. -Robin occupied a professor’s chair specially created for him at the -<i>Faculté de Médecine</i>; he had made a deep microscopical study of the -tissues of living bodies, of cellular life, of all which constitutes -histology. He was convinced that outside his own studies, numerous -questions would fall more and more into the domain of experimentation, -and he believed that the faith in spiritual things could not “stand the -struggle against the spirit of the times, wholly turned to positive -things.” He did not, like Pasteur, understand the clear distinction -between the scientist on the one hand and the man of sentiment on the -other, each absolutely independent. Neither did he imitate the reserve -of Claude Bernard who did not allow himself to be pressed by any urgent -questioner into enrolment with either the believers or the unbelievers, -but answered: “When I am in my laboratory, I begin by shutting the door -on materialism and on spiritualism; I observe facts alone; I seek but -the scientific conditions under which life manifests itself.” Robin was -a disciple of Auguste Comte, and proclaimed himself a Positivist, a word -which for superficial people was the equivalent of materialist. The same -efforts which had succeeded in keeping Littré out of the Académie -Française in 1863 were now attempted in order to keep Robin out of the -Académie des Sciences in 1865.</p> - -<p>Sainte Beuve, whilst studying medicine, had been a Positivist; his quick -and impressionable nature had then turned to a mysticism which had -inspired him to pen some fine verses. He had now returned to his former -philosophy, but kept an open mind, however, criticism being for him not -the art of dictating, but of understanding, and he was absolutely averse -to irrelevant considerations when a candidature was in question.</p> - -<p>The best means with Pasteur, who was no diplomat, was to go straight to -the point. Sainte Beuve therefore wrote to him: “Dear Sir, will you -allow me to be indiscreet enough to solicit your influence in favour of -M. Robin, whose work I know you appreciate?</p> - -<p>“M. Robin does not perhaps belong to the same philosophical school as -you do; but it seems to me—from an outsider’s point of view—that he -belongs to the same scientific school. If he should differ -essentially—whether in metaphysics or otherwise—would it not be worthy -of a great scientist<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> to take none but positive work into account? -Nothing more, nothing less.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me; I have much resented the injustice towards you of certain -newspapers, and I have sometimes asked myself if there were not some -simple means of showing up all that nonsense, and of disproving those -absurd and ill-intentioned statements. If M. Robin deserves to be of the -Académie why should he not attain to it through you?...</p> - -<p>“My sense of gratitude towards you for those four years during which you -have done me the honour of including such a man as you are in my -audience, also a feeling of friendship, are carrying me too far. I -intended to mention this to you the other day at the Princess’s; she had -wished me to do so, but I feel bolder with a pen....”</p> - -<p>The Princess in question was Princess Mathilde. Her salon, a rendezvous -of men of letters, men of science and artists, was a sort of second -Academy which consoled Théophile Gautier for not belonging to the other. -Sainte Beuve prided himself on being, so to speak, honorary secretary to -this accomplished and charming hostess.</p> - -<p>Pasteur answered by return of post. “Sir and illustrious colleague, I -feel strongly inclined towards M. Robin, who would represent a new -scientific element at the Academy—the microscope applied to the study -of the human organism. I do not trouble about his philosophical school -save for the harm it may do to his work.... I confess frankly, however, -that I am not competent on the question of our philosophical schools. Of -M. Comte I have only read a few absurd passages; of M. Littré I only -know the beautiful pages you were inspired to write by his rare -knowledge and some of his domestic virtues. My philosophy is of the -heart and not of the mind, and I give myself up, for instance, to those -feelings about eternity which come naturally at the bedside of a -cherished child drawing its last breath. At those supreme moments, there -is something in the depths of our souls which tells us that the world -may be more than a mere combination of phenomena proper to a mechanical -equilibrium brought out of the chaos of the elements simply through the -gradual action of the forces of matter. I admire them all, our -philosophers! We have experiments to straighten and modify our ideas, -and we constantly find that nature is other than we had imagined. They, -who are always guessing, how can they know!...<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Sainte Beuve was probably not astonished at Pasteur’s somewhat hasty -epithet applied to Auguste Comte, whom he had himself defined as “an -obscure, abstruse, often diseased brain.” After Robin’s election he -wrote to his “dear and learned colleague”—</p> - -<p>“I have not allowed myself to thank you for the letter, so beautiful, if -I may say so, so deep and so exalted in thought, which you did me the -honour of writing in answer to mine. Nothing now forbids me to tell you -how deeply I am struck with your way of thinking and with your action in -this scientific matter.”</p> - -<p>That “something in the depths of our souls” of which Pasteur spoke in -his letter to Sainte Beuve, was often perceived in his conversation; -absorbed as he was in his daily task, he yet carried in himself a -constant aspiration towards the Ideal, a deep conviction of the reality -of the Infinite and a trustful acquiescence in the Mystery of the -universe.</p> - -<p>During the last term of the year 1865, he turned from his work for a -time in order to study cholera. Coming from Egypt, the scourge had -lighted on Marseilles, then on Paris, where it made in October more than -two hundred victims per day; it was feared that the days of 1832 would -be repeated, when the deaths reached twenty-three per 1,000. Claude -Bernard, Pasteur, and Sainte Claire Deville went into the attics of the -Lariboisière hospital, above a cholera ward.</p> - -<p>“We had opened,” said Pasteur, “one of the ventilators communicating -with the ward; we had adapted to the opening a glass tube surrounded by -a refrigerating mixture, and we drew the air of the ward into our tube, -so as to condense into it as many as we could of the products of the air -in the ward.”</p> - -<p>Claude Bernard and Pasteur afterwards tried blood taken from patients, -and many other things; they were associated in those experiments, which -gave no result. Henri Sainte Claire Deville once said to Pasteur, -“Studies of that sort require much courage.” “What about duty?” said -Pasteur simply, in a tone, said Deville afterwards, worth many sermons. -The cholera did not last long; by the end of the autumn all danger had -disappeared.</p> - -<p>Napeoleon the Third loved science, and found in it a sense of assured -stability which politics did not offer him. He de<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span>sired Pasteur to come -and spend a week at the Palace of Compiègne.</p> - -<p>The very first evening a grand reception took place. The diplomatic -world was represented by M. de Budberg, ambassador of Russia, and the -Prussian ambassador, M. de Goltz. Among the guests were: Dr. Longet, -celebrated for his researches and for his <i>Treatise on Physiology</i>, a -most original physician, whose one desire was to avoid patients and so -have more time for pure science; Jules Sandeau, the tender and delicate -novelist, with his somewhat heavy aspect of a captain in the Garde -Nationals; Paul Baudry, the painter, then in the flower of his youth and -radiant success; Paul Dubois, the conscientious artist of the <i>Chanteur -Florentin</i> exhibited that very year; the architect, Viollet le Duc, an -habitué of the palace. The Emperor drew Pasteur aside towards the -fireplace, and the scientist soon found himself instructing his -Sovereign, talking about ferments and molecular dissymmetry.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was congratulated by the courtiers on the favour shown by this -immediate confidential talk, and the Empress sent him word that she -wished him to talk with her also. Pasteur remembered this conversation, -an animated one, a little disconnected, chiefly about animalculæ, -infusories and ferments. When the guests returned to the immense -corridor into which the rooms opened, each with the name of the guests -on the door, Pasteur wrote to Paris for his microscope and for some -samples of diseased wines.</p> - -<p>The next morning a stag hunt was organized; riders in handsome costumes, -open carriages drawn by six horses and containing guests, entered the -forest; a stag was soon brought to bay by the hounds. In the evening, -after dinner, there was a torchlight procession in the great courtyard. -Amid a burst of trumpets, the footmen in state livery, standing in a -circle, held aloft the flaming torches. In the centre, a huntsman held -part of the carcase of the stag and waved it to and fro before the -greedy eyes of the hounds, who, eager to hurl themselves upon it, and -now restrained by a word, then let loose, and again called back all -trembling at their discomfiture, were at length permitted to rush upon -and devour their prey.</p> - -<p>The next day offered another item on the programme, a visit to the -castle of Pierrefonds, marvellously restored by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span> Viollet le Duc at the -expense of the Imperial purse. Pasteur, who, like the philosopher, might -have said, “I am never bored but when I am being entertained,” made his -arrangements so that the day should not be entirely wasted. He made an -appointment for his return with the head butler, hoping to find a few -diseased wines in the Imperial cellar. That department, however, was so -well administered that he was only able to find seven or eight -suspicious-looking bottles. The tall flunkeys, who scarcely realized the -scientific interest offered by a basketful of wine bottles, watched -Pasteur more or less ironically as he returned to his room, where he had -the pleasure of finding his microscope and case of instruments sent from -the Rue d’Ulm. He remained upstairs, absorbed as he would have been in -his laboratory, in the contemplation of a drop of bitter wine revealing -the tiny mycoderma which caused the bitterness.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile some of the other guests were gathered in the smoking -room, smilingly awaiting the Empress’s five o’clock tea, whilst others -were busy with the preparations for the performance of Racine’s -<i>Plaideurs</i>, which Provost, Regnier, Got, Delaunay, Coquelin, and -Mademoiselle Jouassain were going to act that very evening in the -theatre of the palace.</p> - -<p>On the Sunday, at 4 p.m., he was received privately by their Majesties, -for their instruction and edification. He wrote in a letter to a friend: -“I went to the Emperor with my microscope, my wine samples, and all my -paraphernalia. When I was announced, the Emperor came up to meet me and -asked me to come in. M. Conti, who was writing at a table, rose to leave -the room, but was invited to stay. Then he fetched the Empress, and I -began to show their Majesties various objects under the microscope and -to explain them; it lasted a whole hour.”</p> - -<p>The Empress had been much interested, and wished that her five o’clock -friends—who were waiting in the room where tea was served—should also -acquire some notions of these studies. She merrily took up the -microscope, laughing at her new occupation of laboratory attendant, and -arrived thus laden in the drawing-room, much to the surprise of her -privileged guests. Pasteur came in behind her, and gave a short and -simple account of a few general ideas and precise discoveries.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the same way, the preceding week, Le Verrier<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> had spoken of his -planet, and Dr. Longet had given a lecture on the circulation of the -blood. That butterfly world of the Court, taking a momentary interest in -scientific things, did not foresee that the smallest discovery made in -the poor laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm would leave a more lasting -impression than the fêtes of the Tuileries of Fontainebleau and of -Compiègne.</p> - -<p>In the course of their private interview, Napoleon and Eugénie -manifested some surprise that Pasteur should not endeavour to turn his -discoveries and their applications to a source of legitimate profit. “In -France,” he replied, “scientists would consider that they lowered -themselves by doing so.”</p> - -<p>He was convinced that a man of pure science would complicate his life, -the order of his thoughts, and risk paralysing his inventive faculties, -if he were to make money by his discoveries. For instance, if he had -followed up the industrial results of his studies on vinegar, his time -would have been too much and too regularly occupied, and he would not -have been free for new researches.</p> - -<p>“My mind is free,” he said. “I am as full of ardour for the new question -of silkworm disease as I was in 1863, when I took up the wine question.”</p> - -<p>What he most wished was to be able to watch the growth of the silkworms -from the very first day, and to pursue without interruption this serious -study in which the future of France was interested. That, and the desire -to have one day a laboratory adequate to the magnitude of his works were -his only ambitions. On his return to Pam he obtained leave to go back to -Alais.</p> - -<p>“My dear Raulin,” wrote Pasteur to his former pupil in January, 1866. “I -am again entrusted by the Minister of Agriculture with a mission for the -study of silkworm disease, which will last at least five months, from -February 1 to the end of June. Would you care to join me?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Raulin excused himself; he was then preparing, with his accustomed slow -conscientiousness, his doctor’s thesis, a work afterwards considered by -competent judges to be a masterpiece.</p> - -<p>“I must console myself,” wrote Pasteur, expressing his regrets, “by -thinking that you will complete your excellent thesis.”</p> - -<p>One of Raulin’s fellow students at the Ecole Normale, M. Gernez, was now -a professor at the Collège Louis le Grand. His mind was eminently -congenial to Pasteur’s. Duruy, then Minister of Public Instruction, was -ever anxious to smooth down all difficulties in the path of science: he -gave a long leave of absence to M. Gernez, in order that he might take -Raulin’s place. Another young <i>Normalien</i>, Maillot, prepared to join the -scientific party, much to his delight. The three men left Paris at the -beginning of February. They began by spending a few days in an hotel at -Alais, trying to find a suitable house where they would set up their -temporary laboratory. After a week or two in a house within the town, -too far, to be convenient, from the restaurant where they had their -meals, Maillot discovered a lonely house at the foot of the Mount of the -Hermitage, a mountain once covered with flourishing mulberry trees, but -now abandoned, and growing but a few olive trees.</p> - -<p>This house, at Pont Gisquet, not quite a mile from Alais, was large -enough to hold Pasteur, his family and his pupils; a laboratory was soon -arranged in an empty orangery.</p> - -<p>“Then began a period of intense work,” writes M. Gernez. “Pasteur -undertook a great number of trials, which he himself followed in their -minutest details; he only required our help over similar operations by -which he tested his own. The result was that above the fatigues of the -day, easily borne by us strong young men, he had to bear the additional -burden of special researches, importunate visitors, and an equally -importunate correspondence, chiefly dealing out criticisms....”</p> - -<p>Madame Pasteur, who had been detained in Paris for her children’s -education, set out for Alais with her two daughters. Her mother being -then on a visit to the rector of the Chambéry Academy, M. Zevort, she -arranged to spend a day or two in that town. But hardly had she arrived -when her daughter Cécile, then twelve years old, became ill with typhoid -fever.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> Madame Pasteur had the courage not to ask her husband to leave -his work and come to her; but her letters alarmed him, and the anxious -father gave up his studies for a few days and arrived at Chambéry. The -danger at that time seemed averted, and he only remained three days at -Chambéry. Cécile, apparently convalescent, had recovered her smile, that -sweet, indefinable smile which gave so much charm to her serious, almost -melancholy face. She smiled thus for the last time at her little sister -Marie-Louise, about the middle of May, lying on a sofa by a sunny -window.</p> - -<p>On May 21, her doctor, Dr. Flesschutt, wrote to Pasteur: “If the -interest I take in the child were not sufficient to stimulate my -efforts, the mother’s courage would keep up my hopes and double my -ardent desire for a happy issue.” Cécile died on May 23 after a sudden -relapse. Pasteur only arrived at Chambéry in time to take to Arbois the -remains of the little girl, which were buried near those of his mother, -of his two other daughters, Jeanne and Camille, and of his father, -Joseph Pasteur. The little cemetery indeed represented a cup of sorrows -for Pasteur.</p> - -<p>“Your father has returned from his sad journey to Arbois,” wrote Madame -Pasteur from Chambéry to her son who was at school in Paris. “I did -think of going back to you, but I could not leave your poor father to go -back to Alais alone after this great sorrow.” Accompanied by her who was -his greatest comfort, and who gave him some of her own courage, Pasteur -came back to the Pont Gisquet and returned to his work. M. Duclaux in -his turn joined the hard-working little party.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of June, Duruy, with the solicitude of a Minister who -found time to be also a friend, wrote affectionately to Pasteur—</p> - -<p>“You are leaving me quite in the dark, yet you know the interest I take -in your work. Where are you? and what are you doing? Finding out -something I feel certain....”</p> - -<p>Pasteur answered, “Monsieur le Ministre, I hasten to thank you for your -kind reminder. My studies have been associated with sorrow; perhaps your -charming little daughter, who used to play sometimes at M. Le Verrier’s, -will remember Cécile Pasteur among other little girls of her age that -she used to meet at the Observatoire. My dear child was coming with her -mother to spend the Easter holidays with me at Alais,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span> when, during a -few days’ stay at Chambéry, she was seized with an attack of typhoid -fever, to which she succumbed after two months of painful suffering. I -was only able to be with her for a few days, being kept here by my work, -and full of deceiving hopes for a happy issue from that terrible -disease.</p> - -<p>“I am now wholly wrapped up in my studies, which alone take my thoughts -from my deep sorrow.</p> - -<p>“Thanks to the facilities which you have put in my way, I have been able -to collect a quantity of experimental observations, and I think I -understand on many points this disease which has been ruining the South -for fifteen or twenty years. I shall be able on my return to propose to -the Commission of Sericiculture a practical means of fighting the evil -and suppressing it in the course of a few years.</p> - -<p>“I am arriving at this result that there is no silkworm disease. There -is but an exaggeration of a state of things which has always existed, -and it is not difficult, in my view, to return to the former situation, -even to improve on it. The evil was sought for in the worm and even in -the seed; that was something, but my observations prove that it develops -chiefly in the chrysalis, especially in the mature chrysalis, at the -moment of the moth’s formation, on the eve of the function of -reproduction. The microscope then detects its presence with certitude, -even when the seed and the worm seem very healthy. The practical result -is this: you have a nursery full; it has been successful or it has not; -you wish to know whether to smother the cocoons or whether to keep them -for reproduction. Nothing is simpler. You hasten the development of -about 100 moths through an elevation of temperature, and you examine -these moths through the microscope, which will tell you what to do.</p> - -<p>“The sickly character is then so easy to detect that a woman or a child -can do it. If the cultivator should be a peasant, without the material -conditions required for this study, he can do this: instead of throwing -away the moths after they have laid their eggs, he can bottle a good -many of them in brandy and send them to a testing office or to some -experienced person who will determine the value of the seed for the -following year.”</p> - -<p>The Japanese Government sent some cases of seed supposed to be healthy -to Napoleon III, who distributed them in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> silkworm growing -departments. Pasteur, in the meanwhile, was stating the results he had -arrived at, and they were being much criticized. In order to avoid the -pébrine, which was indeed the disease caused by the corpuscles so -clearly visible through the microscope, he averred that no seed should -be used that came from infected moths. In order to demonstrate the -infectious character of the pébrine he would give to some worms meals of -leaves previously contaminated by means of a brush dipped in water -containing corpuscles. The worms absorbed the food, and the disease -immediately appeared and could be found in the chrysalides and moths -from those worms.</p> - -<p>“I hope I am in the right road—close to the goal, perhaps, but I have -not yet reached it,” wrote Pasteur to his faithful Chappuis; “and as -long as the final proof is not acquired complications and errors are to -be feared. Next year, the growth of the numerous eggs I have prepared -will obviate my scruples, and I shall be sure of the value of the -preventive means I have indicated. It is tiresome to have to wait a year -before testing observations already made; but I have every hope of -success.”</p> - -<p>While awaiting the renewal of the silkworm season, he was busy editing -his book on wine, full of joy at contributing to the national riches -through practical application of his observations. It was, in fact, -sufficient to heat the wines by the simple process already at that time -known in Austria as <i>pasteurisation</i>, to free them from all germs of -disease and make them suitable for keeping and for exportation. He did -not accord much attention to the talk of old gourmets who affirmed that -wines thus “mummified” could not mellow with age, being convinced on the -contrary that the most delicate wines could only be improved by heating. -“The ageing of wines,” he said, “is due, not to fermentation, but to a -slow oxidation which is favoured by heat.”</p> - -<p>He alluded in his book to the interest taken by Napoleon III in those -researches which might be worth millions to France. He also related how -the Imperial solicitude had been awakened, and acknowledged gratitude -for this to General Favé, one of the Emperor’s aides de camp.</p> - -<p>The General, on reading the proofs, declared that his name must -disappear. Pasteur regretfully gave in to his scruples, but wrote the -following words on the copy presented to General Favé: “General, this -book contains a serious omission—that of your name: it would be an -unpardonable one had it not been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> made at your own request, according to -your custom of keeping your good works secret. Without you, these -studies on wine would not exist; you have helped and encouraged them. -Leave me at least the satisfaction of writing that name on the first -page of this copy, of which I beg you to accept the homage, while -renewing the expression of my devoted gratitude.”</p> - -<p>Another incident gives us an instance of Pasteur’s kindness of heart. In -the year 1866 Claude Bernard suffered from a gastric disease so serious -that his doctors, Rayer and Davaine, had to admit their impotence. -Bernard was obliged to leave his laboratory and retire to his little -house at St. Julien (near Villefranche), his birthplace. But the charm -of his recollections of childhood was embittered by present sadness. His -mind full of projects, his life threatened in its prime, he had the -courage, a difficult thing to unselfish people, of resolutely taking -care of himself. But preoccupied solely with his own diet, his own body -now a subject for experiments, he became a prey to a deep melancholia. -Pasteur, knowing to what extent moral influences react on the physique, -had the idea of writing a review of his friend’s works, and published it -in the <i>Moniteur Universel</i> of November 7, 1866, under the following -title: <i>Claude Bernard: the Importance of his Works, Teaching and -Method</i>. He began thus: “Circumstances have recently caused me to -re-peruse the principal treatises which have founded the reputation of -our great physiologist, Claude Bernard.</p> - -<p>“I have derived from them so great a satisfaction, and my admiration for -his talent has been confirmed and increased to such an extent that I -cannot resist the somewhat rash desire of communicating my -impressions....”</p> - -<p>Amongst Claude Bernard’s discoveries, Pasteur chose that which seemed to -him most instructive, and which Claude Bernard himself appreciated most: -“When M. Bernard became in 1854 a candidate for the Académie des -Sciences, his discovery of the glycogenic functions of the liver was -neither the first nor the last among those which had already placed him -so high in the estimation of men of science; yet it was by that one that -he headed his list of the claims which could recommend him to the -suffrages of the illustrious body. That preference on the part of the -master decides me in mine.”</p> - -<p>Claude Bernard had begun by meditating deeply on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> disease known as -diabetes and which is characterized, as everybody knows, by a -superabundance of sugar in the whole of the organism, the urine often -being laden with it. But how is it, wondered Claude Bernard, that the -quantity of sugar expelled by a diabetic patient can so far surpass that -with which he is provided by the starchy or sugary substances which form -part of his food? How is it that the presence of sugary matter in the -blood and its expulsion through urine are never completely arrested, -even when all sugary or starchy alimentation is suppressed? Are there in -the human organism sugar-producing phenomena unknown to chemists and -physiologists? All the notions of science were contrary to that mode of -thinking; it was affirmed that the vegetable kingdom only could produce -sugar, and it seemed an insane hypothesis to suppose that the animal -organism could fabricate any. Claude Bernard dwelt upon it however, his -principle in experimentation being this: “When you meet with a fact -opposed to a prevailing theory, you should adhere to the fact and -abandon the theory, even when the latter is supported by great -authorities and generally adopted.”</p> - -<p>This is what he imagined, summed up in a few words by Pasteur—</p> - -<p>“Meat is an aliment which cannot develop sugar by the digestive process -known to us. Now M. Bernard having fed some carnivorous animals during a -certain time exclusively with meat, he assured himself, with his precise -knowledge of the most perfect means of investigation offered him by -chemistry, that the blood which enters the liver by the portal vein and -pours into it the nutritive substances prepared and rendered soluble by -digestion is absolutely devoid of sugar; whilst the blood which issues -from the liver by the hepatic veins is always abundantly provided with -it.... M. Claude Bernard has also thrown full light on the close -connection which exists between the secretion of sugar in the liver and -the influence of the nervous system. He has demonstrated, with a rare -sagacity, that by acting on some determined portion of that system it -was possible to suppress or exaggerate at will the production of sugar. -He has done more still; he has discovered within the liver the existence -of an absolutely new substance which is the natural source whence this -organ draws the sugar that it produces.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, starting from this discovery of Claude Bernard’s,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span> spoke of the -growing close connection between medicine and physiology. Then, with his -constant anxiety to incite students to enthusiasm, he recommended them -to read the lectures delivered by Bernard at the Collège de France. -Speaking of the <i>Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine</i>, -Pasteur wrote: “A long commentary would be necessary to present this -splendid work to the reader; it is a monument raised to honour the -method which has constituted Physical and Chemical Science since Galileo -and Newton, and which M. Bernard is trying to introduce into physiology -and pathology. Nothing so complete, so profound, so luminous has ever -been written on the true principles of the difficult art of -experimentation.... This book will exert an immense influence on medical -science, its teaching, its progress, its language even.” Pasteur took -pleasure in adding to his own tribute praise from other sources. He -quoted, for instance, J. B. Dumas’ answer to Duruy, who asked him, “What -do you think of this great physiologist?” “He is not a great -physiologist; he is Physiology itself.” “I have spoken of the man of -science,” continued Pasteur. “I might have spoken of the man in everyday -life, the colleague who has inspired so many with a solid friendship, -for I should seek in vain for a weak point in M. Bernard; it is not to -be found. His personal distinction, the noble beauty of his physiognomy, -his gentle kindliness attract at first sight; he has no pedantry, none -of a scientist’s usual faults, but an antique simplicity, a perfectly -natural and unaffected manner, while his conversation is deep and full -of ideas....” Pasteur, after informing the public that the graver -symptoms of Bernard’s disease had now disappeared, ended thus: “May the -publicity now given to these thoughts and feelings cheer the illustrious -patient in his enforced idleness, and assure him of the joy with which -his return will be welcomed by his friends and colleagues.”</p> - -<p>The very day after this article reached him (November 19, 1860) Bernard -wrote to Pasteur: “My dear friend,—I received yesterday the <i>Moniteur</i> -containing the superb article you have written about me. Your great -praise indeed makes me proud, though I feel I am yet very far from the -goal I would reach. If I return to health, as I now hope I may do, I -think I shall find it possible to pursue my work in a more methodical -order and with more complete means of demonstration, better indicating -the general idea towards which my<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span> various efforts converge. In the -meanwhile it is a very precious encouragement to me to be approved and -praised by a man such as you. Your works have given you a great name, -and have placed you in the first rank among experimentalists of our -time. The admiration which you profess for me is indeed reciprocated; -and we must have been born to understand each other, for true science -inspires us both with the same passion and the same sentiments.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me for not having answered your first letter; but I was really -not equal to writing the notice you wanted. I have deeply felt for you -in your family sorrow; I have been through the same trial, and I can -well understand the sufferings of a tender and delicate soul such as -yours.”</p> - -<p>Henri Sainte Claire Deville, who was as warm-hearted as he was witty, -had, on his side, the ingenious idea of editing an address of collective -wishes for Claude Bernard, who answered: “My dear friend,—You are -evidently as clever in inventing friendly surprises as in making great -scientific discoveries. It was indeed a most charming idea, and one for -which I am very grateful to you—that of sending me a collective letter -from my friends. I shall carefully preserve that letter: first, because -the feelings it expresses are very dear to me; and also because it is a -collection of illustrious autographs which should go down to posterity. -I beg you will transmit my thanks to our friends and colleagues, E. -Renan, A. Maury, F. Ravaisson and Bellaguet. Tell them how much I am -touched by their kind wishes and congratulations on my recovery. It is, -alas, not yet a cure, but I hope I am on a fair way to it.</p> - -<p>“I have received the article Pasteur has written about me in the -<i>Moniteur</i>; that article paralysed the vasomotor nerves of my -sympathetic system, and caused me to blush to the roots of my hair. I -was so amazed that I don’t know what I wrote to Pasteur; but I did not -dare say to him that he had wrongly exaggerated my merits. I know he -believes all that he writes, and I am happy and proud of his opinion, -because it is that of a scientist and experimentalist of the very first -rank. Nevertheless, I cannot help thinking that he has seen me through -the prism of his kindly heart, and that I do not deserve such excessive -praise. I am more than thankful for all the marks of esteem and -friendship which are showered upon me. They make me cling closer to -life, and feel that I should be very<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> foolish not to take care of myself -and continue to live amongst those who love me, and who deserve my love -for all the happiness they give me. I intend to return to Paris some -time this month, and, in spite of your kind advice, I should like to -take up my Collège de France classes again this winter. I hope to be -allowed not to begin before January. But we shall talk of all this in -Paris. I remain your devoted and affectionate friend.”</p> - -<p>To end this academic episode, we will quote from Joseph Bertrand’s -letter of thanks to Pasteur, who had sent him the article: “...The -public will learn, among other things, that the eminent members of the -Academy admire and love each other sometimes with no jealousy. This was -rare in the last century, and, if all followed your example, we should -have over our predecessors one superiority worth many another.”</p> - -<p>Thus Pasteur showed himself a man of sentiment as well as a man of -science; the circle of his affections was enlarging, as was the scope of -his researches, but without any detriment to the happy family life of -his own intimate circle. That little group of his family and close -friends identified itself absolutely with his work, his ideas and his -hopes, each member of it willingly subordinating his or her private -interests to the success of his investigations. He was at that time -violently attacked by his old adversaries as well as his new -contradictors. Pouchet announced everywhere that the question of -spontaneous generation was being taken up again in England, in Germany, -in Italy and in America. Joly, Pouchet’s inseparable friend, was about -to make some personal studies and to write some general considerations -on the new silkworm campaign. Pasteur, who had confidently said, “The -year 1867 must be the last to bear the complaints of silkworm -cultivators!” went back to Alais in January, 1867. But, before leaving -Paris, Pasteur wrote out for himself a list of various improvements and -reforms which he desired to effect in the administration of the Ecole -Normale, showing that his interest in the great school had by no means -abated, in spite of his necessary absence. He brought with him his wife -and daughter, and Messrs. Gernez and Maillot; M. Duclaux was to come -later. The worms hatched from the eggs of healthy moths and those from -diseased ones were growing more interesting every day; they were in -every instance exactly what Pasteur had prophesied they would be. But -besides studying his own silk<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span>worms, he liked to see what was going on -in neighbouring <i>magnaneries</i>. A neighbour in the Pont Gisquet, a -cultivator of the name of Cardinal, had raised with great success a -brood originating from the famous Japanese seed. He was disappointed, -however, in the eggs produced by the moths, and Pasteur’s microscope -revealed the fact that those moths were all corpuscled, in spite of -their healthy origin. Pasteur did not suspect that origin, for the worms -had shown health and vigour through all their stages of growth, and -seemed to have issued from healthy parents. But Cardinal had raised -another brood, the produce of unsound seed, immediately above these -healthy worms. The excreta from this second brood could fall on to the -frames of those below them, and the healthy worms had become -contaminated. Pasteur demonstrated that the pébrine contagion might take -place in one or two different ways: either from direct contact between -the worms on the same frame, or by the soiling of the food from the very -infectious excreta. The remedy for the pébrine seemed now found. “The -corpuscle disease,” said Pasteur, “is as easily avoided as it is easily -contracted.” But when he thought he had reached his goal a sudden -difficulty rose in his way. Out of sixteen broods of worms which he had -raised, and which presented an excellent appearance, the sixteenth -perished almost entirely immediately after the first moulting. “In a -brood of a hundred worms,” wrote Pasteur, “I picked up fifteen or twenty -dead ones every day, black and rotting with extraordinary rapidity.... -They were soft and flaccid like an empty bladder. I looked in vain for -corpuscles; there was not a trace of them.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was temporarily troubled and discouraged. But he consulted the -writings of former students of silkworm diseases, and, when he -discovered vibriones in those dead worms, he did not doubt that he had -under his eyes a well characterized example of the flachery disease—a -disease independent and distinct from the pébrine. He wrote to Duruy, -and acquainted him with the results he had obtained and the obstacles he -encountered. Duruy wrote back on April 9, 1867—</p> - -<p>“Thank you for your letter and the good news it contains.</p> - -<p>“Not very far from you, at Avignon, a statue has been erected to the -Persian who imported into France the cultivation of madder; what then -will not be done for the rescuer of two of our greatest industries! Do -not forget to inform me<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span> when you have mastered the one or two lame -facts which still stand in the way. As a citizen, as head of the -Université, and, if I may say so, as your friend, I wish I could follow -your experiments day by day.</p> - -<p>“You know that I should like to found a special college at Alais. Please -watch for any useful information on that subject. We will talk about it -on your return.</p> - -<p>“I am obliged to M. Gernez for his assiduous and intelligent -collaboration with you.”</p> - -<p>This letter from the great Minister is all the more interesting that it -is dated from the eve of the day when the law on the reorganization of -primary teaching was promulgated.</p> - -<p>The introduction into the curriculum of historical and geographical -notions; the inauguration of 10,000 schools and 30,000 adult classes; -the transformation of certain flagging classical colleges into technical -training schools; a constant struggle to include the teaching of girls -in Université organization; reforms and improvements in general -teaching; the building of laboratories, etc., etc.—into the -accomplishment of all these projects Duruy carried his bold and -methodical activity. No one was more suited than he to the planning out -of a complete system of national education. He and Pasteur were indeed -fitted to understand each other, for each had in the same degree those -three forms of patriotism: love for the land, memories for the past, and -hero worship.</p> - -<p>In May, 1867, Pasteur received at Alais the news that a grand prize -medal of the 1867 exhibition was conferred upon him for his works on -wines. He hastened to write to Dumas—</p> - -<p>“My dear master, ... Nothing has surprised me more—or so -agreeably,—than the news of this Exhibition prize medal, which I was -far from expecting. It is a new proof of your kindness, for I feel sure -that I have to thank you for originating such a favour. I shall do all I -can to make myself worthy of it by my perseverance in putting all -difficulties aside from the subject I am now engaged in, and in which -the light is growing brighter every day. If that flachery disease had -not come to complicate matters, everything would be well by now. I -cannot tell you how absolutely sure I now feel of my conclusions -concerning the corpuscle disease. I could say a great deal about the -articles of Messrs. Béchamp, Estor and Balbiani, but I will follow your -advice and answer nothing....”</p> - -<p>Dumas had been advising Pasteur not to waste his time by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> answering his -adversaries and contradictors. Pasteur’s system was making way; ten -microscopes were set up, here and there, in the town of Alais; most seed -merchants were taking up the examination of the dead moths, and the -Pont-Gisquet colony had samples brought in daily for inspection. “I have -already prevented many failures for next year,” he wrote to Dumas (June, -1867), “but I always beg as a favour that a little of the condemned seed -may be raised, so as to confirm the exactness of my judgment.”</p> - -<p>His system was indeed quite simple; at the moment when the moths leave -their cocoons and mate with each other, the cultivator separates them -and places each female on a little square of linen where it lays its -eggs. The moth is afterwards pinned up in a corner of the same square of -linen, where it gradually dries up; later on, in autumn or even in -winter, the withered moth is moistened in a little water, pounded in a -mortar, and the paste examined with a microscope. If the least trace of -corpuscles appears the linen is burnt, together with the seed which -would have perpetuated the disease.</p> - -<p>Pasteur came back to Paris to receive his medal; perhaps his presence -was not absolutely necesary, but he did not question the summons he -received. He always attached an absolute meaning to words and to things, -not being one of those who accept titles and homage with an inward and -ironical smile.</p> - -<p>The pageant of that distribution of prizes was well worth seeing, and -July 1, 1867, is now remembered by many who were children at that time. -Paris afforded a beautiful spectacle; the central avenue of the -Tuileries garden, the Place de la Concorde, the Avenue des Champs -Elysées, were lined along their full length by regiments of infantry, -dragoons, Imperial Guards, etc., etc., standing motionless in the bright -sunshine, waiting for the Emperor to pass. The Imperial carriage, drawn -by eight horses, escorted by the Cent-Gardes in their pale blue uniform, -and by the Lancers of the Household, advanced in triumphant array. -Napoleon III sat next to the Empress, the Prince Imperial and Prince -Napoleon facing them. From the Palais de l’Elysée, amidst equally -magnificent ceremonial, the Sultan Abdul-Aziz and his son arrived; then -followed a procession of foreign princes: the Crown Prince of Prussia, -the Prince of Wales, Prince Humbert of Italy, the Duke and Duchess of -Aosta, the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, all of whom have since borne a -part in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span> European politics. They entered the Palais de l’Industrie and -sat around the throne. From the ground to the first floor an immense -stand was raised, affording seats for 17,000 persons. The walls were -decorated with eagles bearing olive branches, symbolical of strength and -peace. The Emperor in his speech dwelt upon these hopes of peace, whilst -the Empress in white satin, wearing a diadem, and surrounded by -white-robed princesses, brightly smiled at these happy omens.</p> - -<p>On their names being called out, the candidates who had won Grand -Prizes, and those about to be promoted in the Legion of Honour, went up -one by one to the throne. Marshal Vaillant handed each case to the -Emperor, who himself gave it to the recipient. This old Field-Marshal, -with his rough bronzed face, who had been a captain in the retreat from -Moscow and was now a Minister of Napoleon III, seemed a natural and -glorious link between the First and the Second Empires. He was born at -Dijon in humble circumstances, of which he was somewhat proud, a very -cultured soldier, interested in scientific things, a member of the -Institute. The names of certain members of the Legion of Honour promoted -to a higher rank, such as Gérôme and Meissonier, that of Ferdinand de -Lesseps, rewarded for the achievement of the Suez Canal, excited great -applause. Pasteur was called without provoking an equal curiosity: his -scientific discoveries, in spite of their industrial applications, being -as yet known but to a few. “I was struck,” writes an eye-witness, “with -his simplicity and gravity; the seriousness of his life was visible in -his stern, almost sad eyes.”</p> - -<p>At the end of the ceremony, when the Imperial procession left the Palais -de l’Industrie, an immense chorus, accompanied by an orchestra, sang -<i>Domine salvum fac imperatorem</i>.</p> - -<p>On his return to his study in the Rue d’Ulm, Pasteur again took up the -management of the scientific studies of the Ecole Normale. But an -incident put an end to his directorship, while bringing perturbation -into the whole of the school. Sainte Beuve was the indirect cause of -this small revolution. The Senate, of which he was a member, had had to -examine a protest from 102 inhabitants of St. Etienne against the -introduction into their popular libraries of the works of Voltaire, J. -J. Rousseau, Balzac, E. Renan, and others. The committee had approved -this petition in terms which identified the report with the petition -itself. Sainte Beuve, too exclusively<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span> literary in his tastes, and too -radical in his opinions to be popular in the Senate, rose violently -against this absolute and arbitrary judgment, forgetting everything but -the jeopardy of free opinions before the excessive and inquisitorial -zeal of the Senate. His speech was very unfavourably received, and one -of his colleagues, M. Lacaze, aged sixty-eight, challenged him to a -duel. Sainte Beuve, himself then sixty-three years old, refused to enter -into what he called “the summary jurisprudence which consists in -strangling a question and suppressing a man within forty-eight hours.”</p> - -<p>The students of the Ecole Normale deputed one of their number to -congratulate Sainte Beuve on his speech, and wrote the following -letter—</p> - -<p>“We have already thanked you for defending freedom of thought when -misjudged and attacked; now that you have again pleaded for it, we beg -you to receive our renewed thanks.</p> - -<p>“We should be happy if the expression of our grateful sympathy could -console you for this injustice. Courage is indeed required to speak in -the Senate in favour of the independence and the rights of thought; but -the task is all the more glorious for being more difficult. Addresses -are now being sent from everywhere; you will forgive the students of the -Ecole Normale for having followed the general lead and having sent their -address to M. Sainte Beuve.”</p> - -<p>This letter was published in a newspaper. Etienne Arago published it -without remembering the Université by-laws which forbade every sort of -political manifestation to the students. It had given pleasure to Sainte -Beuve, the pleasure that elderly men take in the applause of youth; but -he soon became uneasy at the results of this noisy publicity.</p> - -<p>Nisard, the Director of the school, could not very well tolerate this -breach of discipline. In spite of the entreaties of Sainte Beuve, the -student who had signed the letter was provisionally sent back to his -family. His comrades revolted at this and imperiously demanded his -immediate restoration. Pasteur attempted to pacify them by speaking to -them, but failed utterly; his influence was very great over his own -pupils, the students on the scientific side, but the others, the -“<i>littéraires</i>,” were the most violent on this question, and he was not -diplomatic and conciliating enough to bring them round. They rose in a -body, marched to the door, and the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span> school was soon parading the -streets. “Before such disorder,” concluded the <i>Moniteur</i>, relating the -incident (July 10), “the authorities were obliged to order an immediate -closure. The school will be reconstituted and the classes will reopen on -October 15.”</p> - -<p>Both the literary and the political world were temporarily agitated; the -Minister was interviewed. M. Thiers wrote to Pasteur on July 10: “My -dear M. Pasteur,—I have been talking with some members of the Left, and -I am certain or almost certain, that the Ecole Normale affair will be -smoothed over in the interest of the students. M. Jules Simon intends to -work in that direction; keep this information for yourself, and do the -best you can on your side.”</p> - -<p>At the idea that the Ecole was about to be reconstituted, that is, that -the three great chiefs, Nisard, Pasteur and Jacquinet, would be changed, -deep regret was manifested by Pasteur’s scientific students. One of -them, named Didon, expressed it in these terms: “If your departure from -the school is not definitely settled, if it is yet possible to prevent -it, all the students of the Ecole will be only too happy to do -everything in their power.... As for me, it is impossible to express my -gratitude towards you. No one has ever shown me so much interest, and -never in my life shall I forget what you have done for me.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s interest in young men, his desire to excite in them scientific -curiosity and enthusiasm, were now so well known that Didon and several -others who had successfully passed the entrance examinations both for -the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Normale, had chosen to enter the -latter in order to be under him; by the <i>Normaliens</i> of the scientific -section, he was not only understood and admired, but beloved, almost -worshipped.</p> - -<p>Sainte Beuve, who continued to be much troubled at the consequences of -his speech, wrote to the Minister of Public Instruction in favour of the -rusticated student. Duruy thought so much of Sainte Beuve that the -student, instead of being exiled to some insignificant country school, -was made professor of <i>seconde</i> in the college of Sens. But it was -specified that in the future no letter should be written, no public -responsibility taken in the name of the Ecole without the authorization -of the Director.</p> - -<p>Nisard left; Dumas had just been made President of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span> Monetary -Commission, thus leaving vacant a place as Inspector-General of Higher -Education. Duruy, anxious to do Pasteur justice, thought this post most -suitable to him as it would allow him to continue his researches. The -decree was about to be signed, when Balard, professor of chemistry at -the Faculty of Sciences, applied for the post. Pasteur wrote -respectfully to the Minister of Public Instruction (July 31): “Your -Excellency must know that twenty years ago, when I left the Ecole -Normale, I was made a curator, thanks to M. Balard, who was then a -professor at the Ecole Normale. A grateful pupil cannot enter into -competition with a revered master, especially for a post where -considerations of age and experience should have great weight.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur spoke of his masters, dead or living, Biot or Senarmont, -Dumas or Balard, it might indeed have been thought that to them alone he -owed it that he was what he was. He was heard on this occasion, and -Balard obtained the appointment.</p> - -<p>Nisard was succeeded by M. F. Bouillier, whose place as -Inspector-General of Secondary Education devolved on M. Jacquinet. The -directorship of scientific studies was given to Pasteur’s old and -excellent friend, the faithful Bertin. After teaching in Alsace for -eighteen years, he had become <i>maître des conférences</i> at the Ecole -Normale in 1866, and also assistant of Regnault at the Collège de -France. It had only been by dint of much persuasion that Pasteur had -enticed him to Paris. “What is the good?” said the unambitious Bertin; -“beer is not so good in Paris as in Strasburg.... Pasteur does not -understand life; he is a genius, that is all!” But, under this apparent -indolence, Bertin was possessed of the taste for and the art of -teaching; Pasteur knew this, and, when Bertin was appointed, Pasteur’s -fears for the scientific future of his beloved Ecole were abated. Duruy, -much regretting the break of Pasteur’s connection with the great school, -offered him the post of <i>maître des conférences</i>, besides the chair of -chemistry which Balard’s appointment had left vacant at the Sorbonne. -But Pasteur declined the tempting offer; he knew the care and trouble -that his public lectures cost him, and felt that the two posts would be -beyond his strength; if his time were taken up by that double task it -would be almost impossible for him to pursue his private researches, -which under no circumstances would he abandon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span></p> - -<p>He carried his scruples so far as to give up his chemistry professorship -at the School of Fine Arts, where he had been lecturing since 1863. He -had endeavoured in his lessons to draw the attention of his artist -pupils, who came from so many distant places, to the actual principles -of Science. “Let us always make application our object,” he said, “but -resting on the stern and solid basis of scientific principles. Without -those principles, application is nothing more than a series of recipes -and constitutes what is called routine. Progress with routine is -possible, but desperately slow.”</p> - -<p>Another reason prevented him from accepting the post offered him at the -Ecole Normale; this was that the tiny pavilion which he had made his -laboratory was much too small and too inconvenient to accommodate the -pupils he would have to teach. The only suitable laboratory at the Ecole -was that of his friend, Henri Sainte Claire Deville, and Pasteur was -reluctant to invade it. He had a great affection for his brilliant -colleague, who was indeed a particularly charming man, still youthful in -spite of his forty-nine summers, active, energetic, witty. “I have no -wit,” Pasteur would say quite simply. Deville was a great contrast to -his two great friends, Pasteur and Claude Bernard, with their grave -meditative manner. He enjoyed boarding at the Ecole and having his meals -at the students’ table, where his gaiety brightened and amused -everybody, effacing the distance between masters and pupils and yet -never losing by this familiar attitude a particle of the respect he -inspired.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, however, when preoccupied with the heavy expenses of his -laboratory, he would invite himself to lunch with Duruy, from whom—as -from the Emperor or any one else—he usually succeeded in coaxing what -he wanted. The general state of things connected with higher education -was at that time most deplorable. The Sorbonne was as Richelieu had left -it—the Museum was sadly inadequate. At the Collège de France, it was -indeed impossible to call by the name of laboratory the narrow, damp and -unhealthy cellars, which Claude Bernard called “scientists’ graves,” and -where he had contracted the long illness from which he was only just -recovering.</p> - -<p>Duruy understood and deplored this penury, but his voice was scarcely -heard in cabinet councils, the other Ministers being absorbed in -politics. Pasteur, whose self-effacing modesty disappeared when the -interests of science were in question, pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span>sented to Napoleon, through -the medium of his enlightened aide de camp, General Favé, the following -letter, a most interesting one, for, in it, possibilities of future -discoveries are hinted at, which later became accomplished facts.</p> - -<p>“Sire,—My researches on fermentations and on microscopic organisms have -opened to physiological chemistry new roads, the benefit of which is -beginning to be felt both by agricultural industries and by medical -studies. But the field still to be explored is immense. My great desire -would be to explore it with a new ardour, unrestrained by the -insufficiency of material means.</p> - -<p>“I should wish to have a spacious laboratory, with one or two outhouses -attached to it, which I could make use of when making experiments -possibly injurious to health, such as might be the scientific study of -putrid and infectious diseases.</p> - -<p>“How can researches be attempted on gangrene, virus or inoculations, -without a building suitable for the housing of animals, either dead or -alive? Butchers’ meat in Europe reaches an exorbitant price, in Buenos -Ayres it is given away. How, in a small and incomplete laboratory, can -experiments be made, and various processes tested, which would -facilitate its transport and preservation? The so-called ‘splenic fever’ -costs the Beauce<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> about 4,000,000 francs annually; it would be -indispensable to go and spend some weeks in the neighbourhood of -Chartres during several consecutive summers, and make minute -observations.</p> - -<p>“These researches and a thousand others which correspond in my mind to -the great act of transformation after death of organic matter, and the -compulsory return to the ground and atmosphere of all which has once -been living, are only compatible with the installation of a great -laboratory. The time has now come when experimental science should be -freed from its bonds....”</p> - -<p>The Emperor wrote to Duruy the very next day, desiring that Pasteur’s -wish should be acceded to. Duruy gladly acquiesced and plans began to be -drawn out. Pasteur, who scarcely dared believe in these bright hopes, -was consulted about the situation, size, etc., of the future building, -and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> looked forward to obtaining the help of Raulin, his former pupil, -when he had room enough to experiment on a larger scale. The proposed -site was part of the garden of the Ecole Normale, where the pavilion -already existing could be greatly added to.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile Pasteur was interviewed by the Mayor and the President -of the Chamber of Commerce of Orleans, who begged him to come to Orleans -and give a public lecture on the results of his studies on vinegar. He -consented with pleasure, ever willing to attempt awakening the interest -of the public in his beloved Science—“Science, which brings man nearer -to God.”</p> - -<p>It was on the Monday, November 11, at 7.30 p.m., that Pasteur entered -the lecture room at Orleans. A great many vinegar manufacturers, some -doctors, apothecaries, professors, students, even ladies, had come to -hear him. An account in a contemporary local paper gives us a -description of the youngest member of the Académie des Sciences as he -appeared before the Orleans public. He is described as of a medium -height, his face pale, his eyes very bright through his glasses, -scrupulously neat in his dress, with a tiny Legion of Honour rosette in -his button hole.</p> - -<p>He began his lecture with the following simple words: “The Mayor and the -President of the Chamber of Commerce having heard that I had studied the -fermentation which produces vinegar, have asked me to lay before the -vinegar makers of this town the results of my work. I have hastened to -comply with their request, fully sharing in the desire which instigated -it, that of being useful to an industry which is one of the sources of -the fortune of your city and of your department.”</p> - -<p>He tried to make them understand scientifically the well known fact of -the transformation of wine into vinegar. He showed that all the work -came from a little plant, a microscopic fungus, the <i>mycoderma aceti</i>. -After exhibiting an enlarged picture of that mycoderma, Pasteur -explained that the least trace of that little vinegar-making plant, sown -on the surface of any alcoholic and slightly acid liquid, was sufficient -to produce a prodigious extension of it; in summer or artificial heat, -said Pasteur, a surface of liquid of the same area as the Orleans -Lecture room could be covered in forty-eight hours. The mycodermic veil -is sometimes smooth and hardly visible, sometimes wrinkled and a little -greasy to the touch. The fatty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> matter which accompanies the development -of the plant keeps it on the surface, air being necessary to the plant; -it would otherwise perish and the acetification would be arrested. Thus -floating, the mycoderma absorbs oxygen from the air and fixes it on the -alcohol, which becomes transformed into acetic acid.</p> - -<p>Pasteur explained all the details in his clear powerful voice. Why, in -an open bottle, does wine left to itself become vinegar? Because, thanks -to the air, and to the mycoderma aceti (which need never be sown, being -ever mixed with the invisible dusts in the air), the chemical -transformation of wine into vinegar can take place. Why does not a full, -closed bottle become acetified? Because the mycoderma cannot multiply in -the absence of air. Wine and air heated in the same vessel will not -become sour, the high temperature having killed the germs of mycoderma -aceti both in the wine itself and in the dusts suspended in the air. -But, if a vessel containing wine previously heated is exposed to the -free contact of ordinary air, the wine may become sour, for, though the -germs in the wine have been killed, other germs may fall into it from -the air and develop.</p> - -<p>Finally, if pure alcoholized water does not become acetified, though -germs can drop into it from the air, it is because it does not offer to -those germs the food necessary to the plant—food which is present in -wine but not in alcoholized water. But if a suitable aliment for the -little plant is added to the water, acetification takes place.</p> - -<p>When the acetification is complete, the mycoderma, if not submerged, -continues to act, and, when not arrested in time, its oxidating power -becomes dangerous; having no more alcohol to act upon, it ends by -transforming acetic acid itself into water and carbonic acid gas, and -the work of death and destruction is thus achieved.</p> - -<p>Speaking of that last phase of the mycoderma aceti, he went on to -general laws—laws of the universe by which all that has lived must -disappear. “It is an absolute necessity that the matter of which living -beings are formed should return after their death to the ground and to -the atmosphere in the shape of mineral or gaseous substances, such as -steam, carbonic acid gas, ammoniac gas or nitrogen—simple principles -easily displaced by movements of the atmosphere and in which life is -again enabled to seek the elements of its indefinite perpetuity. It is -chiefly through acts of fermentation and slow combustion<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span> that this law -of dissolution and return to a gaseous state is accomplished.”</p> - -<p>Coming back to his special subject, he pointed out to vinegar -manufacturers the cause of certain failures and the danger of certain -errors.</p> - -<p>It was imagined for instance that some microscopic beings, anguillulæ, -of which Pasteur projected an enlarged wriggling image on the screen, -and which were to be found in the tubs of some Orleans vinegar works, -were of some practical utility. Pasteur explained their injurious -character: as they require air to live, and as the mycoderma, in order -to accomplish its work, is equally dependent on oxygen, a struggle takes -place between the anguillulæ and the mycoderma. If acetification is -successful, if the mycoderma spreads and invades everything, the -vanquished anguillulæ are obliged to take refuge against the sides of -the barrel, from which their little living army watches the least -accidental break of the veil. Pasteur, armed with a magnifying glass, -had many times witnessed the struggle for life which takes place between -the little fungi and the tiny animals, each fighting for the surface of -the liquid. Sometimes, gathering themselves into masses, the anguillulæ -succeed in sinking a fragment of the mycodermic veil and victoriously -destroying the action of the drowned plants.</p> - -<p>Pasteur related all this in a vivid manner, evidently happy that his -long and delicate laboratory researches should now pass into the domain -of industry. He had been pleased to find that some Orleans wine -merchants heated wine according to his advice in order to preserve it; -and he now informed them that the temperature of 55° C. which killed -germs and vegetations in wine could be applied with equal success to -vinegar after it was produced. The active germs of the mycoderma aceti -were thus arrested at the right moment, the anguillulæ were killed and -the vinegar remained pure and unaltered. “Nothing,” concluded Pasteur, -“is more agreeable to a man who has made science his career than to -increase the number of discoveries, but his cup of joy is full when the -result of his observations is put to immediate practical use.”</p> - -<p>This year 1867 marks a specially interesting period in Pasteur’s life. -At Alais he had shown himself an incomparable observer, solely -preoccupied with the silkworm disease, thinking, speaking of nothing -else. He would rise long before anyone else so as to begin earlier the -study of the experiments he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span> had started, and would give his thought and -attention to some detail for hours at a time. After this minute -observation he would suddenly display a marvellous ingenuity in varying -tests, foreseeing and avoiding causes of error, and at last, after so -many efforts, a clear and decisive experiment would come, as it had done -in the cases of spontaneous generation and of ferments.</p> - -<p>The contrasts in his mind had their parallel in his character: this -usually thoughtful, almost dreamy man, absorbed in one idea, suddenly -revealed himself a man of action if provoked by some erroneous newspaper -report or some illogical statement, and especially when he heard of some -unscrupulous silkworm seed merchant sowing ruin in poor <i>magnaneries</i> -for the sake of a paltry gain. When, on his return to Paris, he found -himself mixed up with the small revolution in the Ecole Normale, he was -seen to efface himself modestly before his masters when honours and -titles came in question. Now he had interrupted his researches in order -to do a kindness to the people of Orleans, who, practical as they were, -and perhaps a little disdainful of laboratory theories, had been -surprised to find him as careful of the smallest detail as they -themselves were.</p> - -<p>He was then in the full maturity of his forty-five years. His great -intuition, his imagination, which equalled any poet’s, often carried him -to a summit whence an immense horizon lay before him; he would then -suddenly doubt this imagination, resolutely, with a violent effort, -force his mind to start again along the path of experimental method, -and, surely and slowly, gathering proofs as he went, he would once more -reach his exalted and general ideas. This constant struggle within -himself was almost dramatic; the words “Perseverance in Effort,” which -he often used in the form of advice to others, or as a programme for his -own work, seemed to bring something far away, something infinite before -his dreamy eyes.</p> - -<p>At the end of the year, an obstacle almost arrested the great -experiments he contemplated. He heard that the promises made to him were -vanishing away, the necessary credit having been refused for the -building of the new laboratory. And this, Pasteur sadly reflected, when -millions and millions of francs were being spent on the Opera house! -Wounded in his feelings, both as a scientist and a patriot, he prepared -for the <i>Moniteur</i>, then the official paper, an article destined to -shake the culpable indifference of public authorities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span></p> - -<p>“...The boldest conceptions,” he wrote, “the most legitimate -speculations can be embodied but from the day when they are consecrated -by observation and experiment. Laboratories and discoveries are -correlative terms; if you suppress laboratories, Physical Science will -become stricken with barrenness and death; it will become mere powerless -information instead of a science of progress and futurity; give it back -its laboratories, and life, fecundity and power will reappear. Away from -their laboratories, physicists and chemists are but disarmed soldiers on -a battlefield.</p> - -<p>“The deduction from these principles is evident: if the conquests useful -to humanity touch your heart—if you remain confounded before the -marvels of electric telegraphy, of anæsthesia, of the daguerreotype and -many other admirable discoveries—if you are jealous of the share your -country may boast in these wonders—then, I implore you, take some -interest in those sacred dwellings meaningly described as -<i>laboratories</i>. Ask that they may be multiplied and completed. They are -the temples of the future, of riches and of comfort. There humanity -grows greater, better, stronger; there she can learn to read the works -of Nature, works of progress and universal harmony, while humanity’s own -works are too often those of barbarism, of fanaticism and of -destruction.</p> - -<p>“Some nations have felt the wholesome breath of truth. Rich and large -laboratories have been growing in Germany for the last thirty years, and -many more are still being built; at Berlin and at Bonn two palaces, -worth four million francs each, are being erected for chemical studies. -St. Petersburg has spent three and a half million francs on a -Physiological Institute; England, America, Austria, Bavaria have made -most generous sacrifices. Italy too has made a start.</p> - -<p>“And France?</p> - -<p>“France has not yet begun....” He mentioned the sepulchre-like cellar -where the great physiologist, Claude Bernard, was obliged to live; “and -where?” wrote Pasteur. “In the very establishment which bears the name -of the mother country, the Collège de France!” The laboratory of the -Sorbonne was no better—a damp, dark room, one metre below the level of -the street. He went on, demonstrating that the provincial Faculties were -as destitute as those of Paris. “Who will believe me when I affirm that -the budget of Public Instruction provides not a penny towards the -progress of physical<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> science in laboratories, that it is through a -tolerated administrative fiction that some scientists, considered as -professors, are permitted to draw from the public treasury towards the -expenses of their own work, some of the allowance made to them for -teaching purposes.”</p> - -<p>The manuscript was sent to the <i>Moniteur</i> at the beginning of January, -1868. It had lately been publishing mild articles on Mussulman -architecture, then on herring fishing in Norway. The official whose -business it was to read over the articles sent to the paper literally -jumped in his chair when he read this fiery denunciation; he declared -those pages must be modified, cut down; the Administration could not be -attacked in that way, especially by one of its own functionaries! M. -Dalloz, the editor of the paper, knew that Pasteur would never consent -to any alterations; he advised him to show the proofs to M. Conti, -Napoleon III’s secretary.</p> - -<p>“The article cannot appear in the <i>Moniteur</i>, but why not publish it in -booklet form?” wrote M. Conti to Pasteur after having shown these -revelations to the Emperor. Napoleon, talking to Duruy the next day, -January 9, showed great concern at such a state of things. “Pasteur is -right,” said Duruy, “to expose such deficiencies; it is the best way to -have them remedied. Is it not deplorable, almost scandalous, that the -official world should be so indifferent on questions of science?”</p> - -<p>Duruy felt his combative instincts awakening. How many times, in spite -of his good humour and almost Roman intrepidity, he had asked himself -whether he would ever succeed in causing his ideas on higher education -to prevail with his colleagues, the other Ministers, who, carried away -by their daily discussions, hardly seemed to realize that the true -supremacy of a nation does not reside in speeches, but in the silent and -tenacious work of a few men of science and of letters. Pasteur’s article -entitled <i>Science’s Budget</i> appeared first in the <i>Revue des cours -scientifiques</i>, then as a pamphlet. Pasteur, not content with this, -continued his campaign by impetuous speeches whenever the opportunity -offered. On March 10, he saw himself nearing his goal, and wrote to -Raulin: “There is now a marked movement in favour of Science; I think I -shall succeed.”</p> - -<p>Six days later, on March 16, whilst the Court was celebrating the -birthday of the Prince Imperial, Napoleon III, who, on reading Pasteur’s -article, had expressed his intention of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span> consulting not only Pasteur, -but also Milne-Edwards, Claude Bernard, and Henri Sainte Claire Deville, -asked the four scientists to his study to meet Rouher, Marshal Vaillant -and Duruy, perhaps the three men of the Empire who were best qualified -to hear them. The Emperor in his slow, detached manner, invited each of -his guests to express his opinion on the course to follow. All agreed in -regretting that pure science should be given up. When Rouher said that -it was not to be wondered at that the reign of applied science should -follow that of pure science, “But if the sources of applications are -dried up!” interposed the Emperor hastily. Pasteur, asked to express his -opinion (he had brought with him notes of what he wished to say), -recalled the fact that the Natural History Museum and the Ecole -Polytechnique, which had had so great a share in the scientific movement -of the early part of the century, were no longer in that heroic period. -For the last twenty years the industrial prosperity of France had -induced the cleverest Polytechnicians to desert higher studies and -theoretical science, though the source of all applications was to be -found in theory. The Ecole Polytechnique was obliged now to recruit its -teaching staff outside, chiefly among Normaliens. What was to be done to -train future scientists? This: to maintain in Paris, during two or three -years, five or six graduates chosen from the best students of the large -schools as curators or preparation masters, doing at the Ecole -Polytechnique and other establishments what was done at the Ecole -Normale. Thanks to that special institution, science and higher teaching -would have a reserve of men who would become an honour to their country. -Next, and this was the second point, no less important than the first, -scientists should be given resources better appropriated to the pursuit -of their work; as in Germany, for instance, where a scientist would -leave one university for another on the express condition that a -laboratory should be built for him, “a laboratory,” said Pasteur, -“usually magnificent, not in its architecture (though sometimes that is -the case, a proof of the national pride in scientific glory), but in the -number and perfection of its appliances. Besides,” he added, “foreign -scientists have their private homes adjoining their laboratories and -collections,” indeed a most pressing inducement to work.</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not suggest that a scientist should give up teaching; he -recognized, on the contrary, that public teaching forces<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span> him to embrace -in succession every branch of the science he teaches. “But let him not -give too frequent or too varied lectures! they paralyze the faculties,” -he said, being well aware of the cost of preparing classes. He wished -that towns should be interested in the working and success of their -scientific establishments. The Universities of Paris, of Lyons, of -Strasburg, of Montpellier, of Lille, of Bordeaux, and of Toulouse, -forming as a whole the University of France, should be connected to the -neighbourhood which they honour in the same way that German universities -are connected with their surroundings.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had the greatest admiration for the German system: popular -instruction liberally provided, and, above it, an intellectually -independent higher teaching. Therefore, when the University of Bonn -resolved in that year, 1868, to offer him as a great homage the degree -of M.D. on account of his works on micro-organisms, he was proud to see -his researches rated at their proper value by a neighbouring nation. He -did not then suspect the other side of German nature, the military side, -then very differently preoccupied. Those preoccupations were pointed out -to the French Government in a spirit of prophecy, and with some -patriotic anguish, by two French officers, General Ducrot, commanding -since 1865 the 6th Military Division, whose headquarters were at -Strasburg, and Colonel Baron Stoffel, military attaché in Prussia since -1866. Their warnings were so little heeded that some Court intrigues -were even then on foot to transfer General Ducrot from Strasburg to -Bourges, so that he might no longer worry people with his monomania of -Prussian ambition.</p> - -<p>On March 10, the evening of the day when the Emperor decided upon making -improvements, and when Duruy felt assured, thanks to the promised -allowances, that he could soon offer to French professors “the necessary -appliances with which to compete with their rivals beyond the Rhine,” -Pasteur started for Alais, where his arrival was impatiently awaited, -both by partisans and adversaries of his experiments on silkworm -disease. He would much have liked to give the results of his work in his -inaugural lecture at the Sorbonne. “But,” he wrote to Duruy, “these are -but selfishly sentimental reasons, which must be outweighed by the -interest of my researches.”</p> - -<p>On his arrival he found to his joy that those who had prac<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span>tised seeding -according to his rigorous prescriptions had met with complete success. -Other silkworm cultivators, less well advised, duped by the decoying -appearances of certain broods, had not taken the trouble to examine -whether the moths were corpuscled; they were witnesses and victims of -the failure Pasteur had prophesied. He now looked upon pébrine as -conquered; but flachery remained, more difficult to prevent, being -greatly dependent upon the accidents which traverse the life of a -silkworm. Some of those accidents happen in spite of all precautions, -such as a sudden change of temperature or a stormy day; but at least the -leaves of the mulberry tree could be carefully kept from fermentation, -or from contamination by dusts in the nurseries. Either of those two -causes was sufficient to provoke a fatal disorder in silkworms, the -feeding of which is so important that they increase to fifteen thousand -times their own weight during the first month of their life. Accidental -flachery could therefore be avoided by hygienic precautions. In order to -prevent it from becoming hereditary, Pasteur—who had pointed out that -the micro-organism which causes it develops at first in the intestinal -canal of the worm and then becomes localized in the digestive cavity of -the chrysalis—advised the following means of producing a healthy strain -of silkworms: “This means,” writes M. Gernez, Pasteur’s assiduous -collaborator in these studies, “does not greatly complicate operations, -and infallibly ensures healthy seed. It consists in abstracting with the -point of a scalpel a small portion of the digestive cavity of a moth, -then mixing it with a little water and examining it with a microscope. -If the moths do not contain the characteristic micro-organism, the -strain they come from may unhesitatingly be considered as suitable for -seeding. The flachery micro-organism is as easily recognized as the -pébrine corpuscle.”</p> - -<p>The seed merchants, made uneasy by these discoveries which so gravely -jeopardized their industry, spread the most slanderous reports about -them and made themselves the willing echo of every imposture, however -incredible. M. Laurent wrote to his daughter, Madame Pasteur, in a -letter dated from Lyons (June 6): “It is being reported here that the -failure of Pasteur’s process has excited the population of your -neighbourhood so much that he has had to flee from Alais, pursued by -infuriated inhabitants throwing stones after him.” Some of these legends -lingered in the minds of ignorant people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span></p> - -<p>Important news came from Paris to Pasteur in July, and on the 27th he -was able to write to Raulin: “The building of my laboratory is going to -be begun! the orders are given, and the money found. I heard this two -days ago from the Minister.” 30,000 francs had been allowed for the work -by the Minister of Public Instruction, and an equal sum was promised by -the Minister of the Emperor’s household. Duruy was preparing at the same -time a report on two projected decrees concerning laboratories for -teaching purposes and for research. “The laboratory for research,” wrote -Duruy, “will not be useful to the master alone, but more so even to the -students, thus ensuring the future progress of science. Students already -provided with extensive theoretical knowledge will be initiated in the -<i>teaching laboratories</i> into the handling of instruments, elementary -manipulations, and what I may call classical practice; this will gather -them around eminent masters, from whom they will learn the art of -observation and methods of experiment.... It is with similar -institutions that Germany has succeeded in obtaining the great -development of experimental science which we are now watching with an -anxious sympathy.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur returned to Paris with his enthusiastic mind overflowing with -plans of all kinds of research. He wanted to be there when the builders -began their work on the narrow space in the Rue d’Ulm. He wrote to -Raulin on August 10, asking his opinion as he would that of an -architect; then went on to say, planning out his busy holidays: “I shall -leave Paris on the 16th with my wife and children to spend three weeks -at the seaside, at St. George’s, near Bordeaux. If you were free at the -end of the month, or at the beginning of September, I wish you could -accompany me to Toulon, where experiments on the heating of wines will -be made by the Minister of the Navy. Great quantities of heated and of -non-heated wine are to be sent to Gabon so as to test the process; at -present our colonial crews have to drink mere vinegar. A commission of -very enlightened men is formed and has begun studies with which it seems -satisfied.... See if you can join me at Bordeaux, where I shall await a -notice from the chairman of the Commission, M. de Lapparent, director of -naval construction at the Ministry of Marine.”</p> - -<p>The Commission mentioned by Pasteur had been considering for the last -two years the expediency of applying the heating<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span> process to wines -destined for the fleet and to the colonies. A first trial was made at -Brest on the contents of a barrel of 500 litres, half of which was -heated. Then the two wines were sealed in different barrels and placed -in the ship <i>Jean Bart</i>, which remained away from the harbour for ten -months. When the vessel returned, the Commission noted the limpidity and -mellowness of the heated wine, adding in the official report that the -wine had acquired the attractive colour peculiar to mature wines. The -non-heated wine was equally limpid, but it had an astringent, almost -acid flavour. It was still fit to drink, said the report, but it were -better to consume it rapidly, as it would soon be entirely spoilt. -Identical results were observed in some bottles of heated and non-heated -wines at Rochefort and Orleans.</p> - -<p>M. de Lapparent now organized a decisive experiment, to take place under -Pasteur’s superintendence. The frigate <i>la Sibylle</i> started for a tour -round the world with a complete cargo of heated wine. Pasteur, who -returned to Arbois for a short rest before going back to Paris, wrote -from there to his early confidant, Chappuis (September 21, 1868): “I am -quite satisfied with my experiments at Toulon and with the success of -the Navy tests. We heated 650 hectolitres in two days; the rapidity of -this operation lends itself to quick and considerable commissariat -arrangements. Those 650 hectolitres will be taken to the West Coast of -Africa, together with 50 hectolitres of the same wine non-heated. If the -trial succeeds, that is to say if the 650 hectolitres arrive and can be -kept without alteration, and if the 50 hectolitres become spoilt (I feel -confident after the experiments I have made that such will be the -result), the question will be settled, and, in the future, all the wine -for the Navy will be ensured against disease by a preliminary heating. -The expense will not be more than five centimes per hectolitre. The -result of these experiments will have a great influence on the trade, -ever cautious and afraid of innovations. Yet we have seen, at Narbonne -in particular, some heating practised on a large scale by several -merchants who have spoken to me very favourably about it. The -exportation of our French wines will increase enormously, for at present -our ordinary table wines lend themselves to trade with England and other -countries beyond seas, but only by means of a strong addition of -alcohol, which raises their price and tampers with their hygienic -qualities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The experiments were successful. Pasteur’s life was now over full. He -returned to Paris at the beginning of October, and threw himself into -his work, his classes at the Sorbonne, the organization of his -laboratory, some further polemics on the subject of silkworm disease, -and projected experiments for the following year. This accumulation of -mental work brought about extreme cerebral tension.</p> - -<p>As soon as he saw M. Gernez, he spoke to him of the coming campaign of -sericiculture, of his desire to reduce his adversaries to silence by -heaping proof upon proof. Nothing could relieve him from that absorbing -preoccupation, not even the gaiety of Bertin, who, living on the same -floor at the Ecole Normale, often used to come in after dinner and try -to amuse him.</p> - -<p>On Monday, October 19, Pasteur, though suffering from a strange tingling -sensation of the left side, had a great desire to go and read to the -Academié des Sciences a treatise by Salimbeni, an Italian, who, having -studied and verified Pasteur’s results, declared that the best means of -regenerating the culture of silkworms was due to the French scientist. -This treatise, the diploma of the Bonn University, the Rumford medal -offered by the English, all those testimonials from neighbouring nations -were infinitely agreeable to Pasteur, who was proud to lay such homage -before the shrine of France. On that day, October 19, 1868, a date which -became a bitter memory to his family and friends—in spite of an -alarming shivering fit which had caused him to lie down immediately -after lunch instead of working as usual—he insisted on going to the -Academy sitting at half past two.</p> - -<p>Mme. Pasteur, vaguely uneasy, made a pretext of some shopping beyond the -Quai Conti and accompanied him as far as the vestibule of the Institute. -As she was turning back, she met Balard, who was coming up with the -quick step of a young man, stopped him and asked him to walk back with -Pasteur, and not to leave him before reaching his own door, though -indeed it seemed a curious exchange of parts to ask Balard at sixty -years of age to watch over Pasteur still so young. Pasteur read -Salimbeni’s paper in his usual steady voice, remained until the end of -the sitting and walked back with Balard and Sainte Claire Deville. He -dined very lightly and went to bed at nine o’clock; he had hardly got -into bed when he felt himself attacked by the strange symptoms of the -afternoon. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span> tried to speak, but in vain; after a few moments he was -able to call for assistance. Mme. Pasteur sent at once for Dr. Godélier, -an intimate friend of the family, an army surgeon, Clinical Professor at -the Ecole du Val-de-Grâce<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>; and Pasteur, paralysed one moment and -free again the next, explained his own symptoms during the intervals of -the dark struggle which endangered his life.</p> - -<p>The cerebral hæmorrhage gradually brought about absence of movement -along the entire left side. When the next morning Dr. Noël Gueneau de -Mussy, going his regulation round of the Ecole Normale students, came -into his room and said, so as not to alarm him, “I heard you were -unwell, and thought I would come to see you,” Pasteur smiled the sad -smile of a patient with no illusions. Drs. Godélier and Gueneau de Mussy -decided to call Dr. Andral in consultation, and went to fetch him at -three o’clock at the Académie de Médecine. Somewhat disconcerted by the -singular character of this attack of hemiplegia, Andral prescribed the -application of sixteen leeches behind the ears; blood flowed abundantly, -and Dr. Godélier wrote in the evening bulletin (Tuesday): “Speech -clearer, some movements of the paralysed limbs; intelligence perfect.” -Later, at ten o’clock: “Complains of his paralysed arm.” “It is like -lead; if it could only be cut off!” groaned Pasteur. About 2 a.m. Mme -Pasteur thought all hope was gone. The hastily written bulletin reads -thus: “Intense cold, anxious agitation, features depressed, eyes -languid.” The sleep which followed was as the sleep of death.</p> - -<p>At dawn Pasteur awoke from this drowsiness. “Mental faculties still -absolutely intact,” wrote M. Godélier at 12.30 on Wednesday, October 21. -“The cerebral lesion, whatever it may be, is not worse; there is an -evident pause.” Two hours later the words, “Mind active,” were followed -by the startling statement, “Would willingly talk science.”</p> - -<p>While these periods of calm, agitation, renewed hopes, and despair were -succeeding each other in the course of those thirty-six hours, Pasteur’s -friends hastened to his bedside. He said to Henri Sainte Claire Deville, -one of the first to come: “I am sorry to die; I wanted to do much more -for my country.” Sainte Claire Deville, trying to hide his grief under<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span> -apparent confidence, answered, “Never fear; you will recover, you will -make many more marvellous discoveries, you will live happy days; I am -your senior, you will survive me. Promise me that you will pronounce my -funeral oration.... I wish you would; you would say nice things of me,” -he added between tears and smiles.</p> - -<p>Bertin, Gernez, Duclaux, Baulin, Didon, then a curator at the Ecole -Normale, Professor Auguste Lamy, the geologist Marcou (the two latter -being Franche-comté friends), all claimed the privilege of helping Mme. -Pasteur and M. Godélier in nursing one who inspired them all, not merely -with an admiring and devoted affection, but with a feeling of tenderness -amounting almost to a cult.</p> - -<p>A private letter from a cousin, Mme. Cribier, gives an idea of those -dark days (October 26, 1868): “The news is rather good this morning; the -patient was able to sleep for a few hours last night, which he had not -yet done. He had been so restless all day that M. Godélier felt uneasy -about him and ordered complete silence in the whole flat; it was only in -the study which is farthest away from the bedroom, and which has padded -doors, that one was allowed to talk. That room is full from morning till -night. All scientific Paris comes to inquire anxiously after the -patient; intimate friends take it in turns to watch by him. Dumas, the -great chemist, was affectionately insisting on taking his turn -yesterday. Every morning the Emperor and Empress send a footman for -news, which M. Godélier gives him in a sealed envelope. In fact, every -mark of sympathy is given to poor Marie, and I hope that the worst may -be spared her in spite of the alarming beginning. His mind seems so -absolutely untouched, and he is still so young, that with rest and care -he might yet be able to do some work. His stroke is accompanied by -symptoms which are now occupying the attention of the whole Academy of -Medicine. Paralysis always comes abruptly, whilst for M. Pasteur, it -came in little successive fits, twenty or thirty perhaps, and was only -complete at the end of twenty-four hours, which completely disconcerted -the doctors who watched him, and delayed their having recourse to an -active treatment. It seems that this fact is observed for the first -time, and is puzzling the whole Faculty.”</p> - -<p>M. Pasteur’s mind remained clear, luminous, dominating his prostrate -body; he was evidently afraid that he should die<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span> before having -thoroughly settled the question of silkworm diseases. “One night that I -was alone with him,” relates M. Gernez, who hardly left his bedside -during that terrible week, “after endeavouring in vain to distract his -thoughts, I despairingly gave up the attempt and allowed him to express -the ideas which were on his mind; finding, to my surprise, that they had -his accustomed clearness and conciseness, I wrote what he dictated -without altering a word, and the next day I brought to his illustrious -colleague, Dumas—who hardly credited his senses—the memorandum which -appeared in the report of the Académie on October 26, 1868, a week after -the stroke which nearly killed him! It was a note on a very ingenious -process for discovering in the earlier tests those eggs which are -predisposed to flachery.”</p> - -<p>The members of the Academy were much cheered by the reading of this -note, which seemed to bring Pasteur back into their midst.</p> - -<p>The building of the laboratory had been begun, and hoardings erected -around the site. Pasteur, from his bed, asked day by day, “How are they -getting on?” But his wife and daughter, going to the window of the -dining-room which overlooked the Ecole Normale garden, only brought him -back vague answers, for, as a matter of fact, the workmen had -disappeared from the very first day of Pasteur’s illness. All that could -be seen was a solitary labourer wheeling a barrow aimlessly about, -probably under the orders of some official who feared to alarm the -patient.</p> - -<p>As Pasteur was not expected to recover, the trouble and expense were -deemed unnecessary. Pasteur soon became aware of this, and one day that -General Favé had come to see him he gave vent to some bitter feelings as -to this cautious interruption of the building works, saying that it -would have been simpler and more straightforward to state from the -beginning that the work was suspended in the expectation of a probable -demise.</p> - -<p>Napoleon was informed of this excess of zeal, not only by General Favé, -but by Sainte Claire Deville, who was a guest at Compiègne at the -beginning of November, 1868. He wrote to the Minister of Public -Instruction—</p> - -<p>“My dear M. Duruy,—I have heard that—unknown to you probably—the men -who were working at M. Pasteur’s laboratory were kept away from the very -day he became ill; he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span> been much affected by this circumstance, -which seemed to point to his non-recovery. I beg you will issue orders -that the work begun should be continued. Believe in my sincere -friendship.—Napoleon.”</p> - -<p>Duruy immediately sent on this note to M. du Mesnil, whose somewhat long -title was that of “Chief of the Division of Academic Administration of -Scientific Establishments and of Higher Education.” M. du Mesnil -evidently repudiated the charge for himself or for his Minister, for he -wrote in a large hand, on the very margin of the Imperial autograph—</p> - -<p>“M. Duruy gave no orders and had to give none. It is at his solicitation -that the works were undertaken, but it is the <i>Direction of Civic -Buildings</i> alone which <i>can</i> have interrupted them; the fact should be -verified.”</p> - -<p>M. de Cardaillac, head of the Direction of Civic Buildings, made an -inquiry and the building was resumed.</p> - -<p>It was only on November 30 that Pasteur left his bed for the first time -and spent an hour in his armchair. He clearly analyzed to himself his -melancholy condition, stricken down as he was by hemiplegia in his -forty-sixth year; but having noticed that his remarks saddened his wife -and daughter, he spoke no more about his illness, and only expressed his -anxiety not to be a trouble, a burden, he said, to his wife, his son and -daughter, and the devoted friends who helped to watch him at night.</p> - -<p>In the daytime each offered to read to him. General Favé, whose active -and inquiring mind was ever on the alert, brought him on one of his -almost daily visits an ideal sick man’s book, easy to read and offering -food for meditation. It was the translation of an English book called -<i>Self-Help</i>,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and it consisted in a series of biographies, histories -of lives illustrating the power of courage, devotion or intelligence. -The author, glad to expound a discovery, to describe a masterpiece, to -relate noble enterprises, to dwell upon the prodigies which energy can -achieve, had succeeded in making a homogeneous whole of these -unconnected narratives, a sort of homage to Willpower.</p> - -<p>Pasteur agreed with the English writer in thinking that the supremacy of -a nation resides in “the sum total of private virtues, activities and -energy.” His thoughts rose higher still; men of science could wish for a -greater glory than that of con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span>tributing to the fame and fortune of -their country, they might aspire to originating vast benefits to the -whole of humanity.</p> - -<p>It was indeed a sad and a sublime spectacle, that of the contrast -between that ardent, soaring soul and that patient helpless body. It was -probably when thinking of those biographies—some of them too succinct, -to his mind, Jenner’s for instance—that Pasteur wrote: “From the life -of men whose passage is marked by a trace of durable light, let us -piously gather up every word, every incident likely to make known the -incentives of their great soul, for the education of posterity.” He -looked upon the cult of great men as a great principle of national -education, and believed that children, as soon as they could read, -should be made acquainted with the heroic or benevolent souls of great -men. In his pious patriotism he saw a secret of strength and of hope for -a nation in its reverence for the memories of the great, a sacred and -intimate bond between the visible and the invisible worlds. His soul was -deeply religious. During his illness—a time when the things of this -world assume their real proportions—his mind rose far beyond this -earth. The Infinite appeared to him as it did to Pascal, and with the -same rapture; he was less attracted by Pascal, when, proud and -disdainful, he exposes man’s weakness for humiliation’s sake, than when -he declares that “Man is produced but for Infinity,” and “he finds -constant instruction in progress.” Pasteur believed in material progress -as well as in moral improvement; he invariably marked in the books he -was reading—Pascal, Nicole and others—those passages which were both -consoling and exalting.</p> - -<p>In one of his favourite books, <i>Of the Knowledge of God and of Self</i>, he -much appreciated the passage where Bossuet ascribes to human nature “the -idea of an infinite wisdom, of an absolute power, of an infallible -rectitude, in one word, the idea of perfection.” Another phrase in the -same book seemed to him applicable to experimental method as well as to -the conduct of life: “The greatest aberration of the mind consists in -believing a thing because it is desirable.”</p> - -<p>With December, joy began to return to the Ecole Normale: the laboratory -was progressing and seemed an embodiment of renewed hopes of further -work. M. Godélier’s little bulletins now ran: “General condition most -satisfactory. Excellent morale; the progress evidenced daily by the -return of action in the paralysed muscles inspires the patient with -great confidence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span> He is planning out his future sericiculture campaign, -receives many callers without too much fatigue, converses brightly and -often dictates letters.”</p> - -<p>One visit was a great pleasure to Pasteur—that of the Minister, his -cordial friend, Duruy, who brought him good news of the future of Higher -Education. The augmented credit which was granted in the 1869 budget -would make it possible to rebuild other laboratories besides that of the -Ecole Normale, and also to create in other places new centres of study -and research. After so many efforts and struggles, it was at last -possible to foresee the day when chemistry, physics, physiology, natural -history and mathematics would each have an independent department in a -great province, which should be called the Practical School of Higher -Studies. There would be no constraint, no hard and fast rules, no -curriculum but that of free study: young men who were attracted to pure -science, and others who preferred practical application, would find a -congenial career before them as well as those who desired to give -themselves up to teaching. It can well be imagined with what delight -Pasteur heard these good tidings.</p> - -<p>The bulletins continued to be favourable: “(December 15): Progress slow -but sure: he has walked from his bed to his armchair with some -assistance. (December 22): he has gone into the dining-room for dinner, -leaning on a chair. (29th): he has walked a few steps without support.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur saw in his convalescence but the returning means of working, and -declared himself ready to start again for the neighbourhood of Alais at -once, instead of taking the few months’ rest he was advised to have.</p> - -<p>He urged that, after certain moths and chrysalides, had been examined -through a microscope, complete certainty would be acquired as to the -condition of their seed, and that perfect seed would therefore become -accessible to all tradesmen both great and small; would it not be absurd -and culpable to let reasons of personal health interfere with saving so -many poor people from ruin?</p> - -<p>His family had to give way, and on January 18, exactly three months -after his paralytic stroke, he was taken to the <i>Gare de Lyon</i> by his -wife and daughter and M. Gernez. He then travelled, lying on the -cushions of a <i>coupé</i> carriage, as far as Alais, and drove from Alais to -St. Hippolyte le Fort, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span> tests were being made on forced silkworms -by the agricultural society of Le Vigan.</p> - -<p>The house he came into was cold and badly arranged. M. Gernez improvised -a laboratory, with the assistance of Maillot and Raulin, who had -followed their master down. From his sofa or from his bed, Pasteur -directed certain experiments on the forced specimens. M. Gernez writes: -“The operations, of which we watched the phases through the microscope, -fully justified his anticipations; and he rejoiced that he had not given -up the game.” In the world of the Institute his departure was blamed by -some and praised by others; but Pasteur merely considered that one man’s -life is worthless if not useful to others.</p> - -<p>Dumas wrote to him early in February: “My dear friend and colleague,—I -have been thinking of you so much! I dread fatigue for you, and wish I -could spare it you, whilst hoping that you may successfully achieve your -great and patriotic undertaking. I have hesitated to write to you for -fear you should feel obliged to answer. However, I should like to have -direct news of you, as detailed as possible, and, besides that, I should -be much obliged if you could send me a line to enlighten me on the two -following points—</p> - -<p>“1. When are you going back to Alais? And when will your Alais broods be -near enough to their time to be most interesting to visit?</p> - -<p>“2. What should I say to people who beg for healthy seed as if my -pockets were full of it? I tell them it is too late; but if you could -tell me a means of satisfying them, I should be pleased, particularly in -the case of General Randon and M. Husson. The Marshal (Vaillant) is full -of solicitude for you, and we never meet but our whole conversation -turns upon you. With me, it is natural. With him less so, perhaps, but -anyhow, he thinks of you as much as is possible, and this gives me a -great deal of pleasure.... Please present to Madame Pasteur our united -compliments and wishes. We wish the South could have the virtues of -Achilles’ lance—of healing the wounds it has caused.—Yours -affectionately.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was reduced to complete helplessness through having slipped and -fallen on the stone floor of his uncomfortable house, and was obliged to -dictate the following letter—</p> - -<p>“My dear master,—I thank you for thinking of the poor invalid. I am -very much in the same condition as when I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> left Paris, my progress -having been retarded by a fall on my left side. Fortunately, I sustained -no fracture, but only bruises, which were naturally painful and very -slow to disappear.</p> - -<p>“There are now no remaining traces of that accident, and I am as I was -three weeks ago. The improvement in the movements of the leg and arm -appears to have begun again, but with excessive slowness. I am about to -have recourse to electricity, under the advice and instructions of Dr. -Godélier, by means of a small Ruhmkorff apparatus which he has kindly -sent me. My brain is still very weak.</p> - -<p>“This is how my days are spent: in the morning my three young friends -come to see me, and I arrange the day’s work. I get up at twelve, after -having my breakfast in bed, and having had the newspaper read to me. If -fine, I then spend an hour or two in the little garden of this house. -Usually, if I am feeling pretty well, I dictate to my dear wife a page, -or more frequently half a page, of a little book I am preparing, and in -which I intend to give a short account of the whole of my observations. -Before dinner, which I have alone with my wife and my little girl in -order to avoid the fatigue of conversation, my young collaborators bring -me a report of their work. About seven or half past, I always feel -terribly tired and inclined to sleep twelve consecutive hours; but I -invariably wake at midnight, not to sleep again until towards morning, -when I doze again for an hour or two. What makes me hope for an ultimate -cure is the fact that my appetite keeps good, and that those short hours -of sleep appear to be sufficient. You see that on the whole I am doing -nothing rash, being moreover rigorously watched by my wife and little -daughter. The latter pitilessly takes books, pens, papers and pencils -away from me with a perseverance which causes me joy and despair.</p> - -<p>“It is because I know your affection for your pupils that I venture to -give you so many details. I will now answer the other questions in your -letter.</p> - -<p>“I shall be at Alais from April 1; that will be the time when they will -begin hatching seed for the industrial campaign, which will consequently -be concluded about May 20 at the latest. Seeding will take place during -June, more or less early according to departments. It is indeed very -late to obtain seed, especially indigenous seed prepared according to my -process. I had foreseen that I should receive demands at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span> the last -moment, and that I should do well to put by a few ounces; but, about -three weeks ago, our energetic Minister wrote to ask me for some seed to -distribute to schoolmasters, and I promised him what I had. However I -will take some from his share and send you several lots of five grammes. -The director of a most interesting Austrian establishment has also -ordered two ounces, saying he is convinced of the excellence of my -method. His establishment is a most interesting experimental -<i>magnanerie</i>, founded in a handsome Illyrian property. Lastly, I have -also promised two ounces to M. le Comte de Casabianca. One of my young -men is going out to his place in Corsica to do the seeding.</p> - -<p>“I was much touched by what you tell me of Marshal Vaillant’s kind -interest in my health, and also by his kind thought in informing me of -the encouragement given to my studies by the Society of Agriculture. I -wish the cultivators of your South had a little of his scientific and -methodical spirit.</p> - -<p>“Madame Pasteur joins with me in sending you and your family, dear -master, the expression of my gratitude and affectionate devotion.”</p> - -<p>The normal season for the culture of silkworms was now aproaching, and -Pasteur was impatient to accumulate the proofs which would vouch for the -safety of his method; this had been somewhat doubted by the members of -the Lyons Silks Commission, who possessed an experimental nursery. Most -of those gentlemen averred that too much confidence should not be placed -in the micrographs. “Our Commission,” thus ran their report of the -preceding year, “considers the examination of corpuscles as a useful -indication which should be consulted, but of which the results cannot be -presented as a fact from which absolute consequences can be deducted.”</p> - -<p>“They <i>are</i> absolute,” answered Pasteur, who did not admit reservations -on a point which he considered as invulnerable.</p> - -<p>On March 22, 1869, the Commission asked Pasteur for a little guaranteed -healthy seed. Pasteur not only sent them this, but also sample lots, of -which he thus predicted the future fate:—</p> - -<p>1. One lot of healthy seed, which would succeed;</p> - -<p>2. One lot of seed, which would perish exclusively from the corpuscle -disease known as pébrine or gattine;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span> 3. One lot of seed, which would -perish exclusively from the flachery disease;</p> - -<p>4. One lot of seeds, which would perish partly from corpuscle disease -and partly from flachery.</p> - -<p>“It seems to me,” added Pasteur, “that the comparison between the -results of those different lots will do more to enlighten the Commission -on the certainty of the principles I have established than could a mere -sample of healthy seed.</p> - -<p>“I desire that this letter should be sent to the Commission at its next -meeting, and put down in the minutes.”</p> - -<p>The Commission accepted with pleasure these unexpected surprise boxes.</p> - -<p>About the same time one of his assistants, Maillot, started for Corsica -at M. de Casabianca’s request. He took with him six lots of healthy seed -to Vescovato, a few miles from Bastia.</p> - -<p>The rest of the colony returned to the Pont Gisquet, near Alais, that -mulberry-planted retreat, where, according to Pasteur, everything was -conducive to work. Pasteur now looked forward to his definitive victory, -and, full of confidence, organized his pupils’ missions. M. Duclaux, who -was coming to the Pont Gisquet to watch the normal broods, would -afterwards go into the Cévennes to verify the seedings made on the -selection system. M. Gernez was to note the results of some seedings -made by Pasteur himself the preceding year at M. Raibaud-Lange’s, at -Paillerols, near Digne (Basses Alpes). Raulin alone would remain at the -Pont Gisquet to study some points of detail concerning the flachery -disease. So many results ought surely to reduce contradictors to -silence!</p> - -<p>“My dear friend and colleague,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur, “I need not tell -you with what anxiety we are watching the progress of your precious -health and of your silkworm campaign. I shall certainly be at Alais at -the end of the week, and I shall see, under your kind direction, all -that may furnish me with the means of guiding public opinion. You have -quacks to fight and envy to conquer, probably a hopeless task; the best -is to march right through them, Truth leading the way. It is not likely -that they will be converted or reduced to silence.”</p> - -<p>Whilst these expeditions were being planned, a letter from M. Gressier, -the Minister of Agriculture, arrived very inopportunely. M. Gressier was -better versed in <i>sub rosâ</i> ministerial combinations than in seeding -processes, and he asked Pasteur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span> to examine three lots of seeds sent to -him by a Mademoiselle Amat, of Brives-la-Gaillarde, who was celebrated -in the department of the Corrèze for her good management of silkworms. -This <i>magnanarelle</i>, having had some successful results, was begging his -Excellency to accord to those humble seeds his particular consideration, -and to have them developed with every possible care.</p> - -<p>At the same time she was sending samples of the same seeds to various -places in the Gard, the Bouches du Rhône, etc., etc.</p> - -<p>M. Gressier (April 20) asked Pasteur to examine them and to give him a -detailed report. Pasteur answered four days afterwards in terms which -were certainly not softened by the usual administrative precautions—</p> - -<p>“Monsieur le Ministre, ... these three sorts of seed are worthless. If -they are developed, even in very small nurseries, they will in every -instance succumb to corpuscle disease. If my seeding process had been -employed, it would not have required ten minutes to discover that -Mademoiselle Amat’s cocoons, though excellent for spinning purposes, -were absolutely unfit for reproduction. My seeding process gives the -means of recognizing those broods which are suitable for seed, whilst -opposing the production of the infected eggs which year by year flood -the silkworm cultivating departments.</p> - -<p>“I shall be much obliged, Monsieur le Ministre, if you will kindly -inform the Prefect of the Corrèze of the forecasts which I now impart to -you, and if you will ask <i>him</i> to report to you the results of -Mademoiselle Amat’s three lots.</p> - -<p>“For my part, I feel so sure of what I now affirm, that I shall not even -trouble to test, by hatching them, the samples which you have sent me. I -have thrown them into the river....”</p> - -<p>J. B. Dumas had come to Alais, Messrs. Gernez and Duclaux now returned -from their expeditions. In two hundred broods, each of one or two ounces -of seed, coming from three different sources and hatched in various -localities, not one failure was recorded. The Lyons Commission, which -had made a note of Pasteur’s bold prognosis, found it absolutely -correct; the excellence of the method was acknowledged by all who had -conscientiously tried it. Now that the scourge was really conquered, -Pasteur imagined that all he had to do was to set up a table of the -results sent to him. But, from the south of France and from Corsica, -jealousies were beginning<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span> their work of undermining; pseudo-scientists -in their vanity proclaimed that everything was illusory that was outside -their own affirmations, and the seed merchants, willing to ruin -everybody rather than jeopardize their miserable interests, “did not -hesitate (we are quoting M. Gernez) to perpetrate the most odious -falsehoods.”</p> - -<p>Instead of being annoyed, saddened, often indignant as he was, Pasteur -would have done more wisely to look back upon the history of most great -discoveries and of the initial difficulties which beset them. But he -could not look upon such things philosophically; stupidity astonished -him and he could not easily bring himself to believe in bad faith. His -friends in Alais society, M. de Lachadenède, M. Despeyroux, professor of -chemistry, might have reminded him, in their evening conversations, of -the difficulties ever encountered in the service of mankind. The -prejudice against potatoes, for instance, had lasted three hundred -years. When they were brought over from Peru in the fifteenth century, -it was asserted that they caused leprosy; in the seventeenth century, -that accusation was recognized to be absurd, but it was said that they -caused fever. One century later, in 1771, the Besançon Academy of -Medicine having opened a competition for the answer to the following -question of general interest: “What plants can be used to supplement -other foods in times of famine?” a military apothecary, named -Parmentier, competed and proved victoriously that the potato was quite -harmless. After that, he began a propagandist campaign in favour of -potatoes. But prejudice still subsisted in spite of his experimental -fields and of the dinners in the menu of which potatoes held a large -place. Louis XVI had then an inspiration worthy of Henry IV; he appeared -in public, wearing in his buttonhole Parmentier’s little mauve flower, -and thus glorified it in the eyes of the Court and of the crowd.</p> - -<p>But such comparisons had no weight with Pasteur; he was henceforth sure -of his method and longed to see it adopted, unable to understand why -there should be further discussions now that the silkworm industry was -saved and the bread of so many poor families assured. He was learning to -know all the bitterness of sterile polemics, and the obstacles placed -one by one in the way of those who attempt to give humanity anything new -and useful. Fortunately he had what so many men of research have lacked, -the active and zealous collabora<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span>tion of pupils imbued with his -principles, and the rarer and priceless blessing of a home life mingling -with his laboratory life. His wife and his daughter, a mere child, -shared his sericiculture labours; they had become <i>magnanarelles</i> equal -to the most capable in Alais. Another privilege was the advocacy of some -champions quite unknown to him. Those who loved science and who -understood that it would now become, thanks to Pasteur, an important -factor in agricultural and sericicultural matters hailed his -achievements with joy. For instance, a letter was published on July 8, -1869, in the <i>Journal of Practical Agriculture</i> by a cultivator who had -obtained excellent results by applying Pasteur’s method; the letter -concluded as follows: “We should be obliged, if, through the columns of -your paper, you would express to M. Pasteur our feelings of gratitude -for his laborious and valuable researches. We firmly hope that he will -one day reap the fruit of his arduous labours, and be amply compensated -for the passionate attacks of which he is now the object.”</p> - -<p>“Monsieur Pasteur,” once said the Mayor of Alais, Dr. Pagès, “if what -you are showing me becomes verified in current practice, nothing can -repay you for your work, but the town of Alais will raise a golden -statue to you.”</p> - -<p>Marshal Vaillant began to take more and more interest in this question, -which was not darkened, in his eyes at least, by the dust of polemics. -The old soldier, always scrupulously punctual at the meetings of the -Institute and of the Imperial and Central Society of Agriculture, had -amused himself by organizing a little silkworm nursery on the Pasteur -system, in his own study, in the very centre of Paris. These -experiments, in the Imperial palace might have reminded an erudite -reader of Olivier de Serres’ <i>Théâtre d’Agriculture</i> of the time when -the said Olivier de Serres planted mulberry trees in the Tuileries -gardens at Henry IV’s request, and when, according to the old -agricultural writer, a house was arranged at the end of the gardens -“accommodated with all things necessary as well for the feeding of the -worms as for the preparation of silk.”</p> - -<p>The Marshal, though calling himself the most modest of sericicultors, -had been able to appreciate the safety of a method which produced the -same results in Paris as at the Pont Gisquet; the octogenarian veteran -dwelt with complacency on the splendid condition of his silkworms in all -their phases from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span> the minute worm hatched from the seed-like egg to the -splendid cocoon of white or yellow silk.</p> - -<p>It occurred to Vaillant to suggest a decisive experiment in favour of -Pasteur and of the silkworm industry. The Prince Imperial owned in -Illyria, about six leagues from Trieste, a property called Villa -Vicentina. One of Napoleon’s sisters, Elisa Bonaparte, had lived -peacefully there after the fall of the first Empire, and had left it to -her daughter, Princess Baciocchi, who bequeathed it to the Prince -Imperial, with the rest of her fortune. Vines and mulberry trees grew -plentifully on that vast domain, but the produce of cocoons was nil, -pébrine and flachery having devastated the place. Marshal Vaillant, -Minister of the Emperor’s Household, desired to render the princely -property once again productive and, at the same time, to give his -colleague of the Institute an opportunity of “definitely silencing the -opposition created by ignorance and jealousy.” In a letter dated October -9, he requested Pasteur to send out 900 ounces of seed to Villa -Vicentina, a large quantity, for one ounce produced, on an average, -thirty kilogrammes of cocoons. Six days later the Marshal wrote to M. -Tisserand, the director of the Crown agricultural establishments, who -knew Villa Vicentina: “I have suggested to the Emperor that M. Pasteur -should be offered a lodging at Villa Vicentina; the Emperor acquiesces -in the most gracious manner. Tell me whether that is possible.”</p> - -<p>M. Tisserand, heartily applauding the Marshal’s excellent idea, -described the domain and the dwelling house, Villa Elisa, a white -Italian two-storied house, situated amongst lawns and trees in a park of -sixty hectares. “It would indeed be well,” continued M. Tisserand, “that -M. Pasteur should find peace, rest, and a return of the health he has so -valiantly compromised in his devotion to his country, in the midst of -the lands which will be the first to profit by the fruit of his splendid -discoveries and where his name will be blessed before long.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur started three weeks later with his family; the long journey had -to be taken in short stages, the state of his health still being very -precarious. He stopped at Alais on the way, in order to fetch the -selected seed, and on November 25, at 9 p.m., he reached Villa -Vicentina. The fifty tenants of the domain did not suspect that the new -arrival would bring back with him the prosperity of former years. -Raulin, the “temporizer,” joined his master a few weeks later.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span></p> - -<p>This was a period not of rest, but of a great calm, with regular work -under a pure sky. Whilst waiting for hatching time, Pasteur continued to -dictate to his wife the book he had mentioned to J. B. Dumas in a letter -from St. Hippolyte le Fort. But the projected little book was changing -its shape and growing into a two-volume work full of facts and -documents. It was ready to publish by April, 1870.</p> - -<p>When the moment for hatching the seed had arrived, Pasteur distributed -twenty-five ounces among the tenants and kept twenty-five ounces for -himself. An incident disturbed these days of work: a steward, who had by -him an old box of Japanese seed, sold this suspicious seed with the -rest. The idea that confiding peasants had thus been swindled sent -Pasteur beside himself; in his violent anger he sent for this steward, -overwhelmed him with reproaches and forbade him ever to show his face -before him again.</p> - -<p>“The Marshal,” wrote Dumas to Pasteur, “has told me of the swindles you -have come across and which have upset you so much. Do not worry -unreasonably; if I were you I would merely insert a line in a local -paper: ‘M. Pasteur is only answerable for the seeds he himself sells to -cultivators.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> Those cultivators soon were duly edified. The results of -the seeding process were represented by a harvest of cocoons which -brought in, after all expenses were paid, a profit of 22,000 francs, the -first profit earned by the property for ten years. This was indeed an -Imperial present from Pasteur; the Emperor was amazed and delighted.</p> - -<p>The Government then desired to do for Pasteur what had been done for -Dumas and Claude Bernard, that is, give him a seat in the Senate. His -most decided partisan was the competitor that several political -personages suggested against him: Henri Sainte Claire Deville. Deville -wrote to Mme. Pasteur in June: “You must know that if Pasteur becomes a -Senator, and Pasteur alone, you understand—for they cannot elect two -chemists at once!—it will be a triumph for your friend—a triumph and -an unmixed pleasure.”</p> - -<p>The projected decree was one of eighteen then in preparation. The final -list—the last under the Empire—where Emile Augier was to represent -French literature was postponed from day to day.</p> - -<p>Pasteur left Villa Vicentina on July 6, taking with him the gratitude of -the people whose good genius he had been for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> nearly eight months. In -northern Italy, as well as in Austria, his process of cellular seeding -was now applied with success.</p> - -<p>Before returning to France he went to Vienna and then to Munich: he -desired to talk with the German chemist, Liebig, the most determined of -his adversaries. He thought it impossible that Liebig’s ideas on -fermentation should not have been shaken and altered in the last -thirteen years. Liebig could not still be affirming that the presence of -decomposing animal or vegetable matter should be necessary to -fermentation! That theory had been destroyed by a simple and decisive -experiment of Pasteur’s: he had sown a trace of yeast in water -containing but sugar and mineral crystallized salts, and had seen this -yeast multiply itself and produce a regular alcoholic fermentation.</p> - -<p>Since all nitrogenized organic matter (constituting the ferment, -according to Liebig) was absent, Pasteur considered that he thus proved -the life of the ferment and the absence of any action from albuminoid -matter in a stage of decomposition. The death phenomenon now appeared as -a life phenomenon. How could Liebig deny the independent existence of -ferments in their infinite littleness and their power of destroying and -transforming everything? What did he think of all these new ideas? would -he still write, as in 1845: “As to the opinion which explains -putrefaction of animal substances by the presence of microscopic -animalculæ, it may be compared to that of a child who would explain the -rapidity of the Rhine current by attributing it to the violent movement -of the numerous mill wheels of Mayence?”</p> - -<p>Since that ingeniously fallacious paragraph, many results had come to -light. Perhaps Liebig, who in 1851 hailed J. B. Dumas as a master, had -now come to Dumas’ point of view respecting the fruitfulness of the -Pastorian theory. That theory was extended to diseases; the infinitely -small appeared as disorganizers of living tissues. The part played by -the corpuscles in the contagious and hereditary pébrine led to many -reflections on the contagious and hereditary element of human diseases. -Even the long-postponed transmission of certain diseases was becoming -clearer now that, within the vibrio of flachery, other corpuscles were -found, germs of the flachery disease, ready to break out from one year -to another.</p> - -<p>To convince Liebig, to bring him to acknowledge the triumph of those -ideas with the pleasure of a true <i>savant</i>, such<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span> was Pasteur’s desire -when he entered Liebig’s laboratory. The tall old man, in a long frock -coat, received him with kindly courtesy; but when Pasteur, who was eager -to come to the object of his visit, tried to approach the delicate -subject, Liebig, without losing his amenity, refused all discussion, -alleging indisposition. Pasteur did not insist, but promised himself -that he would return to the charge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> -1870—1872</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pasteur</span>, on his return, spent forty-eight hours in Strasburg, which was -for him full of memories of his laborious days at the Faculty of that -town, between 1848 and 1854, at a time when rivalry already existed -between France and Germany, a generous rivalry of moral and intellectual -effort. He then heard for the first time of the threatening war; all his -hopes of progress founded on peace, through scientific discoveries, -began to crumble away, and his disappointment was embittered by the -recollection of many illusions.</p> - -<p>Never was more cruel rebuff given to the generous efforts of a policy of -sentiment: after having laid the foundation of the independence and -unity of Italy, France had sympathized with Germany’s desire for unity, -and few of the counsellors, or even the adversaries of the Empire, would -not have defended this idea, which was supposed to lead to civilization. -During that period of anxious waiting (beginning of July, 1870), when -the most alarming news was daily published in Strasburg, it did not -occur to any one to look back upon quotations from papers only a few -years old, though in that very town a pamphlet might have been found, -written by Edmond About in 1860, and containing the following words—</p> - -<p>“Let Germany become united! France has no dearer or more ardent desire, -for she loves the German nation with a disinterested friendship. France -is not alarmed at seeing the formation of an Italian nation of -26,000,000 men in the South; she need not fear to see 32,000,000 Germans -found a great people on the Eastern frontier.”</p> - -<p>Proud to be first to proclaim the rights of nations; influenced by -mingled feelings of kindliness, trustfulness, optimism and a certain -vanity of disinterestedness, France, who loves to be loved, imagined -that the world would be grateful for her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span> international sociability, and -that her smiles were sufficient to maintain peace and joy in Europe.</p> - -<p>Far from being alarmed by certain symptoms in her neighbours, she -voluntarily closed her eyes to the manœuvres of the Prussian troops, her -ears to the roar of the artillery practice constantly heard across her -eastern frontier; in 1863 patrols of German cavalry had come as far as -Wissemburg. But people thought that Germany was “playing soldiers.” -Duruy, who shared at that time the general delusion, wrote in some -traveller’s notes published in 1864: “We have had your German Rhine, and -though you have garnished it with bristling fortresses and cannon -turning France-wards, we do not wish to have it again, ... for the time -for conquests is past. Conquests shall only now be made with the free -consent of nations. Too much blood has been poured into the Rhine! What -an immense people would arise if they who were struck down by the sword -along its banks could be restored to life!”</p> - -<p>After the thunderclap of Sadowa, the French Government, believing, in -its infatuation, that it was entitled to a share of gratitude and -security, asked for the land along the Rhine as far as Mayence; this -territorial aggrandizement might have compensated for Prussia’s -redoubtable conquests. The refusal was not long in coming. The Rhenish -provinces immediately swarmed with Prussian troops. The Emperor, awaking -from his dream, hesitating to make war, sent another proposition to -Prussia: that the Rhenish provinces should become a buffer State. The -same haughty answer was returned. France then hoped for the cession of -Luxemburg, a hope all the more natural in that the populations of -Luxemburg were willing to vote for annexation to France, and such a -policy would have been in accordance with the rights of nations. But -this request, apparently entertained at first by Prussia, was presently -hampered by intrigues which caused its rejection. Duped, not even -treated as an arbiter, but merely as a contemptible witness, France -dazzled herself for a moment with the brilliant Exhibition of 1867. But -it was a last and splendid flash; the word which is the bane of nations -and of sovereigns, “to-morrow,” was on the lips of the ageing Emperor. -The reform in the French army, which should have been bold and -immediate, was postponed and afterwards begun jerkily and -unmethodically. Prussia however affected to be alarmed. Then irritation -at having been duped, the evidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span> of a growing peril, a lingering hope -in the military fortune of France—everything conspired to give an -incident, provoked by Prussia, the proportions of a <i>casus belli</i>. But, -in spite of so many grievances, people did not yet believe in this -sudden return to barbarism. The Imperial policy had indeed been blindly -inconsistent; after opening a wide prospect of unity before the German -people it had been thought possible to say “No further than the Main,” -as if the impetuous force of a popular movement could be arrested after -once being started. France suddenly opened her eyes to her danger and to -the failure of her policy. But if a noble sentiment of generosity had -been mingled with the desire to increase her territory without shedding -a drop of blood, she had had the honour of being in the vanguard of -progress. Were great ideas of peace and human brotherhood about to be -engulfed in a war which would throw Europe into an era of violence and -brutality?</p> - -<p>Pasteur, profoundly saddened, could not bear to realize that his ideal -of the peaceful and beneficent destiny of France was about to vanish; he -left Strasburg—never to return to it—a prey to the most sombre -thoughts.</p> - -<p>When he returned to Paris, he met Sainte Claire Deville, who had come -back from a scientific mission in Germany, and who had for the first -time lost his brightness and optimism. The war appeared to him -absolutely disastrous. He had seen the Prussian army, redoubtable in its -skilful organization, closing along the frontier; the invasion was -certain, and there was nothing to stay it. Everything was lacking in -France, even in arsenals like Strasburg. At Toul, on the second line of -fortifications, so little attention was paid to defence that the -Government had thought that the place could be used as a dépôt for the -infantry and cavalry reserves, who could await there the order for -crossing the Rhine.</p> - -<p>“Ah! my lads, my poor lads!” said Sainte Claire Deville to his Ecole -Normale students, “it is all up with us!” And he was seen, between two -experiments, wiping his eyes with the comer of his laboratory apron.</p> - -<p>The students, with the ordinary confidence of youth, could not believe -that an invasion should be so imminent. However, in spite of the -privilege which frees <i>Normaliens</i> from any military service in exchange -for a ten years’ engagement at the University, they put patriotic duty -above any future University appointments, and entered the ranks as -private<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span> soldiers. Those who had been favoured by being immediately -incorporated in a battalion of <i>chasseurs à pied</i> the dépôt of which was -at Vincennes, spent their last evening—their vigil as they called -it—in the drawing-room of the sub-director of the Ecole, Bertin. Sainte -Claire Deville and Pasteur were there, also Duruy, whose three sons had -enlisted. Pasteur’s son, aged eighteen, was also on the eve of his -departure.</p> - -<p>Every one of the students at the Ecole Normale enlisted, some as -<i>chasseurs à pied</i>, some in a line regiment, others with the marines, in -the artillery, even with the <i>franc tireurs</i>. Pasteur wished to be -enrolled in the <i>garde nationale</i> with Duruy and Bertin, but he had to -be reminded that a half-paralysed man was unfit for service. After the -departure of all the students, the Ecole Normale fell into the silence -of deserted houses. M. Bouillier, the director, and Bertin decided to -turn it into an ambulance, a sort of home for the <i>Normaliens</i> who were -stationed in various quarters of Paris.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, unable to serve his country except by his scientific -researches, had the firm intention of continuing his work; but he was -overwhelmed by the reverses which fell upon France, the idea of the -bloodshed and of his invaded country oppressed him like a monomania.</p> - -<p>“Do not stay in Paris,” Bertin said to him, echoed by Dr. Godélier. “You -have no right to stay; you would be a useless mouth during the siege,” -he added, almost cheerfully, earnestly desiring to see his friend out of -harm’s way. Pasteur allowed himself to be persuaded, and started for -Arbois on September 5, his heart aching for the sorrows of France.</p> - -<p>Some notes and letters enable us to follow him there, in the daily -detail of his life, amongst his books, his plans of future work, and now -and then his outbursts of passionate grief. He tried to return to the -books he loved, to feel over again the attraction of “all that is great -and beautiful” to quote a favourite phrase. He read at that time -Laplace’s <i>Exposition du Système du Monde</i>, and even copied out some -fragments, general ideas, concurring with his own. The vision of a -Galileo or a Newton rising through a series of inductions from -“particular phenomena to others more far-reaching, and from those to the -general laws of Nature,” on this earth, “itself so small a part of the -solar system, and disappearing entirely in the immensity of the heavens, -of which that system is but an unimportant corner,”—that vision -enveloped Pasteur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span> with the twofold feeling with which every man must be -imbued: humility before the Great Mystery, and admiration for those who, -raising a corner of the veil, prove that genius is divinely inspired. -Such reading helped Pasteur through the sad time of anxious waiting, and -he would repeat as in brighter days, “<i>Laboremus</i>.”</p> - -<p>But sometimes, when he was sitting quietly with his wife and daughter, -the trumpet call would sound, with which the Arbois crier preceded the -proclaiming of news. Then everything was forgotten, the universal order -of things of no account, and Pasteur’s anguished soul would concentrate -itself on that imperceptible comer of the universe, France, his -suffering country. He would go downstairs, mix with groups standing on -the little bridge across the Cuisance, listen breathlessly to the -official communication, and sadly go back to the room where the memories -of his father only emphasized the painful contrast with the present -time. In the most prominent place hung a large medallion of General -Bonaparte, by the Franc-Comtois Huguenin, the habit of authority visible -in the thin energetic face; then a larger effigy in bronzed plaster of -Napoleon in profile, in a very simple uniform; by the mantelpiece a -lithograph of the little King of Rome with his curly head; on the -bookshelves, well within reach, books on the Great Epoch, read over and -over again by the old soldier who had died in the humble room which -still reflected some of the Imperial glory.</p> - -<p>That glory, that legend had enveloped the childhood and youth of -Pasteur, who, as he advanced in life, still preserved the same -enthusiasm. His imagination pictured the Emperor, calm in the midst of -battles, or reviewing his troops surrounded by an escort of field -marshals, entering as a sovereign a capital not his own, then -overwhelmed by numbers at Waterloo, and finally condemned to exile and -inactivity, and dying in a long drawn agony. Glorious or lugubrious, -those visions came back to him with poignant insistency in those days of -September, 1870. What was Waterloo compared to Sedan! The departure for -St. Helena had the grandeur of the end of an epic; it seemed almost -enviable by the side of that last episode of the Second Empire, when -Napoleon III, vanquished, spared by the death which he wooed, left Sedan -by the Donchery road to enter the cottage where Bismarck was to inform -him of the rendezvous given by the King of Prussia.</p> - -<p>The Emperor had now but a shadow of power, having made<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span> the Empress -Regent before he left Paris; it was therefore not the sword of France, -but his own, that he was about to surrender. But he thought he might -hope that the King of Prussia would show clemency to the French army and -people, having many times declared that he made war on the Emperor and -not on France.</p> - -<p>“Can it be credited,” said Bismarck, speaking afterwards of that -interview, “that he actually believed in our generosity!” The chancellor -added, speaking of that somewhat protracted <i>tête-à-tête</i>, “I felt as I -used to in my youth, when my partner in a cotillon was a girl to whom I -did not quite know what to say, and whom nobody would fetch away for a -turn!”</p> - -<p>Napoleon III and the King of Prussia met in the Château of Bellevue, in -the neighbourhood of Sedan, opposite a peninsula henceforth known by the -sad name of “Camp of Misery.” The Emperor looked for the last time upon -his 83,000 soldiers, disarmed, starving, waiting in the mud for the -Prussian escort which was to convey them as prisoners far beyond the -Rhine. Wilhelm did not even pronounce the word peace.</p> - -<p>Jules Favre, taking possession on September 6 of the department of -Foreign Affairs, recalled to the diplomatic agents the fall of the -Empire and the words of the King of Prussia; then in an unaccustomed -outburst of eloquence exclaimed: “Does the King of Prussia wish to -continue an impious struggle which will be as fatal to him as to us? -Does he wish to give to the world in the nineteenth century the cruel -spectacle of two nations destroying each other and forgetful of human -feelings, of reason and of science, heaping up ruin and death? Let him -then assume the responsibility before the world and before posterity!” -And then followed the celebrated phrase with which he has been violently -and iniquitously reproached, and which expressed the unanimous sentiment -of France: “We will not concede one inch of our territory nor a stone of -our fortifications.”</p> - -<p>Bismarck refused the interview Jules Favre asked of him (September 10), -under the pretext that the new Government was irregular. The enemy was -coming nearer and nearer to Paris. The French city was resolved to -resist; thousands upon thousands of oxen were being corralled in the -Bois de Boulogne; poor people from the suburbs were coming to take -refuge in the city. On the Place de la Concorde, the statue which -repre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span>sents the city of Strasburg was covered with flowers and flags, -and seemed to incarnate the idea of the <i>Patrie</i> itself.</p> - -<p>Articles and letters came to Arbois in that early September, bringing an -echo of the sorrows of Paris. Pasteur was then reading the works of -General Foy, wherein he found thoughts in accordance with his own, -occasionally copying out such passages as the following: “Right and -Might struggle for the world; Right, which constitutes and preserves -Society; Might, which overcomes nations and bleeds them to death.”</p> - -<p>General Foy fought for France during twenty-five years, and, writing in -1820, recalled with a patriotic shudder the horrors of foreign -invasions. Long after peace was signed, by a chance meeting in a street -in Paris, General Foy found himself face to face with Wellington. The -sight was so odious to him that he spoke of this meeting in the -<i>Chambre</i> with an accent of sorrowful humiliation which breathed the -sadness of Waterloo over the whole assembly. Pasteur could well -understand the long continued vibration of that suffering chord, he, who -never afterwards could speak without a thrill of sorrow of that war -which Germany, in defiance of humanity, was inexcusably pursuing.</p> - -<p>It was the fourth time in less than a hundred years that a Prussian -invasion overflowed into France. But instead of 42,000 Prussians, -scattered in 1792 over the sacred soil of the <i>Patrie</i>—Pasteur -pronounced the word with the faith and tenderness of a true son of -France—there were now 518,000 men to fight 285,000 French.</p> - -<p>The thought that they had been armed in secret for the conquest of -neighbouring lands, the memory of France’s optimism until that -diplomatic incident, invented so that France might stumble over it, and -the inaction of Europe, inspired Pasteur with reflections which he -confided to his pupil Raulin. “What folly, what blindness,” he wrote -(September 17), “there are in the inertia of Austria, Russia, England! -What ignorance in our army leaders of the respective forces of the two -nations! We <i>savants</i> were indeed right when we deplored the poverty of -the department of Public Instruction! The real cause of our misfortunes -lies there. It is not with impunity—as it will one day be recognized, -too late—that a great nation is allowed to lose its intellectual -standard. But, as you say, if we rise again from those disasters, we -shall again see our statesmen lose themselves in endless<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span> discussions on -forms of government and abstract political questions instead of going to -the root of the matter. We are paying the penalty of fifty years’ -forgetfulness of science, of its conditions of development, of its -immense influence on the destiny of a great people, and of all that -might have assisted the diffusion of light.... I cannot go on, all this -hurts me. I try to put away all such memories, and also the sight of our -terrible distress, in which it seems that a desperate resistance is the -only hope we have left. I wish that France may fight to her last man, to -her last fortress. I wish that the war may be prolonged until the -winter, when, the elements aiding us, all these Vandals may perish of -cold and distress. Every one of my future works will bear on its title -page the words: ‘Hatred to Prussia. Revenge! revenge!’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>There is a passage in the Psalms where the captives of Israel, led to -Babylonian rivers, weep at the memory of Jerusalem. After swearing never -to forget their country, they wish their enemies every misfortune, and -hurl this last imprecation at Babylon: “Blessed shall he be that taketh -thy children and throweth them against the stones.”<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> One of the most -Christlike souls of our time, Henri Perreyve, speaking of Poland, of -vanquished and oppressed nations, quoted this Psalm and exclaimed: “O -Anger, man’s Anger, how difficult it is to drive thee out of man’s -heart! and how irresistible are the flames kindled by the insolence of -injustice!” Those flames were kindled in the soul of Pasteur, full as it -was of human tenderness, and they burst out in that sobbing cry of -despair.</p> - -<p>On that 17th of September, the day before Paris was invested, Jules -Favre made another attempt to obtain peace. He published an account of -that interview which took place at the Château of Ferrières, near Meaux; -this printed account reached every town in France, and was read with -grief and anger.</p> - -<p>Jules Favre had deluded himself into thinking that victorious Prussia -would limit its demands to a war indemnity, probably a formidable one. -But Bismarck, besides the indemnity, intended to take a portion of -French soil, and claimed Strasburg first of all. “It is the key of the -house; I must have it.” And with Strasburg he wanted the whole -Department of the <i>Haut-Rhin</i>, that of the <i>Bas-Rhin</i>, Metz, and a part -of the Department of <i>Moselle</i>. Jules Favre, character<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span>istically French, -exhausted his eloquence in putting sentiment into politics, spoke of -European rights, of the right of the people to dispose of themselves, -tried to bring out the fact that a brutal annexation was in direct -opposition to the progress of civilization. “I know very well,” said -Bismarck, “that they (meaning the Alsatians and Lorrainers) do not want -us; they will give us a deal of trouble, but we must annex them.” In the -event of a future war Prussia was to have the advantage. All this was -said with an authoritative courtesy, an insolent tranquillity, through -which contempt for men was visible, evidently the best means of -governing them in Bismarck’s eyes. As Jules Favre was pleading the cause -of heroic Strasburg, whose long resistance was the admiration of Paris, -“Strasburg will now fall into our hands,” said Bismarck coldly; “it is -but a question for engineers; therefore I request that the garrison -should surrender as prisoners of war.”</p> - -<p>Jules Favre “leapt in his grief”—the words are his—but King Wilhelm -exacted this condition. Jules Favre, almost breaking down, turning away -to hide the tears that welled into his eyes, ended the interview with -these words: “It is an indefinite struggle between two nations who -should go hand in hand.”</p> - -<p>Traces of this patriotic anguish are to be found in one of Pasteur’s -notebooks, as well as a circular addressed by Jules Favre to the -diplomatic representatives in answer to certain points disputed by -Bismarck. Pasteur admiringly took note of the following passage: “I know -not what destinies Fate has in store for us. But I do feel most deeply -that if I had to choose between the present situation of France and that -of Prussia, I should decide for the former. Better far our sufferings, -our perils, our sacrifices, than the cruel and inflexible ambition of -our foe.”</p> - -<p>“We must preserve hope until the end,” wrote Pasteur after reading the -above, “say nothing to discourage each other, and wish ardently for a -prolonged struggle. Let us think of hopeful things; Bazaine may save -us.”... How many French hearts were sharing that hope at the very time -when Bazaine was preparing to betray Metz, his troops and his flag!</p> - -<p>“Should we not cry: ‘Happy are the dead!’<span class="lftspc">”</span> wrote Pasteur a few days -after the news burst upon France of that army lost without being allowed -to fight, of that city of Metz, the strongest in France, surrendered -without a struggle!</p> - -<p>Through all Pasteur’s anxieties about the war, certain obser<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span>vations, -certain projected experiments resounded in his mind like the hours that -a clock strikes, unheeded but not unheard, in a house visited by death. -He could not put them away from him, they were part of his very life.</p> - -<p>Any sort of laboratory work was difficult for him in the tanner’s house, -which had remained the joint property of himself and his sister. His -brother-in-law had continued Joseph Pasteur’s trade. Pasteur applied his -spirit of observation to everything around him, and took the opportunity -of studying the fermentation of tan. He would ask endless questions, -trying to discover the scientific reason of every process and every -routine. Whilst his sister was making bread he would study the raising -of the crust, the influence of air in the kneading of the dough, and his -imagination rising as usual from a minor point to the greatest problems, -he began to seek for a means of increasing the nutritive powers of -bread, and consequently of lowering its price.</p> - -<p>The <i>Salut Public</i> of December 20 contained a notice on that very -subject, which Pasteur transcribed. The Central Commission of Hygiene -which included among its members Sainte Claire Deville, Wurtz, -Bouchardat and Trélat, had tried, when dealing with this question of -bread (a vital one during the siege), to prove to the Parisians that -bread is the more wholesome for containing a little bran. “With what -emotion,” wrote Pasteur, “I have just read all those names dear to -science, greater now before their fellow-citizens and before posterity. -Why could I not share their sufferings and their dangers!” He would have -added “and their work” if some of the Académie des Sciences reports had -reached him.</p> - -<p>The history of the Academy during the war is worthy of brief mention. -Moreover it was too deeply interesting to Pasteur, too constantly in his -thoughts, not to be considered as forming part of his biography.</p> - -<p>During the first period, the Academy, imagining, like the rest of -France, that there was no doubt of a favourable issue of the war, -continued its purely scientific task. When the first defeats were -announced, the habitual communications ceased, and the Academy, unable -to think of anything but the war, held sittings of three-quarters of an -hour or even less.</p> - -<p>One of the correspondents of the Institute, the surgeon Sédillot, who -was in Alsace at the head of an ambulance corps, and who himself -performed as many as fifteen amputations in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span> one day, addressed two -noteworthy letters to the President of the Academy. Those letters mark a -date in the history of surgery, and show how restricted was then in -France the share of some of Pasteur’s ideas at the very time when in -other countries they were adopted and followed. Lister, the celebrated -English surgeon, having, he said, meditated on Pasteur’s theory of -germs, and proclaimed himself his follower, convinced that complications -and infection of wounds were caused by their giving access to living -organisms and infectious germs, elements of trouble, often of death, had -already in 1867 inaugurated a method of treatment. He attempted the -destruction of germs floating in air by means of a vaporizer filled with -a carbolic solution, then isolated and preserved the wound from the -contact of the air. Sponges, drainage tubes, etc., were subjected to -minute precautions; in one word, he created antisepsis. Four months -before the war he had propounded the principles which should guide -surgeons, but it occurred to no one in France, in the first battles, to -apply the new method. “The horrible mortality amongst the wounded in -battle,” writes Sédillot, “calls for the attention of all the friends of -science and humanity. The surgeon’s art, hesitating and disconcerted, -pursues a doctrine whose rules seem to flee before research.... Places -where there are wounded are recognizable by the fetor of suppuration and -gangrene.”</p> - -<p>Hundreds and thousands of wounded, their faces pale, but full of hope -and desire to live, succumbed between the eighth and tenth day to -gangrene and erysipelas. Those failures of the surgery of the past are -plain to us now that the doctrine of germs has explained everything; -but, at that time, such an avowal of impotence before the mysterious -<i>contagium sui generis</i>, which, the doctors averred, eluded all -research, and such awful statistics of mortality embittered the anguish -of defeat.</p> - -<p>The Academy then attempted to take a share in the national co-operation -by making a special study of any subject which interested the public -health and defence. A sitting on methods of steering balloons was -succeeded by another on various means of preserving meat during the -siege. Then came an anxious inquiry into modes of alimentation of -infants. At the end of October there were but 20,000 litres of milk per -day to be procured in the whole of Paris, and the healthy were implored -to abstain from it. It was a question of life and death for young<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span> -children, and already many little coffins were daily to be seen on the -road to the cemetery.</p> - -<p>Thus visions of death amongst soldiers in their prime and children in -their infancy hung over the Academy meeting hall. It was at one of those -mournful sittings, on a dark autumn afternoon, that Chevreul, an -octogenarian member of the Institute, who, like Pasteur, had believed in -civilization and in the binding together of nations through science, art -and letters, looking at the sacks of earth piled outside the windows to -save the library from the bursting shells, exclaimed in loud desolate -tones—</p> - -<p>“And yet we are in the nineteenth century, and a few months ago the -French did not even think of a war which has put their capital into a -state of siege and traced around its walls a desert zone where he who -sowed does not reap! And there are public universities where they teach -the Beautiful, the True, and the Right.”</p> - -<p>“Might goes before Right,” Bismarck said. A German journalist invented -another phrase which went the round of Europe: “the psychological moment -for bombardment.” On January 5, one of the first Prussian shells sank -into the garden of the Ecole Normale; another burst in the very -ambulance of the Ecole. Bertin, the sub-director, rushed through the -suffocating smoke and ascertained that none of the patients was hurt; he -found the breech between two beds. The miserable patients dragged -themselves downstairs to the lecture rooms on the ground floor, not a -much safer refuge.</p> - -<p>From the heights of Châtillon the enemy’s batteries were bombarding all -the left bank of the Seine, the Prussians, regardless of the white flags -bearing the red cross of Geneva, were aiming at the Val-de-Grâce and the -Panthéon. “Where is the Germany of our dreams?” wrote Paul de St. Victor -on January 9, “the Germany of the poets? Between her and France an abyss -of hatred has opened, a Rhine of blood and tears that no peace can ever -bridge over.”</p> - -<p>On that same date, Chevreul read the following declaration to the -Academy of Science—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="c"> -The Garden of Medicinal Plants, founded in Paris<br /> -by an edict of King Louis XIII,<br /> -dated January, 1826,<br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span>Converted into the Museum of Natural History<br /> -by a decree of the Convention on June 10, 1793,<br /> -was Bombarded,<br /> -under the reign of Wilhelm I King of<br /> -Prussia, Count von Bismarck, Chancellor,<br /> -by the Prussian army, during the night<br /> -of January 8-9, 1871.<br /> -It had until then been respected by all parties<br /> -and all powers, national or<br /> -foreign.<br /> -</p> -</div> - -<p>Pasteur, on reading this protest, regretted more than ever that he had -not been there to sign it. It then occurred to him that he too might -give vent to the proud plaint of the vanquished from his little house at -Arbois. He remembered with a sudden bitterness the diploma he had -received from the University of Bonn. Many years had passed since the -time in the First Empire when one of the 110 French Departments had been -that of Rhine and Moselle, with Coblentz as its <i>préfecture</i> and Bonn -and Zimmern as <i>sous-préfectures</i>. When, in 1815, Prussia’s iron hand -seized again those Rhenish provinces which had become so French at -heart, the Prussian king and his ministers hit upon the highly politic -idea of founding a University on the picturesque banks of the Rhine, -thus morally conquering the people after reducing them by force. That -University had been a great success and had become most prosperous. The -Strasburg Faculty under the Second Empire, with its few professors and -its general penury, seemed very poor compared to the Bonn University, -with its fifty-three professors and its vast laboratories of chemistry, -physics and medicine, and even a museum of antiquities. Pasteur and -Duruy had often exchanged remarks on that subject. But that rivalry -between the two Faculties was of a noble nature, animated as it was by -the great feeling that science is superior to national distinctions. -King Wilhelm had once said, “Prussia’s conquests must be of the moral -kind,” and Pasteur had not thought of any other conquests.</p> - -<p>When in 1868 the University of Bonn conferred upon him the diploma of -Doctor of Medicine, saying that “by his very penetrating experiments, he -had much contributed to the knowledge of the history of the generation -of micro-organisms, and had happily advanced the progress of the science -of fermentations,” he had been much pleased at this acknowledgment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span> -the future opened to medical studies by his work, and he was proud to -show the Degree he had received.</p> - -<p>“Now,” he wrote (January 18, 1871), to the Head of the Faculty of -Medicine, after recalling his former sentiments, “now the sight of that -parchment is odious to me, and I feel offended at seeing my name, with -the qualification of <i>Virum clarissimum</i> that you have given it, placed -under a name which is henceforth an object of execration to my country, -that of <i>Rex Gulielmus</i>.</p> - -<p>“While highly asseverating my profound respect for you, Sir, and for the -celebrated professors who have affixed their signatures to the decision -of the members of your Order, I am called upon by my conscience to ask -you to efface my name from the archives of your Faculty, and to take -back that diploma, as a sign of the indignation inspired in a French -scientist by the barbarity and hypocrisy of him who, in order to satisfy -his criminal pride, persists in the massacre of two great nations.” -Pasteur’s protest ended with these words—</p> - -<p>“Written at Arbois (Jura) on January 18, 1871, after reading the mark of -infamy inscribed on the forehead of your King by the illustrious -director of the Museum of Natural History M. Chevreul.”</p> - -<p>“This letter will not have much weight with a people whose principles -differ so totally from those that inspire us,” said Pasteur, “but it -will at least echo the indignation of French scientists.”</p> - -<p>He made a collection of stories, of episodes, and letters, which fell in -his way; amongst other things we find an open letter from General Chanzy -to the commandant of the Prussian troops at Vendôme, denouncing the -insults, outrages, and inexcusable violence of the Prussians towards the -inhabitants of St. Calais, who had shown great kindness to the enemy’s -sick and wounded.</p> - -<p>“You respond by insolence, destruction and pillage to the generosity -with which we treat your prisoners and wounded. I indignantly protest, -in the name of humanity and of the rights of men, which you trample -under foot.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur also gathered up tales of bravery, of heroism, and of -resignation—that form of heroism so often illustrated by women—during -the terrible siege of Paris. And, from all those things, arose the -psychology of war in its two aspects: in the invading army a spirit of -conquest carried to oppression, and even apart<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> from the thrilling -moments of battle, giving to hatred and cruelty a cold-blooded sanction -of discipline; in the vanquished nation, an irrepressible revolt, an -intoxication of sacrifice. Those who have not seen war do not know what -love of the mother country means.</p> - -<p>France was the more loved that she was more oppressed; she inspired her -true sons with an infinite tenderness. Sully-Prudhomme, the poet of -pensive youth, renouncing his love for Humanity in general, promised -himself that he would henceforth devote his life to the exclusive love -of France. A greater poet than he, Victor Hugo, wrote at that time the -first part of his <i>Année Terrible</i>, with its mingled devotion and -despair.</p> - -<p>The death of Henri Regnault was one of the sad episodes of the war. This -brilliant young painter—he was only twenty-seven years of age—enlisted -as a <i>garde nationale</i>, though exempt by law from any military service -through being a laureate of the <i>prix de Rome</i>.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> He did his duty -valiantly, and on January 19, at the last sortie attempted by the -Parisians, at Buzenval, the last Prussian shot struck him in the -forehead. The Académie des Sciences, at its sitting of January 23, -rendered homage to him whose coffin enclosed such dazzling prospects and -some of the glory of France. The very heart of Paris was touched, and a -great sadness was felt at the funeral procession of the great artist who -seemed an ideal type of all the youth and talent so heroically -sacrificed—and all in vain—for the surrender of Paris had just been -officially announced.</p> - -<p>Regnault’s father, the celebrated physicist, a member of the Institute, -was at Geneva when he received this terrible blow. Another grief—not -however comparable to the despair of a bereaved parent—befell him—an -instance of the odious side of war, not in its horrors, its pools of -blood and burnt dwellings, but in its premeditated cruelty. Regnault had -left his laboratory utensils in his rooms at the Sèvres porcelain -manufactory, of which he was the manager. Everything was apparently left -in the same place, not a window was broken, no locks forced; but a -Prussian, evidently an expert, had been there. “Nothing seemed changed,” -writes J. B. Dumas, “in that abode of science, and yet everything was -destroyed; the glass tubes of barometers, thermometers, etc., were -broken; scales<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> and other similar instruments had been carefully knocked -out of shape with a hammer.” In a corner was a heap of ashes; they were -the registers, notes, manuscripts, all Regnault’s work of the last ten -years. “Such cruelty,” exclaimed J. B. Dumas, “is unexampled in history. -The Roman soldier who butchered Archimedes in the heat of the onslaught -may be excused—he did not know him; but with what sacrilegious meanness -could such a work of destruction as this be accomplished!!!”</p> - -<p>On the very day when the Académie des Sciences was condoling with Henri -Regnault’s sorrowing father, Pasteur, anxious at having had no news of -his son, who had been fighting before Héricourt, determined to go and -look for him in the ranks of the Eastern Army Corps. By Poligny and -Lons-le-Saulnier, the roads were full of stragglers from the various -regiments left several days behind, their route completely lost, who -begged for bread as they marched, barely covered by the tattered -remnants of their uniforms. The main body of the army was on the way to -Besançon, a sad procession of French soldiers, hanging their heads under -the cold grey sky and tramping painfully in the snow.</p> - -<p>Bourbaki, the general-in-chief, a hero of African battlefields, was -becoming more and more unnerved by the combinations of this war. Whilst -the Minister, in a dispatch from Bordeaux, had ordered him to move back -towards Dôle, to prevent the taking of Dijon, then to hurry to Nevers or -Joigny, where 20,000 men would be ready to be incorporated, Bourbaki, -overwhelmed by the lamentable spectacle under his eyes, could see no -resource for his corps but a last line of retreat, Pontarlier.</p> - -<p>It was among that stream of soldiers that Pasteur attempted to find his -son. His old friend and neighbour, Jules Vercel, saw him start, -accompanied by his wife and daughter, on Tuesday, January 24, in a half -broken down old carriage, the last that was left in the town. After -journeying for some hours in the snow, the sad travellers spent the -night in a little wayside inn near Montrond; the old carriage with its -freight of travelling boxes stood on the roadside like a gipsy’s -caravan. The next morning they went on through a pine forest where the -deep silence was unbroken save by the falling masses of snow from the -spreading branches. They slept at Censeau, the next day at Chaffois, and -it was only on the Friday that they reached Pontarlier, by roads made -almost impracticable by the snow, the carriage now a mere wreck.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span></p> - -<p>The town was full of soldiers, some crouching round fires in the street, -others stepping across their dead horses and begging for a little straw -to lie on. Many had taken refuge in the church and were lying on the -steps of the altar; a few were attempting to bandage their frozen feet, -threatened with gangrene.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the news spread that the general-in-chief, Bourbaki, had shot -himself through the brain. This did not excite much surprise. He had -telegraphed two days before to the Minister of War: “You cannot have an -idea of the sufferings that the army has endured since the beginning of -December. It is martyrdom to be in command at such a time,” he added -despairingly.</p> - -<p>“The retreat from Moscow cannot have been worse than this,” said Pasteur -to a staff officer, Commandant Bourboulon, a nephew of Sainte Claire -Deville, whom he met in the midst of those horrors and who could give -him no information as to his son’s battalion of <i>Chasseurs</i>. “All that I -can tell you,” said a soldier anxiously questioned by Mme. Pasteur, “is -that out of the 1,200 men of that battalion there are but 300 left.” As -she was questioning another, a soldier who was passing stopped: -“Sergeant Pasteur? Yes, he is alive; I slept by him last night at -Chaffois. He has remained behind; he is ill. You might meet him on the -road towards Chaffois.”</p> - -<p>The Pasteurs started again on the road followed the day before. They had -barely passed the Pontarlier gate when a rough cart came by. A soldier -muffled in his great coat, his hands resting on the edge of the cart, -started with surprise. He hurried down, and the family embraced without -a word, so great was their emotion.</p> - -<p>The capitulation of starving Paris and the proposed armistice are -historical events still present in the memory of men who were then -beginning to learn the meaning of defeat. The armistice, which Jules -Favre thought would be applied without restriction to all the army -corps, was interpreted by Bismarck in a peculiar way. He and Jules Favre -between them had drawn up a protocol in general terms; it had been -understood in those preliminary confabulations that, before drawing up -the limits of the neutral zone applicable to the Eastern Army Corps, -some missing information would be awaited, the respective positions of -the belligerents being unknown. The information did not come, and Jules -Favre in his imprudent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span> trustfulness supposed that the delimitation -would be done on the spot by the officers in command. When he heard that -the Prussian troops were continuing their march eastwards, he complained -to Bismarck, who answered that “the incident cannot have compromised the -Eastern Army Corps, as it already was completely routed when the -armistice was signed.” This calculated reserve on Bismarck’s part was -eminently characteristic of his moral physiognomy, and this encounter -between the two Ministers proved once again the inferiority—when great -interests are at stake—of emotional men to hard-hearted business men; -however it must be acknowledged that Bismarck’s statement was founded on -fact. The Eastern Corps could have fought no more; its way was blocked. -Without food, without clothes, in many cases without arms, nothing -remained to the unfortunate soldiers but the refuge offered by -Switzerland.</p> - -<p>Pasteur went to Geneva with his son, who, after recovering from the -illness caused by fatigue and privation, succeeded in getting back to -France to rejoin his regiment in the early days of February. Pasteur -then went on to Lyons and stayed there with his brother-in-law, M. Loir, -Dean of the Lyons Faculty of Science. He intended to go back to Paris, -but a letter from Bertin dated February 18 advised him to wait. “This is -the present state of the Ecole: south wing: pulled down; will be built -up again; workmen expected. Third year dormitory: ambulance occupied by -eight students. Science dormitory and drawing classroom: ambulance -again, forty patients. Ground floor classroom: 120 artillery-men. -Pasteur laboratory: 210 <i>gardes nationaux</i>, refugees from Issy. You had -better wait.” Bertin added, with his indomitable good humour, speaking -of the bombardment: “The first day I did not go out, but I took my -bearings and found the formula: in leaving the school, walk close along -the houses on my left; on coming back, keep close to them on my right; -with that I went out as usual. The population of Paris has shown -magnificent resignation and patience.... In order to have our revenge, -everything will have to be rebuilt from the top to the bottom, the top -especially.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur also thought that reforms should begin from the top. He prepared -a paper dated from Lyons, and entitled “Why France found no superior men -in the hours of peril.” Amongst the mistakes committed, one in -particular had been before his mind for twenty years, ever since he left -the Ecole Normale:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span> “The forgetfulness, disdain even, that France had -had for great intellectual men, especially in the realm of exact -science.” This seemed the more sad to him that things had been very -different at the end of the eighteenth century. Pasteur enumerated the -services rendered by science to his threatened country. If in 1792 -France was able to face danger on all sides, it was because Lavoisier, -Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau, Chaptal, Berthollet, etc., discovered new -means of extracting saltpetre and manufacturing gunpowder; because Monge -found a method of founding cannon with great rapidity; and because the -chemist Clouet invented a quick system of manufacturing steel. Science, -in the service of patriotism, made a victorious army of a perturbed -nation. If Marat, with his slanderous and injurious insinuations, had -not turned from their course the feelings of the mob, Lavoisier never -would have perished on the scaffold. The day after his execution, -Lagrange said: “One moment was enough for his head to fall, and 200 -years may not suffice to produce such another.” Monge and Berthollet, -also denounced by Marat, nearly shared the same fate: “In a week’s time -we shall be arrested, tried, condemned and executed,” said Berthollet -placidly to Monge, who answered with equal composure, thinking only of -the country’s defence, “All I know is that my gun factories are working -admirably.”</p> - -<p>Bonaparte, from the first, made of science what he would have made of -everything—a means of reigning. When he started for Egypt, he desired -to have with him a staff of scientists, and Monge and Berthollet -undertook to organize that distinguished company. Later, when Bonaparte -became Napoleon I, he showed, in the intervals between his wars, so much -respect for the place due to science as to proclaim the effacement of -national rivalry when scientific discoveries were in question. Pasteur, -when studying this side of the Imperial character, found in some pages -by Arago on Monge that, after Waterloo, Napoleon, in a conversation he -had with Monge at the Elysée, said, “Condemned now to command armies no -longer, I can see but Science with which to occupy my mind and my -soul....”</p> - -<p>Alluding to the scientific supremacy of France during the early part of -the nineteenth century, Pasteur wrote: “All the other nations -acknowledged our superiority, though each could take pride in some great -men: Berzelius in Sweden, Davy in England, Volta in Italy, other eminent -men in Ger<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span>many and Switzerland; but in no country were they as numerous -as in France....” He added these regretful lines: “A victim of her -political instability, France has done nothing to keep up, to propagate -and to develop the progress of science in our country; she has merely -obeyed a given impulse; she has lived on her past, thinking herself -great by the scientific discoveries to which she owed her material -prosperity, but not perceiving that she was imprudently allowing the -sources of those discoveries to become dry, whilst neighbouring nations, -stimulated by her past example, were diverting for their own benefit the -course of those springs, rendering them fruitful by their works, their -efforts and their sacrifices.</p> - -<p>“Whilst Germany was multiplying her universities, establishing between -them the most salutary emulation, bestowing honours and consideration on -the masters and doctors, creating vast laboratories amply supplied with -the most perfect instruments, France, enervated by revolutions, ever -vainly seeking for the best form of government, was giving but careless -attention to her establishments for higher education....</p> - -<p>“The cultivation of science in its highest expression is perhaps even -more necessary to the moral condition than to the material prosperity of -a nation.</p> - -<p>“Great discoveries—the manifestations of thought in Art, in Science and -in Letters, in a word the disinterested exercise of the mind in every -direction and the centres of instruction from which it radiates, -introduce into the whole of Society that philosophical or scientific -spirit, that spirit of discernment, which submits everything to severe -reasoning, condemns ignorance and scatters errors and prejudices. They -raise the intellectual level and the moral sense, and through them the -Divine idea itself is spread abroad and intensified.”</p> - -<p>At the very time when Pasteur was preoccupied with the desire of -directing the public mind towards the principles of truth, justice and -sovereign harmony, Sainte Claire Deville, speaking of the Academy, -expressed similar ideas, proclaiming that France had been vanquished by -science and that it was now time to free scientific bodies from the -tyranny of red tape. Why should not the Academy become the centre of all -measures relating to science, independently of government offices or -officials?</p> - -<p>J. B. Dumas took part in the discussion opened by Sainte Claire Deville, -and agreed with his suggestions. He might<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span> have said more, however, on a -subject which he often took up in private: the utility of pure science -in daily experience. With his own special gift of generalization, he -could have expounded the progress of all kinds due to the workers who, -by their perseverance in resolving difficult problems, have brought -about so many precious and unexpected results. Few men in France -realized at that time that laboratories could be the vestibule of farms, -factories, etc.; it was indeed a noble task, that of proving that -science was intended to lighten the burden of humanity, not merely to be -applied to devastation, carnage, and hatred.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was in the midst of these philosophical reflections when he -received the following answer from the principal of the Faculty of -Medicine of Bonn:</p> - -<p>“Sir, the undersigned, now Principal of the Faculty of Medicine of Bonn, -is requested to answer the insult which you have dared to offer to the -German nation in the sacred person of its august Emperor, King Wilhelm -of Prussia, by sending you the expression of its <i>entire -contempt</i>.”—<span class="smcap">Dr. Maurice Naumann</span>.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—Desiring to keep its papers <i>free from taint</i>, the Faculty -herewith returns your screed.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s reply contained the following: “I have the honour of informing -you, Mr. Principal, that there are times when the expression of contempt -in a Prussian mouth is equivalent for a true Frenchman to that of <i>Virum -clarissimum</i> which you once publicly conferred upon me.”</p> - -<p>After invoking in favour of Alsace-Lorraine, Truth, of Justice, and the -laws of humanity, Pasteur added in a postscript—</p> - -<p>“And now, Mr. Principal, after reading over both your letter and mine, I -sorrow in my heart to think that men who like yourself and myself have -spent a lifetime in the pursuit of truth and progress, should address -each other in such a fashion, founded on my part on such actions. This -is but one of the results of the character your Emperor has given to -this war. You speak to me of <i>taint</i>. Mr. Principal, taint will rest, -you may be assured, until far-distant ages, on the memory of those who -began the bombardment of Paris when capitulation by famine was -inevitable, and who continued this act of savagery after it had become -evident to all men that it would not advance by one hour the surrender -of the heroic city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>Whilst Pasteur thus felt those simple and strong impressions as a -soldier or the man in the street might do, the creative power of his -nature was urging him to great and useful achievements. He wrote from -Lyons in March to M. Duclaux—</p> - -<p>“My head is full of splendid projects; the war sent my brain to grass, -but I now feel ready for further work. Perhaps I am deluding myself; -anyhow I will try.... Oh! why am I not rich, a millionaire? I would say -to you, to Raulin, to Gernez, to Van Tieghem, etc., come, we will -transform the world by our discoveries. How fortunate you are to be -young and strong! Why can I not begin a new life of study and work! -Unhappy France, beloved country, if I could only assist in raising thee -from thy disasters!”</p> - -<p>A few days later, in a letter to Raulin, this desire for devoted work -was again expressed almost feverishly. He could foresee, in the dim -distance, secret affinities between apparently dissimilar things. He had -at that time returned to the researches which had absorbed his youth -(because those studies were less materially difficult to organize), and -he could perceive laws and connections between the facts he had observed -and those of the existence of which he felt assured.</p> - -<p>“I have begun here some experiments in crystallization which will open a -great prospect if they should lead to positive results. You know that I -believe that there is a cosmic dissymmetric influence which presides -constantly and naturally over the molecular organization of principles -immediately essential to life; and that, in consequence of this, the -species of the three kingdoms, by their structure, by their form, by the -disposition of their tissues, have a definite relation to the movements -of the universe. For many of those species, if not for all, the sun is -the <i>primum movens</i> of nutrition; but I believe in another influence -which would affect the whole organization, for it would be the cause of -the molecular dissymmetry proper to the chemical components of life. I -want to be able by experiment to grasp a few indications as to the -nature of this great cosmic dissymmetrical influence. It must, it may be -electricity, magnetism.... And, as one should always proceed from the -simple to the complex, I am now trying to crystallize double racemate of -soda and ammonia under the influence of a spiral solenoid.</p> - -<p>“I have various other forms of experiment to attempt. If one of them -should succeed, we shall have work for the rest of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span> our lives, and in -one of the greatest subjects man could approach, for I should not -despair of arriving by this means at a very deep, unexpected and -extraordinary modification of the animal and vegetable species.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye, my dear Raulin. Let us endeavour to distract our thoughts -from human turpitudes by the disinterested search after truth.”</p> - -<p>In a little notebook where he jotted down some intended experiments we -find evidence of those glimpses of divination in a few summary lines: -“Show that life is in the germ, that it has been but in a state of -transmission since the origin of creation. That the germ possesses -possibilities of development, either of intelligence and will, or—and -in the same way—of physical organs. Compare these possibilities with -those possessed by the germ of chemical species which is in the chemical -molecule. The possibilities of development in the germ of the chemical -molecule consist in crystallization, in its form, in its physical and -chemical properties. Those properties are in power in the germ of the -molecule in the same way as the organs and tissues of animals and plants -are in their respective germs. Add: nothing is more curious than to -carry the comparison of living species with mineral species into the -study of the wounds of either, and of their healing by means of -nutrition—a nutrition coming from within in living beings, and from -without through the medium of crystallization in the others. Here detail -facts....”</p> - -<p>In that same notebook, Pasteur, after writing down the following -heading, “Letter to prepare on the species in connection with molecular -dissymmetry,” added, “I could write that letter to Bernard. I should say -that being deprived of a laboratory by the present state of France, I am -going to give him the preconceived ideas that I shall try to experiment -upon when better times come. There is no peril in expressing ideas <i>a -priori</i>, when they are taken as such, and can be gradually modified, -perhaps even completely transformed, according to the result of the -observation of facts.”</p> - -<p>He once compared those preconceived ideas with searchlights guiding the -experimentalist, saying that they only became dangerous when they became -fixed ideas.</p> - -<p>Civil war had now come, showing, as Renan said, “a sore under the sore, -an abyss below the abyss.” What were the hopes and projects of Pasteur -and of Sainte Claire Deville now<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span> that the very existence of the divided -country was jeopardized under the eyes of the Prussians? The world of -letters and of science, helpless amidst such disorders, had dispersed; -Saint Claire Deville was at Gex, Dumas at Geneva. Some were wondering -whether lectures could not be organized in Switzerland and in Belgium as -they had been under the Empire, thus spreading abroad the influence of -French thought. Examples might be quoted of men who had served the glory -of their country in other lands, such as Descartes, who took refuge in -Holland in order to continue his philosophic meditations. Pasteur might -have been tempted to do likewise. Already, before the end of the war, an -Italian professor of chemistry, Signor Chiozza, who had applied -Pasteur’s methods to silkworms in the neighbourhood of Villa Vicentina, -got the Italian Government to offer him a laboratory and the direction -of a silkworm establishment. Pasteur refused, and a deputy of Pisa, -Signor Toscanelli, hearing of this, obtained for Pasteur the offer of -what was better still—a professor’s chair of Chemistry applied to -Agriculture at Pisa; this would give every facility for work and all -laboratory resources. “Pisa,” Signor Chiozza said, “is a quiet town, a -sort of Latin quarter in the middle of the country, where professors and -students form the greater part of the population. I think you would be -received with the greatest cordiality and quite exceptional -consideration ... I fear that black days of prolonged agitation are in -store for France.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s health and work were indeed valuable to the whole world, and -Signor Chiozza’s proposition seemed simple and rational. Pasteur was -much divided in his mind: his first impulse was to renew his refusal. He -thought but of his vanquished country, and did not wish to forsake it. -But was it to his country’s real interests that he should remain a -helpless spectator of so many disasters? Was it not better to carry -French teaching abroad, to try and provoke in young Italian students -enthusiasm for French scientists, French achievements? He might still -serve his beloved country in that quiet retreat, amidst all those -facilities for continuous work. He thought of writing to Raulin, who had -relations in Italy, and who might follow his master. Finally, he was -offered very great personal advantages, a high salary—and this -determined his refusal, for, as he wrote to Signor Chiozza, “I should -feel that I deserved a deserter’s penalty if I sought, away from my<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span> -country in distress, a material situation better than it can offer me.”</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless allow me to tell you, Sir (he wrote to Signor Toscanelli, -refusing his offer), in all sincerity, that the memory of your offer -will remain in the annals of my family as a title of nobility, as a -proof of Italy’s sympathy for France, as a token of the esteem accorded -to my work. And as far as you, M. le Député, are concerned it will -remain in my eyes a brilliant proof of the way in which public men in -Italy regard science and its grandeur.”</p> - -<p>And now what was Pasteur to do—he who could not live away from a -laboratory? In April, 1871, he could neither go back to Paris and the -Commune nor to Arbois, now transformed into a Prussian dépôt. It seemed, -indeed, from the letters he received that his fellow citizens were now -destined but to feed and serve a victorious foe, whose exactions were -all the more rigorous that the invasion of the town on January 25 had -been preceded by an attempt at resistance on the part of the -inhabitants. On that morning, a few French soldiers who were seeking -their regiments and a handful of <i>franc tireurs</i> had posted themselves -among the vines. About ten o’clock a first shot sounded in the distance; -in a turn of the sinuous Besançon road, when the Prussian vanguard had -appeared, a Zouave—who the day before was begging from door to door, -shaking with ague, and who had taken refuge in the village of Montigny, -two kilometres from Arbois—had in despair fired his last cartridge. A -squad of Prussians left the road and rushed towards the smoke of the -gun. The soldier was seized, shot down on the spot, and mutilated with -bayonets. Whilst the main column continued their advance towards the -town, detachments explored the vines on either side of the road, -shooting here and there. An old man who, with a courageous indifference, -was working in his vineyard was shot down at his work. A little -pastrycook’s boy, nicknamed Biscuit by the Arboisians, who, led by -curiosity; had come down from the upper town to the big poplar trees at -the entrance of Arbois, suddenly staggered, struck by a Prussian bullet. -He was just able to creep back to the first house, his eyes already -dimmed by death.</p> - -<p>Those were but the chances of war, but other crueller episodes thrilled -Pasteur to the very depths of his soul. Such things are lost in history, -just as a little blood spilt disappears<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span> in a river, but, for the -witnesses and contemporaries of the facts, the trace of blood remains. -An incident will help the reader to understand the lasting indignation -the war excited in Pasteur.</p> - -<p>One of the Prussian sergeants, who, after the shot fired at Montigny, -were leading small detachments of soldiers, thought that a house on the -outskirts of Arbois, in the faubourg of Verreux, looked as if it might -shelter <i>franc tireurs</i>. He directed his men towards it and the house -was soon reached.</p> - -<p>It was now twelve o’clock, all fighting had ceased, and the first -Prussians who had arrived were masters of the town. Others were arriving -from various directions; a heavy silence reigned over the town. The -mayor, M. Lefort, led by a Prussian officer who covered him with a -revolver whenever he addressed him, was treated as a hostage responsible -for absolute submission. Every door in the small Town Hall was opened in -succession in order to see that there were no arms hidden. The mayor was -each time made to pass first, so that he should receive the shot in case -of a surprise. In the library, three flags, which General Delort had -brought back from the Rhine campaign when he was a captain in the -cavalry and given to his native town, were torn down and the general’s -bust overturned.</p> - -<p>The sergeant, violently entering the suspected house with his men, found -a whole family peacefully sitting down to their dinner—the husband, -wife, a son of nineteen, and two young daughters. The invaders made no -search nor asked any questions of those poor people, who had probably -done nothing worse than to offer a few glasses of wine to French -soldiers as they passed. The sergeant did not even ask the name of the -master of the house (Antoine Ducret, aged fifty-nine), but seized him by -his coat and ordered his men to seize the son too. The woman, who rushed -to the door in her endeavour to prevent her husband and her son from -being thus taken from her, was violently flung to the end of the room, -her trembling daughters crouching around her as they listened to the -heavy Prussian boots going down the wooden stairs. There is a public -drinking fountain not far from the house; Ducret was taken there and -placed against a wall. He understood, and cried out, “Spare my son!!” -“What do you say?” said the sergeant to the boy. “I will stay with my -father,” he answered simply. The father, struck by two bullets at close -range, fell at the feet of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span> his son, who was shot down immediately -afterwards. The two corpses, afterwards mutilated with bayonets, -remained lying by the water side; the neighbours succeeded in preventing -the mother and her two daughters from leaving their house until the -bodies had been placed in a coffin. On the tombs of Antoine and Charles -Ducret the equivocal inscription was placed “Fell at Arbois, January 25, -1871, under Prussian fire.” For the honour of humanity, a German -officer, having heard these details, offered the life of the sergeant to -Ducret’s widow; but she entertained no thoughts of revenge. “His death -would not give them back to me,” she said.</p> - -<p>Pasteur could not become resigned to the humiliation of France, and, -tearing his thoughts from the nightmare of the war and the Commune, he -dwelt continually on the efforts that would be necessary to carry out -the great task of raising the country once again to its proper rank. In -his mind it was the duty of every one to say, “In what way can I be -useful?” Each man should strive not so much to play a great part as to -give the best of his ability. He had no patience with those who doubt -everything in order to have an excuse for doing nothing.</p> - -<p>He had indeed known dark moments of doubt and misgivings, as even the -greatest minds must do, but notwithstanding these periods of -discouragement he was convinced that science and peace will ultimately -triumph over ignorance and war. In spite of recent events, the bitter -conditions of peace which tore unwilling Alsace and part of Lorraine -away from France, the heavy tax of gold and of blood weighing down -future generations, the sad visions of young men in their prime cut down -on the battlefield or breathing their last in hospitals all to no -apparent purpose; in spite of all these sad memories he was persuaded -that thinkers would gradually awaken in the nations ideas of justice and -of concord.</p> - -<p>He had now for nine years been following with a passionate interest some -work begun in his own laboratory by Raulin, his first curator. Some of -the letters he wrote to Raulin during those nine years give us a faint -idea of the master that Pasteur was. It had been with great regret that -Raulin had left the laboratory in obedience to the then laws of the -University in order to take up active work at the Brest college, and -Pasteur’s letters (December, 1862) brought him joy and encouragement: -“Keep up your courage, do not allow the idleness of pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span>vincial life to -disturb you. Teach your pupils to the very best of your ability and give -up your leisure to experiments; this was M. Biot’s advice to myself.” -When in July, 1863, he began to fear that Raulin might allow imagination -to lead him astray in his work, he repeatedly advised him to state -nothing that could not be proved: “Be very strict in your deductions”; -then, apparently, loth to damp the young man’s ardour: “I have the -greatest confidence in your judgment; do not take too much heed of my -observations.”</p> - -<p>In 1863 Pasteur asked Raulin to come with him, Gernez and Duclaux, to -Arbois for some studies on wines, etc., but Raulin, absorbed in the -investigations he had undertaken, refused; in 1865 he refused to come to -Alais, still being completely wrapt up in the same work. Pasteur -sympathized heartily with his pupil’s perseverance, and, when Raulin was -at last able to announce to his master the results so long sought after, -Pasteur hurried to Caen, where Raulin was now professor of Physics, and -returned full of enthusiasm. His modesty in all that concerned himself -now giving way to delighted pride, he spoke of Raulin’s discoveries to -every one. Yet they concerned an apparently unimportant subject—a -microscopical fungus, a simple mucor, whose spores, mingled with -atmospheric germs, develop on bread moistened with vinegar or on a slice -of lemon; yet no precious plant ever inspired more care or solicitude -than that <i>aspergillus niger</i>, as it is called. Raulin, inspired by -Pasteur’s studies on cultures in an artificial medium, that is, a medium -exclusively composed of defined chemical substances, resolved to find -for this plant a typical medium capable of giving its maximum -development to the aspergillus niger. Some of his comrades looked upon -this as upon a sort of laboratory amusement; but Raulin, ever a man of -one idea, looked upon the culture of microscopic vegetation as a step -towards a greater knowledge of vegetable physiology, leading to the -development of artificial manure production, and from that to the -rational nutrition of the human organisms. He started from the -conditions indicated by Pasteur for the development of mucedinæ in -general and in particular for a mucor which has some points of -resemblance with the aspergillus niger, the <i>penicillium glaucum</i>, which -spreads a bluish tint over mouldy bread, jam, and soft cheeses. Raulin -began by placing pure spores of aspergillus niger on the surface of a -saucer containing everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span> that seemed necessary to their perfect -growth, in a stove heated to a temperature of 20°C.; but in spite of -every care, after forty days had passed, the tiny fungus was languishing -and unhealthy. A temperature of 30° did not seem more successful; and -when the stove was heated to above 38° the result was the same. At 35°, -with a moist and changing atmosphere, the result was favourable—very -fortunately for Raulin, for the principal of the college, an -economically minded man, did not approve of burning so much gas for such -a tiny fungus and with such poor results. This want of sympathy excited -Raulin’s solemn wrath and caused him to meditate dark projects of -revenge, such as ignoring his enemy in the street on some future -occasion. In the meanwhile he continued his slow and careful -experiments. He succeeded at last in composing a liquid, technically -called Raulin’s liquid, in which the aspergillus niger grew and -flourished within six or even three days. Eleven substances were -necessary: water, candied sugar, tartaric acid, nitrate of ammonia, -phosphate of ammonia, carbonate of potash, carbonate of magnesia, -sulphate of ammonia, sulphate of zinc, sulphate of iron, and silicate of -potash. He now studied the part played by each of those elements, -varying his quantities, taking away one substance and adding another, -and obtained some very curious results. For instance, the aspergillus -was extraordinarily sensitive to the action of zinc; if the quantity of -zinc was reduced by a few milligrams the vegetation decreased by -one-tenth. Other elements were pernicious; if Raulin added to his liquid -1/1600000 of nitrate of silver, the growth of the fungus ceased. -Moreover, if he placed the liquid in a silver goblet instead of a china -saucer, the vegetation did not even begin, “though,” writes M. Duclaux, -analysing this fine work of his fellow student, “it is almost impossible -to chemically detect any dissolution of the silver into the liquid. But -the fungus proves it by dying.”</p> - -<p>In this thesis, now a classic, which only appeared in 1870, Raulin -enumerated with joyful gratitude all that he owed to his illustrious -master—general views, principles and methods, suggestive ideas, advice -and encouragement—saying that Pasteur had shown him the road on which -he had travelled so far. Pasteur, touched by his pupil’s affection, -wrote to thank him, saying: “You credit me with too much; it is enough -for me that your work should be known as having been begun in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span> -laboratory, and in a direction the fruitfulness of which I was perhaps -the first to point out. I had only conceived hopes, and you bring us -solid realities.”</p> - -<p>In April, 1871, Pasteur, preoccupied with the future, and ambitious for -those who might come after him, wrote to Claude Bernard: “Allow me to -submit to you an idea which has occurred to me, that of conferring on my -dear pupil and friend Raulin the Experimental Physiology prize, for his -splendid work on the nutriment of mucors, or rather of a mucor, the -excellence of which work has not escaped you. I doubt if you can find -anything better. I must tell you that this idea occurred to me whilst -reading your admirable report on the progress of General Physiology in -France. If therefore my suggestion seems to you acceptable, you will -have sown the germ of it in my mind; if you disapprove of it I shall -make you partly responsible.”</p> - -<p>Claude Bernard hastened to reply: “You may depend upon my support for -your pupil M. Raulin. It will be for me both a pleasure and a duty to -support such excellent work and to glorify the method of the master who -inspired it.”</p> - -<p>In his letter to Claude Bernard, Pasteur had added these words: “I have -made up my mind to go and spend a few months at Royat with my family, so -as to be near my dear Duclaux. We shall raise a few grammes of silkworm -seed.”</p> - -<p>M. Duclaux was then professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Clermont -Ferrand, a short distance from Royat, and Pasteur intended to walk every -day to the laboratory of his former pupil. But M. Duclaux did not -countenance this plan; he meant to entertain his master and his master’s -family in his own house, 25, Rue Montlosier, where he could even have -one room arranged as a silkworm nursery. He succeeded in persuading -Pasteur, and they organized a delightful home life which recalled the -days at Pont Gisquet before the war.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was seeking the means of making his seed-selecting process -applicable to small private nurseries as well as to large industrial -establishments. The only difficulty was the cost of the indispensable -microscope; but Pasteur thought that each village might possess its -microscope, and that the village schoolmaster might be entrusted with -the examination of the moths.</p> - -<p>In a letter written in April, 1871, to M. Bellotti, of the Milan Civic -Museum, Pasteur, after describing in a few lines the simple process he -had taken five years to study, added<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span>—</p> - -<p>“If I dared to quote myself, I would recall those words from my book—</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>If I were a silkworm cultivator I never would raise seed from worms I -had not observed during the last days of their life, so as to satisfy -myself as to their vigour and agility just before spinning. The seed -chosen should be that which comes from worms who climbed the twigs with -agility, who showed no mortality from flachery between the fourth -moulting and climbing time, and whose freedom from corpuscles will have -been demonstrated by the microscope. If that is done, any one with the -slightest knowledge of silkworm culture will succeed in every case.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Italy and Austria vied with each other in adopting the seed selected by -the Pasteur system. But it was only when Pasteur was on the eve of -receiving from the Austrian Government the great prize offered in 1868 -to “whoever should discover a preventive and curative remedy against -pébrine” that French sericicultors began to be convinced. The French -character offers this strange contrast, that France is often willing to -risk her fortune and her blood for causes which may be unworthy, whilst -at another moment, in everyday life, she shrinks at the least innovation -before accepting a benefit originated on her own soil. The French often -wait until other nations have adopted and approved a French discovery -before venturing to adopt it in their turn.</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not stop to look back and delight in his success, but -hastened to turn his mind to another kind of study. His choice of a -subject was influenced by patriotic motives. Germany was incontestably -superior to France in the manufacture of beer, and he conceived the -thought of making France a successful rival in that respect; in order to -enable himself to do so, he undertook to study the scientific mechanism -of beer manufacture.</p> - -<p>There was a brewery at Chamalières, between Clermont and Royat. Pasteur -began by visiting it with eager curiosity, inquiring into the minutest -details, endeavouring to find out the why and the wherefore of every -process, and receiving vague answers with much astonishment. M. Kuhn, -the Chamalières brewer, did not know much more about beer than did his -fellow brewers in general. Very little was known at that time about the -way it was produced; when brewers received complaints from their -customers, they procured yeast<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span> from a fresh source. In a book of -reference which was then much in use, entitled <i>Alimentary Substances: -the Means of Improving and Preserving them, and of Recognizing their -Alterations</i>, six pages were given up to beer by the author, M. Payen, a -member of the Institute. He merely showed that germinated barley, called -malt, was diluted, then heated and mixed with hops, thus forming -beer-wort, which was submitted, when cold, to alcoholic fermentation -through the yeast added to the above liquid. M. Payen conceded to beer -some nutritive properties, but added, a little disdainfully, “Beer, -perhaps on account of the pungent smell of hops, does not seem endowed -with stimulating properties as agreeable, or as likely to inspire such -bright and cheerful ideas, as the sweet and varied aroma of the good -wines of France.”</p> - -<p>In a paragraph on the alterations of beer—“<i>spontaneous</i> -alterations”—M. Payen said that it was chiefly during the summer that -beer became altered. “It becomes acid, and even noticeably putrid, and -ceases to be fit to drink.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s hopes of making French beer capable of competing with German -beer were much strengthened by faith in his own method. He had, by -experimental proof, destroyed the theory of spontaneous generation; he -had shown that chance has no share in fermentations; the animated nature -and the specific characteristics of those ferments, the methods of -culture in appropriate media, were so many scientific points gained. The -difficulties which remained to be solved were the question of pure yeast -and the search for the causes of alteration which make beer thick, acid, -sour, slimy or putrid. Pasteur thought that these alterations were -probably due to the development of germs in the air, in the water, or on -the surface of the numerous utensils used in a brewery.</p> - -<p>As he advanced further and further into that domain of the infinitely -small which he had discovered, whether the subject was wine, vinegar, or -silkworms—this last study already opening before him glimpses of light -on human pathology—new and unexpected visions rose before his sight.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had formerly demonstrated that if a putrescible liquid, such as -beef broth for instance, after being previously boiled, is kept in a -vessel with a long curved neck, the air only reaching it after having -deposited its germs in the curves of the neck, does not alter it in any -way. He now desired to invent an apparatus which would protect the wort -against external<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span> dusts, against the microscopic germs ever ready to -interfere with the course of proper fermentation by the introduction of -other noxious ferments. It was necessary to prove that beer remains -unalterable whenever it does not contain the organisms which cause its -diseases. Many technical difficulties were in the way, but the brewers -of Chamalières tried in the most obliging manner to facilitate things -for him.</p> - -<p>This exchange of services between science and industry was in accordance -with Pasteur’s plan; though he had been prophesying for fourteen years -the great progress which would result from an alliance between -laboratories and factories, the idea was hardly understood at that time. -Yet the manufacturers of Lille and Orleans, the wine merchants and the -silkworm cultivators of the South of France, and of Austria and Italy, -might well have been called as enthusiastic witnesses to the advantages -of such a collaboration.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, happy to make the fortune of others, intended to organize, -against the danger of alterations in beer, some experiments which would -give to that industry solid notions resting on a scientific basis. “Dear -master,” wrote he to J. B. Dumas on August 4, 1871, from Clermont, “I -have asked the brewer to send you twelve bottles of my beer.... I hope -you will find it compares favourably even with the excellent beer of -Paris cafés.” There was a postscript to this letter, proving once more -Pasteur’s solicitude for his pupils. “A thousand thanks for your kind -welcome of Raulin’s work; Bernard’s support has also been promised him. -The Academy could not find a better recipient for the prize. It is quite -exceptional work.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, ever full of praises for his pupil, also found excuses for him. -In spite of M. Duclaux’s pressing request, Raulin had again found -reasons to refuse an invitation to come to Auvergne for a few days. “I -regret very much that you did not come to see us,” wrote Pasteur to -Raulin, “especially on account of the beer.... Tell me what you think of -doing. When are you coming to Paris for good? I shall want you to help -me to arrange my laboratory, where everything, as you know, has still to -be done; it must be put into working order as soon as possible.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur would have liked Raulin to come with him to London in September, -1871, before settling down in Paris.</p> - -<p>The Chamalières brewery was no longer sufficient for Pasteur; he wished -to see one of those great English breweries<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span> which produce in one year -more than 100,000 hectolitres of beer. The great French <i>savant</i> was -most courteously received by the managers of one of the most important -breweries in London, who offered to show him round the works where 250 -men were employed. But Pasteur asked for a little of the barm of the -porter which was flowing into a trough from the cask. He examined that -yeast with a microscope, and soon recognized a noxious ferment which he -drew on a piece of paper and showed to the bystanders, saying, “This -porter must leave much to be desired,” to the astonished managers, who -had not expected this sudden criticism. Pasteur added that surely the -defect must have been betrayed by a bad taste, perhaps already -complained of by some customers. Thereupon the managers owned that that -very morning some fresh yeast had had to be procured from another -brewery. Pasteur asked to see the new yeast, and found it incomparably -purer, but such was not the case with the barm of the other products -then in fermentation—<i>ale</i> and <i>pale ale</i>.</p> - -<p>By degrees, samples of every kind of beer on the premises were brought -to Pasteur and put under the microscope. He detected marked beginnings -of disease in some, in others merely a trace, but a threatening one. The -various foremen were sent for; this scientific visit seemed like a -police inquiry. The owner of the brewery, who had been fetched, was -obliged to register, one after another, these experimental -demonstrations. It was only human to show a little surprise, perhaps a -little impatience of wounded feeling. But it was impossible to mistake -the authority of the French scientist’s words: “Every marked alteration -in the quality of the beer coincides with the development of -micro-organisms foreign to the nature of true beer yeast.” It would have -been interesting to a psychologist to study in the expression of -Pasteur’s hearers those shades of curiosity, doubt, and approbation, -which ended in the thoroughly English conclusion that there was profit -to be made out of this object lesson.</p> - -<p>Pasteur afterwards remembered with a smile the answers he received, -rather vague at first, then clearer, and, finally—interest and -confidence now obtained—the confession that there was in a corner of -the brewery a quantity of spoilt beer, which had gone wrong only a -fortnight after it was made, and was not drinkable. “I examined it with -a microscope,” said Pasteur, “and could not at first detect any ferments -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span> disease; but guessing that it might have become clear through a long -rest, the ferments now inert having dropped to the bottom of the -reservoirs, I examined the deposit at the bottom of the reservoirs. It -was entirely composed of filaments of disease unmixed with the least -globule of alcoholic yeast. The complementary fermentation of that beer -had therefore been exclusively a morbid fermentation.”</p> - -<p>When he visited the same brewery again, a week later, he found that not -only had a microscope been procured immediately, but the yeast of all -the beer then being brewed had been changed.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was happy to offer to the English, who like to call themselves -practical men, a proof of the usefulness of disinterested science, -persuaded as he was that the moral debt incurred to a French scientist -would in some measure revert to France herself. “We must make some -friends for our beloved France,” he would say. And if in the course of -conversation an Englishman gave expression to any doubt concerning the -future of the country, Pasteur, his grave and powerful face full of -energy, would answer that every Frenchman, after the horrible storm -which had raged for so many months, was valiantly returning to his daily -task, whether great or humble, each one thinking of retrieving the -national fall.</p> - -<p>Every morning, as he left his hotel to go to the various breweries which -he was now privileged to visit in their smallest details, he observed -this English people, knowing the value of time, seeing its own interests -in all things, consistent in its ideas and in its efforts, respectful of -established institutions and hierarchy; and he thought with regret how -his own countrymen lacked these qualities. But if the French are rightly -taxed with a feverish love of change, should not justice be rendered to -that generous side of the French character, so gifted, capable of so -much, and which finds in self-sacrifice the secret of energy, for whom -hatred is a real suffering? “Let us work!” Pasteur’s favourite phrase -ever ended those philosophical discussions.</p> - -<p>He wanted to do two years’ work in one, regardless of health and -strength. Beyond the diseases of beer, avoidable since they come from -outside, he foresaw the application of the doctrine of exterior germs to -other diseases. But he did not allow his imagination to run away with -him, and resolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span> fixed his mind on his present object, which was the -application of science to the brewing industry.</p> - -<p>“The interest of those visits to English breweries,” wrote Pasteur to -Raulin, “and of the information I am able to collect (I hear that I -ought to consider this as a great favour) causes me to regret very much -that you should be in want of rest, for I am sure you would have been -charmed to acquire so much instruction <i>de visu</i>. Why should you not -come for a day or two if your health permits? Do as you like about that, -but in any case prepare for immediate work on my return. We need not -wait for the new laboratory; we can settle down in the old one and in a -Paris brewery.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur returned to Paris, Bertin, who had not seen him since the -recent historic events, welcomed him with a radiant delight. School -friendships are like those favourite books which always open at the page -we prefer; time has no hold on certain affections; ever new, ever young, -they never show signs of age. Bertin’s love was very precious to -Pasteur, though the two friends were as different from each other as -possible. Pasteur, ever preoccupied, seemed to justify the Englishman -who said that genius consists in an infinite capacity for taking pains; -whilst Bertin, with his merry eyes, was the very image of a smiling -philosopher. In spite of his position as sub-director, which he most -conscientiously filled, he was not afraid to whistle or to sing popular -songs as he went along the passages of the Ecole Normale. He came round -to Pasteur’s rooms almost every evening, bringing with him joy, -lightness of heart, and a rest and relaxation for the mind, brightening -up his friend by his amusing way of looking at things in general, -and—at that time—beer in particular.</p> - -<p>Whilst Pasteur saw but pure yeast, and thought but of spores of disease, -ferments, and parasitic invasions, Bertin would dilate on certain cafés -in the Latin quarter, where, without regard to great scientific -principles, experts could be asked to pronounce between the beer on the -premises and laboratory beer, harmless and almost agreeable, but lacking -in the refinement of taste of which Bertin, who had spent many years in -Strasburg, was a competent judge. Pasteur, accustomed to an absolutely -infallible method, like that which he had invented for the seeding of -silkworms, heard Bertin say to him, “First of all, give me a good -<i>bock</i>, you can talk learnedly afterwards.” Pasteur acknowledged, -however, the improve<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span>ments obtained by certain brewers, who, thanks to -the experience of years, knew how to choose yeast which gave a -particular taste, and also how to employ preventive measures against -accidental and pernicious ferments (such as the use of ice, or of hops -in a larger quantity). But, though laughing at Bertin’s jokes, Pasteur -was convinced that great progress in the brewer’s art would date from -his studies.</p> - -<p>He was now going through a series of experiments, buying at Bertin’s -much praised cafés samples of various famous beers—Strasburg, Nancy, -Vienna, Burton’s, etc. After letting the samples rest for twenty-four -hours he decanted them and sowed one drop of the deposit in vessels full -of pure wort, which he placed in a temperature of 20° C. After fifteen -or eighteen days he studied and tasted the yeasts formed in the wort, -and found them all to contain ferments of diseases. He sowed some pure -yeast in some other vessels, with the same precautions, and all the -beers of this series remained pure from strange ferments and free from -bad taste; they had merely become <i>flat</i>.</p> - -<p>He was eagerly seeking the means of judging how his laboratory tests -would work in practice. He spent some time at Tantonville, in Lorraine, -visiting an immense brewery, of which the owners were the brothers -Tourtel. Though very carefully kept, the brewery was yet not quite clean -enough to satisfy him. It is true that he was more than difficult to -please in that respect; a small detail of his everyday life revealed -this constant preoccupation. He never used a plate or a glass without -examining them minutely and wiping them carefully; no microscopic speck -of dust escaped his short-sighted eyes. Whether at home or with -strangers he invariably went through this preliminary exercise, in spite -of the anxious astonishment of his hostess, who usually feared that some -negligence had occurred, until Pasteur, noticing her slight dismay, -assured her that this was but an inveterate scientist’s habit. If he -carried such minute care into daily life, we can imagine how strict was -his examination of scientific things and of brewery tanks.</p> - -<p>After those studies at Tantonville with his curator, M. Grenet, Pasteur -laid down three great principles—</p> - -<p>1. Every alteration either of the wort or of the beer itself depends on -the development of micro-organisms which are ferments of diseases.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span></p> - -<p>2. These germs of ferments are brought by the air, by the ingredients, -or by the apparatus used in breweries.</p> - -<p>3. Whenever beer contains no living germs it is unalterable.</p> - -<p>When once those principles were formulated and proved they were to -triumph over all professional uncertainties. And in the same way that -wines could be preserved from various causes of alteration by heating, -bottled beer could escape the development of disease ferments by being -brought to a temperature of 50° to 55°. The application of this process -gave rise to the new word “<i>pasteurized</i>” beer, a neologism which soon -became current in technical language.</p> - -<p>Pasteur foresaw the distant consequences of these studies, and wrote in -his book on beer—</p> - -<p>“When we see beer and wine subjected to deep alterations because they -have given refuge to micro-organisms invisibly introduced and now -swarming within them, it is impossible not to be pursued by the thought -that similar facts may, <i>must</i>, take place in animals and in man. But if -we are inclined to believe that it is so because we think it likely and -possible, let us endeavour to remember, before we affirm it, that the -greatest disorder of the mind is to allow the will to direct the -belief.”</p> - -<p>This shows us once more the strange duality of this inspired man, who -associated in his person the faith of an apostle with the inquiring -patience of a scientist.</p> - -<p>He was often disturbed by tiresome discussions from the researches to -which he would gladly have given his whole time. The heterogenists had -not surrendered; they would not admit that alterable organic liquids -could be indefinitely preserved from putrefaction and fermentation when -in contact with air freed from dusts.</p> - -<p>Pouchet, the most celebrated of them, who considered that part of a -scientist’s duty consists in vulgarizing his discoveries, was preparing -for the New Year, 1872, a book called <i>The Universe: the Infinitely -Great and the Infinitely Small</i>. He enthusiastically recalled the -spectacle revealed at the end of the seventeenth century by the -microscope, which he compared to a sixth sense. He praised the -discoveries made in 1838 by Ehrenberg on the prodigious activity of -infusories, but he never mentioned Pasteur’s name, leaving entirely on -one side the immense work accomplished by the infinitely small and ever -active agents of putrefaction and fermentation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span> He owned that “a few -microzoa did fly about here and there,” but he called the theory of -germs a “ridiculous fiction.”</p> - -<p>At the same time Liebig, who, since the interview in July, 1870, had had -time to recover his health, published a long treatise disputing certain -facts put forward by Pasteur.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had declared that, in the process of vinegar-making known as the -German process, the chips of beech-wood placed in the barrels were but -supports for the <i>mycoderma aceti</i>. Liebig, after having, he said, -consulted at Munich the chief of one of the largest vinegar factories, -who did not believe in the presence of the mycoderma, affirmed that he -himself had not seen a trace of the fungus on chips which had been used -in that factory for twenty-five years.</p> - -<p>In order to bring this debate to a conclusion Pasteur suggested a very -simple experiment, which was to dry some of those chips rapidly in a -stove and to send them to Paris, where a commission, selected from the -members of the Académie des Sciences, would decide on this conflict. -Pasteur undertook to demonstrate to the Commission the presence of the -mycoderma on the surface of the chips. Or another means might be used: -the Munich vinegar maker would be asked to scald one of his barrels with -boiling water and then to make use of it again. “According to Liebig’s -theory,” said Pasteur, “that barrel should work as before, but I affirm -that no vinegar will form in it for a long time, not until new mycoderma -have grown on the surface of the chips.” In effect, the boiling water -would destroy the little fungus. With the usual clear directness which -increased the interest of the public in this scientific discussion, -Pasteur formulated once more his complete theory of acetification: “The -principle is very simple: whenever wine is transformed into vinegar, it -is by the action of the layer of <i>mycoderma aceti</i> developed on its -surface.” Liebig, however, refused the suggested test.</p> - -<p>Immediately after that episode a fresh adversary, M. Frémy, a member of -the Académie des Sciences, began with Pasteur a discussion, which was -destined to be a long one, on the question of the origin of ferments. M. -Frémy alluded to the fact that he had given many years to that subject, -having published a notice on lactic fermentation as far back as 1841, -“at a time,” he said, “when our learned colleague—M. Pasteur—was -barely entering into science.”... “In the production of wine,” said M. -Frémy, “it is the juice of the fruit<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span> itself, which, put in contact with -air, gives birth to grains of yeast by the transformation of albuminous -matter, whilst M. Pasteur declares that the grains of yeast are produced -by germs.” According to M. Frémy, ferments did not come from atmospheric -dusts, but were created by organic bodies. And, inventing for his own -use the new word <i>hemiorganism</i>, M. Frémy explained the word and the -action by saying that there are some <i>hemiorganized</i> bodies which, by -reason of the vital force with which they are endowed, go through -successive decompositions and give birth to new derivatives; thus are -ferments engendered.</p> - -<p>Another colleague, M. Trécul, a botanist and a genuine truth-seeking -<i>savant</i>, arose in his turn. He said he had witnessed a whole -transformation of microscopic species each into the other, and in -support of this theory he invoked the names of the three -inseparables—Pouchet, Musset and Joly. Himself a heterogenist, he had -in 1867 given a definition to which he willingly alluded: “Heterogenesis -is a natural operation by which life, on the point of abandoning an -organized body, concentrates its action on some particles of that body -and forms thereof beings quite different from that of the substance -which has been borrowed.”</p> - -<p>Old arguments and renewed negations were brought forward, and Pasteur -knew well that this was but a reappearance of the old quarrel; he -therefore answered by going straight to the point. At the Académie des -Sciences, on December 26, 1871, he addressed M. Trécul in these words: -“I can assure our learned colleague that he might have found in the -treatises I have published decisive answers to most of the questions he -has raised. I am really surprised to see him tackle the question of -so-called spontaneous generation, without having more at his disposal -than doubtful facts and incomplete observations. My astonishment was not -less than at our last sitting, when M. Frémy entered upon the same -debate with nothing to produce but superannuated opinions and not one -new positive fact.”</p> - -<p>In his passion for truth and his desire to be convincing Pasteur threw -out this challenge: “Would M. Frémy confess his error if I were to -demonstrate to him that the natural juice of the grape, exposed to the -contact of air, deprived of its germs, can neither ferment nor give -birth to organized yeasts?” This interpellation was perhaps more violent -than<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span> was usual in the meetings of the solemn Academy, but scientific -truth was in question. And Pasteur, recognizing the old arguments under -M. Frémy’s hemiorganism and M. Trécul’s transformations, referred his -two contradictors to the experiments by which he had proved that -alterable liquids, such as blood or urine, could be exposed to the -contact of air deprived of its germs without undergoing the least -fermentation or putrefaction. Had not this fact been the basis on which -Lister had founded “his marvellous surgical method”? And in the -bitterness given to his speech by his irritation against error, the -epithet “marvellous” burst out with a visible delight in rendering -homage to Lister.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, then in full possession of all the qualities of his genius, was -feeling the sort of fever known to great scientists, great artists, -great writers: the ardent desire of finding, of discovering something he -could leave to posterity. Interrupted by these belated contradictors -when he wanted to be going forward, he only restrained his impatience -with difficulty.</p> - -<p>His old master, Balard, appealed to him in the Académie itself (January -22, 1872), in the name of their old friendship, to disregard the attacks -of his adversaries, instead of wasting his time and his strength in -trying to convince them. He reminded him of all he had achieved, of the -benefits he had brought to the industries of wine, beer, vinegar, -silkworms, etc., and alluded to the possibility foreseen by Pasteur -himself of preserving mankind from some of the mysterious diseases which -were perhaps due to germs in atmospheric air. He ended by urging him to -continue his studies peacefully in the laboratory built for him, and to -continue the scientific education of young pupils who might one day -become worthy successors of Van Tieghem, Duclaux, Gernez, Raulin, -etc.... thus forming a whole generation of young scientists instructed -in Pasteur’s school.</p> - -<p>M. Duclaux wrote to him in the same sense: “I see very well what you may -lose in that fruitless struggle—your rest, your time and your health; I -try in vain to see any possible advantage.”</p> - -<p>But nothing stopped him; neither Balard’s public advice, his pupils’ -letters, even J. B. Dumas’ imploring looks. He could not keep himself -from replying. Sometimes he regretted his somewhat sharp language, -though—in his own words—he never associated it with feelings of -hostility towards his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span> contradictors as long as he believed in their -good faith; what he wanted was that truth should have the last word. -“What <i>you</i> lack, M. Frémy, is familiarity with a microscope, and you, -M. Trécul, are not accustomed to laboratories!” “M. Frémy is always -trying to displace the question,” said Pasteur, ten months after M. -Balard’s appeal.</p> - -<p>Whilst M. Frémy disputed, discussed, and filled the Académie with his -objections, M. Trécul, whose life was somewhat misanthropical and whose -usually sad and distrustful face was seen nowhere but at the Institute, -insisted slowly, in a mournful voice, on certain transformations of -divers cells or spores from one into the other. Pasteur declared that -those ideas of transformation were erroneous; but—and there lay the -interest of the debate—there was one of those transformations that -Pasteur himself had once believed possible: that of the <i>mycoderma -vini</i>, or wine flower, into an alcoholic ferment under certain -conditions of existence.</p> - -<p>A modification in the life of the mycoderma when submerged had led him -to believe in a transformation of the mycoderma cells into yeast cells. -It was on this question, which had been left in suspense, that the -debate with Trécul came to an end, leaving to the witnesses of it a most -vivid memory of Pasteur’s personality—inflexible when he held his -proofs, full of scruples and reserve when seeking those proofs, and -accepting no personal praise if scientific truth was not recognized and -honoured before everything else.</p> - -<p>On November 11 Pasteur said: “Four months ago doubts suddenly appeared -in my mind as to the truth of the fact in question, and which M. Trécul -still looks upon as indisputable.... In order to disperse those doubts I -have instituted the most numerous and varied experiments and I have not -succeeded through those four months in satisfying myself by irrefragable -proofs; I still have my doubts. Let this example show to M. Trécul how -difficult it is to conclude definitely in such delicate studies.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur studied the scientific point for a long time, for he never -abandoned a subject, but was ever ready to begin again after a failure. -He modified the disposition of his first tests, and by the use of -special vessels and slightly complicated apparatus succeeded in -eliminating the only imaginable cause of error—the possible fall, -during the manipulations, of exterior germs, that is, the fortuitous -sowing of yeast cells. After that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span> he saw no more yeast and no more -active alcoholic fermentation; he had therefore formerly been the dupe -of a delusion. In his <i>Studies on Beer</i> Pasteur tells of his error and -its rectification: “At a time when ideas on the transformations of -species are so readily adopted, perhaps because they dispense with -rigorous experimentation, it is somewhat interesting to consider that in -the course of my researches on microscopic plants in a state of purity I -once had occasion to believe in the transformation of one organism into -another, the transformation of the <i>mycoderma vini</i> or <i>cerevisiae</i> into -yeast, and that this time I was in error; I had not avoided the cause of -illusion which my confirmed confidence in the theory of germs had so -often led me to discover in the observations of others.”</p> - -<p>“The notion of species,” writes M. Duclaux, who was narrowly associated -with those experiments, “was saved for the present from the attacks -directed against it, and it has not been seriously contested since, at -least not on that ground.”</p> - -<p>Some failures are blessings in disguise. When discovering his mistake, -Pasteur directed his attention to a strange phenomenon. We find in his -book on beer—a sort of laboratory diary—the following details on his -observation of the growth of some mycoderma seed which he had just -scattered over some sweetened wine or beer-wort in small china saucers.</p> - -<p>“When the cells or articles of the mycoderma vini are in full -germinating and propagating activity in contact with air on a sweetened -substratum, they live at the expense of that sugar and other subjacent -materials absolutely like the animals who also utilize the oxygen in the -air while freeing carbonic acid gas, consuming this and that, and -correlatively increasing, regenerating themselves and creating new -materials.</p> - -<p>“Under those conditions not only does the mycoderma vini form no alcohol -appreciable by analysis, but if alcohol exists in the subjacent liquid -the mycoderma reduces it to water and carbonic acid gas by the fixation -of the oxygen in the air.” Pasteur, having submerged the mycoderma and -studied it to see how it would accommodate itself to the new conditions -offered to it, and whether it would die like an animal asphyxiated by -the sudden deprivation of oxygen, saw that life was continued in the -submerged cells, slow, difficult, of a short duration, but undoubtedly -life, and that this life was accompanied by alcoholic fermentation. This -time fermentation was due to the fungus itself. The mycoderma, -originally an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span> aërobia—that is, a being to the life and development of -which air was necessary—became, after being submerged, an anaërobia, -that is, a creature living without air in the depths of the liquid, and -behaving after the manner of ferments.</p> - -<p>This extended the notions on aërobiæ and anaërobiæ which Pasteur had -formerly discovered whilst making researches concerning the vibrio which -is the butyric ferment, and those vibriones which are entrusted with the -special fermentation known as putrefaction. Between the aërobiæ who -require air to live and the anaërobiæ which perish when exposed to air, -there was a class of organisms capable of living for a time outside the -influence of air. No one had thought of studying the mouldiness which -develops so easily when in contact with air; Pasteur was curious to see -what became of it when submitted like the mycoderma to that unexpected -<i>régime</i>. He saw the penicillium, the aspergillus, the mucor-mucedo take -the character of ferments when living without air, or with a quantity of -air too small to surround their organs as completely as was necessary to -their aërobia-plant life. The mucor, when submerged and thus forced to -become an anaërobia, offers budding cells, and there again it seemed as -if they were yeast globules. “But,” said Pasteur, “this change of form -merely corresponds to a change of function, it is but a self-adaptation -to the new life of an anaërobia.” And then, generalizing again and -seeking for laws under the accumulation of isolated facts, he thought it -probable that ferments had, “but in a higher degree, a character common -to most mucors if not to all, and probably possessed more or less by all -living cells, viz., to be alternately aërobic or anaërobic, according to -conditions of environment.”</p> - -<p>Fermentation, therefore, no longer appeared as an isolated and -mysterious act; it was a general phenomenon, subordinate however to the -small number of substances capable of a decomposition accompanied by a -production of heat and of being used for the alimentation of inferior -beings outside the presence and action of air. Pasteur put the whole -theory into this concise formula, “Fermentation is life without air.”</p> - -<p>“It will be seen,” wrote M. Duclaux, “to what heights he had raised the -debate; by changing the mode of interpretation of known facts he brought -out a new theory.”</p> - -<p>But this new theory raised a chorus of controversy. Pasteur held to his -proofs; he recalled what he had published concern<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span>ing the typical -ferment, the yeast of beer, an article inserted in the reports of the -Académie des Sciences for 1861, and entitled, <i>The Influence of Oxygen -on the Development of Yeast and on Alcoholic Fermentation</i>. In this -article Pasteur, à propos of the chemical action connected with -vegetable life, explained in the most interesting manner the two modes -of life of the yeast of beer.</p> - -<p>1. The yeast, placed in some sweet liquid in contact with air, -assimilates oxygen gas and develops abundantly; under those conditions, -it practically works for itself only, the production of alcohol is -insignificant, and the proportion between the weight of sugar absorbed -and that of the yeast is infinitesimal. 2. But, in its second mode of -life, if yeast is made to act upon sugar without the action of -atmospheric air, it can no longer freely assimilate oxygen gas, and is -reduced to abstracting oxygen from the fermentescible matter.</p> - -<p>“It seems therefore natural,” wrote Pasteur, “to admit that when yeast -is a ferment, acting out of the reach of atmospheric air, it takes -oxygen from sugar, that being the origin of its fermentative character.” -It is possible to put the fermentative power of yeast through divers -degrees of intensity by introducing free oxygen in variable quantities.</p> - -<p>After comparing the yeast of beer to an ordinary plant, Pasteur added -that “the analogy would be complete if ordinary plants had an affinity -for oxygen so strong as to breathe, by withdrawing that element from -unstable components, in which case they would act as ferments on those -substances.” He suggested that it might be possible to meet with -conditions which would allow certain inferior plants to live away from -atmospheric air in the presence of sugar, and to provoke fermentation of -that substance after the manner of beer yeast.</p> - -<p>He was already at that time scattering germs of ideas, with the -intention of taking them up later on and experimenting on them, or, if -time should fail him, willingly offering them to any attentive -scientist. These studies on beer had brought him back to his former -studies, to his great delight.</p> - -<p>“What a sacrifice I made for you,” he could not help saying to Dumas, -with a mixture of affection and deference, and some modesty, for he -apparently forgot the immense service rendered to sericiculture, “when I -gave up my studies on ferments for five whole years in order to study -silkworms!!!”</p> - -<p>No doubt a great deal of time was also wasted by the endless<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span> -discussions entered into by his scientific adversaries; but those -discussions certainly brought out and evidenced many guiding facts which -are now undisputed, as for instance the following—1. Ferments are -living beings. 2. There is a special ferment corresponding to each kind -of fermentation. 3. Ferments are not born spontaneously.</p> - -<p>Liebig and his partisans had looked upon fermentation as a phenomenon of -death; they had thought that beer yeast, and in general all animal and -vegetable matter in a state of putrefaction, extended to other bodies -its own state of decomposition.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, on the contrary, had seen in fermentation a phenomenon -correlative with life; he had provoked the complete fermentation of a -sweet liquid which contained mineral substances only, by introducing -into it a trace of yeast, which, instead of dying, lived, flourished and -developed.</p> - -<p>To those who, believing in spontaneous generation, saw in fermentations -but a question of chance, Pasteur by a series of experimental proofs had -shown the origin of their delusion by indicating the door open to germs -coming from outside. He had moreover taught the method of pure cultures. -Finally, in those recent renewals of old quarrels on the transformations -into each other of microscopic species, Pasteur, obliged by the -mycoderma vini to study closely its alleged transformation, which he had -himself believed possible, had thrown ample light on the only dark spot -of his luminous domain.</p> - -<p>“It is enough to think,” writes M. Duclaux concerning that long -discussion, “we have but to remember that those who denied the specific -nature of the germ would now deny the specific nature of disease, in -order to understand the darkness in which such opinions would have -confined microbian pathology; it was therefore important that they -should be uprooted from every mind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> -1873—1877</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pasteur</span> had glimpses of another world beyond the phenomena of -fermentation—the world of virus ferments. Two centuries earlier, an -English physicist, Robert Boyle, had said that he who could probe to the -bottom the nature of ferments and fermentation would probably be more -capable than any one of explaining certain morbid phenomena. These words -often recurred to the mind of Pasteur, who had, concerning the problem -of contagious diseases, those sudden flashes of light wherein genius is -revealed. But, ever insisting on experimental proofs, he constrained his -exalted imagination so as to follow calmly and patiently the road of -experimental method. He could not bear the slightest error, or even -hasty interpretation, in the praises addressed to him. One day, during -the period of the most ardent polemics, in the midst of the struggle on -spontaneous generation, a medical man named Déclat, who declared that -Pasteur’s experiments were “the glory of our century and the salvation -of future generations,” gave a lecture on “The Infinitesimally Small and -their Rôle in the World.” “After the lecture,” relates Dr. Déclat -himself, “M. Pasteur, whom I only knew by name, came to me, and, after -the usual compliments, condemned the inductions I had drawn from his -experiments. ‘The arguments,’ he said, ‘by which you support my -theories, are most ingenious, but not founded on demonstrated facts; -analogy is no proof.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Pasteur used to speak very modestly of his work. He said, in a speech to -some Arbois students, that it was “through assiduous work, with no -special gift but that of perseverance joined to an attraction towards -all that is great and good,” that he had met with success in his -researches. He did not add that an ardent kindness of heart was ever -urging him forward. After the services rendered within the last ten -years to vinegar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span> makers, silkworm cultivators, vine growers, and -brewers, he now wished to tackle what he had had in his mind since -1861—the study of contagious diseases. Thus, with the consistent logic -of his mind, showing him as it did the possibility of realizing in the -future Robert Boyle’s prophecy, he associated the secret power of his -feelings; not to give those feelings their share would be to leave one -side of his nature entirely in the shade. He had himself revealed this -great factor in his character when he had said, “It would indeed be a -grand thing to give the heart its share in the progress of science.” He -was ever giving it a greater share in his work.</p> - -<p>His sorrows had only made him incline the more towards the griefs of -others. The memory of the children he had lost, the mournings he had -witnessed, caused him to passionately desire that there might be fewer -empty places in desolate homes, and that this might be due to the -application of methods derived from his discoveries, of which he foresaw -the immense bearings on pathology. Beyond this, patriotism being for him -a ruling motive, he thought of the thousands of young men lost to France -every year, victims of the tiny germs of murderous diseases. And, at the -thought of epidemics and the heavy tax they levy on the whole world, his -compassion extended itself to all human suffering.</p> - -<p>He regretted that he was not a medical man, fancying that it might have -facilitated his task. It was true that, at every incursion on the domain -of Medicine, he was looked upon as a chemist—a <i>chymiaster</i>, some -said—who was poaching on the preserves of others. The distrust felt by -the physicians in the chemists was of a long standing. In the <i>Traité de -Thérapeutique</i>, published in 1855 by Trousseau and Pidoux, we find this -passage: “When a chemist has seen the chemical conditions of -respiration, of digestion, or of the action of some drug, he thinks he -has given the theory of those functions and phenomena. It is ever the -same delusion which chemists will never get over. We must make up our -minds to that, but let us beware of trying to profit by the precious -researches which they would probably never undertake if they were not -stimulated by the ambition of explaining what is outside their range.” -Pidoux never retrenched anything from two other phrases, also to be -found in that same treatise: “Between a physiological fact and a -pathological fact there is the same difference as between a mineral and -a vegetable”; and: “It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span> not within the power of physiology to explain -the simplest pathological affection.” Trousseau, on the other hand, was -endowed with the far-seeing intelligence of a great physician attentive -to the progress of science. He was greatly interested in Pasteur’s work, -and fully appreciated the possibilities opened by each of his -discoveries.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, with the simplicity which contrasted with his extraordinary -powers, supposed that, if he were armed with diplomas, he would have -greater authority to direct Medicine towards the study of the conditions -of existence of phenomena, and—correlatively to the traditional method -of observation, which consists in knowing and describing exactly the -course of the disease—to inspire practitioners with the desire to -prevent and to determine its cause. An unexpected offer went some way -towards filling what he considered as a blank. At the beginning of the -year 1873, a place was vacant in the section of the Free Associates of -the Academy of Medicine. He was asked to stand for it, and hastened to -accept. He was elected with a majority of only one vote, though he had -been first on the section’s list. The other suffrages were divided -between Messrs. Le Roy de Méricourt, Brochin, Lhéritier, and Bertillon.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, as soon as he was elected, promised himself that he would be a -most punctual academician. It was on a Tuesday in April that he attended -his first meeting. As he walked towards the desk allotted to him, his -paralyzed left leg dragging a little, no one among his colleagues -suspected that this quiet and unassuming new member would become the -greatest revolutionary ever known in Medicine.</p> - -<p>One thing added to Pasteur’s pleasure in being elected—the fact that he -would join Claude Bernard. The latter had often felt somewhat forlorn in -that centre, where some hostility was so often to be seen towards all -that was outside the Clinic. This was the time when the “princes of -science,” or those who were considered as such, were all physicians. -Every great physician was conscious of being a ruling power. The almost -daily habit of advising and counselling was added to that idea of -haughty or benevolent superiority to the rest of the world; and, -accustomed to dictate his wishes, the physician frequently adopted an -authoritative tone and became a sort of personage. “Have you noticed,” -said Claude Bernard to Pasteur with a smile under which many feelings -were hidden, “that, when a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> doctor enters a room, he always looks as if -he was going to say, ‘I have just been saving a fellow-man’?”</p> - -<p>Pasteur knew not those harmless shafts which are a revenge for prolonged -pomposity. Why need Claude Bernard trouble to wonder what So-and-so -might think? He had the consciousness of the work accomplished and the -esteem and admiration of men whose suffrage more than satisfied him. -Whilst Pasteur was already desirous of spreading in the Académie -Médecine the faith which inspired him, Claude Bernard remembered the -refractory state of mind of those who, at the time of his first lectures -on experimental physiology applied to medicine, affirmed that -“physiology can be of no practical use in medicine; it is but a <i>science -de luxe</i> which could well be dispensed with.” He energetically defended -this <i>science de luxe</i> as the very science of life. In his opening -lecture at the Museum in 1870, he said that “descriptive anatomy is to -physiology as geography to history; and, as it is not sufficient to -understand the topography of a country to know its history, so is it not -enough to know the anatomy of an organ to understand its functions.” -Méry, an old surgeon, familiarly compared anatomists to those errand -boys in large towns, who know the names of the streets and the numbers -of the houses, but do not know what goes on inside. There are indeed in -tissues and organs physico-chemical phenomena for which anatomy cannot -account.</p> - -<p>Claude Bernard was convinced that Medicine would gradually emerge from -quackery, and this by means of the experimental method, like all other -science. “No doubt,” he said, “we shall not live to see the blossoming -out of scientific medicine, but such is the fate of humanity; those that -sow on the field of science are not destined to reap the fruit of their -labours.” And so saying, Claude Bernard continued to sow.</p> - -<p>It is true that here and there flashes of light had preceded Pasteur; -but, instead of being guided by them, most doctors continued to advance -majestically in the midst of darkness. Whenever murderous diseases, -scourges of humanity, were in question, long French or Latin words were -put forward, such as “Epidemic genius,” <i>fatum, quid ignotum quid -divinum</i>, etc. <i>Medical constitution</i> was also a useful word, elastic -and applicable to anything.</p> - -<p>When the Vale de Grâce physician, Villemin—a modest, gentle-voiced man, -who, under his quiet exterior, hid a veritable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span> thirst for scientific -truth—after experimental researches carried on from 1865 to 1869, -brought the proof that tuberculosis is a disease which reproduces -itself, and cannot be reproduced but by itself; in a word, specific, -inoculable, and contagious, he was treated almost as a perturber of -medical order.</p> - -<p>Dr. Pidoux, an ideal representative of traditional medicine, with his -gold-buttoned blue coat and his reputation equally great in Paris and at -the Eaux-Bonnes, declared that the idea of specificity was a fatal -thought. Himself a pillar of the doctrine of diathesis and of the morbid -spontaneity of the organism, he exclaimed in some much applauded -speeches: “Tuberculosis! but that is the common result of a quantity of -divers external and internal causes, not the product of a specific agent -ever the same!” Was not this disease to be looked upon as “one and -multiple at the same time, bringing the same final conclusion, the -necrobiotic and infecting destruction of the plasmatic tissue of an -organ by a number of roads which the hygienist and physician must -endeavour to close?” Where would these specificity doctrines lead to? -“Applied to chronic diseases, these doctrines condemn us to the research -of specific remedies or vaccines, and all progress is arrested.... -Specificity immobilizes medicine.” These phrases were reproduced by the -medical press.</p> - -<p>The bacillus of tuberculosis had not been discovered by Villemin; it was -only found and isolated much later, in 1882, by Dr. Koch; but Villemin -suspected the existence of a virus. In order to demonstrate the -infectious nature of tuberculosis, he experimented on animals, -multiplying inoculations; he took the sputum of tuberculous patients, -spread it on cotton wool, dried it, and then made the cotton wool into a -bed for little guinea-pigs, who became tuberculous. Pidoux answered -these precise facts by declaring that Villemin was fascinated by -inoculation, adding ironically, “Then all we doctors have to do is to -set out nets to catch the sporules of tuberculosis, and find a vaccine.”</p> - -<p>That sudden theory of phthisis, falling from the clouds, resembled -Pasteur’s theory of germs floating in air. Was it not better, urged -Pidoux the heterogenist, to remain in the truer and more philosophical -doctrine of spontaneous generation? “Let us believe, until the contrary -is proved, that we are right, we partisans of the common etiology of -phthisis, partisans of the spontaneous tuberculous degeneration of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span> -organism under the influence of accessible causes, which we seek -everywhere in order to cut down the evil in its roots.”</p> - -<p>A reception somewhat similar to that given to Villemin was reserved for -Davaine, who, having meditated on Pasteur’s works on butyric ferment and -the part played by that ferment, compared it and its action with certain -parasites visible with a microscope and observed by him in the blood of -animals which had died of charbon disease. By its action and its rapid -multiplication in the blood, this agent endowed with life probably -acted, said Davaine, after the manner of ferments. The blood was -modified to that extent that it speedily brought about the death of the -infected animal. Davaine called those filaments found in anthrax -“bacteria,” and added, “They have a place in the classification of -living beings.” But what was that animated virus to many doctors? They -answered experimental proofs by oratorical arguments.</p> - -<p>At the very time when Pasteur took his seat at the Academy of Medicine, -Davaine was being violently attacked; his experiments on septicæmia were -the cause, or the pretext. But the mere tone of the discussions prepared -Pasteur for future battles. The theory of germs, the doctrine of virus -ferments, all this was considered as a complete reversal of acquired -notions, a heresy which had to be suppressed. A well-known surgeon, Dr. -Chassaignac, spoke before the Académie de Médecine of what he called -“laboratory surgery, which has destroyed very many animals and saved -very few human beings.” In order to remind experimentalists of the -distance between them and practitioners, he added: “Laboratory results -should be brought out in a circumspect, modest and reserved manner, as -long as they have not been sanctioned by long clinical researches, a -sanction without which there is no real and practical medical science.” -Everything, he said, could not be resolved into a question of bacteria! -And, ironically, far from realizing the truth of his sarcastic prophecy, -he exclaimed, “Typhoid fever, bacterization! Hospital miasma, -bacterization!”</p> - -<p>Every one had a word to say. Dr. Piorry, an octogenarian, somewhat -weighed down with the burden of his years and reputation, rose to speak -with his accustomed solemnity. He had found for Villemin’s experiments -the simple explanation that “the tuberculous matter seems to be no other -than pus, which, in consequence of its sojourn in the organs, has -undergone varied and numerous modifications”; and he now im<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span>agined that -one of the principal causes of fatal accidents due to septicæmia after -surgical operations was the imperfect ventilation of hospital wards. It -was enough, he thought, that putrid odours should not be perceptible, -for the rate of mortality to be decreased.</p> - -<p>It was then affirmed that putrid infection was not an organized ferment, -that inferior organisms had in themselves no toxic action, in fact, that -they were the result and not the cause of putrid alteration; whereupon -Dr. Bouillaud, a contemporary of Dr. Piorry, called upon their new -colleague to give his opinion on the subject.</p> - -<p>It would have been an act of graceful welcome to Pasteur, and a fitting -homage to the memory of the celebrated Trousseau, who had died five -years before, in 1867, if any member present had then quoted one of the -great practitioner’s last lectures at the Hôtel Dieu, wherein he -predicted a future for Pasteur’s works:</p> - -<p>“The great theory of ferments is therefore now connected with an organic -function; every ferment is a germ, the life of which is manifested by a -special secretion. It may be that it is so for morbid viruses; they may -be ferments, which, deposited within the organism at a given moment and -under determined circumstances, manifest themselves by divers products. -So will the variolous ferment produce variolic fermentation, giving -birth to thousands of pustules, and likewise the virus of glanders, that -of sheep pox, etc....</p> - -<p>“Other viruses appear to act locally, but, nevertheless, they ultimately -modify the whole organism, as do gangrene, malignant pustula, contagious -erysipelas, etc. May it not be supposed, under such circumstances, that -the ferment or organized matter of those viruses can be carried about by -the lancet, the atmosphere or the linen bandages?”</p> - -<p>But it occurred to no one in the Academy to quote those forgotten words.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, answering Bouillaud, recalled his own researches on lactic and -butyric fermentations and spoke of his studies on beer. He stated that -the alteration of beer was due to the presence of filiform organisms; if -beer becomes altered, it is because it contains germs of organized -ferments. “The correlation is certain, indisputable, between the disease -and the presence of organisms.” He spoke those last words with so much -emphasis that the stenographer who was taking down the extempore -speeches underlined them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span></p> - -<p>A few months later, on November 17, 1873, he read to the Academy a paper -containing further developments of his principles. “In order that beer -should become altered and become sour, putrid, slimy, ‘ropy,’ acid or -lactic, it is necessary that foreign organisms should develop within it, -and those organisms only appear and multiply when those germs are -already extant in the liquid mass.” It is possible to oppose the -introduction of those germs; Pasteur drew on the blackboard the diagram -of an apparatus which only communicated with the outer air by means of -tubes fulfilling the office of the sinuous necks of the glass vessels he -had used for his experiments on so-called spontaneous generation. He -entered into every detail, demonstrating that as long as pure yeast -alone had been sown, the security was absolute. “That which has been put -forward on the subject of a possible transformation of yeast into -bacteria, vibriones, <i>mycoderma aceti</i> and vulgar mucors, or vice versa, -is mistaken.”</p> - -<p>He wrote in a private letter on the subject: “These simple and clear -results have cost me many sleepless nights before presenting themselves -before me in the precise form I have now given them.”</p> - -<p>But his own conviction had not yet penetrated the minds of his -adversaries, and M. Trécul was still supporting his hypothesis of -transformations, the so-called proofs of which, according to Pasteur, -rested on a basis of confused facts tainted with involuntary errors due -to imperfect experiments.</p> - -<p>In December, 1873, at a sitting of the Academy, he presented M. Trécul -with a few little flagons, in which he had sown some pure seed of -<i>penicillium glaucum</i>, begging him to accept them and to observe them at -his leisure, assuring him that it would be impossible to find a trace of -any transformation of the spores into yeast cells.</p> - -<p>“When M. Trécul has finished the little task which I am soliciting of -his devotion to the knowledge of truth,” continued Pasteur, “I shall -give him the elements of a similar work on the <i>mycoderma vini</i>; in -other words, I shall bring to M. Trécul some absolutely pure <i>mycoderma -vini</i> with which he can reproduce his former experiments and recognize -the exactness of the facts which I have lately announced.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur concluded thus: “The Academy will allow me to make one last -remark. It must be owned that my contradictors have been peculiarly -unlucky in taking the occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span> of my paper on the diseases of beer to -renew this discussion. How is it they did not understand that my process -for the fabrication of inalterable beer could not exist if beer wort in -contact with air could present all the transformations of which they -speak? And that work on beer, entirely founded as it is on the discovery -and knowledge of some microscopic beings, has it not followed my studies -on vinegar, on the mycoderma aceti and on the new process of -acetification which I have invented? Has not that work been followed by -my studies on the causes of wine diseases and the means of preventing -them, still founded on the discovery and knowledge of non-spontaneous -microscopic beings? Have not these last researches been followed by the -discovery of means to prevent the silkworm disease, equally deducted -from the study of non-spontaneous microscopic beings?</p> - -<p>“Are not all the researches I have pursued for seventeen years, at the -cost of many efforts, the product of the same ideas, the same -principles, pushed by incessant toil into consequences ever new? The -best proof that an observer is in the right track lies in the -uninterrupted fruitfulness of his work.”</p> - -<p>This fruitfulness was evidenced, not only by Pasteur’s personal labours, -but by those he inspired and encouraged. Thus, in that same period, M. -Gayon, a former student of the Ecole Normale, whom he had chosen as -curator, started on some researches on the alteration of eggs. He stated -that when an egg is stale, rotten, this is due to the presence and -multiplication of infinitesimally small beings; the germs of those -organisms and the organisms themselves come from the oviduct of the hen -and penetrate even into the points where the shell membrane and the -albumen are formed. “The result is,” concluded M. Gayon, “that, during -the formation of those various elements, the egg may or may not, -according to circumstances, gather up organisms or germs of organisms, -and consequently bear within itself, as soon as it is laid, the cause of -ulterior alterations. It will be seen at the same time that the number -of eggs susceptible of alteration may vary from one hen to another, as -well as between the eggs of one hen, for the organisms to be observed on -the oviduct rise to variable heights.”</p> - -<p>If the organisms which alter the eggs and cause them to rot “were -formed,” said Pasteur, “by the spontaneous self-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span>organization of the -matter within the egg into those small beings, all eggs should putrefy -equally, whereas they do not.” At the end of M. Gayon’s thesis—which -had not taken so long as Raulin’s to prepare, only three years—we find -the following conclusion: “Putrefaction in eggs is correlative with the -development and multiplication of beings which are bacteria when in -contact with air and vibriones when away from the contact of air. Eggs, -from that point of view, do not depart from the general law discovered -by M. Pasteur.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s influence was now spreading beyond the Laboratory of -Physiological Chemistry, as the small laboratory at the Ecole Normale -was called.</p> - -<p>In the treatise he had published in 1862, criticizing the doctrine of -spontaneous generation, he had mentioned, among the organisms produced -by urine in putrefaction, the existence of a torulacea in very -small-grained chaplets. A physician, Dr. Traube, in 1864, had -demonstrated that Pasteur was right in thinking that ammoniacal -fermentation was due to this torulacea, whose properties were afterwards -studied with infinite care by M. Van Tieghem, a former student of the -Ecole Normale, who had inspired Pasteur with a deep affection. Pasteur, -in his turn, completed his own observations and assured himself that -this little organized ferment was to be found in every case of -ammoniacal urine. Finally, after proving that boracic acid impeded the -development of that ammoniacal ferment, he suggested to M. Guyon, the -celebrated surgeon, the use of boracic acid for washing out the bladder; -M. Guyon put the advice into practice with success, and attributed the -credit of it to Pasteur.</p> - -<p>In a letter written at the end of 1873, Pasteur wrote: “How I wish I had -enough health and sufficient knowledge to throw myself body and soul -into the experimental study of one of our infectious diseases!” He -considered that his studies on fermentations would lead him in that -direction; he thought that when it should be made evident that every -serious alteration in beer was due to the micro-organisms which find in -that liquid a medium favourable to their development, when it should be -seen that—in contradiction to the old ideas by which those alterations -are looked upon as spontaneous, inherent in those liquids, and depending -on their nature and composition—the cause of those diseases is not -interior but exterior, then would indeed be defeated the doctrine of -men<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> like Pidoux, who à propos of diseases, said: “Disease is in us, of -us, by us,” and who, à propos of small-pox, even said that he was not -certain that it could only proceed from inoculation and contagion.</p> - -<p>Though the majority of physicians and surgeons considered that it was -waste of time to listen to “a mere chemist,” there was a small group of -young men, undergraduates, who, in their thirst for knowledge, assembled -at the Académie de Médecine every Tuesday, hoping that Pasteur might -bring out one of his communications concerning a scientific method -“which resolves each difficulty by an easily interpreted experiment, -delightful to the mind, and at the same time so decisive that it is as -satisfying as a geometrical demonstration, and gives an impression of -security.”</p> - -<p>Those words were written by one of those who came to the Académie -sittings, feeling that they were on the eve of some great revelations. -He was a clinical assistant of Dr. Béhier’s, and, busy as he was with -medical analysis, he was going over Pasteur’s experiments on -fermentations for his own edification. He was delighted with the -sureness of the Pastorian methods, and was impatient to continue the -struggle now begun. Enthusiasm was evinced in his brilliant eyes, in the -timbre of his voice, clear, incisive, slightly imperious perhaps, and in -his implacable desire for logic. Of solitary habits, with no ambition -for distinction or degrees, he worked unceasingly for sheer love of -science. The greatest desire of that young man of twenty-one, quite -unknown to Pasteur, was to be one day admitted, in the very humblest -rank, to the Ecole Normale laboratory. His name was Roux.</p> - -<p>Was not that medical student, that disciple lost in the crowd, an image -of the new generation hungering for new ideas, more convinced than the -preceding one had been of the necessity of proofs? Struck by the -unstable basis of medical theories, those young men divined that the -secret of progress in hospitals was to be found in the laboratories. -Medicine and surgery in those days were such a contrast to what they are -now that it seems as if centuries divided them. No doubt one day some -professor, some medical historian, will give us a full account of that -vast and immense progress. But, whilst awaiting a fully competent work -of that kind, it is possible, even in a book such as this (which is, -from many causes, but a hasty epitome of many very different things -spread over a very simple<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span> biography), to give to a reader unfamiliar -with such studies a certain idea of one of the most interesting chapters -in the history of civilization, affecting the preservation of -innumerable human lives.</p> - -<p>“A pin-prick is a door open to Death,” said the surgeon Velpeau. That -open door widened before the smallest operation; the lancing of an -abscess or a whitlow sometimes had such serious consequences that -surgeons hesitated before the slightest use of the bistoury. It was much -worse when a great surgical intervention was necessary, though, through -the irony of things, the immediate success of the most difficult -operations was now guaranteed by the progress of skill and the precious -discovery of anæsthesia. The patient, his will and consciousness -suspended, awoke from the most terrible operation as from a dream. But -at that very moment when the surgeon’s art was emboldened by being able -to disregard pain, it was arrested, disconcerted, and terrified by the -fatal failures which supervened after almost every operation. The words -pyæmia, gangrene, erysipelas, septicæmia, purulent infection, were -bywords in those days.</p> - -<p>In the face of those terrible consequences, it had been thought better, -about forty years ago, to discourage and even to prohibit a certain -operation, then recently invented and practised in England and America, -ovariotomy, “even,” said Velpeau, “if the reported cures be true.” In -order to express the terror inspired by ovariotomy, a physician went so -far as to say that it should be “classed among the attributes of the -executioner.”</p> - -<p>As it was supposed that the infected air of the hospitals might be the -cause of the invariably fatal results of that operation, the Assistance -Publique<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> hired an isolated house in the Avenue de Meudon, near -Paris, a salubrious spot. In 1863, ten women in succession were sent to -that house; the neighbouring inhabitants watched those ten patients -entering the house, and a short time afterwards their ten coffins being -taken away. In their terrified ignorance they called that house the -House of Crime.</p> - -<p>Surgeons were asking themselves whether they did not carry death with -them, unconsciously scattering virus and subtle poisons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span></p> - -<p>Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, surgery had positively -retrograded; the mortality after operations was infinitely less in the -preceding centuries, because antisepsis was practised unknowingly, -though cauterizations by fire, boiling liquids and disinfecting -substances. In a popular handbook published in 1749, and entitled -<i>Medicine and Surgery for the Poor</i>, we read that wounds should be kept -from the contact of air; it was also recommended not to touch the wound -with fingers or instruments. “It is very salutary, when uncovering the -wound in order to dress it, to begin by applying over its whole surface -a piece of cloth dipped into hot wine or brandy.” Good results had been -obtained by the great surgeon Larrey, under the first Empire, by hot -oil, hot brandy, and unfrequent dressings. But, under the influence of -Broussais, the theory of inflammation caused a retrogression in surgery. -Then came forth basins for making poultices, packets of charpie (usually -made of old hospital sheets merely washed), and rows of pots of -ointment. It is true that, during the second half of the last century, a -few attempts were made to renew the use of alcoholized water for -dressings. In 1868, at the time when the mortality after amputation in -hospitals was over sixty per cent., Surgeon Léon Le Fort banished -sponges, exacted from his students scrupulous cleanliness and constant -washing of hands and instruments before every operation, and employed -alcoholized water for dressings. But though he obtained such -satisfactory results as to lower, in his wards at the Hôpital Cochin, -the average of mortality after amputations to twenty-four per cent., his -colleagues were very far from suspecting that the first secret for -preventing fatal results after operations consisted in a reform of the -dressings.</p> - -<p>Those who visited an ambulance ward during the war of 1870, especially -those who were medical students, have preserved such a recollection of -the sight that they do not, even now, care to speak about it. It was -perpetual agony, the wounds of all the patients were suppurating, a -horrible fetor pervaded the place, and infectious septicæmia was -everywhere. “Pus seemed to germinate everywhere,” said a student of that -time (M. Landouzy, who became a professor at the Faculty of Medicine), -“as if it had been sown by the surgeon.” M. Landouzy also recalled the -words of M. Denonvilliers, a surgeon of the Charité Hospital, whom he -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span>calls “a splendid operator ... a virtuoso, and a dilettante in the art -of operating,” who said to his pupils: “When an amputation seems -necessary, think ten times about it, for too often, when we decide upon -an operation, we sign the patient’s death-warrant.” Another surgeon, who -must have been profoundly discouraged in spite of his youthful energy, -M. Verneuil, exclaimed: “There were no longer any precise indications, -any rational provisions; nothing was successful, neither abstention, -conservation, restricted or radical mutilation, early or postponed -extraction of the bullets, dressings rare or frequent, emollient or -excitant, dry or moist, with or without drainage; we tried everything in -vain!” During the siege of Paris, in the Grand Hôtel, which had been -turned into an ambulance, Nélaton, in despair at the sight of the death -of almost every patient who had been operated on, declared that he who -should conquer purulent infection would deserve a golden statue.</p> - -<p>It was only at the end of the war that it occurred to Alphonse -Guérin—(who to his intense irritation was so often confounded with -another surgeon, his namesake and opponent, Jules Guérin)—that “the -cause of purulent infection may perhaps be due to the germs or ferments -discovered by Pasteur to exist in the air.” Alphonse Guérin saw, in -malarial fever, emanations of putrefied vegetable matter, and, in -purulent infection, animal emanations, septic, and capable of causing -death.</p> - -<p>“I thought more firmly than over,” he declared, “that the miasms -emanating from the pus of the wounded were the real cause of this -frightful disease, to which I had the sorrow of seeing the wounded -succumb—whether their wounds were dressed with charpie and cerate or -with alcoholized and carbolic lotions, either renewed several times a -day or impregnating linen bandages which remained applied to the wounds. -In my despair—ever seeking some means of preventing these terrible -complications—I bethought me that the miasms, whose existence I -admitted, because I could not otherwise explain the production of -purulent infection—and which were only known to me by their deleterious -influence—might well be living corpuscles, of the kind which Pasteur -had seen in atmospheric air, and, from that moment, the history of -miasmatic poisoning became clearer to me. If,” I said, “miasms are -ferments, I might protect the wounded from their fatal influence by -filtering the air, as Pasteur did. I then con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span>ceived the idea of -cotton-wool dressings, and I had the satisfaction of seeing my -anticipations realized.”</p> - -<p>After arresting the bleeding, ligaturing the blood vessels and carefully -washing the wound with carbolic solution or camphorated alcohol, -Alphonse Guérin applied thin layers of cotton wool, over which he placed -thicker masses of the same, binding the whole with strong bandages of -new linen. This dressing looked like a voluminous parcel and did not -require to be removed for about twenty days. This was done at the St. -Louis Hospital to the wounded of the Commune from March till June, 1871. -Other surgeons learnt with amazement that, out of thirty-four patients -treated in that way, nineteen had survived operation. Dr. Reclus, who -could not bring himself to believe it, said: “We had grown to look upon -purulent infection as upon an inevitable and necessary disease, an -almost Divinely instituted consequence of any important operation.”</p> - -<p>There is a much greater danger than that of atmospheric germs, that of -the contagium germ, of which the surgeon’s hands; sponges and tools are -the receptacle, if minute and infinite precautions are not taken against -it. Such precautions were not even thought of in those days; charpie, -odious charpie, was left lying about on hospital and ambulance tables, -in contact with dirty vessels. It had, therefore, been sufficient to -institute careful washing of the wounds, and especially to reduce the -frequency of dressings, and so diminish the chances of infection to -obtain—thanks to a reform inspired by Pasteur’s labours—this precious -and unexpected remedy to fatalities subsequent to operations. In 1873, -Alphonse Guérin, now a surgeon at the Hôtel Dieu, submitted to Pasteur -all the facts which had taken place at the hospital St. Louis where -surgery was more “active,” he said, than at the Hôtel Dieu; he asked him -to come and see his cotton-wool dressings, and Pasteur gladly hastened -to accept the invitation. It was with much pleasure that Pasteur entered -upon this new period of visits to hospitals and practical discussions -with his colleagues of the Académie de Médecine. His joy at the thought -that he had been the means of awakening in other minds ideas likely to -lead to the good of humanity was increased by the following letter from -Lister, dated from Edinburgh, February 13, 1874, which is here -reproduced in the original<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span>—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“My dear Sir—allow me to beg your acceptance of a pamphlet, which -I send by the same post, containing an account of some -investigations into the subject which you have done so much to -elucidate, the germ theory of fermentative changes. I flatter -myself that you may read with some interest what I have written on -the organism which you were the first to describe in your <i>Mémoire -sur la fermentation appelée lactique</i>.</p> - -<p>“I do not know whether the records of British <i>Surgery</i> ever meet -your eye. If so, you will have seen from time to time notices of -the antiseptic system of treatment, which I have been labouring for -the last nine years to bring to perfection.</p> - -<p>“Allow me to take this opportunity to tender you my most cordial -thanks for having, by your brilliant researches, demonstrated to me -the truth of the germ theory of putrefaction, and thus furnished me -with the principle upon which alone the antiseptic system can be -carried out. Should you at any time visit Edinburgh, it would, I -believe, give you sincere gratification to see at our hospital how -largely mankind is being benefited by your labours.</p> - -<p>“I need hardly add that it would afford me the highest -gratification to show you how greatly surgery is indebted to you.</p> - -<p>“Forgive the freedom with which a common love of science inspires -me, and</p> - -<p class="c"> -“Believe me, with profound respect,<br /> - -<span style="margin-left: 4%;">“Yours very sincerely,</span><br /> - -<span style="margin-left: 6em;">“<span class="smcap">Joseph Lister</span>.”</span><br /> -</p></div> - -<p>In Lister’s wards, the instruments, sponges and other articles used for -dressings were first of all purified in a strong solution of carbolic -acid. The same precautions were taken for the hands of the surgeon and -of his assistants. During the whole course of each operation, a -vaporizer of carbolic solution created around the wound an antiseptic -atmosphere; after it was over, the wound was again washed with the -carbolic solution. Special articles were used for dressing: a sort of -gauze, similar to tarlatan and impregnated with a mixture of resin, -paraffin and carbolic, maintained an antiseptic atmosphere around the -wound. Such was—in its main lines—Lister’s method.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span></p> - -<p>A medical student, M. Just Lucas-Championnière—who later on became an -exponent in France of this method, and who described it in a valuable -treatise published in 1876—had already in 1869, after a journey to -Glasgow, stated in the <i>Journal de médecine et de chirurgie pratique</i> -what were those first principles of defence against gangrene—“extreme -and minute care in the dressing of wounds.” But his isolated voice was -not heard; neither was any notice taken of a celebrated lecture given by -Lister at the beginning of 1870 on the penetrating of germs into a -purulent centre and on the utility of antisepsis applied to clinical -practice. A few months before the war, Tyndall, the great English -physicist, alluded to this lecture in an article entitled “Dusts and -Diseases,” which was published by the <i>Revue des cours scientifiques</i>. -But the heads of the profession in France had at that time absolute -confidence in themselves, and nobody took any interest in the rumour of -success attained by the antiseptic method. Yet, between 1867 and 1869, -thirty-four of Lister’s patients out of forty had survived after -amputation. It is impossible on reading of this not to feel an immense -sadness at the thought of the hundreds and thousands of young men who -perished in ambulances and hospitals during the fatal year, and who -might have been saved by Lister’s method. In his own country, Lister had -also been violently criticized. “People turned into ridicule Lister’s -minute precautions in the dressing of wounds,” writes a competent judge, -Dr. Auguste Reaudin, a professor at the Geneva Faculty of Medicine, “and -those who lost nearly all their patients by poulticing them had nothing -but sarcasms for the man who was so infinitely superior to them.” -Lister, with his calm courage and smiling kindliness, let people talk, -and endeavoured year by year to perfect his method, testing it -constantly and improving it in detail. No one, however sceptical, whom -he invited to look at his results, could preserve his scepticism in the -face of such marked success.</p> - -<p>Some of his opponents thought to attack him on another point by denying -him the priority of the use of carbolic acid. Lister never claimed that -priority, but his enemies took pleasure in recalling that Jules Lemaire, -in 1860, had proposed the use of weak carbolic solution for the -treatment of open wounds, and that the same had been prescribed by Dr. -Déclat in 1861, and also by Maisonneuve, Demarquay and others. The fact -that should have been proclaimed was that Lister<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span> had created a surgical -method which was in itself an immense and beneficial progress; and -Lister took pleasure in declaring that he owed to Pasteur the principles -which had guided him.</p> - -<p>At the time when Pasteur received the letter above quoted, which gave -him deep gratification, people in France were so far from all that -concerned antisepsis and asepsis, that, when he advised surgeons at the -Académie de Médecine to put their instruments through a flame before -using them, they did not understand what he meant, and he had to -explain—</p> - -<p>“I mean that surgical instruments should merely be put through a flame, -not really heated, and for this reason: if a sound were examined with a -microscope, it would be seen that its surface presents grooves where -dusts are harboured, which cannot be completely removed even by the most -careful cleansing. Fire entirely destroys those organic dusts; in my -laboratory, where I am surrounded by dust of all kinds, I never make use -of an instrument without previously putting it through a flame.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was ever ready to help others, giving them willing advice or -information. In November, 1874, when visiting the Hôtel Dieu with -Messrs. Larrey and Gosselin, he had occasion to notice that a certain -cotton-wool dressing had been very badly done by a student in one of -Guérin’s wards. A wound on the dirty hand of a labouring man had been -bandaged with cotton wool without having been washed in any way. When -the bandaging was removed in the presence of Guérin, the pus exhaled a -repugnant odour, and was found to swarm with vibriones. Pasteur in a -sitting of the Académie des Sciences, entered into details as to the -precautions which are necessary to get rid of the germs originally -present on the surface of the wound or of the cotton wool; he declared -that the layers of cotton wool should be heated to a very high -temperature. He also suggested the following experiment: “In order to -demonstrate the evil influence of ferments and proto-organisms in the -suppuration of wounds, I would make two identical wounds on the two -symmetrical limbs of an animal under chloroform; on one of those wounds -I would apply a cotton-wool dressing with every possible precaution; on -the other, on the contrary, I would cultivate, so to speak, -micro-organisms abstracted from a strange sore, and offering, more or -less, a septic character.</p> - -<p>“Finally, I should like to cut open a wound on an animal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span> under -chloroform in a very carefully selected part of the body—for the -experiment would be a very delicate one—and in absolutely pure air, -that is, air absolutely devoid of any kind of germs, afterwards -maintaining a pure atmosphere around the wound, and having recourse to -no dressing whatever. I am inclined to think that perfect healing would -ensue under such conditions, for there would be nothing to hinder the -work of repair and reorganization which must be accomplished on the -surface of a wound if it is to heal.”</p> - -<p>He explained in that way the advantage accruing to hygiene, in hospitals -and elsewhere, from infinite precautions of cleanliness and the -destroying of infectious germs. Himself a great investigator of new -ideas, he intended to compel his colleagues at the Académie de Médecine -to include the pathogenic share of the infinitesimally small among -matters demanding the attention of medicine and surgery. The struggle -was a long, unceasing and painful one. In February, 1875, his presence -gave rise to a discussion on ferments, which lasted until the end of -March. In the course of this discussion he recalled the experiments he -had made fifteen years before, describing how—in a liquid composed of -mineral elements, apart from the contact of atmospheric air and -previously raised to ebullition—vibriones could be sown and -subsequently seen to flourish and multiply, offering the sight of those -two important phenomena: life without air, and fermentation.</p> - -<p>“They are far behind us now,” he said; “they are now relegated to the -rank of chimeras, those theories of fermentation imagined by Berzelius, -Mitscherlich, and Liebig, and re-edited with an accompaniment of new -hypotheses by Messrs. Pouchet, Frémy, Trécul, and Béchamp. Who would now -dare to affirm that fermentations are contact phenomena, phenomena of -motion, communicated by an altering albuminoid matter, or phenomena -produced by semi-organized materia, transforming themselves into this or -into that? All those creations of fancy fall to pieces before this -simple and decisive experiment.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur ended up his speech by an unexpected attack on the pompous -etiquette of the Academy’s usual proceedings, urging his colleagues to -remain within the bounds of a scientific discussion instead of making -flowery speeches. He was much applauded, and his exhortation taken in -good part.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span> His colleagues also probably sympathized with his irritation -in hearing a member of the assembly, M. Poggiale, formerly apothecary in -chief to the Val de Grâce, give a somewhat sceptical dissertation on -such a subject as spontaneous generation, saying disdainfully—</p> - -<p>“M. Pasteur has told us that he had looked for spontaneous generation -for twenty years without finding it; he will long continue to look for -it, and, in spite of his courage, perseverance and sagacity, I doubt -whether he ever will find it. It is almost an unsolvable question. -However those who, like me, have no fixed opinion on the question of -spontaneous generation reserve the right of verifying, of sifting and of -disputing new facts, as they appear, one by one and wherever they are -produced.”</p> - -<p>“What!” cried Pasteur, wrathful whenever those great questions were -thoughtlessly tackled, “what! I have been for twenty years engaged in -one subject and I am not to have an opinion! and the right of verifying, -sifting, and disputing the facts is to belong to him who does nothing to -become enlightened but merely to read our works more or less -attentively, his feet on his study fender!!!</p> - -<p>“You have no opinion on spontaneous generation, my dear colleague; I can -well believe that, while regretting it. I am not speaking, of course, of -those sentimental opinions that everybody has, more or less, in -questions of this nature, for in this assembly we do not go in for -sentiment. You say that, in the present state of science, it is wiser to -have no opinion: well, I have an opinion, not a sentimental one, but a -rational one, having acquired a right to it by twenty years of assiduous -labour, and it would be wise in every impartial mind to share it. My -opinion—nay, more, my conviction—is that, in the present state of -science, as you rightly say, spontaneous generation is a chimera; and it -would be impossible for you to contradict me, for my experiments all -stand forth to prove that spontaneous generation is a chimera. What is -then your judgment on my experiments? Have I not a hundred times placed -organic matter in contact with pure air in the best conditions for it to -produce life spontaneously? Have I not practised on those organic -materia which are most favourable, according to all accounts, to the -genesis of spontaneity, such as blood, urine, and grape juice? How is it -that you do not see the essential difference between my op<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span>ponents and -myself? Not only have I contradicted, proof in hand, every one of their -assertions, while they have never dared to seriously contradict one of -mine, but, for them, every cause of error benefits their opinion. For -me, affirming as I do that there are no spontaneous fermentations, I am -bound to eliminate every cause of error, every perturbing influence, I -can maintain my results only by means of most irreproachable -experiments; their opinions, on the contrary, profit by every -insufficient experiment and that is where they find their support.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur having been abruptly addressed by a colleague, who remarked that -there were yet many unexplained facts in connection with fermentation, -he answered by thus apostrophizing his adversaries—</p> - -<p>“What is then your idea of the progress of Science? Science advances one -step, then another, and then draws back and meditates before taking a -third. Does the impossibility of taking that last step suppress the -success acquired by the two others? Would you say to an infant who -hesitated before a third step, having ventured on two previous ones; -‘Thy former efforts are of no avail; never shalt thou walk’?</p> - -<p>“You wish to upset what you call my theory, apparently in order to -defend another; allow me to tell you by what signs these theories are -recognized: the characteristic of erroneous theories is the -impossibility of ever foreseeing new facts; whenever such a fact is -discovered, those theories have to be grafted with further hypotheses in -order to account for them. True theories, on the contrary, are the -expression of actual facts and are characterized by being able to -predict new facts, a natural consequence of those already known. In a -word, the characteristic of a true theory is its fruitfulness.”</p> - -<p>“Science,” said he again at the following sitting of the Academy, -“should not concern itself in any way with the philosophical -consequences of its discoveries. If through the development of my -experimental studies I come to demonstrate that matter can organize -itself of its own accord into a cell or into a living being, I would -come here to proclaim it with the legitimate pride of an inventor -conscious of having made a great discovery, and I would add, if provoked -to do so, ‘All the worse for those whose doctrines or systems do not fit -in with the truth of the natural facts.’</p> - -<p>“It was with similar pride that I defied my opponents to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span> contradict me -when I said, ‘In the present state of science the doctrine of -spontaneous generation is a chimera.’ And I add, with similar -independence, ‘All the worse for those whose philosophical or political -ideas are hindered by my studies.’</p> - -<p>“This is not to be taken to mean that, in my beliefs and in the conduct -of my life, I only take account of acquired science: if I would, I could -not do so, for I should then have to strip myself of a part of myself. -There are two men in each one of us: the scientist, he who starts with a -clear field and desires to rise to the knowledge of Nature through -observation, experimentation and reasoning, and the man of sentiment, -the man of belief, the man who mourns his dead children, and who cannot, -alas, prove that he will see them again, but who believes that he will, -and lives in that hope, the man who will not die like a vibrio, but who -feels that the force that is within him cannot die. The two domains are -distinct, and woe to him who tries to let them trespass on each other in -the so imperfect state of human knowledge.”</p> - -<p>And that separation, as he understood it, caused in him none of those -conflicts which often determine a crisis in a human soul. As a -scientist, he claimed absolute liberty of research; he considered, with -Claude Bernard and Littré, that it was a mistaken waste of time to -endeavour to penetrate primary causes; “we can only note correlations,” -he said. But, with the spiritual sentiment which caused him to claim for -the inner moral life the same liberty os for scientific research, he -could not understand certain givers of easy explanations who affirm that -matter has organized itself, and who, considering as perfectly simple -the spectacle of the Universe of which Earth is but an infinitesimal -part, are in no wise moved by the Infinite Power who created the worlds. -With his whole heart he proclaimed the immortality of the soul.</p> - -<p>His mode of looking upon human life, in spite of sorrows, of struggles, -of heavy burdens, had in it a strong element of consolation: “No effort -is wasted,” he said, giving thus a most virile lesson of philosophy to -those inferior minds who only see immediate results in the work they -undertake and are discouraged by the first disappointment. In his -respect for the great phenomenon of Conscience, by which almost all men, -enveloped as they are in the mystery of the Universe, have the -prescience of an Ideal, of a God, he considered that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span> “the greatness of -human actions can be measured by the inspirations which give them -birth.” He was convinced that there are no vain prayers. If all is -simple to the simple, all is great to the great; it was through “the -Divine regions of Knowledge and of Light” that he had visions of those -who are no more.</p> - -<p>It was very seldom that he spoke of such things, though he was sometimes -induced to do so in the course of a discussion so as to manifest his -repugnance for vainglorious negations and barren irony; sometimes too he -would enter into such feelings when speaking to an assembly of young -men.</p> - -<p>Those discussions at the Academy of Medicine had the advantage of -inciting medical men to the research of the infinitesimally small, -described by the Annual Secretary Roger as “those subtle artisans of -many disorders in the living economy.”</p> - -<p>M. Roger, at the end of a brief account of his colleague’s work, wrote, -“To the signal services rendered by M. Pasteur to science and to our -country, it was but fair that a signal recompense should be given: the -National Assembly has undertaken that care.”</p> - -<p>That recompense, voted a few months previously, was the third national -recompense accorded to French scientists since the beginning of the -century. In 1837, Arago, before the Chamber of Deputies, and Gay Lussac, -before the Chamber of Peers, had obtained a glorious recognition of the -services rendered by Daguerre and Niepce. In 1845 another national -recompense was accorded, to M. Vicat, the engineer. In 1874, Paul Bert, -a member of the National Assembly, gladly reporting on the projected law -tending to offer a national recompense to Pasteur, wrote quoting those -precedents:</p> - -<p>“Such an assurance of gratitude, given by a nation to men who have made -it richer and more illustrious, honours it at least as much as it does -them....” Paul Bert continued by enumerating Pasteur’s discoveries, and -spoke of the millions Pasteur had assured to France, “without retaining -the least share of them for himself.” In sericiculture alone, the losses -in twenty years, before Pasteur’s interference, rose to 1,500 millions -of francs.</p> - -<p>“M. Pasteur’s discoveries, gentlemen,” concluded Paul Bert, “after -throwing a new light on the obscure question of fermentations and of the -mode of appearance of microscopic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span> beings, have revolutionized certain -branches of industry, of agriculture, and of pathology. One is struck -with admiration when seeing that so many, and such divers results, -proceed—through an unbroken chain of facts, nothing being left to -hypothesis—from theoretical studies on the manner in which tartaric -acid deviates polarized light. Never was the famous saying, ‘Genius -consists in sufficient patience,’ more amply justified. The Government -now proposes that you should honour this admirable combination of -theoretical and practical study by a national recompense; your -Commission unanimously approves of this proposition.</p> - -<p>“The suggested recompense consists in a life annuity of 12,000 francs, -which is the approximate amount of the salary of the Sorbonne -professorship, which M. Pasteur’s ill health has compelled him to give -up. It is indeed small when compared with the value of the services -rendered, and your Commission much regrets that the state of our -finances does not allow us to increase that amount. But the Commission -agrees with its learned chairman (M. Marès) ‘that the economic and -hygienic results of M. Pasteur’s discoveries will presently become so -considerable that the French nation will desire to increase later on its -testimony of gratitude towards him and towards Science, of which he is -one of the most glorious representatives.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Half the amount of the annuity was to revert to Pasteur’s widow. The -Bill was passed by 532 votes against 24.</p> - -<p>“Where is the government which has secured such a majority?” wrote -Pasteur’s old friend Chappuis, now Rector of the Grenoble Academy. The -value of the recompense was certainly much enhanced by the fact that the -Assembly, divided upon so many subjects, had been almost unanimous in -its feeling of gratitude towards him who had laboured so hard for -Science, for the country and for Humanity.</p> - -<p>“Bravo, my dear Pasteur: I am glad for you and for myself, and proud for -us all. Your devoted friend, Sainte Claire Deville.”</p> - -<p>“You are going to be a happy scientist,” wrote M. Duclaux, “for you can -already see, and you will see more and more, the triumph of your -doctrines and of your discoveries.”</p> - -<p>Those who imagined that this national recompense was the close of a -great chapter, perhaps even the last chapter of the book of his life, -gave him, in their well-meaning ignorance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span> some advice which highly -irritated him: they advised him to rest. It is true that his cerebral -hæmorrhage had left him with a certain degree of lameness and a slight -stiffness of the left hand, those external signs reminding him only too -well of the threatening possibility of another stroke; but his mighty -soul was more than ever powerful to master his infirm body. It was -therefore evident that Nisard, usually very subtle in his insight into -character, did not thoroughly understand Pasteur when he wrote to him, -“Now, dear friend, you must give up your energies to living for your -family, for all those who love you, and a little too for yourself.”</p> - -<p>In spite of his deep, even passionate tenderness for his family, Pasteur -had other desires than to limit his life to such a narrow circle. Every -man who knows he has a mission to fulfil feels that there are rays of a -light purer and more exalted than that proceeding from the hearth. As to -the suggestion that Pasteur should take care of his own health, it was -as useless as it would be to advise certain men to take care of that of -others.</p> - -<p>Dr. Andral had vainly said and written that he should forbid Pasteur any -assiduous labour. Pasteur considered that not to work was to lose the -object of living at all. If, however, a certain equilibrium was -established between the anxious solicitude of friends, the prohibitions -of medical advisers and the great amount of work which Pasteur insisted -on doing, it was owing to her who with a discreet activity watched in -silence to see that nothing outside his work should complicate Pasteur’s -life, herself his most precious collaborator, the confidante of every -experiment.</p> - -<p>Everything was subordinate to the laboratory; Pasteur never accepted an -invitation to those large social gatherings which are a tax laid by -those who have nothing to do on the time of those who are busy, -especially if they be celebrated. Pasteur’s name, known throughout the -world, was never mentioned in fashionable journals; he did not even go -to theatres. In the evening, after dinner, he usually perambulated the -hall and corridor of his rooms at the Ecole Normale, cogitating over -various details of his work. At ten o’clock, he went to bed, and at -eight the next morning, whether he had had a good night or a bad one, he -resumed his work in the laboratory.</p> - -<p>That regular life, preserving its even tenor through so many polemics -and discussions, was momentarily perturbed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span> politics in January, -1876. Pasteur, who, in his extraordinary, almost disconcerting modesty, -believed that a medical diploma would have facilitated his scientific -revolution, imagined—after the pressing overtures made to him by some -of his proud compatriots—that he would be able to serve more usefully -the cause of higher education if he were to obtain a seat at the Senate.</p> - -<p>He addressed from Paris a letter to the senatorial electors of the -department of Jura. “I am not a political man,” he said, “I am bound to -no party; not having studied politics I am ignorant of many things, but -I do know this, that I love my country and have served her with all my -strength.” Like many good citizens, he thought that a renewal of the -national grandeur and prosperity might be sought in a serious -experimental trial of the Republic. If honoured with the suffrages of -his countrymen, he would “represent in the Senate, Science in all its -purity, dignity and independence.” Two Jura newspapers, of different -opinions, agreed in regretting that Pasteur should leave “the peaceful -altitudes of science,” and come down into the Jura to solicit the -electors’ suffrages.</p> - -<p>In his answers to such articles, letters dictated to his son—who acted -as his secretary during that electoral campaign and accompanied him to -Lons-le-Saulnier, where they spent a week, published addresses, posters, -etc.—Pasteur invoked the following motto, “<i>Science et Patrie</i>.” Why -had France been victorious in 1792? “Because Science had given to our -fathers the material means of fighting.” And he recalled the names of -Monge, of Carnot, of Fourcroy, of Guyton de Morveau, of Berthollet, that -concourse of men of science, thanks to whom it had been possible—during -that grandiose epoch—to hasten the working of steel and the preparation -of leather for soldiers’ boots, and to find means of extracting -saltpetre for gunpowder from plaster rubbish, of making use of -reconnoitring balloons and of perfecting telegraphy.</p> - -<p>The senatorial electors numbered 650. Jules Grévy came to -Lons-le-Saulnier to support the candidature of MM. Tamisier and Thurel. -In a meeting which took place the day before the election he said, “You -will give them your suffrage to-morrow, and in so doing you will have -deserved well of the Republic and of France.” He mentioned, -incidentally, that “M. Pasteur’s character and scientific work entitle -him to universal respect and esteem; but Science has its natural place<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span> -at the Institute,” he added, insisting on the Senate’s political -attributes. Grévy’s intervention in favour of his two candidates was -decisive. M. Tamisier obtained 446 votes, M. Thurel 445, General Picard -113, M. Besson, a monarchist, 153, Pasteur 62 only.</p> - -<p>He had received on that very morning a letter from his daughter, wishing -him a failure—a bright, girlish letter, frankly expressing the opinion -that her father could be most useful to his country by confining himself -to laboratory work, and that politics would necessarily hinder such -work.</p> - -<p>It was easy to be absolutely frank with Pasteur, who willingly accepted -every truthful statement. No man was ever more beloved, more admired and -less flattered in his own home than he was.</p> - -<p>“What a wise judge you are, my dearest girl!” answered Pasteur the same -evening; “you are perfectly right. But I am not sorry to have seen all -this, and that your brother should have seen it; all knowledge is -useful.”</p> - -<p>That little incursion into the domain of politics was rendered -insignificant in Pasteur’s life by the fact that his long-desired object -was almost reached. Three months later, at the distribution of prizes of -the <i>Concours Général</i>, the Minister of Public Instruction pronounced a -speech, of which Pasteur preserved the text, underlining with his own -hand the following passages: “Soon, I hope, we shall see the Schools of -Medicine and of Pharmacy reconstructed; the Collège de France provided -with new laboratories; the Faculty of Medicine transferred and enlarged, -and the ancient Sorbonne itself restored and extended.”</p> - -<p>And while the Minister spoke of “those higher studies of Philosophy, of -History, of disinterested Science which are the glory of a nation and an -honour to the human mind ... which must retain the first rank to shed -their serene light over inferior studies, and to remind men of the true -goal and the true grandeur of human intelligence....” Pasteur could say -to himself that the great cause which he had pleaded since he was made -Dean of Faculty at Lille in 1854, which he had supported in 1868 and -again on the morrow of the war, was at last about to be won in 1876.</p> - -<p>He had a patriotic treat during the summer holidays of that same year. A -great international congress of sericiculture was gathered at Milan; -there were delegates from Russia, Austria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span> Italy and France, and -Pasteur represented France. He was accompanied by his former pupils, his -associates in his silkworm studies, Duclaux and Raulin, both of whom had -become professors at the Lyons Faculty of Sciences, and Maillot, who was -then manager of the silkworm establishment of Montpellier. The members -of the Congress had been previously informed of the programme of -questions, and each intending speaker was armed with facts and -observations. The open discussions allowed Duclaux, Raulin and Maillot -to demonstrate the strictness and perfection of the experimental method -which they had learned from their master and which they were teaching in -their turn.</p> - -<p>Excursions formed a delightful interlude; one on the lake of Como was an -enchantment. Then the French delegates were offered the pleasant -surprise of a visit to an immense seeding establishment in the -neighbourhood of Milan, which had been named after Pasteur. We have an -account of this visit in a letter to J. B. Dumas (September 17).</p> - -<p>“My dear Master ... I very much regret that you are not here: you would -have shared my satisfaction. I am dating my letter from Milan, but in -reality, the congress being ended, we are staying at Signor Susani’s -country house for a few days. Here, from July 4, sixty or seventy women -are busy for ten hours every day with microscopic examinations of -absolute accuracy. I never saw a better arranged establishment. 400,000 -moth cells are put under the microscope every day. The order and -cleanliness are admirable; any error is made impossible by the -organization of a second test following the first.</p> - -<p>“I felt, in seeing my name in large letters on the façade of that -splendid establishment, a joy which compensates for much of the -frivolous opposition I have encountered from some of my countrymen these -last few years; it is a spontaneous homage from the proprietor to my -studies. Many sericicultors do their seeding themselves, by selection, -or have it done by competent workers accustomed to the operation. The -harvest from that excellent seed depends on the climate only; in a -moderately favourable season the production often reaches fifty or -seventy kilogrammes per ounce of twenty-five grammes.”</p> - -<p>Signor Susani was looking forward to producing for that one year 30,000 -ounces of seed. In the presence of the prodigious activity of this -veritable factory—where, besides the microscope<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span> women, more than one -hundred persons were occupied in various ways, washing the mortars with -which the moths are pounded before being put under the microscopes, -cleansing the slides, etc.; in fact, doing those various delicate but -simple operations which had formerly been pronounced to be -impracticable—Pasteur’s thoughts went back to his experiments in the -Pont-Gisquet greenhouse, to the modest beginnings of his process, now so -magnificently applied in Italy. A month before this, J. B. Dumas, -presiding at a scientific meeting at Clermont Ferrand, had said—</p> - -<p>“The future belongs to Science; woe to the nations who close their eyes -to this fact.... Let us call to our aid on this neutral and pacific -ground of Natural Philosophy, where defeats cost neither blood nor -tears, those hearts which are moved by their country’s grandeur; it is -by the exaltation of science that France will recover her prestige.”</p> - -<p>Those same ideas were expressed in a toast given by Pasteur in the name -of France at a farewell banquet, when the 300 members of the -Sericiculture Congress were present.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen, I propose a toast—To the peaceful strife of Science. It is -the first time that I have the honour of being present on foreign soil -at an international congress; I ask myself what are the impressions -produced in me, besides these courteous discussions, by the brilliant -hospitality of the noble Milanese city, and I find myself deeply -impressed by two propositions. First, that Science is of no nationality; -and secondly, in apparent, but only in apparent, contradiction, that -Science is the highest personification of nationality. Science has no -nationality because knowledge is the patrimony of humanity, the torch -which gives light to the world. Science should be the highest -personification of nationality because, of all the nations, that one -will always be foremost which shall be first to progress by the labours -of thought and of intelligence.</p> - -<p>“Let us therefore strive in the pacific field of Science for the -pre-eminence of our several countries. Let us strive, for strife is -effort, strife is life when progress is the goal.</p> - -<p>“You Italians, try to multiply on the soil of your beautiful and -glorious country the Tecchi, the Brioschi, the Tacchini, the Sella, the -Cornalia.... You, proud children of Austria-Hungary, follow even more -firmly than in the past the fruitful impulse which an eminent statesman, -now your representative at the Court of England, has given to Science -and Agriculture.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span> We, who are here present, do not forget that the first -sericiculture establishment was founded in Austria. As to you, Japanese, -may the cultivation of Science be numbered among the chief objects of -your care in the amazing social and political transformation of which -you are giving the marvellous spectacle to the world. We Frenchmen, -bending under the sorrow of our mutilated country, should show once -again that great trials may give rise to great thoughts and great -actions.</p> - -<p>“I drink to the peaceful strife of Science.”</p> - -<p>“You will find,” wrote Pasteur to Dumas, telling him of this toast, -which had been received with enthusiastic applause, “an echo of the -feelings with which you have inspired your pupils on the grandeur and -the destiny of Science in modern society.”</p> - -<p>The tender and delicate side of this powerful spirit was thus once again -apparent in this deference to his master in the midst of acclamations, -and in those deep and noble ideas expressed in the middle of a noisy -banquet. But it was chiefly in his private life that his -open-heartedness, his desire to love and to be loved, became apparent. -That great genius had a childlike heart, and the charm of this was -incomparable.</p> - -<p>He once said: “The recompense and the ambition of a scientist is to -conquer the approbation of his peers and of the masters whom he -venerates.” He had already known that recompense and could satisfy that -ambition. Dumas had known and appreciated him for thirty years; Lister -had proclaimed his gratitude; Tyndall—an indefatigable excursionist, -who loved to survey wide horizons, and who in his celebrated classes was -wont to make use of comparisons with altitudes and heights and -everything which opens a clear and vast outlook—had a great admiration -for the wide development of Pasteur’s work. Now, Pasteur’s experiments -had been strongly attacked by a young English physician, Dr. Bastian, -who had excited in the English and American public a bitter prejudice -against the results announced by Pasteur on the subject of spontaneous -generation.</p> - -<p>“The confusion and uncertainty,” wrote Tyndall to Pasteur, “have finally -become such that, six months ago, I thought that it would be rendering a -service to Science, at the same time as justice to yourself, if the -question were subjected to a fresh investigation.</p> - -<p>“Putting into practice an idea which I had entertained six<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span> years -ago—the details of which are set out in the article in the <i>British -Medical Journal</i> which I had the pleasure to send you—I went over a -large portion of the ground on which Dr. Bastian had taken up his stand, -and refuted, I think, many of the fallacies which had misled the public.</p> - -<p>“The change which has taken place since then in the tone of the English -medical journals is quite remarkable, and I am disposed to think that -the general confidence of the public in the accuracy of Dr. Bastian’s -experiments has been considerably shaken.</p> - -<p>“In taking up these investigations, I have had the opportunity of -refreshing my memory about your labours; they have reawakened in me all -the admiration which I felt for them when I first read of them. I intend -to continue these investigations until I have dispersed all the doubts -which may have arisen as to the indisputable accuracy of your -conclusions.”</p> - -<p>And Tyndall added a paragraph for which Pasteur modestly substituted -asterisks in communicating this letter to the Academy.</p> - -<p>“For the first time in the history of Science we have the right to -cherish the sure and certain hope that, as regards epidemic diseases, -medicine will soon be delivered from quackery and placed on a real -scientific basis. When that day arrives, Humanity, in my opinion, will -know how to recognize that it is to you that will be due the largest -share of her gratitude.”</p> - -<p>Tyndall was indeed qualified to sign this passport to immortality. But -in the meanwhile a struggle was necessary, and Pasteur did not wish to -leave the burden of the discussion even on such shoulders as Tyndall’s! -Moreover he was interested in his opponent.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Bastian,” writes M. Duclaux, “had some tenacity, a fertile mind, -and the love, if not the gift, of the experimental method.” The -discussion was destined to last for months. In general (according to J. -B. Dumas’ calculation) “at the end of ten years, judgment on a great -thing is usually formed; it is by then an accomplished fact, an idea -adopted by Science or irrevocably repudiated.” Pasteur, on the morrow of -the Milan Congress, might feel that it had been so for the adoption of -his system of cellular seeding, but such was not the case in this -question of spontaneous generation. The quarrel had started again at the -Academy of Sciences and at the Academy of Medicine; it was now being -revived in England, and Bastian pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span>posed to come himself and experiment -in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale.</p> - -<p>“For nearly twenty years,” said Pasteur, “I have pursued, without -finding it, a proof of life existing without an anterior and similar -life. The consequences of such a discovery would be incalculable; -natural science in general, and medicine and philosophy in particular, -would receive therefrom an impulse which cannot be foreseen. Therefore, -whenever I hear that this discovery has been made, I hasten to verify -the assertions of my fortunate rival. It is true that I hasten towards -him with some degree of mistrust, so many times have I experienced that, -in the difficult art of experimenting, the very cleverest stagger at -every step, and that the interpretation of facts is no less perilous.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Bastian operated on acid urine, boiled and neutralized by a solution -of potash heated to a temperature of 120° C. If, after the flask of -urine had cooled down, it was heated to a temperature of 50° C. in order -to facilitate the development of germs, the liquid in ten hours’ time -swarmed with bacteria. “Those facts prove spontaneous generation,” said -Dr. Bastian.</p> - -<p>Pasteur invited him to replace his boiled solution of potash by a -fragment of solid potash, after heating it to 110° C., in order to avoid -the bacteria germs which might be contained in the aqueous solution. -This question of the germs of inferior organisms possibly contained in -water was—during the course of that protracted discussion—studied by -Pasteur with the assistance of M. Joubert, Professor of Physics at the -Collège Rollin. Such germs were to be found even in the distilled water -of laboratories; it was sufficient that the water should be poured in a -thin stream through the air to become contaminated. Spring water, if -slowly filtered through a solid mass of ground, alone contained no -germs.</p> - -<p>There was also the question of the urine and that of the recipient. The -urine, collected by Dr. Bastian in a vase and placed into a retort, -neither of which had been put through a flame, might contain spores of a -bacillus called <i>bacillus subtilis</i>, which offer a great resistance to -the action of heat. Those spores do not develop in notably acid liquids, -but the liquid having been neutralized or rendered slightly alkaline by -the potash, the development of germs took place. The thing therefore to -be done was to collect the urine in a vase and introduce it into a -retort both of which had been put through a flame. After<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span> that, no -organisms were produced, as was stated in the thesis of M. Chamberland, -then a curator at the laboratory, and who took an active part in these -experiments.</p> - -<p>A chapter might well have been written by a moralist “On the use of -certain opponents”; for it was through that discussion with Bastian that -it was discovered how it was that—at the time of the celebrated -discussions on spontaneous generation—the heterogenists, Pouchet, Joly, -and Musset, operating as Pasteur did, but in a different medium, -obtained results apparently contradictory to Pasteur’s. If their flasks, -filled with a decoction of hay, almost constantly showed germs, whilst -Pasteur’s, full of yeast water, were always sterile, it was because the -hay water contained spores of the bacillus subtilis. The spores remained -inactive as long as the liquid was preserved from the contact of air, -but as soon as oxygen re-entered the flask they were able to develop.</p> - -<p>The custom of raising liquids to a temperature of 120° C. in order to -sterilize them dates from that conflict with Bastian. “But,” writes M. -Duclaux, “the heating to 120° of a flask half filled with liquid can -sterilize the liquid part only, allowing life to persist in those -regions which are not in contact with the liquid. In order to destroy -everything, the dry walls must be heated to 180° C.”</p> - -<p>A former pupil of the Ecole Normale, who had been a curator in Pasteur’s -laboratory since October, 1876, Boutroux by name, who witnessed all -these researches, wrote in his thesis: “The knowledge of these facts -makes it possible to obtain absolutely pure neutral culture mediums, -and, in consequence, to study as many generations as are required of one -unmixed micro-organism, whenever pure seed has been procured.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur has defined what he meant by putting tubes, cotton, vases, etc., -through a flame. “In order to get rid of the microscopic germs which the -dusts of air and of the water used for the washing of vessels deposit on -every object, the best means is to place the vessels (their openings -closed with pads of cotton wool) during half an hour in a gas stove, -heating the air in which the articles stand to a temperature of about -150° C. to 200° C. The vessels, tubes, etc., are then ready for use. The -cotton wool is enclosed in tubes or in blotting-paper.”</p> - -<p>What Pasteur had recommended to surgeons, when he advised them to pass -through a flame all the instruments they used, had become a current -practice in the laboratory; the least<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span> pad of cotton wool used as a -stopper was previously sterilized. Thus was an entirely new technique -rising fully armed and ready to repel new attacks and ensure new -victories.</p> - -<p>If Pasteur was so anxious to drive Dr. Bastian to the wall, it was -because he saw behind that so-called experiment on spontaneous -generation a cause of perpetual conflict with physicians and surgeons. -Some of them desired to repel purely and simply the whole theory of -germs. Others, disposed to admit the results of Pasteur’s researches, as -laboratory work, did not admit his experimental incursions on clinical -ground. Pasteur therefore wrote to Dr. Bastian in the early part of -July, 1877—</p> - -<p>“Do you know why I desire so much to fight and conquer you? it is -because you are one of the principal adepts of a medical doctrine which -I believe to be fatal to progress in the art of healing—the doctrine of -the spontaneity of all diseases.... That is an error which, I repeat it, -is harmful to medical progress. From the prophylactic as well as from -the therapeutic point of view, the fate of the physician and surgeon -depends upon the adoption of the one or the other of these two -doctrines.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> -1877—1879</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> confusion of ideas on the origin of contagious and epidemic diseases -was about to be suddenly enlightened; Pasteur had now taken up the study -of the disease known as charbon or splenic fever. This disease was -ruining agriculture; the French provinces of Beauce, Brie, Burgundy, -Nivernais, Berry, Champagne, Dauphiné and Auvergne, paid a formidable -yearly tribute to this mysterious scourge. In the Beauce, for instance, -twenty sheep out of every hundred died in one flock; in some parts of -Auvergne the proportion was ten or fifteen per cent., sometimes even -twenty-five, thirty-five, or fifty per cent. At Provins, at Meaux, at -Fontainebleau, some farms were called <i>charbon farms</i>; elsewhere, -certain fields or hills were looked upon as accursed and an evil spell -seemed to be thrown over flocks bold enough to enter those fields or -ascend those hills. Animals stricken with this disease almost always -died in a few hours; sheep were seen to lag behind the flock, with -drooping head, shaking limbs and gasping breath; after a rigor and some -sanguinolent evacuations, occurring also through the mouth and nostrils, -death supervened, often before the shepherd had had time to notice the -attack. The carcase rapidly became distended, and the least rent in the -skin gave issue to a flow of black, thick and viscid blood, hence the -name of <i>anthrax</i> given to the disease. It was also called splenic -fever, because necropsy showed that the spleen had assumed enormous -dimensions; if that were opened, it presented a black and liquid pulp. -In some places the disease assumed a character of extreme virulence; in -the one district of Novgorod, in Russia, 56,000 head of cattle died of -splenic infection between 1867 and 1870. Horses, oxen, cows, sheep, -everything succumbed, as did also 528 persons, attacked by the contagion -under divers forms; a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span> pin prick or a scratch is sufficient to inoculate -shepherds, butchers, knackers or farmers with the malignant pustule.</p> - -<p>Though a professor at the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Delafond, did -point out to his pupils as far back as 1838 that charbon blood contained -“little rods,” as he called them; it was only looked upon by himself and -them as a curiosity with no scientific importance. Davaine, when he—and -Rayer as well—recognized in 1850 those little filiform bodies in the -blood of animals dying of splenic fever, he too merely mentioned the -fact, which seemed to him of so little moment that he did not even -report it in the first notice of his works edited by himself.</p> - -<p>It was only eleven years later that Davaine—struck, as he himself -gladly acknowledged, by reading Pasteur’s paper on the butyric ferment, -the little cylindrical rods of which offer all the characteristics of -vibriones or bacteria—asked himself whether the filiform corpuscles -seen in the blood of the charbon victims might not act after the manner -of ferments and be the cause of the disease. In 1863, a medical man at -Dourdan, whose neighbour, a farmer, had lost twelve sheep of charbon in -a week, sent blood from one of these sheep to Davaine, who hastened to -inoculate some rabbits with this blood. He recognized the presence of -those little transparent and motionless rods which he called bacteridia -(a diminutive of bacterium, or rod-shaped vibriones). It might be -thought that the cause of the evil was found, in other words that the -relation between those bacteridia and the disease which had caused death -could not be doubted. But two professors of the Val de Grâce, Jaillard -and Leplat; refuted these experiments.</p> - -<p>They had procured, in the middle of the summer, from a knacker’s yard -near Chartres, a little blood from a cow which had died of anthrax, and -they inoculated some rabbits with it. The rabbits died, but without -presenting any bacteridia. Jaillard and Leplat therefore affirmed that -splenic fever was not an affection caused by parasites, that the -bacteridium was an epiphenomenon of the disease and could not be looked -upon as the cause of it.</p> - -<p>Davaine, on repeating Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments, found a new -interpretation; he alleged that the disease they had inoculated was not -anthrax. Then Jaillard and Leplat obtained a little diseased sheep’s -blood from M. Boutet, a veterinary surgeon at Chartres, and tried that -instead of co<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span>w’s blood. The result was identical: death ensued, but no -bacteridia. Were there then two diseases?</p> - -<p>Others made observations in their turn. It occurred to a young German -physician, Dr. Koch, who in 1876 was beginning his career in a small -village in Germany, to seek a culture medium for the bacteridium. A few -drops of aqueous humour, collected in the eyes of oxen or of rabbits, -seemed to him favourable. After a few hours of this nutrition the rods -seen under the microscope were ten or twenty times larger than at first; -they lengthened immoderately, so as to cover the whole slide of the -microscope, and might have been compared to a ball of tangled thread. -Dr. Koch examined those lengths, and after a certain time noticed little -spots here and there looking like a punctuation of spores. Tyndall, who -knew how to secure continuous attention by a variety of comparisons, -said at a scientific conference in Glasgow a few months later that those -little ovoid bodies were contained within the envelope of the filament -like peas in their pods. It is interesting to note that Pasteur, when he -studied, in connection with silkworm diseases, the mode of reproduction -of the vibriones of flachery, had seen them divide into spores similar -to shining corpuscles; he had demonstrated that those spores, like seeds -of plants, could revive after a lapse of years and continue their -disastrous work. The bacterium of charbon, or <i>bacillus anthracis</i> as it -now began to be called, reproduced itself in the same way, and, when -inoculated by Dr. Koch into guinea-pigs, rabbits and mice, provoked -splenic fever as easily and inevitably as blood from the veins of an -animal that had died of the disease. Bacilli and spores therefore -yielded the secret of the contagion, and it seemed that the fact was -established, when Paul Bert, in January, 1877, announced to the <i>Société -de Biologie</i> that it was “possible to destroy the bacillus anthracis in -a drop of blood by compressed oxygen, to inoculate what remained, and to -reproduce the disease and death without any trace of the bacteridium ... -Bacteridia,” he added, “are therefore neither the cause nor the -necessary effect of splenic fever, which must be due to a virus.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur tackled the subject. A little drop of the blood of an animal -which had died of anthrax—a microscopic drop—was laid, sown, after the -usual precautions to ensure purity, in a sterilized balloon which -contained neutral or slightly alkaline urine. The culture medium might -equally be common house<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span>hold broth, or beer-yeast water, either of them -neutralized by potash. After a few hours, a sort of flake was floating -in the liquid; the bacteridia could be seen, not under the shape of -short broken rods, but with the appearance of filaments, tangled like a -skein; the culture medium being highly favourable, they were rapidly -growing longer. A drop of that liquid, abstracted from the first vessel, -was sown into a second vessel, of which one drop was again placed into a -third, and so on, until the fortieth flask; the seed of each successive -culture came from a tiny drop of the preceding one. If a drop from one -of those flasks was introduced under the skin of a rabbit or guinea-pig, -splenic fever and death immediately ensued, with the same symptoms and -characteristics as if the original drop of blood had been inoculated. In -the presence of the results from those successive cultures, what became -of the hypothesis of an inanimate substance contained in the first drop -of blood? It was now diluted in a proportion impossible to imagine. It -would therefore be absurd, thought Pasteur, to imagine that the last -virulence owed its power to a virulent agent existing in the original -drop of blood; it was to the bacteridium, multiplied in each culture, -and to the bacteridium alone, that this power was due; the life of the -bacteridium had made the virulence. “Anthrax is therefore” Pasteur -declared, “the disease of the bacteridium, as trichinosis is the disease -of the trichina, as itch is the disease of its special acarus, with this -circumstance, however, that, in anthrax, the parasite can only be seen -through a microscope, and very much enlarged.” After the bacteridium had -presented those long filaments, within a few hours, two days at the -most, another spectacle followed; amidst those filaments, appeared the -oval shapes, the germs, spores or seeds, pointed out by Dr. Koch. Those -spores, sown in broth, reproduced in their turn the little packets of -tangled filaments, the bacteridia. Pasteur reported that “one single -germ of bacteridium in the drop which is sown multiplies during the -following hours and ends by filling the whole liquid with such a -thickness of bacteridia that, to the naked eye, it seems that carded -cotton has been mixed with the broth.”</p> - -<p>M. Chamberland, a pupil who became intimately associated with this work -on anthrax, has defined as follows what Pasteur had now achieved: “By -his admirable process of culture outside organism, Pasteur shows that -the rods which exist in the blood, and for which he has preserved the -name of bacteridia<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span> given them by Davaine, are living beings capable of -being indefinitely reproduced in appropriate liquids, after the manner -of a plant multiplied by successive cuttings. The bacterium does not -reproduce itself only under the filamentous form, but also through -spores or germs, after the manner of many plants which present two modes -of reproduction, by cuttings and by seeds.” The first point was -therefore settled. The ground suspected and indicated by Davaine was now -part of the domain of science, and preserved from any new attacks.</p> - -<p>Yet Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments remained to be explained: how had -they provoked death through the blood of a splenic fever victim and -found no bacteridia afterwards? It was then that Pasteur, guided, as -Tyndall expressed it, by “his extraordinary faculty of combining facts -with the reasons of those facts,” placed himself, to begin with, in the -conditions of Jaillard and Leplat, who had received, during the height -of the summer, some blood from a cow and a sheep which had died of -anthrax, that blood having evidently been abstracted more than -twenty-four hours before the experiment. Pasteur, who had arranged to go -to the very spot, the knacker’s yard near Chartres, and himself collect -diseased blood, wrote to ask that the carcases of animals which had died -of splenic fever should be kept for him for two or three days.</p> - -<p>He arrived on June 13, 1877, accompanied by the veterinary surgeon, M. -Boutet. Three carcases were awaiting him: that of a sheep which had been -dead sixteen hours, that of a horse whose death dated from the preceding -day, and that of a cow which must have been dead for two or three days, -for it had been brought from a distant village. The blood of the -recently diseased sheep contained bacteridia of anthrax only. In the -blood of the horse, putrefaction vibriones were to be found, besides the -bacteridia, and those vibriones existed in a still greater proportion in -the blood of the cow. The sheep’s blood, inoculated into guinea-pigs, -provoked anthrax with pure bacteridia; that of the cow and of the horse -brought a rapid death with no bacteridia.</p> - -<p>Henceforth what had happened in Jaillard and Leplat’s experiments, and -in the incomplete and uncertain experiments of Davaine, became simple -and perfectly clear to Pasteur, as well as the confusion caused by -another experimentalist who had said his say ten years after the -discussions of Jaillard, Leplat and Davaine.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span></p> - -<p>This was a Paris veterinary surgeon, M. Signol. He had written to the -Academy of Sciences that it was enough that a healthy animal should be -felled, or rather asphyxiated, for its blood, taken from the deeper -veins, to become violently virulent within sixteen hours. M. Signol -thought he had seen motionless bacteridia similar to the bacillus -anthracis; but those bacteridia, he said, were incapable of multiplying -in the inoculated animals. Yet the blood was so very virulent that -animals rapidly succumbed in a manner analogous to death by splenic -fever. A Commission was nominated to ascertain the facts; Pasteur was -made a member of it, as was also his colleague Bouillaud—still so quick -and alert, in spite of his eighty years, that he looked less like an old -man than like a wrinkled young man—and another colleague, twenty years -younger, Bouley, the first veterinary surgeon in France who had a seat -at the Institute. The latter was a tall, handsome man, with a somewhat -military appearance, and an expression of energetic good humour which -his disposition fully justified. He was eager to help in the propagation -of new ideas and discoveries, and soon, with eager enthusiasm, placed -his marked talents as a writer and orator at Pasteur’s disposal.</p> - -<p>On the day when the Commission met, M. Signol showed the carcase of a -horse, which he had sacrificed for this experiment, having asphyxiated -it when in excellent health. Pasteur uncovered the deep veins of the -horse and showed to Bouley, and also to Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland, -a long vibrio, so translucid as to be almost invisible, creeping, -flexible, and which, according to Pasteur’s comparison, slipped between -the globules of the blood as a serpent slips between high grasses; it -was the septic vibrio. From the peritoneum, where it swarms, that vibrio -passes into the blood a few hours after death; it represents the -vanguard of the vibriones of putrefaction. When Jaillard and Leplat had -asked for blood infected with anthrax, they had received blood which was -at the same time septic. It was septicæmia (so prompt in its action that -inoculated rabbits or sheep perish in twenty-four or thirty-six hours) -that had killed Jaillard and Leplat’s rabbits. It was also septicæmia, -provoked by this vibrio (or its germs, for it too has germs), that M. -Signol had unknowingly inoculated into the animals upon which he -experimented. Successive cultures of that septic vibrio enabled Pasteur -to show, as he had done for the bacillus anthracis, that one drop of -those cul<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span>tures caused septicæmia in an animal. But, while the bacillus -anthracis is aërobic, the septic vibrio, being anaërobic, must be -cultivated in a vacuum, or in carbonic acid gas. And, cultivating those -bacteridia and those vibriones with at least as much care as a Dutchman -might give to rare tulips, Pasteur succeeded in parting the bacillus -anthracis and the septic vibrio when they were temporarily associated. -In a culture in contact with air, only bacteridia developed, in a -culture preserved from air, only the septic vibrio.</p> - -<p>What Pasteur called “the Paul Bert fact” now alone remained to be -explained; this also was simple. The blood Paul Bert had received from -Chartres was of the same quality as that which Jaillard and Leplat had -had; that is to say already septic. If filaments of bacillus anthracis -and of septic vibriones perish under compressed oxygen, such is not the -case with the germs, which are extremely tenacious; they can be kept for -several hours at a temperature of 70° C., and even of 95° C. Nothing -injures them, neither lack of air, carbonic acid gas nor compressed -oxygen. Paul Bert, therefore, killed filamentous bacteridia under the -influence of high pressure; but, as the germs were none the worse, those -germs revived the splenic fever. Paul Bert came to Pasteur’s laboratory, -ascertained facts and watched experiments. On June 23, 1877, he hastened -to the Société de Biologie and proclaimed his mistake, acting in this as -a loyal Frenchman, Pasteur said.</p> - -<p>In spite of this testimony, and notwithstanding the admiration conceived -for Pasteur by certain medical men—notably H. Gueneau de Mussy, who -published in that very year (1877) a paper on the theory of the -contagium germ and the application of that theory to the etiology of -typhoid fever—the struggle was being continued between Pasteur and the -current medical doctrines. In the long discussion which began at that -time in the Académie de Médecine on typhoid fever, some masters of -medical oratory violently attacked the germ theory, proclaiming the -spontaneity of living organism. Typhoid fever, they said, is engendered -by ourselves within ourselves. Whilst Pasteur was convinced that the day -would come—and that was indeed the supreme goal of his life work—when -contagious and virulent diseases would be effaced from the -preoccupations, mournings and anxieties of humanity, and when the -infinitesimally small, known, isolated and studied, would at last be -vanquished, his ideas were called Utopian dreams.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span></p> - -<p>The old professors, whose career had been built on a combination of -theories which they were pleased to call medical truth, dazed by such -startling novelties, endeavoured, as did Piorry, to attract attention to -their former writings. “It is not the disease, an abstract being,” said -Piorry, “which we have to treat, but the patient, whom we must study -with the greatest care by all the physical, chemical and clinical means -which Science offers.”</p> - -<p>The contagion which Pasteur showed, appearing clearly in the disorders -visible in the carcases of inoculated guinea-pigs, was counted as -nothing. As to the assimilation of a laboratory experiment on rabbits -and guinea-pigs to what occurred in human pathology, it may be guessed -that it was quite out of the question for men who did not even admit the -possibility of a comparison between veterinary medicine and the other. -It would be interesting to reconstitute these hostile surroundings in -order to appreciate the efforts of will required of Pasteur to enable -him to triumph over all the obstacles raised before him in the medical -and the veterinary world.</p> - -<p>The Professor of Alfort School, Colin, who had, he said, made 500 -experiments on anthrax within the last twelve years, stated, in a paper -of seventeen pages, read at the Academy of Medicine on July 31, that the -results of Pasteur’s experiments had not the importance which Pasteur -attributed to them. Among many other objections, one was considered by -Colin as a fatal one—the existence of a virulent agent situated in the -blood, besides the bacteridia.</p> - -<p>Bouley, who had just communicated to the Academy of Sciences some notes -by M. Toussaint, professor at the Toulouse veterinary school, whose -experiments agreed with those of Pasteur, was nevertheless a little -moved by Colin’s reading. He wrote in that sense to Pasteur, who was -then spending his holidays in the Jura. Pasteur addressed to him an -answer as vigorous as any of his replies at the Academy.</p> - -<p>“Arbois, August 18, 1877.—My dear colleague ... I hasten to answer your -letter. I should like to accept literally the honour which you confer -upon me by calling me ‘your master,’ and to give you a severe reprimand, -you faithless man, who would seem to have been shaken by M. Colin’s -reading at the Académie des Sciences, since you are still holding forth -on the possibility of a virulent agent, and since your uncertainties -seem to be appeased by a new<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span> notice, read by yourself, last Monday, at -the Académie des Sciences.</p> - -<p>“Let me tell you frankly that you have not sufficiently imbibed the -teaching contained in the papers I have read, in my own name and in that -of M. Joubert, at the Académie des Sciences and at the Academy of -Medicine. Can you believe that I should have read those papers if they -had wanted the confirmation you mention, or if M. Colin’s contradictions -could have touched them? You know what my situation is, in these grave -controversies; you know that, ignorant as I am of medical and veterinary -knowledge, I should immediately be taxed with presumption if I had the -boldness to speak without being armed for struggle and for victory! All -of you, physicians and veterinary surgeons, would quite reasonably fall -upon me if I brought into your debates a mere semblance of proof.</p> - -<p>“How is it that you have not noticed that M. Colin has travestied—I -should even say suppressed—because it hindered his theory, the -important experiment of the successive cultures of the bacteridium in -urine?</p> - -<p>“If a drop of blood, infected with anthrax, is mixed with water, with -pure blood or with humour from the eye, as was done by Davaine, Koch and -M. Colin himself, and some of that mixture is inoculated and death -ensues, doubt may remain in the mind as to the cause of virulence, -especially since Davaine’s well-known experiments on septicæmia. Our -experiment is very different....”</p> - -<p>And Pasteur showed how, from one artificial culture to another, he -reached the fiftieth, the hundredth, and how a drop of this hundredth -culture, identical with the first, could bring about death as certainly -as a drop of infected blood.</p> - -<p>Months passed, and—as Pasteur used to wish in his youth that it might -be—few passed without showing one step forward. In a private letter to -his old Arbois school-fellow, Jules Vercel, he wrote (February 11, -1878): “I am extremely busy; at no epoch of my scientific life have I -worked so hard or been so much interested in the results of my -researches, which will, I hope, throw a new and a great light on certain -very important branches of medicine and of surgery.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>In the face of those successive discoveries, every one had a word to -say. This accumulation of facts was looked down upon by that category of -people who borrow assurance from a mix<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span>ture of ignorance and prejudice. -Others, on the other hand, amongst whom the greatest were to be found, -proclaimed that Pasteur’s work was immortal and that the word “theory” -used by him should be changed into that of “doctrine.” One of those who -thus spoke, with the right given by full knowledge, was Dr. Sédillot, -whose open and critical mind had kept him from becoming like the old men -described by Sainte Beuve as stopping their watch at a given time and -refusing to recognize further progress. He was formerly Director of the -Army Medical School at Strasburg, and had already retired in 1870, but -had joined the army again as volunteer surgeon. It will be remembered -that he had written from the Hagueneau ambulance to the Académie des -Sciences—of which he was a corresponding member—to call the attention -of his colleagues to the horrors of purulent infection, which defied his -zeal and devotion.</p> - -<p>No one followed Pasteur’s work with greater attention than this tall, -sad-looking old man of seventy-four; he was one of those who had been -torn away from his native Alsace, and he could not get over it. In -March, 1878, he read a paper to the Academy, entitled “On the Influence -of M. Pasteur’s Work on Medicine and Surgery.”</p> - -<p>Those discoveries, he said, which had deeply modified the state of -surgery, and particularly the treatment of wounds, could be traced back -to one principle. This principle was applicable to various facts, and -explained Lister’s success, and the fact that certain operations had -become possible, and that certain cases, formerly considered hopeless, -were now being recorded on all sides. Real progress lay there. -Sédillot’s concluding paragraph deserves to be handed down as a comment -precious from a contemporary: “We shall have seen the conception and -birth of a new surgery, a daughter of Science and of Art, which will be -one of the greatest wonders of our century, and with which the names of -Pasteur and Lister will remain gloriously connected.”</p> - -<p>In that treatise, Sédillot invented a new word to characterize all that -body of organisms and infinitely small vibriones, bacteria, bacteridia, -etc.; he proposed to designate them all under the generic term of -<i>microbe</i>. This word had, in Sédillot’s eyes, the advantage of being -short and of having a general signification. He however felt some -scruple before using it, and consulted Littré, who replied on February -26,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span> 1878: “Dear colleague and friend, <i>microbe</i> and <i>microbia</i> are very -good words. To designate the animalculæe I should give the preference to -<i>microbe</i>, because, as you say, it is short, and because it leaves -microbia, a feminine noun, for the designation of the state of a -microbe.”</p> - -<p>Certain philologists criticized the formation of the word in the name of -the Greek language. Microbe, they said, means an animal with a short -life, rather than an infinitesimally small animal. Littré gave a second -testimonial to the word microbe—</p> - -<p>“It is true,” he wrote to Sédillot, “that μιχρόβιος and μαχρόβιος -probably mean in Greek <i>short-lived</i> and <i>long-lived</i>. But, as you -justly remark, the question is not what is most purely Greek, but what -is the use made in our language of the Greek roots. Now the Greek has -βίος, life, βιοῦν, to live, βιούς, living, the root of which may very -well figure under the form of <i>bi</i>, <i>bia</i> with the sense <i>living</i>, in -<i>aërobia</i>, <i>anaërobia</i> and <i>microbe</i>. I should advise you not to trouble -to answer criticisms, but let the word stand for itself, which it will -no doubt do.” Pasteur, by adopting it, made the whole world familiar -with it.</p> - -<p>Though during that month of March, 1878, Pasteur had had the pleasure of -hearing Sédillot’s prophetic words at the Académie des Sciences, he had -heard very different language at the Académie de Médecine. Colin of -Alfort, from the isolated corner where he indulged in this misanthropy, -had renewed his criticisms of Pasteur. As he spoke unceasingly of a -state of virulent anthrax devoid of bacteridia, Pasteur, losing -patience, begged of the Académie to nominate a Commission of -Arbitration.</p> - -<p>“I desire expressly that M. Colin should be urged to demonstrate what he -states to be the fact, for his assertion implies another, which is that -an organic matter, containing neither bacteridia nor germs of -bacteridia, produces within the body of a living animal the bacteridia -of anthrax. This would be the spontaneous generation of the bacillus -anthracis!”</p> - -<p>Colin’s antagonism to Pasteur was such that he contradicted him in every -point and on every subject. Pasteur having stated that birds, and -notably hens, did not take the charbon disease, Colin had hastened to -say that nothing was easier than to give anthrax to hens; this was in -July, 1877. Pasteur, who was at that moment sending Colin some samples -of bacteridia<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span> culture which he had promised him, begged that he would -kindly bring him in exchange a hen suffering from that disease, since it -could contract it so easily.</p> - -<p>Pasteur told the story of this episode in March, 1878; it was an amusing -interlude in the midst of those technical discussions. “At the end of -the week, I saw M. Colin coming into my laboratory, and, even before I -shook hands with him, I said to him: ‘Why, you have not brought me that -diseased hen?’—‘Trust me,’ answered M. Colin, ‘you shall have it next -week.’—I left for the vacation; on my return, and at the first meeting -of the Academy which I attended, I went to M. Colin and said, ‘Well, -where is my dying hen?’ ‘I have only just begun experimenting again,’ -said M. Colin; ‘in a few days I will bring you a hen suffering from -charbon.’—Days and weeks went by, with fresh insistence on my part and -new promises from M. Colin. One day, about two months ago, M. Colin -owned to me that he had been mistaken, and that it was impossible to -give anthrax to a hen. ‘Well, my dear colleague,’ I said to him, ‘I will -show you that it is possible to give anthrax to hens; in fact, I will -one day myself bring you at Alfort a hen which shall die of charbon.’</p> - -<p>“I have told the Academy this story of the hen M. Colin had promised in -order to show that our colleague’s contradiction of our observations on -charbon had never been very serious.”</p> - -<p>Colin, after speaking about several other things, ended by saying: “I -regret that I have not until now been able to hand to M. Pasteur a hen -dying or dead of anthrax. The two that I had bought for that purpose -were inoculated several times with very active blood, but neither of -them has fallen ill. Perhaps the experiment might have succeeded -afterwards, but, one fine day, a greedy dog prevented that by eating up -the two birds, whose cage had probably been badly closed.” On the -Tuesday which followed this incident, the passers-by were somewhat -surprised to see Pasteur emerging from the Ecole Normale, carrying a -cage, within which were three hens, one of them dead. Thus laden, he -took a fiacre, and drove to the Académie de Médecine, where, on -arriving, he deposited this unexpected object on the desk. He explained -that the dead hen had been inoculated with charbon two days before, at -twelve o’clock on the Sunday, with five drops of yeast water employed as -a nutritive liquid for pure bacteridium germs, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span> that it had died on -the Monday at five o’clock, twenty-nine hours after the inoculation. He -also explained, in his own name, and in the names of Messrs. Joubert and -Chamberland, how in the presence of the curious fact that hens were -refractory to charbon, it had occurred to them to see whether that -singular and hitherto mysterious preservation did not have its cause in -the temperature of a hen’s body, “higher by several degrees than the -temperature of the body of all the animal species which can be decimated -by charbon.”</p> - -<p>This preconceived idea was followed by an ingenious experiment. In order -to lower the temperature of an inoculated hen’s body, it was kept for -some time in a bath, the water covering one-third of its body. When -treated in that way, said Pasteur, the hen dies the next day. “All its -blood, spleen, lungs, and liver are filled with bacilli anthracis -susceptible of ulterior cultures either in inert liquids or in the -bodies of animals. We have not met with a single exception.”</p> - -<p>As a proof of the success of the experiment, the white hen lay on the -floor of the cage. As people might be forthcoming, even at the Academy, -who would accuse the prolonged bath of having caused death, one of the -two living hens, a gray one, who was extremely lively, had been placed -in the same bath, at the same temperature and during the same time. The -third one, a black hen, also in perfect health, had been inoculated at -the same time as the white hen, with the same liquid, but with ten drops -instead of five, to make the comparative result more convincing; it had -not been subjected to the bath treatment. “You can see how healthy it -is,” said Pasteur; “it is therefore impossible to doubt that the white -hen died of charbon; besides, the fact is proved by the bacteridia which -fill its body.”</p> - -<p>A fourth experiment remained to be tried on a fourth hen, but the -Academy of Medicine did not care to hold an all-night sitting. Time -lacking, it was only done later, in the laboratory. Could a hen, -inoculated of charbon and placed in a bath, recover and be cured merely -by being taken out of its bath? A hen was taken, inoculated and held -down a prisoner in a bath, its feet fastened to the bottom of the tub, -until it was obvious that the disease was in full progress. The hen was -then taken out of the water, dried, and wrapped up in cotton wool and -placed in a temperature of 35° C. The bac<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span>teridia were reabsorbed by the -blood, and the hen recovered completely.</p> - -<p>This was, indeed, a most suggestive experiment, proving that the mere -fall of temperature from 42° C. (the temperature of hens) to 38° C. was -sufficient to cause a receptive condition; the hen, brought down by -immersion to the temperature of rabbits or guinea-pigs, became a victim -like them.</p> - -<p>Between Sédillot’s enthusiasm and Colin’s perpetual contradiction, many -attentive surgeons and physicians were taking a middle course, watching -for Pasteur’s results and ultimately accepting them with admiration. -Such was the state of mind of M. Lereboullet, an editor of the <i>Weekly -Gazette of Medicine and Surgery</i>, who wrote in an account of the -Académie de Médecine meeting that “those facts throw a new light on the -theory of the genesis and development of the bacillus anthracis. They -will be ascertained and verified by other experimentalists, and it seems -very probable that M. Pasteur, who never brings any premature or -conjectural assertion to the academic tribune, will deduce from them -conclusions of the greatest interest concerning the etiology of virulent -diseases.”</p> - -<p>But even to those who admired Pasteur as much as did M. Lereboullet, it -did not seem that such an important part should immediately be -attributed to microbes. Towards the end of his report (dated March 22, -1878) he reminded his readers that a discussion was open at the Académie -de Médecine, and that the surgeon, Léon Le Fort, did not admit the germ -theory in its entirety. M. Le Fort recognized “all the services rendered -to surgery by laboratory studies, chiefly by calling attention to -certain accidents of wounds and sores, and by provoking new researches -with a view to improving methods of dressing and bandaging.” “Like all -his colleagues at the Academy, and like our eminent master, M. -Sédillot,” added M. Lereboullet, “M. Le Fort renders homage to the work -of M. Pasteur; but he remains within his rights as a practitioner and -reserves his opinion as to its general application to surgery.”</p> - -<p>This was a mild way of putting it; M. Le Fort’s words were, “That -theory, in its applications to clinical surgery, is absolutely -inacceptable.” For him, the original purulent infection, though coming -from the wound, was born under the influence of general and local -phenomena <i>within</i> the patient, and not <i>outside</i> him. He believed that -the economy had the power, under various influences, to produce purulent -infection. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span> septic poison was created, born spontaneously, which was -afterwards carried to other patients by such medicines as the tools and -bandages and the hands of the surgeon. But, originally, before the -propagation of the contagium germ, a purulent infection was -spontaneously produced and developed. And, in order to put his teaching -into forcible words, M. Le Fort declared to the Académie de Médecine: “I -believe in the <i>interiority</i> of the principle of purulent infection in -certain patients; that is why I oppose the extension to surgery of the -germ theory which proclaims the constant <i>exteriority</i> of that -principle.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur rose, and with his firm, powerful voice, exclaimed: “Before the -Academy accepts the conclusion of the paper we have just heard, before -the application of the germ theory to pathology is condemned, I beg that -I may be allowed to make a statement of the researches I am engaged in -with the collaboration of Messrs. Joubert and Chamberland.”</p> - -<p>His impatience was so great that he formulated then and there some -headings for the lecture he was preparing, propositions on septicæmia or -putrid infection, on the septic vibrio itself, on the germs of that -vibrio carried by wind in the shape of dust, or suspended in water, on -the vitality of those germs, etc. He called attention to the mistakes -which might be made if, in that new acquaintance with microbes, their -morphologic aspect alone was taken account of. “The septic vibrio, for -instance, varies so much in its shape, length and thickness, according -to the media wherein it is cultivated, that one would think one was -dealing with beings specifically distinct from each other.”</p> - -<p>It was on April 30, 1878, that Pasteur read that celebrated lecture on -the germ theory, in his own name and in that of Messrs. Joubert and -Chamberland. It began by a proud exordium: “All Sciences gain by mutual -support. When, subsequently to my early communications on fermentations, -in 1857—1858, it was admitted that ferments, properly so called, are -living beings; that germs of microscopical organisms abound on the -surface of all objects in the atmosphere and in water; that the -hypothesis of spontaneous generation is a chimera; that wines, beer, -vinegar, blood, urine and all the liquids of the economy are preserved -from their common changes when in contact with pure air—Medicine and -Surgery cast their eyes towards these new lights. A French physician, M. -Davaine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span> made a first successful application of those principles to -medicine in 1863.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur himself, elected to the Académie des Sciences as a mineralogist, -proved by the concatenation of his studies within the last thirty years -that Science was indeed one and all embracing. Having thus called his -audience’s attention to the bonds which connect one scientific subject -with another, Pasteur proceeded to show the connection between his -yesterday’s researches on the etiology of Charbon to those he now -pursued on septicæmia. He hastily glanced back on his successful -cultures of the bacillus anthracis, and on the certain, indisputable -proof that the last culture acted equally with the first in producing -charbon within the body of animals. He then owned to the failure, at -first, of a similar method of cultivating the septic vibrio: “All our -first experiments failed in spite of the variety of culture media that -we used; beer-yeast water, meat broth, etc., etc....”</p> - -<p>He then expounded, in the most masterly manner: (1) the idea which had -occurred to him that this vibrio might be an exclusively anaërobic -organism, and that the sterility of the liquids might proceed from the -fact that the vibrio was killed by the oxygen held in a state of -solution by those liquids; (2) the similarity offered by analogous facts -in connection with the vibrio of butyric fermentation, which not only -lives without air, but is killed by air; (3) the attempts made to -cultivate the septic vibrio in a vacuum or in the presence of carbonic -acid gas, and the success of both those attempts; and, finally, as the -result of the foregoing, the proof obtained that the action of the air -kills the septic vibriones, which are then seen to perish, under the -shape of moving threads, and ultimately to disappear, as if burnt away -by oxygen.</p> - -<p>“If it is terrifying,” said Pasteur, “to think that life may be at the -mercy of the multiplication of those infinitesimally small creatures, it -is also consoling to hope that Science will not always remain powerless -before such enemies, since it is already now able to inform us that the -simple contact of air is sometimes sufficient to destroy them. But,” he -continued, meeting his hearers’ possible arguments, “if oxygen destroys -vibriones, how can septicæmia exist, as it does, in the constant -presence of atmospheric air? How can those facts be reconciled with the -germ theory? How can blood exposed to air become septic through the -dusts contained in air? All is dark,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span> obscure and open to dispute when -the cause of the phenomena is not known; all is light when it is -grasped.”</p> - -<p>In a septic liquid exposed to the contact of air, vibriones die and -disappear; but, below the surface, in the depths of the liquid (one -centimetre of septic liquid may in this case be called depths), “the -vibriones are protected against the action of oxygen by their brothers, -who are dying above them, and they continue for a time to multiply by -division; they afterwards produce germs or spores, the filiform -vibriones themselves being gradually reabsorbed. Instead of a quantity -of moving threads, the length of which often extends beyond the field of -the microscope, nothing is seen but a dust of isolated, shiny specks, -sometimes surrounded by a sort of amorphous gangue hardly visible. Here -then is the septic dust, living the latent life of germs, no longer -fearing the destructive action of oxygen, and we are now prepared to -understand what seemed at first so obscure: the sowing of septic dust -into putrescible liquids by the surrounding atmosphere, and the -permanence of putrid diseases on the surface of the earth.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur continued from this to open a parenthesis on diseases -“transmissible, contagious, infectious, of which the cause resides -essentially and solely in the presence of microscopic organisms. It is -the proof that, for a certain number of diseases, we must for ever -abandon the ideas of spontaneous virulence, of contagious and infectious -elements suddenly produced within the bodies of men or of animals and -originating diseases afterwards propagated under identical shapes; all -those opinions fatal to medical progress and which are engendered by the -gratuitous hypotheses of the spontaneous generation of -albuminoid-ferment materia, of hemiorganism, of archebiosis, and many -other conceptions not founded on observation.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur recommended the following experiment to surgeons. After cutting -a fissure into a leg of mutton, by means of a bistoury, he introduced a -drop of septic vibrio culture; the vibrio immediately did its work. “The -meat under those conditions becomes quite gangrened, green on its -surface, swollen with gases, and is easily crushed into a disgusting, -sanious pulp.” And addressing the surgeons present at the meeting: “The -water, the sponge, the charpie with which you wash or dress a wound, lay -on its surface germs which, as you see, have an extreme facility of -propagating within the tissues, and which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> would infallibly bring about -the death of the patients within a very short time if life in their -limbs did not oppose the multiplication of germs. But how often, alas, -is that vital resistance powerless! how often do the patient’s -constitution, his weakness, his moral condition, the unhealthy -dressings, oppose but an insufficient barrier to the invasion of the -Infinitesimally Small with which you have covered the injured part! If I -had the honour of being a surgeon, convinced as I am of the dangers -caused by the germs of microbes scattered on the surface of every -object, particularly in the hospitals, not only would I use absolutely -clean instruments, but, after cleansing my hands with the greatest care -and putting them quickly through a frame (an easy thing to do with a -little practice), I would only make use of charpie, bandages, and -sponges which had previously been raised to a heat of 130° C. to 150° -C.; I would only employ water which had been heated to a temperature of -110° C. to 120° C. All that is easy in practice, and, in that way, I -should still have to fear the germs suspended in the atmosphere -surrounding the bed of the patient; but observation shows us every day -that the number of those germs is almost insignificant compared to that -of those which lie scattered on the surface of objects, or in the -clearest ordinary water.”</p> - -<p>He came down to the smallest details, seeing in each one an application -of the rigorous principles which were to transform Surgery, Medicine and -Hygiene. How many human lives have since then been saved by the dual -development of that one method! The defence against microbes afforded by -the substances which kill them or arrest their development, such as -carbolic acid, sublimate, iodoform, salol, etc., etc., constitutes -<i>antisepsis</i>; then the other progress, born of the first, the obstacle -opposed to the arrival of the microbes and germs by complete -disinfection, absolute cleanliness of the instruments and hands, of all -which is to come into contact with the patient; in one word, <i>asepsis</i>.</p> - -<p>It might have been prophesied at that date that Pasteur’s surprised -delight at seeing his name gratefully inscribed on the great Italian -establishment of sericiculture would one day be surpassed by his -happiness in living to see realized some of the progress and benefits -due to him, his name invoked in all operating theatres, engraved over -the doors of medical and surgical wards, and a new era inaugurated.</p> - -<p>A presentiment of the future deliverance of Humanity from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span> those -redoubtable microscopic foes gave Pasteur a fever for work, a thirst for -new research, and an immense hope. But once again he constrained -himself, refrained from throwing himself into varied studies, and, -continuing what he had begun, reverted to his studies on splenic fever.</p> - -<p>The neighbourhood of Chartres being most afflicted, the Minister of -Agriculture, anticipating the wish of the Conseil Général of the -department of Eure et Loir, had entrusted Pasteur with the mission of -studying the causes of so-called spontaneous charbon, that which bursts -out unexpectedly in a flock, and of seeking for curative and preventive -means of opposing the evil. Thirty-six years earlier, the learned -veterinary surgeon, Delafond, had been sent to seek, particularly in the -Beauce country, the causes of the charbon disease. Bouley, a great -reader, said that there was no contrast more instructive than that which -could be seen between the reasoning method followed by Delafond and the -experimental method practised by Pasteur. It was in 1842 that Delafond -received from M. Cunin Gridaine, then Minister of Agriculture, the -mission of “going to study that malady on the spot, to seek for its -causes, and to examine particularly whether those causes did not reside -in the mode of culture in use in that part of the country.” Delafond -arrived in the Beauce, and, having seen that the disease struck the -strongest sheep, it occurred to him that it came from “an excess of -blood circulating in the vessels.” He concluded from that that there -might be a correlation between the rich blood of the Beauce sheep and -the rich nitrogenous pasture of their food.</p> - -<p>He therefore advised the cultivators to diminish the daily ration; and -he was encouraged in his views by noting that the frequency of the -disease diminished in poor, damp, or sandy soils.</p> - -<p>Bouley, in order to show up Delafond’s efforts to make facts accord with -his reasoning, added that to explain “a disease, of which the essence is -general plethora, becoming contagious and expressing itself by charbon -symptoms in man,” Delafond had imagined that the atmosphere of the pens, -into which the animals were crowded, was laden with evil gases and -putrefying emanations which produced an alteration of the blood “due at -the same time to a slow asphyxia and to the introduction through the -lungs of septic elements into the blood.”</p> - -<p>It would have been but justice to recall other researches con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span>nected -with Delafond’s name. In 1863, Delafond had collected some blood -infected with charbon, and, at a time when such experiments had hardly -been thought of, he had attempted some experiments on the development of -the bacteridium, under a watch glass, at the normal blood temperature. -He had seen the little rods grow into filaments, and compared them to a -“very remarkable mycelium.” “I have vainly tried to see the mechanism of -fructification,” added Delafond, “but I hope I still may.” Death struck -down Delafond before he could continue his work.</p> - -<p>In 1869 a scientific congress was held at Chartres; one of the questions -examined being this: “What has been done to oppose splenic fever in -sheep?” A veterinary surgeon enumerated the causes which contributed, -according to him, to produce and augment mortality by splenic fever: bad -hygienic conditions; tainted food, musty or cryptogamized; heated and -vitiated air in the crowded pens, full of putrid manure; paludic miasma -or effluvia; damp soil flooded by storms, etc., etc. A well-known -veterinary surgeon, M. Boutet, saw no other means to preserve what -remained of a stricken flock but to take it to another soil, which, in -contradiction with his colleague, he thought should be chosen cool and -damp. No conclusion could be drawn. The disastrous loss caused by -splenic fever in the Beauce alone was terrible; it was said to have -reached 20,000,000 francs in some particularly bad years. The migration -of the tainted flock seemed the only remedy, but it was difficult in -practice and offered danger to other flocks, as carcases of dead sheep -were wont to mark the road that had been followed.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, starting from the fact that the charbon disease is produced by -the bacteridium, proposed to prove that, in a department like that of -Eure et Loir, the disease maintained itself by itself. When an animal -dies of splenic fever in a field, it is frequently buried in the very -spot where it fell; thus a focus of contagion is created, due to the -anthrax spores mixed with the earth where other flocks are brought to -graze. Those germs, thought Pasteur, are probably like the germs of the -flachery vibrio, which survive from one year to another and transmit the -disease. He proposed to study the disease on the spot.</p> - -<p>It almost always happened that, when he was most anxious to give himself -up entirely to the study of a problem, some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span> new discussion was started -to hinder him. He had certainly thought that the experimental power of -giving anthrax to hens had been fully demonstrated, and that that -question was dead, as dead as the inoculated and immersed hen.</p> - -<p>Colin, however, returned to the subject, and at an Academy meeting of -July 9 said somewhat insolently, “I wish we could have seen the -bacteridia of that dead hen which M. Pasteur showed us without taking it -out of its cage, and which he took away intact instead of making us -witness the necropsy and microscopical examination.” “I will take no -notice,” said Pasteur at the following meeting, “of the malevolent -insinuations contained in that sentence, and only consider M. Colin’s -desire to hold in his hands the body of a hen dead of anthrax, full of -bacteridia. I will, therefore, ask M. Colin if he will accept such a hen -under the following condition: the necropsy and microscopic examination -shall be made by himself, in my presence, and in that of one of our -colleagues of this Academy, designated by himself or by this Academy, -and an official report shall be drawn up and signed by the persons -present. So shall it be well and duly stated that M. Colin’s -conclusions, in his paper of May 14, are null and void. The Academy will -understand my insistence in rejecting M. Colin’s superficial -contradictions.</p> - -<p>“I say it here with no sham modesty: I have always considered that my -only right to a seat in this place is that given me by your great -kindness, for I have no medical or veterinary knowledge. I therefore -consider that I must be more scrupulously exact than any one else in the -presentations which I have the honour to make to you; I should promptly -lose all credit if I brought you erroneous or merely doubtful facts. If -ever I am mistaken, a thing which may happen to the most scrupulous, it -is because my good faith has been greatly surprised.</p> - -<p>“On the other hand, I have come amongst you with a programme to follow -which demands accuracy at every step. I can tell you my programme in two -words: I have sought for twenty years, and I am still seeking, -spontaneous generation properly so called.</p> - -<p>“If God permit, I shall seek for twenty years and more the spontaneous -generation of transmissible diseases.</p> - -<p>“In these difficult researches, whilst sternly deprecating frivolous -contradiction, I only feel esteem and gratitude towards those who may -warn me if I should be in error.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>The Academy decided that the necropsy and microscopic examination of the -dead hen which Pasteur was to bring to Colin should take place in the -presence of a Commission composed of Pasteur, Colin, Davaine, Bouley, -and Vulpian. This Commission met on the following Saturday, July 20, in -the Council Chamber of the Academy of Medicine. M. Armand Moreau, a -member of the Academy, joined the five members present, partly out of -curiosity, and partly because he had special reasons for wishing to -speak to Pasteur after the meeting.</p> - -<p>Three hens were lying on the table, all of them dead. The first one had -been inoculated under the thorax with five drops of yeast water slightly -alkalized, which had been given as a nutritive medium to some bacteridia -anthracis; the hen had been placed in a bath at 25° C., and had died -within twenty-two hours. The second one, inoculated with ten drops of a -culture liquid, had been placed in a warmer bath, 30° C., and had died -in thirty-six hours. The third hen, also inoculated and immersed, had -died in forty-six hours.</p> - -<p>Besides those three dead hens, there was a living one which had been -inoculated in the same way as the first hen. This one had remained for -forty-three hours with one-third of its body immersed in a barrel of -water. When it was seen in the laboratory that its temperature had gone -down to 36° C., that it was incapable of eating and seemed very ill, it -was taken out of the tub that very Saturday morning, and warmed in a -stove at 42° C. It was now getting better, though still weak, and gave -signs of an excellent appetite before leaving the Academy council -chamber.</p> - -<p>The third hen, which had been inoculated with ten drops, was dissected -then and there. Bouley, after noting a serous infiltration at the -inoculation focus, showed to the judges sitting in this room, thus -suddenly turned into a testing laboratory, numerous bacteridia scattered -throughout every part of the hen.</p> - -<p>“After those ascertained results,” wrote Bouley, who drew up the report, -“M. Colin declared that it was useless to proceed to the necropsy of the -two other hens, that which had just been made leaving no doubt of the -presence of bacilli anthracis in the blood of a hen inoculated with -charbon and then placed under the conditions designated by M. Pasteur as -making inoculation efficacious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span></p> - -<p>“The hen No. 2 has been given up to M. Colin to be used for any -examination or experiment which he might like to try at Alfort.</p> - -<p>“Signed: G. Colin, H. Bouley, C. Davaine, L. Pasteur, A. Vulpian.”</p> - -<p>“This is a precious autograph, headed as it is by M. Colin’s signature!” -gaily said Bouley. But Pasteur, pleased as he was with this conclusion, -which put an end to all discussion on that particular point, was already -turning his thoughts into another channel. The Academician who had -joined the members of the Commission was showing him a number of the -<i>Revue Scientifique</i> which had appeared that morning, and which -contained an article of much interest to Pasteur.</p> - -<p>In October, 1877, Claude Bernard, staying for the last time at St. -Julien, near Villefranche, had begun some experiments on fermentations. -He had continued them on his return to Paris, alone, in the study which -was above his laboratory at the Collège de France.</p> - -<p>When Paul Bert, his favourite pupil, M. d’Arsonval, his curator, M. -Dastre, a former pupil, and M. Armand Moreau, his friend, came to see -him, he said to them in short, enigmatical sentences, with no comment or -experimental demonstration, that he had done some good work during the -vacation. “Pasteur will have to look out.... Pasteur has only seen one -side of the question.... I make alcohol without cells.... There is no -life without air....”</p> - -<p>Bernard’s and Pasteur’s seats at the Academy of Sciences were next to -each other, and they usually enjoyed interchanging ideas. Claude Bernard -had come to the November and December sittings, but, with a reticence to -which he had not accustomed Pasteur, he had made no allusion to his -October experiments. In January, 1878, he became seriously ill; in his -conversations with M. d’Arsonval, who was affectionately nursing him, -Claude Bernard talked of his next lecture at the Museum, and said that -he would discuss his ideas with Pasteur before handling the subject of -fermentations. At the end of January M. d’Arsonval alluded to these -incomplete revelations. “It is all in my head,” said Claude Bernard, -“but I am too tired to explain it to you.” He made the same weary answer -two or three days before his death. When he succumbed, on February 10, -1878, Paul Bert, M. d’Arsonval and M. Dastre thought it their duty to -ascertain whether their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span> master had left any notes relative to the work -which embodied his last thoughts. M. d’Arsonval, after a few days’ -search, discovered some notes, carefully hidden in a cabinet in Claude -Bernard’s bedroom; they were all dated from the 1st to the 20th of -October, 1877; of November and December there was no record. Had he then -not continued his experiments during that period? Paul Bert thought that -these notes did not represent a work, not even a sketch, but a sort of -programme. “It was all condensed into a series of masterly conclusions,” -said Paul Bert, “which evidenced certitude, but there were no means of -discussing through which channel that certitude had come to his prudent -and powerful mind.” What should be done with those notes? Claude -Bernard’s three followers decided to publish them. “We must,” said Paul -Bert, “while telling the conditions under which the manuscript was -found, give it its character of incomplete notes, of confidences made to -itself by a great mind seeking its way, and marking its road -indiscriminately with facts and with hypotheses in order to arrive at -that feeling of certainty which, in the mind of a man of genius, often -precedes proof.” M. Berthelot, to whom the manuscript was brought, -presented these notes to the readers of the <i>Revue Scientifique</i>. He -pointed to their character, too abbreviated to conclude with a rigorous -demonstration, but he explained that several friends and pupils of -Claude Bernard had “thought that there would be some interest for -Science in preserving the trace of the last subjects of thought, however -incomplete, of that great mind.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, after the experiment at the Académie de Médecine, hurried back -to his laboratory and read with avidity those last notes of Claude -Bernard. Were they a precious find, explaining the secrets Claude -Bernard had hinted at? “Should I,” said Pasteur, “have to defend my -work, this time against that colleague and friend for whom I professed -deep admiration, or should I come across unexpected revelations, -weakening and discrediting the results I thought I had definitely -established?”</p> - -<p>His reading reassured him on that point, but saddened him on the other -hand. Since Claude Bernard had neither desired nor even authorized the -publication of those notes, why, said Pasteur, were they not accompanied -by an experimental commentary? Thus Claude Bernard would have been -credited with what was good in his MSS., and he would not have been held -responsible for what was incomplete or defective.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span></p> - -<p>“As for me, personally,” wrote Pasteur in the first pages of his -<i>Critical Examination of a Posthumous Work of Claude Bernard on -Fermentation</i>, “I found myself cruelly puzzled; had I the right to -consider Claude Bernard’s MS. as the expression of his thought, and was -I free to criticize it thoroughly?” The table of contents and headings -of chapters in Claude Bernard’s incomplete MS. condemned Pasteur’s work -on alcoholic fermentation. The non-existence of life without air; the -ferment not originated by exterior germs; alcohol formed by a soluble -ferment outside life ... such were Claude Bernard’s conclusions. “If -Claude Bernard was convinced,” thought Pasteur, “that he held the key to -the masterly conclusions with which he ended his manuscript, what could -have been his motive in withholding it from me? I looked back upon the -many marks of kindly affection which he had given me since I entered on -a scientific career, and I came to the conclusion that the notes left by -Bernard were but a programme of studies, that he had tackled the -subject, and that, following in this a method habitual to him, he had, -the better to discover the truth, formed the intention of trying -experiments which might contradict my opinions and results.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, much perplexed, resolved to put the case before his colleagues, -and did so two days later. He spoke of Bernard’s silence, his abstention -from any allusion at their weekly meetings. “It seems to me almost -impossible,” he said, “and I wonder that those who are publishing these -notes have not perceived that it is a very delicate thing to take upon -oneself, with no authorization from the author, the making public of -private notebooks! Which of us would care to think it might be done to -him!... Bernard must have put before himself that leading idea, that I -was in the wrong on every point, and taken that method of preparing the -subject he intended to study.” Such was also the opinion of those who -remembered that Claude Bernard’s advice invariably was that every theory -should be doubted at first and only trusted when found capable of -resisting objections and attacks.</p> - -<p>“If then, in the intimacy of conversation with his friends and the yet -more intimate secret of notes put down on paper and carefully put away, -Claude Bernard develops a plan of research with a view to judging of a -theory—if he imagines experiments—he is resolved not to speak about it -until those experiments have been clearly checked; we should therefore<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> -not take from his notes the most expressly formulated propositions -without reminding ourselves that all that was but a project, and that he -meant to go once again through the experiments he had already made.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur declared himself ready to answer any one who would defend those -experiments which he looked upon as doubtful, erroneous, or wrongly -interpreted. “In the opposite case,” he said, “out of respect for Claude -Bernard’s memory, I will repeat his experiments before discussing them.”</p> - -<p>Some Academicians discoursed on these notes as on simple suggestions and -advised Pasteur to continue his studies without allowing himself to be -delayed by mere control experiments. Others considered these notes as -the expression of Claude Bernard’s thought. “That opinion,” said -Pasteur—man of sentiment as he was—“that opinion, however, does not -explain the enigma of his silence towards me. But why should I look for -that explanation elsewhere than in my intimate knowledge of his fine -character? Was not his silence a new proof of his kindness, and one of -the effects of our mutual esteem? Since he thought that he held in his -hands a proof that the interpretation I had given to my experiments was -fallacious, did he not simply wish to wait to inform me of it until the -time when he thought himself ready for a definite statement? I prefer to -attribute high motives to my friend’s actions, and, in my opinion, the -surprise caused in me by his reserve towards the one colleague whom his -work most interested should give way in my heart to feelings of pious -gratitude. However, Bernard would have been the first to remind me that -scientific truth soars above the proprieties of friendship, and that my -duty lies in discussing views and opinions in my turn with full -liberty.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur having made this communication to the Academy on July 22, -hastily ordered three glass houses, which he intended to take with him -into the Jura, “where I possess,” he told his colleagues, “a vineyard -occupying some thirty or forty square yards.”</p> - -<p>Two observations expounded in a chapter of his <i>Studies on Beer</i> tend to -establish that yeast can only appear about the time when grapes ripen, -and that it disappears in the winter only to show itself again at the -end of the summer. Therefore “germs of yeast do not yet exist on green -grapes.” “We are,” he added, “at an epoch in the year when, by reason -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span> the lateness of vegetation due to a cold and rainy season, grapes -are still in the green stage in the vineyards of Arbois. If I choose -this moment to enclose some vines in almost hermetically closed glass -houses, I shall have in October during the vintage some vines bearing -ripe grapes without the exterior germs of wine yeast. Those grapes, -crushed with precautions which will not allow of the introduction of -yeast germs, will neither ferment nor produce wine. I shall give myself -the pleasure of bringing some back to Paris, to present them to the -Academy and to offer a few bunches to those of our colleagues who are -still able to believe in the spontaneous generation of yeast.”</p> - -<p>In the midst of the agitation caused by that posthumous work some said, -or only insinuated, that if Pasteur was announcing new researches on the -subject, it was because he felt that his work was threatened.</p> - -<p>“I will not accept such an interpretation of my conduct,” he wrote to J. -B. Dumas on August 4, 1878, at the very time when he was starting for -the Jura; “I have clearly explained this in my notice of July 22, when I -said I would make new experiments solely from respect to Bernard’s -memory.”</p> - -<p>As soon as Pasteur’s glass houses arrived, they were put up in the -little vineyard he possessed, two kilometres from Arbois. While they -were being put together, he examined whether the yeast germs were really -absent from the bunches of green grapes; he had the satisfaction of -seeing that it was so, and that the particular branches which were about -to be placed under glass did not bear a trace of yeast germs. Still, -fearing that the closing of the glass might be insufficient and that -there might thus be a danger of germs, he took the precaution, “while -leaving some bunches free, of wrapping a few on each plant with cotton -wool previously heated to 150° C.”</p> - -<p>He then returned to Paris and his studies on anthrax, whilst patiently -waiting for the ripening of his grapes.</p> - -<p>Besides M. Chamberland, Pasteur had enrolled M. Roux, the young man who -was so desirous of taking part in the work at the laboratory. He and M. -Chamberland were to settle down at Chartres in the middle of the summer. -A recent student of the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Vinsot, joined them -at his own request. M. Roux has told of those days in a paper on -<i>Pasteur’s Medical Work</i>:</p> - -<p>“Our guide was M. Boutet, who had unrivalled knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span> of the splenic -fever country, and we sometimes met M. Toussaint, who was studying the -same subject as we were. We have kept a pleasant memory of that campaign -against charbon in the Chartres neighbourhood. Early in the morning, we -would visit the sheepfolds scattered on that wide plateau of the Beauce, -dazzling with the splendour of the August sunshine; then necropsies took -place in M. Rabourdin’s knacker’s yard or in the farmyards. In the -afternoon, we edited our experiment notebooks, wrote to Pasteur, and -arranged for new experiments. The day was well filled, and how -interesting and salutary was that bacteriology practised in the open -air!</p> - -<p>“On the days when Pasteur came to Chartres, we did not linger over our -lunch at the Hôtel de France; we drove off to St. Germain, where M. -Maunoury had kindly put his farm and flocks at our disposal. During the -drive we talked of the week’s work and of what remained to be done.</p> - -<p>“As soon as Pasteur left the carriage he hurried to the folds. Standing -motionless by the gate, he would gaze at the lots which were being -experimented upon, with a careful attention which nothing escaped; he -would spend hours watching one sheep which seemed to him to be -sickening. We had to remind him of the time and to point out to him that -the towers of Chartres Cathedral were beginning to disappear in the -falling darkness before we could prevail upon him to come away. He -questioned farmers and their servants, giving much credit to the -opinions of shepherds, who on account of their solitary life, give their -whole attention to their flocks and often become sagacious observers.”</p> - -<p>When again at Arbois, on September 17, Pasteur began to write to the -Minister of Agriculture a note on the practical ideas suggested by this -first campaign. A few sheep, bought near Chartres and gathered in a -fold, had received, amongst the armfuls of forage offered them, a few -anthrax spores. Nothing had been easier than to bring these from the -laboratory, in a liquid culture of bacteria, and to scatter them on the -field where the little flock grazed. The first meals did not give good -scientific results, death was not easily provoked. But when the -experimental menu was completed by prickly plants, likely to wound the -sheep on their tongue or in their pharynx, such, for instance, as -thistles or ears of barley, the mortality began. It was perhaps not as -considerable as might have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span> been wished for demonstration purposes, but -nevertheless it was sufficient to explain how charbon could declare -itself, for necropsy showed the characteristic lesions of the so-called -spontaneous splenic fever. It was also to be concluded therefrom that -the evil begins in the mouth, or at the back of the throat, supervening -on meals of infected food, alone or mixed with prickly plants likely to -cause abrasion.</p> - -<p>It was therefore necessary, in a department like that of Eure et Loir, -which must be full of anthrax germs,—particularly on the surface of the -graves containing carcases of animals which had fallen victims to the -disease,—that sheep farmers should keep from the food of their animals -plants such as thistles, ears of barley, and sharp pieces of straw; for -the least scratch, usually harmless to sheep, became dangerous through -the possible introduction of the germs of the disease.</p> - -<p>“It would also be necessary” wrote Pasteur, “to avoid all probable -diffusion of charbon germs through the carcases of animals dying of that -disease, for it is likely that the department of Eure et Loir contains -those germs in greater quantities than the other departments; splenic -fever having long been established there, it always goes on, dead -animals not being disposed of so as to destroy all germs of ulterior -contagion.”</p> - -<p>After finishing this report, Pasteur went to his little vineyard on the -Besançon road, where he met with a disappointment; his precious grapes -had not ripened, all the strength of the plant seemed to have gone to -the wood and leaves. But the grapes had their turn at the end of -September and in October, those bunches that were swathed in cotton wool -as well as those which had remained free under the glass; there was a -great difference of colour between them, the former being very pale. -Pasteur placed grapes from the two series in distinct tubes. On October -10, he compared the grapes of the glass houses, free or swathed, with -the neighbouring open-air grapes. “The result was beyond my -expectations; the tubes of open-air grapes fermented with grape yeast -after a thirty-six or forty-eight hours’ sojourn in a stove from 25° C. -to 30° C.; not one, on the contrary, of the numerous tubes of grapes -swathed in cotton wool entered into alcoholic fermentation, neither did -any of the tubes containing grapes ripened free under glass. It was the -experiment described in my <i>Studies on Beer</i>. On the following days I -repeated these<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span> experiments with the same results.” He went on to -another experiment. He cut some of the swathed bunches and hung them to -the vines grown in the open air, thinking that those bunches—exactly -similar to those which he had found incapable of fermentation—would -thus get covered with the germs of alcoholic ferments, as did the -bunches grown in the open air and their wood. After that, the bunches -taken from under the glass and submitted to the usual régime would -ferment under the influence of the germs which they would receive as -well as the others; this was exactly what happened.</p> - -<p>The difficulty now was to bring to the Académie des Sciences these -branches bearing swathed bunches of grapes; in order to avoid the least -contact to the grapes, these vine plants, as precious as the rarest -orchids, had to be held upright all the way from Arbois to Paris. -Pasteur came back to Paris in a coupé carriage on the express train, -accompanied by his wife and daughter, who took it in turns to carry the -vines. At last, they arrived safely at the Ecole Normale, and from the -Ecole Normale to the Institute, and Pasteur had the pleasure of bringing -his grapes to his colleagues as he had brought his hens. “If you crush -them while in contact with pure air,” he said, “I defy you to see them -ferment.” A long discussion then ensued with M. Berthelot, which was -prolonged until February, 1879.</p> - -<p>“It is a characteristic of exalted minds,” wrote M. Roux, “to put -passion into ideas.... For Pasteur, the alcoholic fermentation was -correlative with the life of the ferment; for Bernard and M. Berthelot, -it was a chemical action like any other, and could be accomplished -without the participation of living cells.” “In alcoholic fermentation,” -said M. Berthelot, “a soluble alcoholic ferment may be produced, which -perhaps consumes itself as its production goes on.”</p> - -<p>M. Roux had seen Pasteur try to “extract the soluble alcoholic ferment -from yeast cells by crushing them in a mortar, by freezing them until -they burst, or by putting them into concentrated saline solutions, in -order to force by osmose the succus to leave its envelope.” Pasteur -confessed that his efforts were vain. In a communication to the Académie -des Sciences on December 30, 1878, he said—</p> - -<p>“It ever is an enigma to me that it should be believed that the -discovery of soluble ferments in fermentations properly so called, or of -the formation of alcohol by means of sugar, inde<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span>pendently of cells -would hamper me. It is true—I own it without hesitation, and I am ready -to explain myself more lengthily if desired—that at present I neither -see the necessity for the existence of those ferments, nor the -usefulness of their action in this order of fermentations. Why should -actions of <i>diastase</i>, which are but phenomena of hydration, be confused -with those of organized ferments, or vice versâ? But I do not see that -the presence of those soluble substances, if it were ascertained, could -change in any way the conclusions drawn from my labours, and even less -so if alcohol were formed by electrolysis.</p> - -<p>“They agree with me who admit:</p> - -<p>“Firstly. That fermentations, properly so called, offer as an essential -condition the presence of microscopic organisms.</p> - -<p>“Secondly. That those organisms have not a spontaneous origin.</p> - -<p>“Thirdly. That the life of every organism which can exist away from free -oxygen is suddenly concomitant with acts of fermentation; and that it is -so with every cell which continues to produce chemical action without -the contact of oxygen.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur related this discussion, and formed of it an appendix to -his book, <i>Critical Examination of a Posthumous Work of Claude Bernard -on Fermentations</i>, his painful feelings in opposing a friend who was no -more were so clearly evidenced that Sainte Claire Deville wrote to him -(June 9, 1879): “My dear Pasteur, I read a few passages of your new book -yesterday to a small party of professors and <i>savants</i>. We all were much -moved by the expressions with which you praise our dear Bernard, and by -your feelings of friendship and pure fraternity.”</p> - -<p>Sainte Claire Deville often spoke of his admiration for Pasteur’s -precision of thought, his forcible speech, the clearness of his -writings. As for J. B. Dumas, he called the attention of his colleagues -at the Académie Française to certain pages of that <i>Critical -Examination</i>. Though unaccustomed to those particular subjects, they -could not but be struck by the sagacity and ingenuity of Pasteur’s -researches, and by the eloquence inspired by his genius. A propos of -those ferment germs, which turn grape juice into wine, and from which he -had preserved his swathed bunches, Pasteur wrote—</p> - -<p>“What meditations are induced by those results! It is impossible not to -observe that, the further we penetrate into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> experimental study of -germs, the more we perceive sudden lights and clear ideas on the -knowledge of the causes of contagious diseases! Is it not worthy of -attention that, in that Arbois vineyard (and it would be true of the -million <i>hectares</i> of vineyards of all the countries in the world), -there should not have been, at the time when I made the aforesaid -experiments, one single particle of earth which would not have been -capable of provoking fermentation by a grape yeast, and that, on the -other hand, the earth of the glass houses I have mentioned should have -been powerless to fulfil that office? And why? Because, at a given -moment, I covered that earth with some glass. The death, if I may so -express it, of a bunch of grapes thrown at that time on any vineyard, -would infallibly have occurred through the <i>saccharomyces</i> parasites of -which I speak; that kind of death would have been impossible, on the -contrary, on the little space enclosed by my glass houses. Those few -cubic yards of air, those few square yards of soil, were there, in the -midst of a universal possible contagion, and they were safe from it.”</p> - -<p>And suddenly looking beyond those questions of yeast and vintage, -towards the germs of disease and of death: “Is it not permissible to -believe, by analogy, that a day will come when easily applied preventive -measures will arrest those scourges which suddenly desolate and terrify -populations; such as the fearful disease (yellow fever) which has -recently invaded Senegal and the valley of the Mississippi, or that -other (bubonic plague), yet more terrible perhaps, which has ravaged the -banks of the Volga.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, with his quick answers, his tenacious refutations, was looked -upon as a great fighter by his colleagues at the Academy, but in the -laboratory, while seeking Claude Bernard’s soluble ferment, he tackled -subjects from which he drew conclusions which were amazing to -physicians.</p> - -<p>A worker in the laboratory had had a series of furuncles. Pasteur, whose -proverb was “Seek the microbe,” asked himself whether the pus of -furuncles might not have an organism, which, carried to and fro,—for it -may be said that a furuncle never comes alone—would explain the centre -of inflammation and the recurrence of the furuncles. After -abstracting—with the usual purity precautions—some pus from three -successive furuncles, he found in some sterilized broth a microbe, -formed of little rounded specks which clustered to the sides of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> -culture vessel. The same was observed on a man whom Dr. Maurice Raynaud, -interested in those researches on furuncles, had sent to the laboratory, -and afterwards on a female patient of the Lariboisière Hospital, whose -back was covered with furuncles. Later on, Pasteur, taken by Dr. -Lannelongue to the Trousseau Hospital, where a little girl was about to -be operated on for that disease of the bones and marrow called -<i>osteomyelitis</i>, gathered a few drops of pus from the inside and the -outside of the bone, and again found clusters of microbes. Sown into a -culture liquid, this microbe seemed so identical with the furuncle -organism that “it might be affirmed at first sight,” said Pasteur, “that -osteomyelitis is the furuncle of bones.”</p> - -<p>The hospital now took as much place in Pasteur’s life as the laboratory. -“Chamberland and I assisted him in those studies,” writes M. Roux. “It -was to the Hôpital Cochin or to the Maternité that we went most -frequently, taking our culture tubes and sterilized pipets into the -wards or operating theatres. No one knows what feelings of repulsion -Pasteur had to overcome before visiting patients and witnessing -post-mortem examinations. His sensibility was extreme, and he suffered -morally and physically from the pains of others; the cut of the bistoury -opening an abscess made him wince as if he himself had received it. The -sight of corpses, the sad business of necropsies, caused him real -disgust; we have often seen him go home ill from those operating -theatres. But his love of science, his desire for truth were the -stronger; he returned the next day.”</p> - -<p>He was highly interested in the study of puerperal fever, which was -still enveloped in profound darkness. Might not the application of his -theories to the progress of surgery be realized in obstetrics? Could not -those epidemics be arrested which passed like scourges over lying-in -hospitals? It was still remembered with horror how, in the Paris -Maternity Hospital, between April 1 and May 10, 1856, 64 fatalities had -taken place out of 347 confinements. The hospital had to be closed, and -the survivors took refuge at the Lariboisière Hospital, where they -nearly all succumbed, pursued, it was thought, by the epidemic.</p> - -<p>Dr. Tarnier, a student residing at the Maternité during that disastrous -time, related afterwards how the ignorance of the causes of puerperal -fever was such that he was sometimes called<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span> away, by one of his chiefs, -from some post-mortem business, to assist in the maternity wards; nobody -being struck by the thought of the infection which might thus be carried -from the theatre to the bed of the patient.</p> - -<p>The discussion which arose in 1858 at the Académie de Médecine lasted -four months, and hypotheses of all kinds were brought forward. Trousseau -alone showed some prescience of the future by noticing an analogy -between infectious surgical accidents and infectious puerperal -accidents; the idea of a ferment even occurred to him. Years passed; -women of the lower classes looked upon the Maternité as the vestibule of -death. In 1864, 310 deaths occurred out of 1,350 confinement cases; in -1865, the hospital had to be closed. Works of cleansing and improvements -gave rise to a hope that the “epidemic genius” might be driven away. -“But, at the very beginning of 1866,” wrote Dr. Trélat, then -surgeon-in-chief at the Maternité, “the sanitary condition seemed -perturbed, the mortality rose in January, and in February we were -overwhelmed.” Twenty-eight deaths had occurred out of 103 cases.</p> - -<p>Trélat enumerated various causes, bad ventilation, neighbouring wards, -etc., but where was the origin of the evil?</p> - -<p>“Under the influence of causes which escape us,” wrote M. Léon Le Fort -about that time, “puerperal fever develops in a recently delivered -woman; she becomes a centre of infection, and, if that infection is -freely exercised, the epidemic is constituted.”</p> - -<p>Tarnier, who took Trélat’s place at the Maternité, in 1867, had been for -eleven years so convinced of the infectious nature of puerperal fever -that he thought but of arresting the evil by every possible means of -defence, the first of which seemed to him isolation of the patients.</p> - -<p>In 1874, Dr. Budin, then walking the hospitals, had noted in Edinburgh -the improvement due to antisepsis, thanks to Lister. Three or four years -later, in 1877 and 1878, after having seen that, in the various -maternity hospitals of Holland, Germany, Austria, Russia and Denmark, -antisepsis was practised with success, he brought his impressions with -him to Paris. Tarnier hastened to employ carbolic acid at the Maternité -with excellent results, and his assistant, M. Bar, tried sublimate. -While that new period of victory over fatal cases was beginning, Pasteur -came to the Académie de Médecine, having found, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span> certain puerperal -infections, a microbe in the shape of a chain or chaplet, which lent -itself very well to culture.</p> - -<p>“Pasteur,” wrote M. Roux, “does not hesitate to declare that that -microscopic organism is the most frequent cause of infection in recently -delivered women. One day, in a discussion on puerperal fever at the -Academy, one of his most weighty colleagues was eloquently enlarging -upon the causes of epidemics in lying-in hospitals; Pasteur interrupted -him from his place. ‘None of those things cause the epidemic; it is the -nursing and medical staff who carry the microbe from an infected woman -to a healthy one.’ And as the orator replied that he feared that microbe -would never be found, Pasteur went to the blackboard and drew a diagram -of the chain-like organism, saying: ‘There, that is what it is like!’ -His conviction was so deep that he could not help expressing it -forcibly. It would be impossible now to picture the state of surprise -and stupefaction into which he would send the students and doctors in -hospitals, when, with an assurance and simplicity almost disconcerting -in a man who was entering a lying-in ward for the first time, he -criticized the appliances, and declared that all the linen should be put -into a sterilizing stove.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was not satisfied with offering advice and criticism, making for -himself irreconcilable enemies amongst those who were more desirous of -personal distinction than of the progress of Science. In order the -better to convince those who still doubted, he affirmed that, in a badly -infected patient—what he usually and sorrowfully called an <i>invaded</i> -patient—he could bring the microbe into evidence by a simple pin prick -on the finger tip of the unhappy woman doomed to die the next day.</p> - -<p>“And he did so,” writes M. Roux. “In spite of the tyranny of medical -education which weighed down the public mind, some students were -attracted, and came to the laboratory to examine more closely those -matters, which allowed of such precise diagnosis and such confident -prognosis.”</p> - -<p>What struggles, what efforts, were necessary before it could be -instilled into every mind that a constant watch must be kept in the -presence of those invisible foes, ready to invade the human body through -the least scratch—that surgeons, dressers and nurses may become causes -of infection and propagators of death through forgetfulness! and before -the theory of germs and the all powerfulness of microbes could be put<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span> -under a full light à propos of that discussion on puerperal fever!</p> - -<p>But Pasteur was supported and inspired during that period, perhaps the -most fruitful of his existence, by the prescience that those notions -meant the salvation of human lives, and that mothers need no longer be -torn by death from the cradle of their new-born infants.</p> - -<p>“I shall force them to see; they will have to see!” he repeated with a -holy wrath against doctors who continued to talk, from their study or at -their clubs, with some scepticism, of those newly discovered little -creatures, of those ultra-microscopic parasites, trying to moderate -enthusiasm and even confidence.</p> - -<p>An experimental fact which occurred about that time was followed with -interest, not only by the Académie des Sciences, but by the general -public, whose attention was beginning to be awakened. A professor at the -Nancy Faculty, M. Feltz, had announced to the Académie des Sciences in -March, 1879, that, in the blood abstracted from a woman, who had died at -the Nancy Hospital of puerperal fever, he had found motionless -filaments, simple or articulated, transparent, straight or curved, which -belonged, he said, to the genus <i>leptothrix</i>. Pasteur, who in his -studies on puerperal fever had seen nothing of the kind, wrote to Dr. -Feltz, asking him to send him a few drops of that infected blood. After -receiving and examining the sample, Pasteur hastened to inform M. Feltz -that that leptothrix was no other than the bacillus anthracis. M. Feltz, -much surprised and perplexed, declared himself ready to own his error -and to proclaim it if he were convinced by examining blood infected by -charbon, and which, he said, he should collect wherever he could find -it. Pasteur desired to save him that trouble, and offered to send him -three little guinea-pigs alive, but inoculated, the one with the -deceased woman’s blood, the other with the bacteridia of -charbon-infected blood from Chartres, the third with some -charbon-infected blood from a Jura cow.</p> - -<p>The three rodents were inoculated on May 12, at three o’clock in the -afternoon, and arrived, living, at Nancy, on the morning of the -thirteenth. They died on the fourteenth, in the laboratory of M. Feltz, -who was thus able to observe them with particular attention until their -death.</p> - -<p>“After carefully examining the blood of the three animals after their -death, I was unable,” said M. Feltz, “to detect the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">{293}</a></span> least difference; -not only the blood, but the internal organs, and notably the spleen, -were affected in the same manner.”... “It is a certainty to my mind,” -he wrote to Pasteur, “that the contaminating agent has been the same in -the three cases, and that it was the bacteridium of what you call -anthrax.”</p> - -<p>There was therefore no such thing as a leptothrix puerperalis. And it -was at a distance, without having seen the patient, that Pasteur said: -“That woman died of charbon.” With an honourable straightforwardness, M. -Feltz wrote to the Académie des Sciences relating the facts.</p> - -<p>“It is doubly regrettable,” he concluded, “that I should not have known -charbon already last year, for, on the one hand, I might have diagnosed -the redoubtable complication presented by the case, and, on the other -hand, sought for the mode of contamination, which at present escapes me -almost completely.” All he had been able to find was that the woman, a -charwoman, lived in a little room near a stable belonging to a horse -dealer. Many animals came there; the stable might have contained -diseased ones; M. Feltz had been unable to ascertain the fact. “I must -end,” he added, “with thanks to M. Pasteur for the great kindness he has -shown me during my intercourse with him. Thanks to him, I was able to -convince myself of the identity between the bacillus anthracis and the -bacteridium found in the blood of a woman who presented all the symptoms -of grave puerperal fever.”</p> - -<p>At the time when that convincing episode was taking place, other -experiments equally precise were being undertaken concerning splenic -fever. The question was to discover whether it would be possible to find -germs of charbon in the earth of the fields which had been contaminated -purposely, fourteen months before, by pouring culture liquids over it. -It seemed beyond all probability that those germs might be withdrawn and -isolated from the innumerable other microbes contained in the soil. It -was done, however; 500 grammes of earth were mixed with water, and -infinitesimal particles of it isolated. The spore of the bacillus -anthracis resists a temperature of 80° C. or 90° C., which would kill -any other microbe; those particles of earth were accordingly raised to -that degree of heat and then injected into some guinea-pigs, several of -which died of splenic fever. It was therefore evident that flocks were -exposed to infection merely by grazing over certain fields in that land -of the Beauce.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">{294}</a></span> For it was sufficient that some infected blood should -have remained on the ground, for germs of bacteridia to be found there, -perhaps years later. How often was such blood spilt as a dead animal was -being taken to the knacker’s yard or buried on the spot! Millions of -bacteridia, thus scattered on and below the surface of the soil, -produced their spores, seeds of death ready to germinate.</p> - -<p>And yet negative facts were being opposed to these positive facts, and -the theory of spontaneity invoked! “It is with deep sorrow,” said -Pasteur at the Académie de Médecine on November 11, 1873, “that I so -frequently find myself obliged to answer thoughtless contradiction; it -also grieves me much to see that the medical Press speaks of these -discussions in apparent ignorance of the true principles of experimental -method....</p> - -<p>“That aimlessness of criticism seems explicable to me, however, by this -circumstance—that Medicine and Surgery are, I think, going through a -crisis, a transition. There are two opposite currents, that of the old -and that of the new-born doctrine; the first, still followed by -innumerable partisans, rests on the belief in the spontaneity of -transmissible diseases; the second is the theory of germs, of the living -contagium with all its legitimate consequences....”</p> - -<p>The better to point out that difference between epochs, Pasteur -respectfully advised M. Bouillaud, who was taking part in the -discussion, to read over Littré’s <i>Medicine and Physicians</i>, and to -compare with present ideas the chapter on epidemics written in 1836, -four years after the cholera which had spread terror over Paris and over -France. “Poisons and venoms die out on the spot after working the evil -which is special to them,” wrote Littré, “and are not reproduced in the -body of the victim, but virus and miasmata are reproduced and -propagated. Nothing is more obscure to physiologists than those -mysterious combinations of organic elements; but there lies the dark -room of sickness and of death which we must try to open.” “Among -epidemic diseases,” said Littré in another passage equally noted by -Pasteur, “some occupy the world and decimate nearly all parts of it, -others are limited to more or less wide areas. The origin of the latter -may be sought either in local circumstances of dampness, of marshy -ground, of decomposing animal or vegetable matter, or in the changes -which take place in men’s mode of life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">{295}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“If I had to defend the novelty of the ideas introduced into medicine by -my labours of the last twenty years,” wrote Pasteur from Arbois in -September, 1879, “I should invoke the significant spirit of Littré’s -words. Such was then the state of Science in 1836, and those ideas on -the etiology of great epidemics were those of one of the most advanced -and penetrating minds of the time. I would observe, contrarily to -Littré’s opinion, that nothing proves the spontaneity of great -epidemics! As we have lately seen the phylloxera, imported from America, -invade Europe, so it might be that the causes of great pests were -originated, unknowingly to stricken countries, in other countries which -had had fortuitous contact with the latter. Imagine a microscopic being, -inhabiting some part of Africa and existing on plants, on animals, or -even on men, and capable of communicating a disease to the white race; -if brought to Europe by some fortuitous circumstance, it may become the -occasion of an epidemic....”</p> - -<p>And, writing later, about the same passage: “Nowadays, if an article had -to be written on the same subject, it would certainly be the idea of -living ferments and microscopic beings and germs which would be -mentioned and discussed as a cause. That is the great progress,” added -Pasteur with legitimate pride, “in which my labours have had so large a -share. But it is characteristic of Science and Progress that they go on -opening new fields to our vision; the scientist, who is exploring the -unknown, resembles the traveller who perceives further and higher -summits as he reaches greater altitudes. In these days, more infectious -diseases, more microscopic beings appear to the mind as things to be -discovered, the discovery of which will render a wonderful account of -pathological conditions and of their means of action and propagation, of -self-multiplication within and destruction of the organism. The point of -view is very different from Littré’s!!”</p> - -<p>On his return to Paris, Pasteur, his mind overflowing with ideas, had -felt himself impelled to speak again, to fight once more the fallacious -theory of the spontaneity of transmissible diseases. He foresaw the -triumph of the germ theory arising from the ruin of the old -doctrines—at the price, it is true, of many efforts, many struggles, -but those were of little consequence to him.</p> - -<p>The power of his mind, the radiating gifts that he possessed, were such -that his own people were more and more interested<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">{296}</a></span> in the laboratory, -every one trying day by day to penetrate further into Pasteur’s -thoughts. His family circle had widened; his son and his daughter had -married, and the two new-comers had soon been initiated into past -results and recent experiments. He had, in his childhood and youth, been -passionately loved by his parents and sisters, and now, in his middle -age, his tenderness towards his wife and children was eagerly repaid by -the love they bore him. He made happiness around him whilst he gave -glory to France.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">{297}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> -1880—1882.</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">A new</span> microbe now became the object of the same studies of culture and -inoculation as the bacillus anthracis. Readers of this book may have had -occasion to witness the disasters caused in a farmyard by a strange and -sudden epidemic. Hens, believed to be good sitters, are found dead on -their nests. Others, surrounded by their brood, allow the chicks to -leave them, giving them no attention; they stand motionless in the -centre of the yard, staggering under a deadly drowsiness. A young and -superb cock, whose triumphant voice was yesterday heard by all the -neighbours, falls into a sudden agony, his beak closed, his eyes dim, -his purple comb drooping limply. Other chickens, respited till the next -day, come near the dying and the dead, picking here and there grains -soiled with excreta containing the deadly germs: it is chicken cholera.</p> - -<p>An Alsatian veterinary surgeon of the name of Moritz had been the first -to notice, in 1869, some “granulations” in the corpses of animals struck -down by this lightning disease, which sometimes kills as many as ninety -chickens out of a hundred, those who survive having probably recovered -from a slight attack of the cholera. Nine years after Moritz, -Perroncito, an Italian veterinary surgeon, made a sketch of the microbe, -which has the appearance of little specks. Toussaint studied it, and -demonstrated that this microbe was indeed the cause of virulence in the -blood. He sent to Pasteur the head of a cock that had died of cholera. -The first thing to do, after isolating the microbe, was to try -successive cultures; Toussaint had used neutralized urine. This, though -perfect for the culture of the bacillus anthracis, proved a bad culture -medium for the microbe of chicken cholera; its multiplication soon -became arrested. If sown in a small flask of yeast water, equally -fav<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">{298}</a></span>ourable to bacteridia, the result was worse still: the microbe -disappeared in forty-eight hours.</p> - -<p>“Is not that” said Pasteur—with the gift of comparison which made him -turn each failure into food for reflection—“an image of what we observe -when a microscopic organism proves to be harmless to a particular animal -species? It is harmless because it does not develop within the body, or -because its development does not reach the organs essential to life.”</p> - -<p>After trying other culture mediums, Pasteur found that the one which -answered best was a broth of chicken gristle, neutralized with potash -and sterilized by a temperature of 110° C. to 115° C.</p> - -<p>“The facility of multiplication of the micro-organism in that culture -medium is really prodigious,” wrote Pasteur in a duplicate communication -to the Academies of Sciences and of Medicine (February, 1880), entitled -<i>Of Virulent Diseases, and in particular that commonly called Chicken -Cholera</i>. “In a few hours, the most limpid broth becomes turgid and is -found to be full of little articles of an extreme tenuity, slightly -strangled in their middle and looking at first sight like isolated -specks; they are incapable of locomotion. Within a few days, those -beings, already so small, change into a multitude of specks so much -smaller, that the culture liquid, which had at first become turgid, -almost milky, becomes nearly clear again, the specks being of such -narrow diameter as to be impossible to measure, even approximately.</p> - -<p>“This microbe certainly belongs to quite another group than that of the -vibriones. I imagine that it will one day find a place with the still -mysterious virus, when the latter are successfully cultivated, which -will be soon, I hope.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur stated that the virulence of this microbe was such that the -smallest drop of recent culture, on a few crumbs, was sufficient to kill -a chicken. Hens fed in this way contracted the disease by their -intestinal canal, an excellent culture medium for the micro-organism, -and perished rapidly. Their infected excreta became a cause of contagion -to the hens which shared with them the laboratory cages. Pasteur thus -described one of these sick hens—</p> - -<p>“The animal suffering from this disease is powerless, staggering, its -wings droop and its bristling feathers give it the shape of a ball; an -irresistible somnolence overpowers it. If its eyes are made to open, it -seems to awake from a deep sleep,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">{299}</a></span> and death frequently supervenes after -a dumb agony, before the animal has stirred from its place; sometimes -there is a faint fluttering of the wings for a few seconds.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur tried the effect of this microbe on guinea-pigs which had been -brought up in the laboratory, and found it but rarely mortal; in general -it merely caused a sore, terminating in an abscess, at the point of -inoculation. If this abscess were opened, instead of being allowed to -heal of its own accord, the little microbe of chicken cholera was to be -found in the pus, preserved in the abscess as it might be in a phial.</p> - -<p>“Chickens or rabbits,” remarked Pasteur, “living in the society of -guinea-pigs presenting these abscesses, might suddenly become ill and -die without any alteration being seen in the guinea-pigs’ health. It -would suffice for this purpose that those abscesses should open and drop -some of their contents on the food of the chickens and rabbits.</p> - -<p>“An observer witnessing those facts, and ignorant of the above-mentioned -cause, would be astonished to see hens and rabbits decimated without -apparent cause, and would believe in the spontaneity of the evil; for he -would be far from supposing that it had its origin in the guinea-pigs, -all of them in good health. How many mysteries in the history of -contagions will one day be solved as simply as this!!!”</p> - -<p>A chance, such as happens to those who have the genius of observation, -was now about to mark an immense step in advance and prepare the way for -a great discovery. As long as the culture flasks of chicken-cholera -microbe had been sown without interruption, at twenty-four hours’ -interval, the virulence had remained the same; but when some hens were -inoculated with an old culture, put away and forgotten a few weeks -before, they were seen with surprise to become ill and then to recover. -These unexpectedly refractory hens were then inoculated with some new -culture, but the phenomenon of resistance recurred. What had happened? -What could have attenuated the activity of the microbe? Researches -proved that oxygen was the cause; and, by putting between the cultures -variable intervals of days, of one, two or three months, variations of -mortality were obtained, eight hens dying out of ten, then five, then -only one out of ten, and at last, when, as in the first case, the -culture had had time to get stale, no hens died at all, though the -microbe could still be cultivated.</p> - -<p>“Finally,” said Pasteur, eagerly explaining this pheno<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">{300}</a></span>menon, “if you -take each of these attenuated cultures as a starting-point for -successive and uninterrupted cultures, all this series of cultures will -reproduce the attenuated virulence of that which served as the -starting-point; in the same way non-virulence will reproduce -non-virulence.”</p> - -<p>And, while hens who had never had chicken-cholera perished when exposed -to the deadly virus, those who had undergone attenuated inoculations, -and who afterwards received more than their share of the deadly virus, -were affected with the disease in a benign form, a passing -indisposition, sometimes even they remained perfectly well; they had -acquired immunity. Was not this fact worthy of being placed by the side -of that great fact of vaccine, over which Pasteur had so often pondered -and meditated?</p> - -<p>He now felt that he might entertain the hope of obtaining, through -artificial culture, some vaccinating-virus against the virulent diseases -which cause great losses to agriculture in the breeding of domestic -animals, and, beyond that, the greater hope of preserving humanity from -those contagious diseases which continually decimate it. This invincible -hope led him to wish that he might live long enough to accomplish some -new discoveries and to see his followers step into the road he had -marked out.</p> - -<p>Strong in his experimental method which enabled him to produce proofs -and thus to demonstrate the truth; able to establish the connection -between a virulent and a microbian disease; finally, ready to reproduce -by culture, in several degrees of attenuation, a veritable vaccine, -could he not now force those of his opponents who were acting in good -faith to acknowledge the evidence of facts? Could he not carry all -attentive minds with him into the great movement which was about to -replace old ideas by new and precise notions, more and more accessible?</p> - -<p>Pasteur enjoyed days of incomparable happiness during that period of -enthusiasm, joys of the mind in its full power, joys of the heart in all -its expansion; for good was being done. He felt that nothing could -arrest the course of his doctrine, of which he said—“The breath of -Truth is carrying it towards the fruitful fields of the future.” He had -that intuition which makes a great poet of a great scientist. The -innumerable ideas surging through his mind were like so many bees all -trying to issue from the hive at the same time. So many plans and -preconceived ideas only stimulated him to further researches; but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">{301}</a></span> when -he was once started on a road, he distrusted each step and only -progressed in the train of precise, clear and irrefutable experiments.</p> - -<p>A paper of his on the plague, dated April, 1880, illustrates his train -of thought. The preceding year the Academy of Medicine had appointed a -commission composed of eight members, to draw up a programme of research -relative to the plague. The scourge had appeared in a village situated -on the right bank of the Volga, in the district of Astrakhan. There had -been one isolated case at first, followed ten days later by another -death; the dread disease had then invaded and devoured the whole -village, going from house to house like an inextinguishable fire; 370 -deaths had occurred in a population of 1,372 inhabitants; thirty or -forty people died every day. In one of those sinister moments when men -forget everything in their desire to live, parents and relations had -abandoned their sick and dying among the unburied dead, with 20° C. of -frost!! The neighbouring villages were contaminated; but, thanks to the -Russian authorities, who had established a strict sanitary cordon, the -evil was successfully localized. Some doctors, meeting in Vienna, -declared that that plague was no other than the Black Death of the -fourteenth century, which had depopulated Europe. The old pictures and -sculptures of the time, which represent Death pressing into his -lugubrious gang children and old men, beggars and emperors, bear witness -to the formidable ravages of such a scourge. In France, since the -epidemic at Marseilles in 1720, it seemed as if the plague were but a -memory, a distant nightmare, almost a horrible fairy tale. Dr. Rochard, -in a report to the Académie de Médecine, recalled how the contagion had -burst out in May, 1720; a ship, having lost six men from the plague on -its journey, had entered Marseilles harbour. The plague, after an -insidious first phase, had raged in all its fury in July.</p> - -<p>“Since the plague is a disease,” wrote Pasteur (whose paper was a sort -of programme of studies), “the cause of which is absolutely unknown, it -is not illogical to suppose that it too is perhaps produced by a special -microbe. All experimental research must be guided by some preconceived -ideas, and it would probably be very useful to tackle the study of that -disease with the belief that it is due to a parasite.</p> - -<p>“The most decisive of all the proofs which can be invoked in favour of -the possible correlation between a determined affection and the presence -of a micro-organism, is that afforded<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">{302}</a></span> by the method of cultures of -organisms in a state of purity; a method by which I have solved, within -the last twenty-two years, the chief difficulties relative to -fermentations properly so called; notably the important question, much -debated formerly, of the correlation which exists between those -fermentations and their particular ferments.”</p> - -<p>He then pointed out that if, after gathering either blood or pus -immediately before or immediately after the death of a plague patient, -one could succeed in discovering the micro-organism, and then in finding -for that microbe an appropriate culture medium, it would be advisable to -inoculate with it animals of various kinds, perhaps monkeys for -preference, and to look for the lesions capable of establishing -relations from cause to effect between that organism and the disease in -mankind.</p> - -<p>He did not hide from himself the great difficulties to be met with in -experimenting; for, after discovering and isolating the organism, there -is nothing to indicate <i>a priori</i> to the experimentalist an appropriate -culture medium. Liquids which suit some microbes admirably are -absolutely unsuitable to others. Take, for instance, the microbe of -chicken-cholera, which will not develop in beer yeast; a hasty -experimentalist might conclude that the chicken-cholera is not produced -by a micro-organism, and that it is a spontaneous disease with unknown -immediate causes. “The fallacy would be a fatal one,” said Pasteur, “for -in another medium, say, for instance, in chicken-broth, there would be a -virulent culture.”</p> - -<p>In these researches on the plague, then, various mediums should be -tried; also the character, either aërobic or anaërobic, of the microbe -should be present to the mind.</p> - -<p>“The sterility of a culture liquid may come from the presence of air and -not from its own constitution; the septic vibrio, for instance, is -killed by oxygen in air. From this last circumstance it is plain that -culture must be made not only in the presence of air but also in a -vacuum or in the presence of pure carbonic acid gas. In the latter case, -immediately after sowing the blood or humour to be tested, a vacuum must -be made in the tubes, they must be sealed by means of a lamp, and left -in a suitable temperature, usually between 30° C. and 40° C.” Thus he -prepared landmarks for the guidance of scientific research on the -etiology of the plague.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Desiring as Pasteur did that the public in general should take<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">{303}</a></span> an -interest in laboratory research, he sent to his friend Nisard the number -of the <i>Bulletin of the Académie de Médecine</i> which contained a first -communication on chicken-cholera, and also his paper on the plague.</p> - -<p>“Read them if you have time,” he wrote (May 3, 1880): “they may interest -you, and <i>there should be no blanks in your education</i>. They will be -followed by others.</p> - -<p>“To-day at the Institute, and to-morrow at the Académie de Médecine, I -shall give a new lecture.</p> - -<p>“Do repeat to me every criticism you hear; I much prefer them to praise, -barren unless encouragement is wanted, which is certainly not my case; I -have a lasting provision of faith and fire.”</p> - -<p>Nisard answered on May 7: “My very dear friend, I am almost dazed with -the effort made by my ignorance to follow your ideas, and dazzled with -the beauty of your discoveries on the principal point, and the number of -secondary discoveries enumerated in your marvellous paper. You are right -not to care for barren praise; but you would wrong those who love you if -you found no pleasure in being praised by them when they have no other -means of acknowledging your notes.</p> - -<p>“I am reading the notice on chicken-cholera for the second time, and I -observe that the writer is following the discoverer, and that your -language becomes elevated, supple and coloured, in order to express the -various aspects of the subject.</p> - -<p>“It gives me pleasure to see the daily growth of your fame, and I am -indeed proud of enjoying your friendship.”</p> - -<p>Amidst his researches on a vaccine for chicken-cholera, the etiology of -splenic fever was unceasingly preoccupying Pasteur. Did the splenic -germs return to the surface of the soil, and how? One day, in one of his -habitual excursions with Messrs. Roux and Chamberland to the farm of St. -Germain, near Chartres, he suddenly perceived an answer to that enigma. -In a field recently harvested, he noticed a place where the colour of -the soil differed a little from the neighbouring earth. He questioned M. -Maunoury, the proprietor of the farm, who answered that sheep dead of -anthrax had been buried there the preceding year. Pasteur drew nearer, -and was interested by the mass of little earth cylinders, those little -twists which earthworms deposit on the ground. Might that be, he -wondered, the explanation of the origin of the germs which reappear on -the surface? Might not the worms, returning from their sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">{304}</a></span>terranean -journeys in the immediate neighbourhood of graves, bring back with them -splenic spores, and thus scatter the germs so exhumed? That would again -be a singular revelation, unexpected but quite simple, due to the germ -theory. He wasted no time in dreaming of the possibilities opened by -that preconceived idea, but, with his usual impatience to get at the -truth, decided to proceed to experiment.</p> - -<p>On his return to Paris Pasteur spoke to Bouley of this possible part of -germ carriers played by earthworms, and Bouley caused some to be -gathered which had appeared on the surface of pits where animals dead of -splenic fever had been buried some years before. Villemin and Davaine -were invited as well as Bouley to come to the laboratory and see the -bodies of these worms opened; anthrax spores were found in the earth -cylinders which filled their intestinal tube.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>At the time when Pasteur revealed this pathogenic action of the -earthworm, Darwin, in his last book, was expounding their share in -agriculture. He too, with his deep attention and force of method, able -to discover the hidden importance of what seemed of little account to -second-rate minds, had seen how earthworms open their tunnels, and how, -by turning over the soil, and by bringing so many particles up to the -surface by their “castings,” they ventilate and drain the soil, and, by -their incessant and continuous work, render great services to -agriculture. These excellent labourers are redoubtable grave-diggers; -each of those two tasks, the one beneficent and the other full of -perils, was brought to light by Pasteur and Darwin, unknowingly to each -other.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had gathered earth from the pits where splenic cows had been -buried in July, 1878, in the Jura. “At three different times within -those two years,” he said to the Académie des Sciences and to the -Académie de Médecine in July, 1880, “the surface soil of those same pits -has presented charbon spores.” This fact had been confirmed by recent -experiments on the soil of the Beauce farm; particles of earth from -other parts of the field had no power of provoking splenic fever.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, going on to practical advice, showed how grazing animals might -find in certain places the germs of charbon, freed by the loosening by -rain of the little castings of earthworms. Animals are wont to choose -the surface of the pits, where the soil, being richer in humus, produces -thicker growth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_305" id="page_305">{305}</a></span> and in so doing risk their lives, for they become -infected, somewhat in the same manner as in the experiments when their -forage was poisoned with a few drops of splenic culture liquid. Septic -germs are brought to the surface of the soil in the same way.</p> - -<p>“Animals,” said Pasteur, “should never be buried in fields intended for -pasture or the growing of hay. Whenever it is possible, burying-grounds -should be chosen in sandy or chalky soils, poor, dry, and unsuitable to -the life of earthworms.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, like a general with only two aides de camp, was obliged to -direct the efforts of Messrs. Chamberland and Roux simultaneously in -different parts of France. Sometimes facts had to be checked which had -been over-hastily announced by rash experimentalists. Thus M. Roux went, -towards the end of the month of July, to an isolated property near -Nancy, called Bois le Duc Farm, to ascertain whether the successive -deaths of nineteen head of cattle were really, as affirmed, due to -splenic fever. The water of this pasture was alleged to be contaminated; -the absolute isolation of the herd seemed to exclude all idea of -contagion. After collecting water and earth from various points on the -estate M. Roux had returned to the laboratory with his tubes and pipets. -He was much inclined to believe that there had been septicæmia and not -splenic fever.</p> - -<p>M. Chamberland was at Savagna, near Lons-le-Saulnier, where, in order to -experiment on the contamination of the surface of pits, he had had a -little enclosure traced out and surrounded by an open paling in a meadow -where victims of splenic fever had been buried two years previously. -Four sheep were folded in this enclosure. Another similar fold, also -enclosing four sheep, was placed a few yards above the first one. This -experiment was intended to occupy the vacation, and Pasteur meant to -watch it from Arbois.</p> - -<p>A great sorrow awaited him there. “I have just had the misfortune of -losing my sister,” he wrote to Nisard at the beginning of August, “to -see whom (as also my parents’ and children’s graves) I returned yearly -to Arbois. Within forty-eight hours I witnessed life, sickness, death -and burial; such rapidity is terrifying. I deeply loved my sister, who, -in difficult times, when modest ease even did not reign in our home, -carried the heavy burden of the day and devoted herself to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_306" id="page_306">{306}</a></span> little -ones of whom I was one. I am now the only survivor of my paternal and -maternal families.”</p> - -<p>In the first days of August, Toussaint, the young professor of the -Toulouse Veterinary School, declared that he had succeeded in -vaccinating sheep against splenic fever. One process of vaccination -(which consisted in collecting the blood of an animal affected with -charbon just before or immediately after death, defibrinating it and -then passing it through a piece of linen and filtering it through ten or -twelve sheets of paper) had been unsuccessful; the bacteridia came -through it all and killed instead of preserving the animal. Toussaint -then had recourse to heat to kill the bacteridia: “I raised,” he said, -“the defibrinated blood to a heat of 55° C. for ten minutes; the result -was complete. Five sheep inoculated with three cubic cent. of that -blood, and afterwards with very active charbon blood, have not felt it -in the least.” However, several successive inoculations had to be made.</p> - -<p>“All ideas of holidays must be postponed; we must set to work in Jura as -well as in Paris,” wrote Pasteur to his assistants. Bouley, who thought -that the goal was reached, did not hide from himself the difficulties of -interpretation of the alleged fact. He obtained from the Minister of -Agriculture permission to try at Alfort this so-called vaccinal liquid -on twenty sheep.</p> - -<p>“Yesterday,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law on August 13, “I went to -give M. Chamberland instructions so that I may verify as soon as -possible the Toussaint fact, which I will only believe when I have seen -it, seen it with my own eyes. I am having twenty sheep bought, and I -hope to be satisfied as to the exactitude of this really extraordinary -observation in about three weeks’ time. Nature may have mystified M. -Toussaint, though his assertions seem to attest the existence of a very -interesting fact.”</p> - -<p>Toussaint’s assertion had been hasty, and Pasteur was not long in -clearing up that point. The temperature of 55° C. prolonged for ten -minutes was not sufficient to kill the bacteridia in the blood; they -were but weakened and retarded in their development; even after fifteen -minutes’ exposure to the heat, there was but a numbness of the -bacteridium. Whilst these experiments were being pursued in the Jura and -in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale, the Alfort sheep were giving -Bouley great anxiety. One died of charbon one day after inoculation, -three two days later. The others were so ill that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_307" id="page_307">{307}</a></span> M. Nocard wanted to -sacrifice one in order to proceed to immediate necropsy; Bouley -apprehended a complete disaster. But the sixteen remaining sheep -recovered gradually and became ready for the counter test of charbon -inoculation.</p> - -<p>Whilst Pasteur was noting the decisive points, he heard from Bouley and -from Roux at the same time, that Toussaint now obtained his vaccinal -liquid, no longer by the action of heat, but by the measured action of -carbolic acid on splenic fever blood. The interpretation by weakening -remained the same.</p> - -<p>“What ought we to conclude from that result?” wrote Bouley to Pasteur. -“It is evident that Toussaint does not vaccinate as he thought, with a -liquid destitute of bacteridia, since he gives charbon with that liquid; -but that he uses a liquid in which the power of the bacteridium is -reduced by the diminished number and the attenuated activity. His -vaccine must then only be charbon liquid of which the intensity of -action may be weakened to the point of not being mortal to a certain -number of susceptible animals receiving it. But it may be a most -treacherous vaccine, in that it might be capable of recuperating its -power with time. The Alfort experiment makes it probable that the -vaccine tested at Toulouse and found to be harmless, had acquired in the -lapse of twelve days before it was tried at Alfort, a greater intensity, -because the bacteridium, numbed for a time by carbolic acid, had had -time to awaken and to swarm, in spite of the acid.”</p> - -<p>Whilst Toussaint had gone to Rheims (where sat the French Association -for the Advancement of Science) to state that it was not, as he had -announced, the liquid which placed the animal into conditions of -relative immunity and to epitomize Bouley’s interpretation, to wit, that -it was a bearable charbon which he had inoculated, Pasteur wrote rather -a severe note on the subject. His insisting on scrupulous accuracy in -experiment sometimes made him a little hard; though the process was -unreliable and the explanation inexact, Toussaint at least had the merit -of having noted a condition of transitory attenuation in the -bacteridium. Bouley begged Pasteur to postpone his communication out of -consideration for Toussaint.</p> - -<p>One of the sheep folded over splenic-fever pits had died on August 25, -its body, full of bacteridia, proving once more the error of those who -believed in the spontaneity of transmissible diseases. Pasteur informed -J. B. Dumas of this, and at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_308" id="page_308">{308}</a></span> same time expressed his opinion on the -Toussaint fact. This letter was read at the Académie des Sciences.</p> - -<p>“Allow me, before I finish, to tell you another secret. I have hastened, -again with the assistance of Messrs. Chamberland and Roux, to verify the -extraordinary facts recently announced to the Academy by M. Toussaint, -professor at the Toulouse Veterinary School.</p> - -<p>“After numerous experiments leaving no room for doubt, I can assure you -that M. Toussaint’s interpretations should be gone over again. Neither -do I agree with M. Toussaint on the identity which he affirms as -existing between acute septicæmia and chicken-cholera; those two -diseases differ absolutely.”</p> - -<p>Bouley was touched by this temperate language after all the verifying -experiments made at the Ecole Normale and in the Jura. When relating the -Alfort incidents, and while expressing a hope that some vaccination -against anthrax would shortly be discovered, he revealed that Pasteur -had had “the delicacy of abstaining from a detailed criticism, so as to -leave M. Toussaint the care of checking his own results.”</p> - -<p>The struggle against virulent diseases was becoming more and more the -capital question for Pasteur. He constantly recurred to the subject, not -only in the laboratory, but in his home conversations, for he associated -his family with all the preoccupations of his scientific life. Now that -the oxygen of air appeared as a modifying influence on the development -of a microbe in the body of animals, it seemed possible that there might -be a general law applicable to every virus! What a benefit it would be -if the vaccine of every virulent disease could thus be discovered! And -in his thirst for research, considering that the scientific history of -chicken-cholera was more advanced than that of variolic and vaccinal -affections—the great fact of vaccination remaining isolated and -unexplained—he hastened on his return to Paris (September, 1880) to -press physicians on this special point—the relations between small-pox -and vaccine. “From the point of view of physiological experimentation,” -he said, “the identity of the variola virus with the vaccine virus has -never been demonstrated.” When Jules Guérin—a born fighter, still -desirous at the age of eighty to measure himself successfully with -Pasteur—declared that “human vaccine is the product of animal variola -(cow pox and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_309" id="page_309">{309}</a></span> horse pox) inoculated into man and humanised by its -successive transmissions on man,” Pasteur answered ironically that he -might as well say, “Vaccine is—vaccine.”</p> - -<p>Those who were accustomed to speak to Pasteur with absolute sincerity -advised him not to let himself be dragged further into those discussions -when his adversaries, taking words for ideas, drowned the debate in a -flood of phrases. Of what good were such debates to science, since those -who took the first place among veterinary surgeons, physicians and -surgeons, loudly acknowledged the debt which science owned to Pasteur? -Why be surprised that certain minds, deeply disturbed in their habits, -their principles, their influence, should feel some difficulty, some -anger even in abandoning their ideas? If it is painful to tenants to -leave a house in which they have spent their youth, what must it be to -break with one’s whole education?</p> - -<p>Pasteur, who allowed himself thus to be told that he lacked -philosophical serenity, acknowledged this good advice with an -affectionate smile. He promised to be calm; but when once in the room, -his adversaries’ attacks, their prejudices and insinuations, enervated -and irritated him. All his promises were forgotten.</p> - -<p>“To pretend to express the relation between human variola and vaccine by -speaking but of vaccine and its relations with cow pox and horse pox, -without even pronouncing the word small-pox, is mere equivocation, done -on purpose to avoid the real point of the debate.” Becoming excited by -Guérin’s antagonism, Pasteur turned some of Guérin’s operating processes -into ridicule with such effect that Guérin started from his place and -rushed at him. The fiery octogenarian was stopped by Baron Larrey; the -sitting was suspended in confusion. The following day, Guérin sent two -seconds to ask for reparation by arms from Pasteur. Pasteur referred -them to M. Béclard, Permanent Secretary to the Académie de Médicine, and -M. Bergeron, its Annual Secretary, who were jointly responsible for the -<i>Official Bulletin of the Academy</i>. “I am ready,” said Pasteur, “having -no right to act otherwise, to modify whatever the editors may consider -as going beyond the rights of criticism and legitimate defence.”</p> - -<p>In deference to the opinion of Messrs. Béclard and Bergeron, Pasteur -consented to terminate the quarrel by writing to the chairman of the -Academy that he had no intention of offending<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_310" id="page_310">{310}</a></span> a colleague, and that in -all discussions of that kind, he never thought of anything but to defend -the exactitude of his own work.</p> - -<p>The <i>Journal de la Médecine et de la Chimie</i>, edited by M. -Lucas-Championnière, said à propos of this very reasonable letter—“We, -for our part, admire the meekness of M. Pasteur, who is so often -described as combative and ever on the warpath. Here we have a -scientist, who now and then makes short, substantial and extremely -interesting communications. He is not a medical man, and yet, guided by -his genius, he opens new paths across the most arduous studies of -medical science. Instead of being offered the tribute of attention and -admiration which he deserves, he meets with a raging opposition from -some quarrelsome individuals, ever inclined to contradict after -listening as little as possible. If he makes use of a scientific -expression not understood by everybody, or if he uses a medical -expression slightly incorrectly, then rises before him the spectre of -endless speeches, intended to prove to him that all was for the best in -medical science before it was assisted by the precise studies and -resources of chemistry and experimentation.... Indeed, M. Pasteur’s -expression of <i>equivocation</i> seemed to us moderate!”</p> - -<p>How many such futile incidents, such vain quarrels, traverse the life of -a great man! Later on, we only see glory, apotheosis, and the statues in -public places; the demi-gods seemed to have marched in triumph towards a -grateful posterity. But how many obstacles and oppositions are there to -retard the progress of a free mind desirous of bringing his task to a -successful conclusion and incited by the fruitful thought of Death, ever -present to spirits preoccupied with interests of a superior order? -Pasteur looked upon himself as merely a passing guest of those homes of -intellect which he wished to enlarge and fortify for those who would -come after him.</p> - -<p>Confronted with the hostility, indifference and scepticism which he -found in the members of the Medical Academy, he once appealed to the -students who sat on the seats open to the public.</p> - -<p>“Young men, you who sit on those benches, and who are perhaps the hope -of the medical future of the country, do not come here to seek the -excitement of polemics, but come and learn Method.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_311" id="page_311">{311}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>His method, as opposed to vague conceptions and <i>a priori</i> speculations, -went on fortifying itself day by day. Artificial attenuation, that is, -virus modified by the oxygen of air, which weakens and abates virulence; -vaccination by the attenuated virus—those two immense steps in advance -were announced by Pasteur at the end of 1880. But would the same process -apply to the microbe of charbon? That was a great problem. The vaccine -of chicken-cholera was easy to obtain; by leaving pure cultures to -themselves for a time in contact with air, they soon lost their -virulence. But the spores of charbon, very indifferent to atmospheric -air, preserved an indefinitely prolonged virulence. After eight, ten or -twelve years, spores found in the graves of victims of splenic fever -were still in full virulent activity. It was therefore necessary to turn -the difficulty by a culture process which would act on the -filament-shaped bacteridium before the formation of spores. What may now -be explained in a few words demanded long weeks of trials, tests and -counter tests.</p> - -<p>In neutralized chicken broth, the bacteridium can no longer be -cultivated at a temperature of 45° C.; it can still be cultivated easily -at a temperature of 42° C. or 43° C., but the spores do not develop.</p> - -<p>“At that extreme temperature,” explains M. Chamberland, “the bacteridia -yet live and reproduce themselves, but they never give any germs. -Thenceforth, when trying the virulence of the phials after six, eight, -ten or fifteen days, we have found exactly the same phenomena as for -chicken-cholera. After eight days, for instance, our culture, which -originally killed ten sheep out of ten, only kills four or five; after -ten or twelve days it does not kill any; it merely communicates to -animals a benignant malady which preserves them from the deadly form.</p> - -<p>“A remarkable thing is that the bacteridia whose virulence has been -attenuated may afterwards be cultivated in a temperature of 30° C. to -35° C., at which temperature they give germs presenting the same -virulence as the filaments which formed them.”</p> - -<p>Bouley, who was a witness of all these facts, said, in other words, that -“if that attenuated and degenerated bacteridium is translated to a -culture medium in a lower temperature, favourable to its activity, it -becomes once again apt to produce spores. But those spores born of -weakened bacteridia, will<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_312" id="page_312">{312}</a></span> only produce bacteridia likewise weakened in -their swarming faculties.”</p> - -<p>Thus is obtained and enclosed in inalterable spores a vaccine ready to -be sent to every part of the world to preserve animals by vaccination -against splenic fever.</p> - -<p>On the day when he became sure of this discovery, Pasteur, returning to -his rooms from his laboratory, said to his family, with a deep -emotion—“Nothing would have consoled me if this discovery, which my -collaborators and I have made, had not been a French discovery.”</p> - -<p>He desired to wait a little longer before proclaiming it. Yet the cause -of the evil was revealed, the mode of propagation indicated, prophylaxis -made easy; surely, enough had been achieved to move attentive minds to -enthusiasm and to deserve the gratitude of sheep owners!</p> - -<p>So thought the <i>Society of French Agricultors</i>, when it decided, on -February 21, 1881, to offer to Pasteur a medal of honour. J. B. Dumas, -detained at the Académie des Sciences, was unable to attend the meeting. -He wrote to Bouley, who had been requested to enumerate Pasteur’s -principal discoveries at that large meeting—“I had desired to make -public by my presence my heartfelt concurrence in your admiration for -him who will never be honoured to the full measure of his merits, of his -services and of his passionate devotion to truth and to our country.”</p> - -<p>On the following Monday, Bouley said to Dumas, as they were walking to -the Académie des Sciences, “Your letter assures me of a small share of -immortality.”</p> - -<p>“See,” answered Dumas, pointing to Pasteur, who was preceding them, -“there is he who will lead us both to immortality.”</p> - -<p>On that Monday, February 28, Pasteur made his celebrated communication -on the vaccine of splenic fever and the whole graduated scale of -virulence. The secret of those returns to virulence lay entirely in some -successive cultures through the body of certain animals. If a weakened -bacteridium was inoculated into a guinea-pig a few days old it was -harmless; but it killed a new-born guinea-pig.</p> - -<p>“If we then go from one new-born guinea-pig to another,” said Pasteur, -“by inoculation of the blood of the first to the second, from the second -to a third, and so on, the virulence of the bacteridium—that is: its -adaptability to development<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_313" id="page_313">{313}</a></span> within the economy—becomes gradually -strengthened. It becomes by degrees able to kill guinea-pigs three or -four days old, then a week, a month, some years old, then sheep -themselves; the bacteridium has returned to its original virulence. We -may affirm, without hesitation, though we have not had the opportunity -of testing the fact, that it would be capable of killing cows and -horses; and it preserves that virulence indefinitely if nothing is done -to attenuate it again.</p> - -<p>“As to the microbe of chicken-cholera, when it has lost its power of -action on hens, its virulence may be restored to it by applying it to -small birds such as sparrows or canaries, which it kills immediately. -Then by successive passages through the bodies of those animals, it -gradually assumes again a virulence capable of manifesting itself anew -on adult hens.</p> - -<p>“Need I add, that, during that return to virulence, by the way, -virus-vaccines can be prepared at every degree of virulence for the -bacillus anthracis and for the chicken-cholera microbe.</p> - -<p>“This question of the return to virulence is of the greatest interest -for the etiology of contagious diseases.”</p> - -<p>Since charbon does not recur, said Pasteur in the course of that -communication, each of the charbon microbes attenuated in the laboratory -constitutes a vaccine for the superior microbe. “What therefore is -easier than to find in those successive virus, virus capable of giving -splenic fever to sheep, cows and horses, without making them perish, and -assuring them of ulterior immunity from the deadly disease? We have -practised that operation on sheep with the greatest success. When the -season comes for sheep-folding in the Beauce, we will try to apply it on -a large scale.”</p> - -<p>The means of doing this were given to Pasteur before long; assistance -was offered to him by various people for various reasons; some desired -to see a brilliant demonstration of the truth; others whispered their -hopes of a signal failure. The promoter of one very large experiment was -a Melun veterinary surgeon, M. Rossignol.</p> - -<p>In the <i>Veterinary Press</i>, of which M. Rossignol was one of the editors, -an article by him might have been read on the 31st January, 1881, less -than a month before that great discovery on charbon vaccine, wherein he -expressed himself as follows: “Will you have some microbe? There is some -everywhere. Microbiolatry is the fashion, it reigns undisputed; it is a -doctrine which must not even be discussed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_314" id="page_314">{314}</a></span> especially when its Pontiff, -the learned M. Pasteur, has pronounced the sacramental words, <i>I have -spoken</i>. The microbe alone is and shall be the characteristic of a -disease; that is understood and settled; henceforth the germ theory must -have precedence of pure clinics; the Microbe alone is true, and Pasteur -is its prophet.”</p> - -<p>At the end of March, M. Rossignol began a campaign, begging for -subscriptions, pointing out how much the cultivators of the Brie—whose -cattle suffered almost as much as that of the Beauce—were interested in -the question. The discovery, <i>if it were genuine</i>, should not remain -confined to the Ecole Normale laboratory, or monopolized by the -privileged public of the Académie des Sciences, who had no use for it. -M. Rossignol soon collected about 100 subscribers. Did he believe that -Pasteur and his little phials would come to a hopeless fiasco in a -farmyard before a public of old practitioners who had always been -powerless in the presence of splenic fever? Microbes were a subject for -ceaseless joking; people had hilarious visions of the veterinary -profession confined some twenty years hence in a model laboratory -assiduously cultivating numberless races, sub-races, varieties and -sub-varieties of microbes.</p> - -<p>It is probable that, if light comes from above, a good many -practitioners would not have been sorry to see a strong wind from below -putting out Pasteur’s light.</p> - -<p>M. Rossignol succeeded in interesting every one in this undertaking. -When the project was placed before the Melun Agricultural Society on the -2nd April, they hastened to approve of it and to accord their patronage.</p> - -<p>The chairman, Baron de la Rochette, was requested to approach Pasteur -and to invite him to organize public experiments on the preventive -vaccination of charbon in the districts of Melun, Fontainebleau and -Provins.</p> - -<p>“The noise which those experiments will necessarily cause,” wrote M. -Rossignol, “will strike every mind and convince those who may still be -doubting; the evidence of facts will have the result of ending all -uncertainty.”</p> - -<p>Baron de la Rochette was a typical old French gentleman; his whole -person was an ideal of old-time distinction and courtesy. Well up to -date in all agricultural progress, and justly priding himself, with the -ease of a great landowner, that he made of agriculture an art and a -science, he could speak in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_315" id="page_315">{315}</a></span> any surroundings with knowledge of his -subject and a winning grace of manner. When he entered the laboratory, -he was at once charmed by the simplicity of the scientist, who hastened -to accept the proposal of an extensive experiment.</p> - -<p>At the end of April, Pasteur wrote out the programme which was to be -followed near Melun at the farm of Pouilly le Fort. M. Rossignol had a -number of copies of that programme printed, and distributed them, not -only throughout the Department of Seine et Marne, but in the whole -agricultural world. This programme was so decidedly affirmative that -some one said to Pasteur, with a little anxiety: “You remember what -Marshal Gouyion St. Cyr said of Napoleon, that ‘he liked hazardous games -with a character of grandeur and audacity.’ It was neck or nothing with -him; you are going on in the same way!”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Pasteur, who meant to compel a victory.</p> - -<p>And as his collaborators, to whom he had just read the precise and -strict arrangements he had made, themselves felt a little nervous, he -said to them, “What has succeeded in the laboratory on fourteen sheep -will succeed just as well at Melun on fifty.”</p> - -<p>This programme left him no retreat. The Melun Agricultural Society put -sixty sheep at Pasteur’s disposal; twenty-five were to be vaccinated by -two inoculations, at twelve or fifteen days’ interval, with some -attenuated charbon virus. Some days later those twenty-five and also -twenty-five others would be inoculated with some very virulent charbon -culture.</p> - -<p>“The twenty-five unvaccinated sheep will all perish,” wrote Pasteur, -“the twenty-five vaccinated ones will survive.” They would afterwards be -compared with the ten sheep which had undergone no treatment at all. It -would thus be seen that vaccination did not prevent sheep from returning -to their normal state of health after a certain time.</p> - -<p>Then came other prescriptions, for instance, the burying of the dead -sheep in distinct graves, near each other and enclosed within a paling.</p> - -<p>“In May, 1882,” added Pasteur, “twenty new sheep, that is, sheep never -before used for experimentation, will be shut within that paling.”</p> - -<p>And he predicted that the following year, 1882, out of those twenty-five -sheep fed on the grass of that little enclosure or on forage deposited -there, several would become infected by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_316" id="page_316">{316}</a></span> charbon germs brought to -the surface by earthworms, and that they would die of splenic fever. -Finally, twenty-five other sheep might be folded in a neighbouring spot, -where no charbon victims had ever been buried, and under these -conditions none would contract the disease.</p> - -<p>M. de la Rochette having expressed a desire that cows should be included -in the programme, Pasteur answered that he was willing to try that new -experiment, though his tests on vaccine for cows were not as advanced as -those on sheep vaccine. Perhaps, he said, the results may not be as -positive, though he thought they probably would be. He was offered ten -cows; six were to be vaccinated and four not vaccinated. The experiments -were to begin on the Thursday, 5th May, and would in all likelihood -terminate about the first fortnight in June.</p> - -<p>At the time when M. Rossignol declared that all was ready for the fixed -time, an editor’s notice in the <i>Veterinary Press</i> said that the -laboratory experiments were about to be repeated <i>in campo</i>, and that -Pasteur could thus “demonstrate that he had not been mistaken when he -affirmed before the astonished Academy that he had discovered the -vaccine of splenic fever, a preventative to one of the most terrible -diseases with which animals and even men could be attacked.” This notice -ended thus, with an unexpected classical reminiscence: “These -experiments are solemn ones, and they will become memorable if, as M. -Pasteur asserts, with such confidence, they confirm all those he has -already instituted. We ardently wish that M. Pasteur may succeed and -remain the victor in a tournament which has now lasted long enough. If -he succeeds, he will have endowed his country with a great benefit, and -his adversaries should, as in the days of antiquity, wreathe their brows -with laurel leaves and prepare to follow, chained and prostrate, the -chariot of the immortal Victor. But he must succeed: such is the price -of triumph. Let M. Pasteur not forget that the Tarpeian Rock is near the -Capitol.”</p> - -<p>On May 5 a numerous crowd arriving from Melun station or from the little -station of Cesson, was seen moving towards the yard of Pouilly le Fort -farm; it looked like a mobilisation of <i>Conseillers Généraux</i>, -agricultors, physicians, apothecaries, and especially veterinary -surgeons. Most of these last were full of scepticism—as was remarked by -M. Thierry, who represented the Veterinary Society of the Yonne, and one -of his colleagues, M. Biot, of Pont-sur-Yonne. They were exchanging -jokes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_317" id="page_317">{317}</a></span> looks to the complete satisfaction of Pasteur’s adversaries. -They were looking forward to the last and most virulent inoculation.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, assisted not only by Messrs. Chamberland and Roux, but also by -a third pupil of the name of Thuillier, proceeded to the arrangement of -the subjects. At the last moment, two goats were substituted for two of -the sheep.</p> - -<p>Vaccination candidates and unvaccinated test sheep were divided under a -large shed. For the injection of the vaccinal liquid, Pravaz’s little -syringe was used; those who have experienced morphia injections know how -easily the needle penetrates the subcutaneous tissues. Each of the -twenty-five sheep received, on the inner surface of the right thigh, -five drops of the bacteridian culture which Pasteur called the first -vaccine. Five cows and one ox substituted for the sixth cow were -vaccinated in their turn, behind the shoulder. The ox and the cows were -marked on the right horn, and the sheep on the ear.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was, after this, asked to give a lecture on splenic fever in the -large hall of the Pouilly farm. Then, in clear, simple language, meeting -every objection half-way, showing no astonishment at ignorance or -prejudice, knowing perfectly well that many were really hoping for a -failure, he methodically described the road already travelled, and -pointed to the goal he would reach. For nearly an hour he interested and -instructed his mixed audience; he made them feel the genuineness of his -faith, and, besides his interest in the scientific problem, his desire -to spare heavy losses to cultivators. After the lecture, some, better -informed than others, were admiring the logical harmony of that career, -mingling with pure science results of incalculable benefit to the -public, an extraordinary alliance which gave a special moral physiognomy -to this man of prodigious labours.</p> - -<p>An appointment was made for the second inoculation. In the interval—on -May 6, 7, 8 and 9—Messrs. Chamberland and Roux came to Pouilly le Fort -to take the temperature of the vaccinated animals, and found nothing -abnormal. On May 17 a second inoculation was made with a liquid which, -though still attenuated, was more virulent than the first. If that -liquid had been inoculated to begin with it would have caused a -mortality of 50 per 100.</p> - -<p>“On Tuesday, May 31,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_318" id="page_318">{318}</a></span> “the third and -last inoculation will take place—this time with fifty sheep and ten -cows. I feel great confidence—for the two first, on the 5th and the -17th, have been effected under the best conditions without any mortality -amongst the twenty-five vaccinated subjects. On June 5 at latest the -final result will be known, and should be twenty-five survivors out of -twenty-five vaccinated, and six cows. If the success is complete, this -will be one of the finest examples of applied science in this century, -consecrating one of the greatest and most fruitful discoveries.”</p> - -<p>This great experiment did not hinder other studies being pursued in the -laboratory. The very day of the second inoculation at Pouilly le Fort, -Mme. Pasteur wrote to her daughter, “One of the laboratory dogs seems to -be sickening for hydrophobia; it seems that that would be very lucky, in -view of the interesting experiment it would provide.”</p> - -<p>On May 25, another letter from Mme. Pasteur shows how deeply each member -of the family shared Pasteur’s preoccupations and hopes and was carried -away with the stream of his ideas: “Your father has just brought great -news from the laboratory. The new dog which was trephined and inoculated -with hydrophobia died last night after nineteen days’ incubation only. -The disease manifested itself on the fourteenth day, and this morning -the same dog was used for the trephining of a fresh dog, which was done -by Roux with unrivalled skill. All this means that we shall have as many -mad dogs as will be required for experiments, and those experiments will -become extremely interesting.</p> - -<p>“Next month one of the <i>master’s</i> delegates will go to the south of -France to study the ‘rouget’ of swine, which ordinarily rages at this -time.</p> - -<p>“It is much hoped that the vaccine of that disease will be found.”</p> - -<p>The trephining of that dog had much disturbed Pasteur. He, who was -described in certain anti-vivisectionist quarters as a laboratory -executioner, had a great horror of inflicting suffering on any animal.</p> - -<p>“He could assist without too much effort,” writes M. Roux, “at a simple -operation such as a subcutaneous inoculation, and even then, if the -animal screamed at all, Pasteur was immediately filled with compassion, -and tried to comfort and encourage the victim, in a way which would have -seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_319" id="page_319">{319}</a></span> ludicrous if it had not been touching. The thought of having a -dog’s cranium perforated was very disagreeable to him; he very much -wished that the experiment should take place, and yet he feared to see -it begun. I performed it one day when he was out. The next day, as I was -telling him that the intercranial inoculation had presented no -difficulty, he began pitying the dog. ‘Poor thing! His brain is no doubt -injured, he must be paralysed!’ I did not answer, but went to fetch the -dog, whom I brought into the laboratory. Pasteur was not fond of dogs, -but when he saw this one, full of life, curiously investigating every -part of the laboratory, he showed the keenest pleasure, and spoke to the -dog in the most affectionate manner. Pasteur was infinitely grateful to -this dog for having borne trephining so well, thus lessening his -scruples for future trephining.”</p> - -<p>As the day was approaching for the last experiments at Pouilly le Fort, -excitement was increasing in the veterinary world. Every chance meeting -led to a discussion; some prudent men said “Wait.” Those that believed -were still few in number.</p> - -<p>One or two days before the third and decisive inoculation, the -veterinary surgeon of Pont-sur-Yonne, M. Biot, who was watching with a -rare scepticism the Pouilly le Fort experiments, met Colin on the road -to Maisons-Alfort. “Our conversation”—M. Biot dictated the relation of -this episode to M. Thierry, his colleague, also very sceptical and -expecting the Tarpeian Rock—“our conversation naturally turned on -Pasteur’s experiments. Colin said: ‘You must beware, for there are two -parts in the bacteridia-culture broth: one upper part which is inert, -and one deep part very active, in which the bacteridia become -accumulated, having dropped to the bottom because of their weight. The -vaccinated sheep will be inoculated with the upper part of the liquid, -whilst the others will be inoculated with the bottom liquid, which will -kill them.’<span class="lftspc">”</span> Colin advised M. Biot to seize at the last moment the phial -containing the virulent liquid and to shake it violently, “so as to -produce a perfect mixture rendering the whole uniformly virulent.”</p> - -<p>If Bouley had heard such a thing, he would have lost his temper, or he -would have laughed heartily. A year before this, in a letter to M. -Thierry, who not only defended but extolled Colin, Bouley had written:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_320" id="page_320">{320}</a></span></p> - -<p>“No doubt Colin is a man of some value, and he has cleverly taken -advantage of his position of Chief of the Anatomy department at Alfort -to accomplish some important labours. But it is notable that his -negative genius has ever led him to try and demolish really great work. -He denied Davaine, Marey, Claude Bernard, Chauveau; now he is going for -Pasteur.” Bouley, to whom Colin was indebted for his situation at -Alfort, might have added, “And he calls me his persecutor!” But Biot -refused to believe in Colin’s hostility and only credited him with -scruples on the question of experimental physiology. Colin did not doubt -M. Pasteur’s bona fides, M. Biot said, but only his aptitude to conduct -experiments <i>in anima vili</i>.</p> - -<p>On May 31, every one was at the farm. M. Biot executed Colin’s -indications and shook the virulent tube with real veterinary energy. He -did more: still acting on advice from Colin, who had told him that the -effective virulence was in direct proportion to the quantity injected, -he asked that a larger quantity of liquid than had been intended should -be inoculated into the animals. A triple dose was given. Other -veterinary surgeons desired that the virulent liquid should be -inoculated alternatively into vaccinated and unvaccinated animals. -Pasteur lent himself to these divers requests with impassive -indifference and without seeking for their motives.</p> - -<p>At half-past three everything was done, and a rendezvous fixed for June -2 at the same place. The proportion between believers and unbelievers -was changing. Pasteur seemed so sure of his ground that many were saying -“He can surely not be mistaken.” One little group had that very morning -drunk to a <i>fiasco</i>. But, whether from a sly desire to witness a -failure, or from a generous wish to be present at the great scientific -victory, every man impatiently counted the hours of the two following -days.</p> - -<p>On June 4, Messrs. Chamberland and Roux went back to Pouilly le Fort to -judge of the condition of the patients. Amongst the lot of unvaccinated -sheep, several were standing apart with drooping heads, refusing their -food. A few of the vaccinated subjects showed an increase of -temperature; one of them even had 40° C. (104° Fahrenheit); one sheep -presented a slight œdema of which the point of inoculation was the -centre; one lamb was lame, another manifestly feverish, but all, save -one, had preserved their appetite. All the unvaccinated sheep were -getting worse and worse. “In all of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_321" id="page_321">{321}</a></span> them” noted M. Rossignol, -“breathlessness is at its maximum; the heaving of the sides is now and -then interrupted by groans. If the most sick are forced to get up and -walk, it is with great difficulty that they advance a few steps, their -limbs being so weak and vacillating.” Three had died by the time M. -Rossignol left Pouilly le Fort. “Everything leads me to believe,” he -wrote, “that a great number of sheep will succumb during the night.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s anxiety was great when Messrs. Chamberland and Roux returned, -having noticed a rise in the temperature of certain vaccinated subjects. -It was increased by the arrival of a telegram from M. Rossignol -announcing that he considered one sheep as lost. By a sudden reaction, -Pasteur, who had drawn up such a bold programme, leaving no margin for -the unexpected, and who the day before seemed of an imperturbable -tranquillity among all those sheep, the life or death of whom was about -to decide between an immortal discovery and an irremediable failure, now -felt himself beset with doubts and anguish.</p> - -<p>Bouley, who had that evening come to see his <i>master</i>, as he liked to -call him, could not understand this reaction—the result of too much -strain on the mind, said M. Roux, whom it did not astonish. Pasteur’s -emotional nature, strangely allied to his fighting temperament, was -mastering him. “His faith staggered for a time,” writes M. Roux, “as if -the experimental method could betray him.” The night was a sleepless -one.</p> - -<p>“This morning, at eight o’clock,” wrote Mme. Pasteur to her daughter, -“we were still very much excited and awaiting the telegram which might -announce some disaster. Your father would not let his mind be distracted -from his anxiety. At nine o’clock the laboratory was informed, and the -telegram handed to me five minutes later. I had a moment’s emotion, -which made me pass through all the colours of the rainbow. Yesterday, a -considerable rise of temperature had been noticed with terror in one of -the sheep; this morning that same sheep was well again.”</p> - -<p>On the arrival of the telegram Pasteur’s face lighted up; his joy was -deep, and he desired to share it immediately with his absent children. -Before starting for Melun, he wrote them this letter:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_322" id="page_322">{322}</a></span></p> - -<p class="r"> -“<i>June 2, 1881.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p>“It is only Thursday, and I am already writing to you; it is because a -great result is now acquired. A wire from Melun has just announced it. -On Tuesday last, 31st May, we inoculated all the sheep, vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, with very virulent splenic fever. It is not forty-eight -hours ago. Well, the telegram tells me that, when we arrive at two -o’clock this afternoon, all the non-vaccinated subjects will be dead; -eighteen were already dead this morning, and the others dying. As to the -vaccinated ones, they are all well; the telegram ends by the words -‘<i>stunning success</i>’; it is from the veterinary surgeon, M. Rossignol.</p> - -<p>“It is too early yet for a final judgment; the vaccinated sheep might -yet fall ill. But when I write to you on Sunday, if all goes well, it -may be taken for granted that they will henceforth preserve their good -health, and that the success will indeed have been startling. On -Tuesday, we had a foretaste of the final results. On Saturday and -Sunday, two sheep had been abstracted from the lot of twenty-five -vaccinated sheep, and two from the lot of twenty-five non-vaccinated -ones, and inoculated with a very virulent virus. Now, when on Tuesday -all the visitors arrived, amongst whom were M. Tisserand, M. Patinot, -the Prefect of Seine et Marne, M. Foucher de Careil, Senator, etc., we -found the two unvaccinated sheep dead, and the two others in good -health. I then said to one of the veterinary surgeons who were present, -‘Did I not read in a newspaper, signed by you, à propos of the virulent -little organism of saliva, “There! one more microbe; when there are 100 -we shall make a cross”?’ ‘It is true,’ he immediately answered, -honestly. ‘But I am a converted and repentant sinner.’ ‘Well,’ I -answered, ‘allow me to remind you of the words of the Gospel: Joy shall -be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and -nine just persons which need no repentance.’ Another veterinary surgeon -who was present said, ‘I will bring you another, M. Colin.’ ‘You are -mistaken,’ I replied. ‘M. Colin contradicts for the sake of -contradicting, and does not believe because he will not believe. You -would have to cure a case of neurosis, and you cannot do that!’ Joy -reigns in the laboratory and in the house. Rejoice, my dear children.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur arrived, at two o’clock in the afternoon, at the farmyard -of Pouilly le Fort, accompanied by his young<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_323" id="page_323">{323}</a></span> collaborators, a murmur of -applause arose, which soon became loud acclamation, bursting from all -lips. Delegates from the Agricultural Society of Melun, from medical -societies, veterinary societies, from the Central Council of Hygiene of -Seine et Marne, journalists, small farmers who had been divided in their -minds by laudatory or injurious newspaper articles—all were there. The -carcases of twenty-two unvaccinated sheep were lying side by side; two -others were breathing their last; the last survivors of the sacrificed -lot showed all the characteristic symptoms of splenic fever. All the -vaccinated sheep were in perfect health.</p> - -<p>Bouley’s happy face reflected the feelings which were so characteristic -of his attractive personality: enthusiasm for a great cause, devotion to -a great man. M. Rossignol, in one of those loyal impulses which honour -human nature, disowned with perfect sincerity his first hasty judgment; -Bouley congratulated him. He himself, many years before, had allowed -himself to judge too hastily, he said, of certain experiments of -Davaine’s, of which the results then appeared impossible. After having -witnessed these experiments, Bouley had thought it a duty to proclaim -his error at the Académie de Médecine, and to render a public homage to -Davaine. “That, I think,” he said, “is the line of conduct which should -always be observed; we honour ourselves by acknowledging our mistakes -and by rendering justice to neglected merit.”</p> - -<p>No success had ever been greater than Pasteur’s. The veterinary -surgeons, until then the most incredulous, now convinced, desired to -become the apostles of his doctrine. M. Biot spoke of nothing less than -of being himself vaccinated and afterwards inoculated with the most -active virus. Colin’s absence was much regretted. Pasteur was not yet -satisfied. “We must wait until the 5th of June,” he said, “for the -experiment to be complete, and the proof decisive.”</p> - -<p>M. Rossignol and M. Biot proceeded on the spot to the necropsy of two of -the dead sheep. An abundance of bacteridia was very clearly seen in the -blood through the microscope.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was accompanied back to the station by an enthusiastic crowd, -saluting him—with a luxury of epithets contrasting with former -ironies—as the immortal author of the magnificent discovery of splenic -fever vaccination, and it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_324" id="page_324">{324}</a></span> decided that the farm of Pouilly le Fort -would henceforth bear the name of <i>Clos Pasteur</i>.</p> - -<p>The one remaining unvaccinated sheep died that same night. Amongst the -vaccinated lot one ewe alone caused some anxiety. She was pregnant, and -died on the 4th of June, but from an accident due to her condition, and -not from the consequences of the inoculation, as was proved by a -post-mortem examination.</p> - -<p>Amongst the cattle, those which had been vaccinated showed no sign -whatever of any disturbance; the others presented enormous œdemata.</p> - -<p>Pasteur wrote to his daughter: “Success is definitely confirmed; the -vaccinated animals are keeping perfectly well, the test is complete. On -Wednesday a report of the facts and results will be drawn up which I -shall communicate to the Académie des Sciences on Monday, and on Tuesday -to the Académie de Médecine.”</p> - -<p>And, that same day, he addressed a joyful telegram to Bouley, who, in -his quality of General Inspector of Veterinary Schools, had been obliged -to go to Lyons. Bouley answered by the following letter:</p> - -<p>“Lyons, June 5, 1881. Dearest Master, your triumph has filled me with -joy. Though the days are long past now when my faith in you was still -somewhat hesitating, not having sufficiently impregnated my mind with -your spirit, as long as the event—which has just been realized in a -manner so rigorously in conformity with your predictions—was still in -the future, I could not keep myself from feeling a certain anxiety, of -which you were yourself the cause, since I had seen you also a prey to -it, like all inventors on the eve of the day which reveals their glory. -At last your telegram, <i>for which I was pining</i>, has come to tell me -that the world has found you faithful to all your promises, and that you -have inscribed one more great date in the <i>annals of Science</i>, and -particularly in those of Medicine, for which you have opened a new era.</p> - -<p>“I feel the greatest joy at your triumph; in the first place, for you, -who are to-day receiving the reward of your noble efforts in the pursuit -of Truth; and—shall I tell you?—for myself too, for I have so -intimately associated myself with your work that I should have felt your -failure absolutely as if it had been personal to me. All my teaching at -the Museum consists in relating your labours and predicting their -fruitfulness.”</p> - -<p>Those experiments at Pouilly le Fort caused a tremendous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_325" id="page_325">{325}</a></span> sensation; the -whole of France burst out in an explosion of enthusiasm. Pasteur now -knew fame under its rarest and purest form; the loving veneration, the -almost worship with which he inspired those who lived near him or worked -with him, had become the feeling of a whole nation.</p> - -<p>On June 13, at the Académic des Sciences, he was able to state as -follows his results and their practical consequences: “We now possess -virus vaccines of charbon, capable of preserving from the deadly -disease, without ever being themselves deadly—living vaccines, to be -cultivated at will, transportable anywhere without alteration, and -prepared by a method which we may believe susceptible of being -generalized, since it has been the means of discovering the vaccine of -chicken-cholera. By the character of the conditions I am now -enumerating, and from a purely scientific point of view, the discovery -of the vaccine of anthrax constitutes a marked step in advance of that -of Jenner’s vaccine, since the latter has never been experimentally -obtained.”</p> - -<p>On all sides, it was felt that something very great, very unexpected, -justifying every sort of hope, had been brought forth. Ideas of research -were coming up. On the very morrow of the results obtained at Pouilly le -Fort, Pasteur was asked to go to the Cape to study a contagious disease -raging among goats.</p> - -<p>“Your father would like to take that long journey,” wrote Mme. Pasteur -to her daughter, “passing on his way through Senegal to gather some good -germs of pernicious fever; but I am trying to moderate his ardour. I -consider that the study of hydrophobia should suffice him for the -present.”</p> - -<p>He was at that time “at boiling point,” as he put it—going from his -laboratory work to the Academies of Sciences and Medicine to read some -notes; then to read reports at the Agricultural Society; to Versailles, -to give a lecture to an Agronomic Congress, and to Alfort to lecture to -the professors and students. His clear and well-arranged words, the -connection between ideas and the facts supporting them, the methodical -recital of experiments, allied to an enthusiastic view of the future and -its prospects—especially when addressing a youthful audience—deeply -impressed his hearers. Those who saw and heard him for the first time -were the more surprised that, in certain circles, a legend had formed -round Pasteur’s name. He had been described as of an irritable, -intolerant temper, domineering and authoritative, almost despotic; and -people now saw a man<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_326" id="page_326">{326}</a></span> of perfect simplicity, so modest that he did not -seem to realize his own glory, pleased to answer—even to provoke—every -objection, only raising his voice to defend Truth, to exalt Work, and to -inspire love for France, which he wished to see again in the first rank -of nations. He did not cease to repeat that the country must regain her -place through scientific progress. Boys and youths—ever quick to -penetrate the clever calculations of those who seek their own interest -instead of accomplishing a duty—listened to him eagerly and, very soon -conquered, enrolled themselves among his followers. In him they -recognized the three rarely united qualities which go to form true -benefactors of humanity: a mighty genius, great force of character, and -genuine goodness.</p> - -<p>The Republican Government, desirous of recognizing this great discovery -of splenic fever vaccination, offered him the Grand Cordon of the Legion -of Honour. Pasteur put forward one condition; he wanted, at the same -time, the red ribbon for his two collaborators. “What I have most set my -heart upon is to obtain the Cross for Chamberland and Roux,” he wrote to -his son-in-law on June 26; “only at that price will I accept the Grand -Cross. They are taking such trouble! Yesterday they went to a place -fifteen kilometres from Senlis, to vaccinate ten cows and 250 sheep. On -Thursday we vaccinated 300 sheep at Vincennes. On Sunday they were near -Coulommiers. On Friday we are going to Pithiviers. What I chiefly wish -is that the discovery should be consecrated by an exceptional -distinction to two devoted young men, full of merit and courage. I wrote -yesterday to Paul Bert, asking him to intervene most warmly in their -favour.”</p> - -<p>One of Pasteur’s earliest friends, who, in 1862, had greeted with joy -his election to the Académie des Sciences, and who had never ceased to -show the greatest interest in the progress due to the experimental -method, entered the Ecole Normale laboratory with a beaming face. Happy -to bring good tidings, he took his share of them like the devoted, -hardworking, kindly man that he was. “M. Grandeau,” wrote Mme. Pasteur -to her children, “has just brought to the laboratory the news that Roux -and Chamberland have the Cross and M. Pasteur the Grand Cross of the -Legion of Honour. Hearty congratulations were exchanged in the midst of -the rabbits and guinea-pigs.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Those days were darkened by a great sorrow. Henri Sainte<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_327" id="page_327">{327}</a></span> Claire Deville -died. Pasteur was then reminded of the words of his friend in 1868: “You -will survive me, I am your senior; promise that you will pronounce my -funeral oration.” When formulating this desire, Sainte Claire Deville -had no doubt been desirous of giving another direction to the -presentiments of Pasteur, who believed himself death-stricken. But, -whether it was from a secret desire, or from an affectionate impulse, he -felt that none understood him better than Pasteur. Both loved Science -after the same manner; they gave to patriotism its real place; they had -hopes for the future of the human mind; they were moved by the same -religious feelings before the mysteries of the Infinite.</p> - -<p>Pasteur began by recalling his friend’s wish: “And here am I, before thy -cold remains, obliged to ask my memory what thou wert in order to repeat -it to the multitude crowding around thy coffin. But how superfluous! Thy -sympathetic countenance, thy witty merriment and frank smile, the sound -of thy voice remain with us and live within us. The earth which bears -us, the air we breathe, the elements, often interrogated and ever docile -to answer thee, could speak to us of thee. Thy services to Science are -known to the whole world, and every one who has appreciated the progress -of the human mind is now mourning for thee.”</p> - -<p>He then enumerated the scientist’s qualities, the inventive precision of -that eager mind, full of imagination, and at the same time the -strictness of analysis and the fruitful teaching so delightedly -recognized by those who had worked with him, Debray, Troost, Fouqué, -Grandeau, Hautefeuille, Gernez, Lechartier. Then, showing that, in -Sainte Claire Deville, the man equalled the scientist:</p> - -<p>“Shall I now say what thou wert in private life? Again, how superfluous! -Thy friends do not want to be reminded of thy warm heart. Thy pupils -want no proofs of thy affection for them and thy devotion in being of -service to them! See their sorrow.</p> - -<p>“Should I tell thy sons, thy five sons, thy joy and pride, of the -preoccupations of thy paternal and prudent tenderness? And can I speak -of thy smiling goodness to her, the companion of thy life, the mere -thought of whom filled thy eyes with a sweet emotion?</p> - -<p>“Oh! I implore thee, do not now look down upon thy weeping wife and -afflicted sons: thou wouldst regret this life too<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_328" id="page_328">{328}</a></span> much! Wait for them -rather in those divine regions of knowledge and full light, where thou -knowest all now, where thou canst understand the Infinite itself, that -terrible and bewildering notion, closed for ever to man in this world, -and yet the eternal source of all Grandeur, of all Justice and all -Liberty.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s voice was almost stifled by his team, as had been that of J. -B. Dumas speaking at Péclet’s tomb. The emotions of savants are all the -deeper that they are not enfeebled, as in so many writers or speakers, -by the constant use of words which end by wearing out the feelings.</p> - -<p>Little groups slowly walking away from a country churchyard seem to take -with them some of the sadness they have been feeling, but the departure -from a Paris cemetery gives a very different impression. Life -immediately grasps again and carries away in its movement the mourners, -who now look as if they had been witnessing an incident in which they -were not concerned. Pasteur felt such bitter contrasts with all his -tender soul, he had a cult for dear memories; Sainte Claire Deville’s -portrait ever remained in his study.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The adversaries of the new discovery now had recourse to a new mode of -attack. The virus which had been used at Pouilly le Fort to show how -efficacious were the preventive vaccinations was, they said, a culture -virus—some even said a Machiavellian preparation of Pasteur’s. Would -vaccinated animals resist equally well the action of the charbon blood -itself, the really malignant and infallibly deadly blood? Those sceptics -were therefore impatiently awaiting the result of some experiments which -were being carried out near Chartres in the farm of Lambert. Sixteen -Beauceron sheep were joined to a lot of nineteen sheep brought from -Alfort and taken from the herd of 300 sheep vaccinated against charbon -three weeks before, on the very day of the lecture at Alfort. On July -16, at 10 o’clock in the morning, the thirty-five sheep, vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, were gathered together. The corpse of a sheep who had -died of charbon four hours before, in a neighbouring farm, was brought -into the field selected for the experiments. After making a post-mortem -examination and noting the characteristic injuries of splenic fever, ten -drops of the dead sheep’s blood were injected into each of the -thirty-five sheep, taking one vaccinated at Alfort and one -non-vaccinated Beauceron alternately. Two days later, on July 18, ten of -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_329" id="page_329">{329}</a></span> latter were already dead, most of the others were prostrated. The -vaccinated sheep were perfectly well.</p> - -<p>While the ten dead sheep were being examined, two more died, and three -more on the 19th. Bouley, informed by the veterinary surgeon, Boutet, of -those successive incidents, wrote on the 20th to Pasteur: “My dear -Master, Boutet has just informed me of the Chartres event. All has been -accomplished according to the master’s words; your vaccinated sheep have -triumphantly come through the trial, and all the others save one are -dead. That result is of special importance in a country-side where -incredulity was being maintained in spite of all the demonstrations -made. It seems that the doctors especially were refractory. They said it -was too good to be true, and they counted on the strength of the natural -charbon to find your method in default. Now they are converted, Boutet -writes, and the veterinary surgeon too—one amongst others, whose brain, -it seems, was absolutely <i>iron-clad</i>—also the agricultors. There is a -general Hosannah in your honour.”</p> - -<p>After congratulating Pasteur on the Grand Cross, he added, “I was also -very glad of the reward you have obtained for your two young -collaborators, so full of your spirit, so devoted to your work and your -person, and whose assistance is so self-sacrificing and disinterested. -The Government has honoured itself by so happily crowning with that -distinction the greatness of the discovery in which they took part.”</p> - -<p>Henceforth, and for a time, systematic opposition ceased. Thousands and -thousands of doses were used of the new vaccine, which afterwards saved -millions to agriculture.</p> - -<p>A few days later, came a change in Pasteur’s surroundings. He was -invited by the Organizing Committee to attend the International Medical -Congress in London, and desired by the Government of the Republic to -represent France.</p> - -<p>On August 3, when he arrived in St. James’ Hall, filled to overflowing, -from the stalls to the topmost galleries, he was recognized by one of -the stewards, who invited him to come to the platform reserved for the -most illustrious members of the Congress. As he was going towards the -platform, there was an outburst of applause, hurrahs and acclamations. -Pasteur turned to his two companions, his son and his son-in-law, and -said, with a little uneasiness: “It is no doubt the Prince of Wales -arriving; I ought to have come sooner.”</p> - -<p>“But it is you that they are all cheering,” said the Presi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_330" id="page_330">{330}</a></span>dent of the -Congress, Sir James Paget, with his grave, kindly smile.</p> - -<p>A few moments later, the Prince of Wales entered, accompanying his -brother-in-law, the German Crown Prince.</p> - -<p>In his speech, Sir James Paget said that medical science should aim at -three objects: novelty, utility and charity. The only scientist named -was Pasteur; the applause was such that Pasteur, who was sitting behind -Sir James Paget, had to rise and bow to the huge assembly.</p> - -<p>“I felt very proud,” wrote Pasteur to Mme. Pasteur in a letter dated -that same day, “I felt inwardly very proud, not for myself—you know how -little I care for triumph!—but for my country, in seeing that I was -specially distinguished among that immense concourse of foreigners, -especially of Germans, who are here in much greater numbers than the -French, whose total, however, reaches two hundred and fifty. Jean -Baptiste and René were in the Hall; you can imagine their emotion.</p> - -<p>“After the meeting, we lunched at Sir James Paget’s house; he had the -Prussian Crown Prince on his right and the Prince of Wales on his left. -Then there was a gathering of about twenty-five or thirty guests in the -drawing-room. Sir James presented me to the Prince of Wales, to whom I -bowed, saying that I was happy to salute a friend to France. ‘Yes,’ he -answered, ‘a great friend.’ Sir James Paget had the good taste not to -ask me to be presented to the Prince of Prussia; though there is of -course room for nothing but courtesy under such circumstances, I could -not have brought myself to appear to wish to be presented to him. But he -himself came up to me and said, ‘M. Pasteur, allow me to introduce -myself to you, and to tell you that I had great pleasure in applauding -you just now,’ adding some more pleasant things.”</p> - -<p>In the midst of the unexpected meetings brought about by that Congress, -it was an interesting thing to see this son of a King and Emperor, the -heir to the German crown, thus going towards that Frenchman whose -conquests were made over disease and death. Of what glory might one day -dream this Prince, who became Frederic III!</p> - -<p>His tall and commanding stature, the highest position in the Prussian -army conferred on him by his father, King William, in a solemn letter -dated from Versailles, October, 1870—everything seemed to combine in -making a warlike man of this powerful-looking prince. And yet was it not -said in France<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_331" id="page_331">{331}</a></span> that he had protested against certain barbarities, -coldly executed by some Prussian generals during that campaign of 1870? -Had he not considered the clauses of the Treaty of Frankfort as -Draconian and dangerous? If he had been sole master, would he have torn -Alsace away from France? What share would his coming reign bear in the -history of civilization?... Fate had already marked this Prince, only -fifty years old, for an approaching death. In his great sufferings, -before the inexorable death which was suffocating him, he was heroically -patient. His long agony began at San Remo, amongst the roses and -sunshine; he was an Emperor for less than one hundred days, and, on his -death-bed, words of peace, peace for his people, were on his lips.</p> - -<p>As Pasteur, coming to this Congress, was not only curious to see what -was the place held in medicine and surgery by the germ-theory, but also -desirous to learn as much as possible, he never missed a discussion and -attended every meeting. It was in a simple sectional meeting that -Bastian attempted to refute Lister. After his speech, the President -suddenly said, “I call on M. Pasteur,” though Pasteur had not risen. -There was great applause; Pasteur did not know English; he turned to -Lister and asked him what Bastian had said.</p> - -<p>“He said,” whispered Lister, “that microscopic organizations in disease -were formed by the tissues themselves.”</p> - -<p>“That is enough for me,” said Pasteur. And he then invited Bastian to -try the following experiment:</p> - -<p>“Take an animal’s limb, crush it, allow blood and other normal or -abnormal liquids to spread around the bones, only taking care that the -skin should neither be torn nor opened in any way, and I defy you to see -any micro-organism formed within that limb as long as the illness will -last.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, desired to do so by Sir James Paget at one of the great General -Meetings of the Congress, gave a lecture on the principles which had led -him to the attenuation of virus, on the methods which had enabled him to -obtain the vaccines of chicken-cholera and of charbon, and, finally, on -the results obtained. “In a fortnight,” he said, “we vaccinated, in the -Departments surrounding Paris, nearly 20,000 sheep, and a great many -oxen, cows and horses....</p> - -<p>“Allow me,” he continued, “not to conclude without telling you of the -great joy that I feel in thinking that it is as a member of the -International Medical Congress sitting in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_332" id="page_332">{332}</a></span> London that I have made known -to you the vaccination of a disease more terrible perhaps for domestic -animals than is small-pox for man. I have given to the word vaccination -an extension which I hope Science will consecrate as a homage to the -merit and immense services rendered by your Jenner, one of England’s -greatest men. It is a great happiness to me to glorify that immortal -name on the very soil of the noble and hospitable city of London!”</p> - -<p>“Pasteur was the greatest success of the Congress,” wrote the -correspondent of the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, Dr. Daremberg, glad as a -Frenchman and as a physician to hear the unanimous hurrahs which greeted -the delegate of France. “When M. Pasteur spoke, when his name was -mentioned, a thunder of applause rose from all benches, from all -nations. An indefatigable worker, a sagacious seeker, a precise and -brilliant experimentalist, an implacable logician, and an enthusiastic -apostle, he has produced an invincible effect on every mind.”</p> - -<p>The English people, who chiefly look in a great man for power of -initiative and strength of character, shared this admiration. One group -only, alone in darkness, away from the Congress, was hostile to the -general movement and was looking for an opportunity for direct or -indirect revenge; it was the group of anti-vaccinators and -anti-vivisectionists. The influence of the latter was great enough in -England to prevent experimentation on animals. At a general meeting of -the Congress, Virchow, the German scientist, spoke on the use of -experimenting in pathology.</p> - -<p>Already at a preceding Congress held in Amsterdam, Virchow had said amid -the applause of the Assembly: “Those who attack vivisection have not the -faintest idea of Science, and even less of the importance and utility of -vivisection for the progress of medicine.” But to this just argument, -the international leagues for the protection of animals—very powerful, -like everything that is founded on a sentiment which may be exalted—had -answered by combative phrases. The physiological laboratories were -compared to chambers of torture. It seemed as if, through caprice or -cruelty, quite uselessly at any rate, this and that man of science had -the unique desire of inflicting on bound animals, secured on a board, -sufferings of which death was the only limit. It is easy to excite pity -towards animals; an audience is conquered as soon as dogs are mentioned. -Which of us, whether a cherished child, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_333" id="page_333">{333}</a></span> neglected old maid, a man in -the prime of his youth or a misanthrope weary of everything, has not, -holding the best place in his recollections, the memory of some example -of fidelity, courage or devotion given by a dog? In order to raise the -revolt, it was sufficient for anti-vivisectionists to evoke amongst the -ghosts of dog martyrs the oft-quoted dog who, whilst undergoing an -experiment, licked the hand of the operator. As there had been some -cruel abuses on the part of certain students, those abuses alone were -quoted. Scientists did not pay much heed to this agitation, partly a -feminine one: they relied on the good sense of the public to put an end -to those doleful declamations. But the English Parliament voted a Bill -prohibiting vivisection; and, after 1876, English experimentalists had -to cross the Channel to inoculate a guinea-pig.</p> - -<p>Virchow did not go into details; but, in a wide exposé of Experimental -Physiological Medicine, he recalled how, at each new progress of -Science—at one time against the dissection of dead bodies and now -against experiments on living animals—the same passionate criticisms -had been renewed. The Interdiction Bill voted in England had filled a -new Leipzig Society with ardour; it had asked the Reichstag in that same -year, 1881, to pass a law punishing cruelty to animals under pretext of -scientific research, by imprisonment, varying between five weeks and two -years, and deprivation of civil rights. Other societies did not go quite -so far, but asked that some of their members should have a right of -entrance and inspection into the laboratories of the Faculties.</p> - -<p>“He who takes more interest in animals than in Science and in the -knowledge of truth is not qualified to inspect officially things -pertaining to Science,” said Virchow. With an ironical gravity on his -quizzical wrinkled face, he added, “Where shall we be if a scientist who -has just begun a bonâ fide experiment finds himself, in the midst of his -researches, obliged to answer questions from a new-comer and afterwards -to defend himself before some magistrate for the crime of not having -chosen another method, other instruments, perhaps another experiment?...</p> - -<p>“We must prove to the whole world the soundness of our cause,” concluded -Virchow, uneasy at those “leagues” which grew and multiplied, and -scattered through innumerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_334" id="page_334">{334}</a></span> lecture halls the most fallacious -judgments on the work of scientists.</p> - -<p>Pasteur might have brought him, to support his statements relative to -certain deviations of ideas and sentiments, numberless letters which -reached him regularly from England—letters full of threats, insults and -maledictions, devoting him to eternal torments for having multiplied his -crimes on the hens, guinea-pigs, dogs and sheep of the laboratory. Love -of animals carries some women to such lengths!</p> - -<p>It would have been interesting, if, after Virchow’s speech, some French -physician had in his turn related a series of facts, showing how -prejudices equally tenacious had had to be struggled against in France, -and how savants had succeeded in enforcing the certainty that there can -be no pathological science if Physiology is not progressing, and that it -can only progress by means of the experimental method. Claude Bernard -had expressed this idea under so many forms that it would almost have -been enough to give a few extracts from his works.</p> - -<p>In 1841, when he was Magendie’s curator, he was one day attending a -lesson on experimental physiology, when he saw an old man come in, whose -costume—a long coat with a straight collar and a hat with a very wide -brim—indicated a Quaker.</p> - -<p>“Thou hast no right,” he said, addressing Magendie, “to kill animals or -to make them suffer. Thou givest a wicked example and thou accustomest -thy fellow creatures to cruelty.”</p> - -<p>Magendie replied that it was a pity to look at it from that point of -view, and that a physiologist, when moved by the thought of making a -discovery useful to Medicine, and consequently useful to his fellow -creatures, did not deserve that reproach.</p> - -<p>“Your countryman Harvey,” said he, hoping to convince him, “would not -have discovered the circulation of the blood if he had not made some -experiments in vivisection. That discovery was surely worth the -sacrifice of a few deer in Charles the First’s Park?”</p> - -<p>But the Quaker stuck to his idea; his mission, he said, was to drive -three things from this world: war, hunting and shooting, and experiments -on live animals. Magendie had to show him out.</p> - -<p>Three years later, Claude Bernard, in his turn, was taxed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_335" id="page_335">{335}</a></span> with -barbarity by a Police Magistrate. In order to study the digestive -properties of gastric juice, it had occurred to him to collect it by -means of a cannula, a sort of silver tap which he adapted to the stomach -of live dogs. A Berlin surgeon, M. Dieffenbach, who was staying in -Paris, expressed a wish to see this application of a cannula to the -stomach. M. Pelouze, the chemist, had a laboratory in the Rue Dauphine; -he offered it to Claude Bernard. A stray dog was used as a subject for -the experiment and shut up in the yard of the house, where Claude -Bernard wished to keep a watch on him. But, as the treatment in no wise -hindered the dog from running about, the door of the yard was hardly -opened when he escaped, cannula and all.</p> - -<p>“A few days later,” writes Claude Bernard in the course of an otherwise -grave report concerning the progress of general physiology in France -(1867), “I was still in bed, early one morning, when I received a visit -from a man who came to tell men that the Police Commissary of the -Medicine School District wished to speak to me, and that I must go round -to see him. I went in the course of the day to the Police Commissariat -of the Rue du Jardinet; I found a very respectable-looking little old -man, who received me very coldly at first and without saying anything. -He took me into another room and showed me, to my great astonishment, -the dog on whom I had operated in M. Pelouze’s laboratory, asking me if -I confessed to having fixed that instrument in his stomach. I answered -affirmatively, adding that I was delighted to see my cannula, which I -thought I had lost. This confession, far from satisfying the Commissary, -apparently provoked his wrath, for he gave me an admonition of most -exaggerated severity, accompanied with threats for having had the -audacity to steal his dog to experiment on it.</p> - -<p>“I explained that I had not stolen his dog, but that I had bought it of -some individuals who sold dogs to physiologists, and who claimed to be -employed by the police in picking up stray dogs. I added that I was -sorry to have been the involuntary cause of the grief occasioned in his -household by the misadventure to the dog, but that the animal would not -die of it; that the only thing to do was to let me take away my silver -cannula and let him keep his dog. Those last words altered the -Commissary’s language and completely calmed his wife and daughter. I -removed my instrument and left, promising<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_336" id="page_336">{336}</a></span> to return, which I did the -next and following days. The dog was perfectly cured in a day or two, -and I became a friend of the family, completely securing the -Commissary’s future protection. It was on that account that I soon after -set up my laboratory in his District, and for many years continued my -private classes of experimental physiology, enjoying the protection and -warnings of the Commissary and thus avoiding much unpleasantness, until -the time when I was at last made an assistant to Magendie at the Collège -de France.”</p> - -<p>The London Society for the Protection of Animals had the singular idea -of sending to Napoleon III complaints, almost remonstrances, on the -vivisection practised within the French Empire. The Emperor simply sent -on those English lamentations to the Academy of Medicine. The matter was -prolonged by academical speeches. In a letter addressed to M. Grandeau, -undated, but evidently written in August, 1863, Claude Bernard showed -some irritation, a rare thing with him. Declaring that he would not go -to the Academy and listen to the “nonsense” of “those who protect -animals in hatred of mankind” he gave his concluding epitome: “You ask -me what are the principal discoveries due to vivisection, so that you -can mention them as arguments for that kind of study. All the knowledge -possessed by experimental physiology can be quoted in that connection; -there is not a single fact which is not the direct and necessary -consequence of vivisection. From Galen, who, by cutting the laryngeal -nerves, learnt their use for respiration and the voice, to Harvey, who -discovered circulation; Pecquet and Aselli, the lymphatic vessels; -Haller, muscular irritability; Bell and Magendie, the nervous functions, -and all that has been learnt since the extension of that method of -vivisection, which is the only experimental method; in biology, all that -is known on digestion, circulation, the liver, the sympathetic system, -the bones, Development—all, absolutely all, is the result of -vivisection, alone or combined with other means of study.”</p> - -<p>In 1875, he again returned to this idea in his experimental medicine -classes at the Collège de France: “It is to experimentation that we owe -all our precise notions on the functions of the viscera and <i>a fortiori</i> -on the properties of such organs as muscles, nerves, etc.”</p> - -<p>One more interesting quotation might have been offered to the members of -the Congress. A Swede had questioned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_337" id="page_337">{337}</a></span> Darwin on vivisection, for the -anti-vivisectionist propaganda was spreading on every side. Darwin, who, -like Pasteur, did not admit that useless suffering should be inflicted -on animals (Pasteur carried this so far that he would never, he said, -have had the courage to shoot a bird for sport)—Darwin, in a letter -dated April 14th, 1881, approved any measures that could be taken to -prevent cruelty, but he added: “On the other hand, I know that -physiology can make no progress if experiments on living animals are -suppressed, and I have an intimate conviction that to retard the -progress of physiology is to commit a crime against humanity.... Unless -one is absolutely ignorant of all that Science has done for humanity, -one must be convinced that physiology is destined to render incalculable -benefits in the future to man and even to animals. See the results -obtained by M. Pasteur’s work on the germs of contagious diseases: will -not animals be the first to profit thereby? How many lives have been -saved, how much suffering spared by the discovery of parasitic worms -following on experiments made by Virchow and others on living animals!”</p> - -<p>The London Congress marked a step on the road of progress. Besides the -questions which were discussed and which were capable of precise -solution, the scientific spirit showed itself susceptible of permeating -other general subjects. Instead of remaining the impassive Sovereign we -are wont to fancy her, Science—and this was proved by Pasteur’s -discoveries and their consequences, as Paget, Tyndall, Lister, and -Priestley loudly proclaimed—Science showed herself capable of -associating with pure research and perpetual care for Truth a deep -feeling of compassion for all suffering and an ever-growing thirst for -self-sacrifice.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s speech at the London Medical Congress was printed at the -request of an English M.P. and distributed to all the members of the -House of Commons. Dr. H. Gueneau de Mussy, who had spent part of his -life in England, having followed the Orleans family into exile, wrote to -Pasteur on August 15, “I have been very happy in witnessing your -triumph; you are raising us up again in the eyes of foreign nations.”</p> - -<p>Applause was to Pasteur but a stimulus to further efforts. He was proud -of his discoveries, but not vain of the effect they produced; he said in -a private letter: “The <i>Temps</i> again<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_338" id="page_338">{338}</a></span> refers, in a London letter, to my -speech at the Congress. What an unexpected success!”</p> - -<p>Having heard that yellow fever had just been brought into the Gironde, -at the Pauillac lazaretto by the vessel <i>Condé</i> from Senegal, Pasteur -immediately started for Bordeaux. He hoped to find the microbe in the -blood of the sick or the dead, and to succeed in cultivating it. M. Roux -hastened to join his master.</p> - -<p>If people spoke to Pasteur of the danger of infection, “What does it -matter?” he said. “Life in the midst of danger is <i>the</i> life, the real -life, the life of sacrifice, of example, of fruitfulness.”</p> - -<p>He was vexed to find his arrival notified in the newspapers; it worried -him not to be able to work and to travel <i>incognito</i>.</p> - -<p>On September 17, he wrote to Mme. Pasteur: “...We rowed out to a great -transport ship which is lying in the Pauillac roads, having just -arrived. From our boat, we were able to speak to the men of the crew. -Their health is good, but they lost seven persons at St. Louis, two -passengers and five men of the crew. Save the captain and one engineer, -they are all Senegalese negroes on that ship. We have been near another -large steamboat, and yet another; their health is equally good....</p> - -<p>“The most afflicted ship is the <i>Condé</i>, which is in quarantine in the -Pauillac roads, and near which we have not been able to go. She has lost -eighteen persons, either at sea or at the lazaretto....”</p> - -<p>No experiment could be attempted—the patients were convalescent. “But,” -he wrote the next day, “the <i>Richelieu</i> will arrive between the 25th and -28th, I think with some passengers.... It is more than likely that there -will have been deaths during the passage, and patients for the -lazaretto. I am therefore awaiting the arrival of that ship with the -hope—God forgive a scientist’s passion!!—that I may attempt some -researches at the Pauillac lazaretto, where I will arrange things in -consequence. You may be sure I shall take every precaution. In the -meanwhile, what shall I do in Bordeaux?</p> - -<p>“I have made the acquaintance of the young librarian of the town -library, which is a few doors from the Hôtel Richelieu, in the Avenues -of Tourny. The library is opened to me at all hours: I am there even -now, alone and very com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_339" id="page_339">{339}</a></span>fortably seated, surrounded with more Littré -than I can possibly get through.”</p> - -<p>For some months, several members of the Académie Française—according to -the traditions of the Society which has ever thought it an honour to -number among its members scientists such as Cuvier, Flourens, Biot, -Claude Bernard, J. B. Dumas—had been urging Pasteur to become a -candidate to the place left vacant by Littré. Pasteur was anxious to -know not only the works, but the life of him whose place he might be -called upon to fill. It was with some emotion that he first came upon -the following lines printed on the title-page of the translation of the -works of Hippocrates; they are a dedication by Littré to the memory of -his father, a sergeant-major in the Marines under the Revolution.</p> - -<p>“...Prepared by his lessons and by his example, I have been sustained -through this long work by his ever present memory. I wish to inscribe -his name on the first page of this book, in the writing of which he has -had so much share from his grave, so that the work of the father should -not be forgotten in the work of the son, and that a pious and just -gratitude should connect the work of the living with the heritage of the -dead....”</p> - -<p>Pasteur in 1876 had obeyed a similar filial feeling when he wrote on the -first page of his <i>Studies on Beer</i>—</p> - -<p>“To the memory of my father, a soldier under the first Empire, and a -knight of the Legion of Honour. The more I have advanced in age, the -better I have understood thy love and the superiority of thy reason. The -efforts I have given to these Studies and those which have preceded them -are the fruit of thy example and advice. Wishing to honour these pious -recollections, I dedicate this work to thy memory.”</p> - -<p>The two dedications are very similar. Those two soldiers’ sons had kept -the virile imprint of the paternal virtues. A great tenderness was also -in them both; Littré, when he lost his mother, had felt a terrible -grief, comparable to Pasteur’s under the same circumstances.</p> - -<p>In spite of Pasteur’s interest in studying Littré in the Bordeaux -library, he did not cease thinking of yellow fever. He often saw M. -Berchon, the sanitary director, and inquired of him whether there were -any news of the <i>Richelieu</i>. A young physician, Dr. Talmy, had expressed -a desire to join Pasteur at Bordeaux and to obtain permission, when the -time<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_340" id="page_340">{340}</a></span> came, to be shut up with the patients in the lazaretto. Pasteur -wrote on December 25 to Mme. Pasteur: “There is nothing new save the -Minister’s authorization to Dr. Talmy to enter the lazaretto; I have -just telegraphed to him that he might start. The owners of the -<i>Richelieu</i> still suppose that she will reach Pauillac on Tuesday. M. -Berchon, who is the first to be informed of what takes place in the -roads, will send me a telegram as soon as the <i>Richelieu</i> is signalled, -and we shall then go—M. Talmy, Roux and I—to ascertain the state of -the ship, of course without going on board, which we should not be -allowed to do if it has a suspicious bill of health.”</p> - -<p>And, as Mme. Pasteur had asked what happened when a ship arrived, he -continued in the same letter: “From his boat to windward, M. Berchon -receives the ship’s papers, giving the sanitary state of the ship day by -day. Before passing from the hands of the captain of the vessel to those -of the sanitary director, the papers are sprinkled over with chloride of -lime.</p> - -<p>“If there are cases of illness, all the passengers are taken to the -lazaretto; only a few men are left on board the ship, which is -henceforth in quarantine, no one being allowed to leave or enter it.</p> - -<p>“God permit that, in the body of one of those unfortunate victims of -medical ignorance, I may discover some specific microscopic being. And -after that? Afterwards, it would be really beautiful to make that agent -of disease and death become its own vaccine. Yellow fever is one of the -three great scourges of the East—bubonic plague, cholera, and yellow -fever. Do you know that it is already a fine thing to be able to put the -problem in those words!”</p> - -<p>The <i>Richelieu</i> arrived, but she was free from fever. The last passenger -had died during the crossing and his body had been thrown into the sea.</p> - -<p>Pasteur left Bordeaux and returned to his laboratory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_341" id="page_341">{341}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br /> -1882—1884</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pasteur</span> was in the midst of some new experiments when he heard that the -date of the election to the Académie Française was fixed for December 8. -Certain candidates spent half their time in <i>fiacres</i>, paying the -traditional calls, counting the voters, calculating their chances, and -taking every polite phrase for a promise. Pasteur, with perfect -simplicity, contented himself with saying to the Academicians whom he -went to see, “I had never in my life contemplated the great honour of -entering the Académie Française. People have been kind enough to say to -me, ‘Stand and you will be elected.’ It is impossible to resist an -invitation so glorious for Science and so flattering to myself.”</p> - -<p>One member of the Académie, Alexandre Dumas, refused to let Pasteur call -on him. “I will not allow him to come and see me,” he said; “I will -myself go and thank him for consenting to become one of us.” He agreed -with M. Grandeau, who wrote to Pasteur that “when Claude Bernard and -Pasteur consent to enter the ranks of a Society, all the honour is for -the latter.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur was elected, his youthfulness of sentiment was made -apparent; it seemed to him an immense honour to be one of the Forty. He -therefore prepared his reception speech with the greatest care, without -however allowing his scientific work to suffer. The life of his -predecessor interested him more and more; to work in the midst of family -intimacy had evidently been Littré’s ideal of happiness.</p> - -<p>Few people, beyond Littré’s colleagues, know that his wife and daughter -collaborated in his great work; they looked out the quotations necessary -to that Dictionary, of which, if laid end to end, the columns would -reach a length of thirty-seven kilometres. The Dictionary, commenced in -1857, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_342" id="page_342">{342}</a></span> Littré was almost sixty years old, was only interrupted -twice: in 1861, when Auguste Comte’s widow asked Littré for a biography -of the founder of positive philosophy; and in 1870, when the life of -France was compromised and arrested during long months.</p> - -<p>Littré, poor and disinterested as he was, had been able to realize his -only dream, which was to possess a house in the country. Pasteur, -bringing to bear in this, as in all things, his habits of scrupulous -accuracy, left his laboratory for one day, and visited that villa, -situated near Maisons-Laffitte.</p> - -<p>The gardener who opened the door to him might have been the owner of -that humble dwelling; the house was in a bad state of repair, but the -small garden gave a look of comfort to the little property. It had been -the only luxury of the philosopher, who enjoyed cultivating vegetables -while quoting Virgil, Horace or La Fontaine, and listened to the -nightingale when early dawn found him still sitting at his work.</p> - -<p>After visiting this house and garden, reflecting as they did the life of -a sage, Pasteur said sadly, “Is it possible that such a man should have -been so misjudged!”</p> - -<p>A crucifix, hanging in the room where Littré’s family were wont to work, -testified to his respect for the beliefs of his wife and daughter. “I -know too well,” he said one day, “what are the sufferings and -difficulties of human life, to wish to take from any one convictions -which may comfort them.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur also studied the Positivist doctrine of which Auguste Comte had -been the pontiff and Littré the prophet. This scientific conception of -the world affirms nothing, denies nothing, beyond what is visible and -easily demonstrated. It suggests altruism, a “subordination of -personality to sociability,” it inspires patriotism and the love of -humanity. Pasteur, in his scrupulously positive and accurate work, his -constant thought for others, his self-sacrificing devotion to humanity, -might have been supposed to be an adept of this doctrine. But he found -it lacking in one great point. “Positivism,” he said, “does not take -into account the most important of positive notions, that of the -Infinite.” He wondered that Positivism should confine the mind within -limits; with an impulse of deep feeling, Pasteur, the scientist, the -slow and precise observer, wrote the following passage in his speech: -“What is beyond? the human mind, actuated by an invincible force, will -never cease to ask itself: What is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_343" id="page_343">{343}</a></span> beyond?... It is of no use to -answer: Beyond is limitless space, limitless time or limitless grandeur; -no one understands those words. He who proclaims the existence of the -Infinite—and none can avoid it—accumulates in that affirmation more of -the supernatural than is to be found in all the miracles of all the -religions; for the notion of the Infinite presents that double character -that it forces itself upon us and yet is incomprehensible. When this -notion seizes upon our understanding, we can but kneel.... I see -everywhere the inevitable expression of the Infinite in the world; -through it, the supernatural is at the bottom of every heart. The idea -of God is a form of the idea of the Infinite. As long as the mystery of -the Infinite weighs on human thought, temples will be erected for the -worship of the Infinite, whether God is called Brahma, Allah, Jehovah, -or Jesus; and on the pavement of those temples, men will be seen -kneeling, prostrated, annihilated in the thought of the Infinite.”</p> - -<p>At that time, when triumphant Positivism was inspiring many leaders of -men, the very man who might have given himself up to what he called “the -enchantment of Science” proclaimed the Mystery of the universe; with his -intellectual humility, Pasteur bowed before a Power greater than human -power. He continued with the following words, worthy of being preserved -for ever, for they are of those which pass over humanity like a Divine -breath: “Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and -who obeys it; ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of the gospel -virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions; -they all reflect light from the Infinite.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur concluded by a supreme homage to Littré. “Often have I fancied -him seated by his wife, as in a picture of early Christian times: he, -looking down upon earth, full of compassion for human suffering; she, a -fervent Catholic, her eyes raised to heaven: he, inspired by all earthly -virtues; she, by every Divine grandeur; uniting in one impulse and in -one heart the twofold holiness which forms the aureole of the Man-God, -the one proceeding from devotion to humanity, the other emanating from -ardent love for the Divinity: she a saint in the canonic sense of the -word, he a lay-saint. This last word is not mine; I have gathered it on -the lips of all those that knew him.”</p> - -<p>The two colleagues whom Pasteur had chosen for his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_344" id="page_344">{344}</a></span> Academic sponsors -were J. B. Dumas and Nisard. Dumas, who appreciated more than any one -the scientific progress due to Pasteur, and who applauded his brilliant -success, was touched by the simplicity and modesty which his former -pupil showed, now as in the distant past, when the then obscure young -man sat taking notes on the Sorbonne benches.</p> - -<p>Their mutual relationship had remained unchanged when Pasteur, -accompanied by one of his family, rang at Dumas’ door in March, 1882, -with the manuscript of his noble speech in his pocket; he seemed more -like a student, respectfully calling on his master, than like a savant -affectionately visiting a colleague.</p> - -<p>Dumas received Pasteur in a little private study adjoining the fine -drawing-room where he was accustomed to dispense an elegant hospitality. -Pasteur drew a stool up to a table and began to read, but in a shy and -hurried manner, without even raising his eyes towards Dumas, who -listened, enthroned in his armchair, with an occasional murmur of -approbation. Whilst Pasteur’s careworn face revealed some of his ardent -struggles and persevering work, nothing perturbed Dumas’ grave and -gentle countenance. His smile, at most times prudently affable and -benevolent in varying degree, now frankly illumined his face as he -congratulated Pasteur. He called to mind his own reception speech at the -Academy when he had succeeded Guizot, and the fact that he too had -concluded by a confession of faith in his Creator.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s other sponsor, Nisard, almost an octogenarian, was not so -happy as Dumas; death had deprived him of almost all his old friends. It -was a great joy to him when Pasteur came to see him on the wintry Sunday -afternoons; he fancied himself back again at the Ecole Normale and the -happy days when he reigned supreme in that establishment. Pasteur’s -deference, greater even perhaps than it had been in former times, aided -the delightful delusion. Though Nisard was ever inclined to bring a -shade of patronage into every intimacy, he was a conversationalist of -the old and rare stamp. Pasteur enjoyed hearing Nisard’s recollections -and watching for a smile lighting up the almost blind face. Those Sunday -talks reminded him of the old delightful conversations with Chappuis at -the Besançon College when, in their youthful fervour, they read together -André Chénier’s and Lamartine’s verses. Eighteen years later, Pasteur -had not missed one of Sainte<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_345" id="page_345">{345}</a></span> Beuve’s lectures to the Ecole Normale -students; he liked that varied and penetrating criticism, opening -sidelights on every point of the literary horizon. Nisard understood -criticism rather as a solemn treaty, with clauses and conditions; with -his taste for hierarchy, he even gave different ranks to authors as if -they had been students before his chair. But, when he spoke, the -rigidity of his system was enveloped in the grace of his conversation. -Pasteur had but a restricted corner of his mind to give to literature, -but that corner was a privileged one; he only read what was really worth -reading, and every writer worthy of the name inspired him with more than -esteem, with absolute respect. He had a most exalted idea of Literature -and its influence on society; he was saying one day to Nisard that -Literature was a great educator: “The mind alone can if necessary -suffice to Science; both the mind and the heart intervene in Literature, -and that explains the secret of its superiority in leading the general -train of thought.” This was preaching to an apostle: no homage to -literature ever seemed too great in the eyes of Nisard.</p> - -<p>He approved of the modest exordium in Pasteur’s speech—</p> - -<p>“At this moment when presenting myself before this illustrious assembly, -I feel once more the emotion with which I first solicited your -suffrages. The sense of my own inadequacy is borne in upon me afresh, -and I should feel some confusion in finding myself in this place, were -it not my duty to attribute to Science itself the honour—so to speak, -an impersonal one—which you have bestowed upon me.”</p> - -<p>The Permanent Secretary, Camille Doucet, well versed in the usages of -the Institute, and preoccupied with the effect produced, thought that -the public would not believe in such self-effacement, sincere as it was, -and sent the following letter to Pasteur with the proof-sheet of his -speech—</p> - -<p>“Dear and honoured colleague, allow me to suggest to you a modification -of your first sentence; your modesty is excessive.”</p> - -<p>Camille Doucet had struck out <i>the sense of my own inadequacy is borne -in upon me afresh</i>, and further <i>so to speak, an impersonal one</i>. -Pasteur consulted Nisard, and <i>the sense of my own inadequacy</i> was -replaced by <i>the sense of my deficiencies</i>, while Pasteur adhered -energetically to <i>so to speak, an impersonal one</i>; he saw in his -election less a particular distinction than a homage rendered to Science -in general.</p> - -<p>A reception at the Académie Française is like a sensational<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_346" id="page_346">{346}</a></span> first night -at a theatre; a special public is interested days beforehand in every -coming detail. Wives, daughters, sisters of Academicians, great ladies -interested in coming candidates, widows of deceased Academicians, -laureates of various Academy prizes—the whole literary world agitates -to obtain tickets. Pasteur’s reception promised to be full of interest, -some even said piquancy, for it fell to Renan to welcome him.</p> - -<p>In order to have a foretaste of the contrast between the two men it was -sufficient to recall Renan’s opening speech three years before, when he -succeeded Claude Bernard. His thanks to his colleagues began thus—</p> - -<p>“Your cenaculum is only reached at the age of Ecclesiastes, a delightful -age of serene cheerfulness, when after a laborious prime, it begins to -be seen that all is but vanity, but also that some vain things are -worthy of being lingeringly enjoyed.”</p> - -<p>The two minds were as different as the two speeches; Pasteur took -everything seriously, giving to words their absolute sense; Renan, an -incomparable writer, with his supple, undulating style, slipped away and -hid himself within the sinuosities of his own philosophy. He disliked -plain statements, and was ever ready to deny when others affirmed, even -if he afterwards blamed excessive negation in his own followers. He -religiously consoled those whose faith he destroyed, and, whilst -invoking the Eternal, claimed the right of finding fault even there. -When applauded by a crowd, he would willingly have murmured <i>Noli me -tangere</i>, and even added with his joyful mixture of disdain and -good-fellowship, “Let infinitely witty men come unto me.”</p> - -<p>On that Thursday, April 27, 1882, the Institute was crowded. When the -noise had subsided, Renan, seated at the desk as Director of the Academy -between Camille Doucet, the Permanent Secretary, and Maxime du Camp, the -Chancellor, declared the meeting opened. Pasteur, looking paler than -usual, rose from his seat, dressed in the customary green-embroidered -coat of an Academician, wearing across his breast the Grand Cordon of -the Legion of Honour. In a clear, grave voice, he began by expressing -his deep gratification, and, with the absolute knowledge and sincerity -which always compelled the attention of his audience, of whatever kind, -he proceeded to praise his predecessor. There was no artifice of -composition, no struggle after effect, only a homage to the man, -followed almost immediately by a confession of dissent on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_347" id="page_347">{347}</a></span> philosophic -questions. He was listened to with attentive emotion, and when he showed -the error of Positivism in attempting to do away with the idea of the -Infinite, and proclaimed the instinctive and necessary worship by Man of -the great Mystery, he seemed to bring out all the weakness and the -dignity of Man—passing through this world bowed under the law of Toil -and with the prescience of the Ideal—into a startling and consolatory -light.</p> - -<p>One of the privileges of the Academician who receives a new member is to -remain seated in his armchair before a table, and to comfortably prepare -to read his own speech, in answer, often in contradiction, to the first. -Renan, visibly enjoying the presidential chair, smiled at the audience -with complex feelings, understood by some who were his assiduous -readers. Respect for so much work achieved by a scientist of the first -rank in the world; a gratified feeling of the honour which reverted to -France; some personal pleasure in welcoming such a man in the name of -the Académie, and, at the same time, in the opportunity for a light and -ironical answer to Pasteur’s beliefs—all these sensations were -perceptible in Renan’s powerful face, the benevolence of whose soft blue -eyes was corrected by the redoubtable keenness of the smile.</p> - -<p>He began in a caressing voice by acknowledging that the Academy was -somewhat incompetent to judge of the work and glory of Pasteur. “But,” -he added, with graceful eloquence, “apart from the ground of the -doctrine, which is not within our attributions, there is, Sir, a -greatness on which our experience of the human mind gives us a right to -pronounce an opinion; something which we recognize in the most varied -applications, which belongs in the same degree to Galileo, Pascal, -Michael-Angelo, or Molière; something which gives sublimity to the poet, -depth to the philosopher, fascination to the orator, divination to the -scientist.</p> - -<p>“That common basis of all beautiful and true work, that divine fire, -that indefinable breath which inspires Science, Literature, and Art—we -have found it in you, Sir—it is Genius. No one has walked so surely -through the circles of elemental nature; your scientific life is like -unto a luminous tract in the great night of the Infinitesimally Small, -in that last abyss where life is born.”</p> - -<p>After a brilliant and rapid enumeration of the Pastorian discoveries, -congratulating Pasteur on having touched through<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_348" id="page_348">{348}</a></span> his art the very -confines of the springs of life, Renan went on to speak of truth as he -would have spoken of a woman: “Truth, Sir, is a great coquette; she will -not be sought with too much passion, but often is most amenable to -indifference. She escapes when apparently caught, but gives herself up -if patiently waited for; revealing herself after farewells have been -said, but inexorable when loved with too much fervour.” And further: -“Nature is plebeian, and insists upon work, preferring horny hands and -careworn brows.”</p> - -<p>He then commenced a courteous controversy. Whilst Pasteur, with his -vision of the Infinite, showed himself as religious as Newton, Renan, -who enjoyed moral problems, spoke of Doubt with delectation. “The answer -to the enigma which torments and charms us will never be given to us.... -What matters it, since the imperceptible corner of reality which we see -is full of delicious harmonies, and since life, as bestowed upon us, is -an excellent gift, and for each of us a revelation of infinite -goodness?”</p> - -<p>Legend will probably hand to posterity a picture of Renan as he was in -those latter days, ironically cheerful and unctuously indulgent. But, -before attaining the quizzical tranquillity he now exhibited to the -Academy, he had gone through a complete evolution. When about the age of -forty-eight, he might bitterly have owned that there was not one basis -of thought which in him had not crumbled to dust. Beliefs, political -ideas, his ideal of European civilization, all had fallen to the ground. -After his separation from the Church, he had turned to historical -science; Germany had appeared to him, as once to Madame de Staël and so -many others, as a refuge for thinkers. It had seemed to him that a -collaboration between France, England, and Germany would create “An -invincible trinity, carrying the world along the road of progress -through reason.” But that German façade which he took for that of a -temple hid behind it the most formidable barracks which Europe had ever -known, and beside it were cannon foundries, death-manufactories, all the -preparations of the German people for the invasion of France. His -awakening was bitter; war as practised by the Prussians, with a method -in their cruelty, filled him with grief.</p> - -<p>Time passed and his art, like a lily of the desert growing amongst -ruins, gave flowers and perfumes to surrounding moral devastation, A -mixture of disdain and nobility now<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_349" id="page_349">{349}</a></span> made him regard as almost -imperceptible the number of men capable of understanding his -philosophical elevation. Pasteur had bared his soul; Renan took pleasure -in throwing light on the intellectual antithesis of certain minds, and -on their points of contact.</p> - -<p>“Allow me, Sir, to recall to you your fine discovery of right and left -tartaric acids.... There are some minds which it is as impossible to -bring together as it is impossible, according to your own comparison, to -fit two gloves one into the other. And yet both gloves are equally -necessary; they complete each other. One’s two hands cannot be -superposed, they may be joined. In the vast bosom of nature, the most -diverse efforts, added to each other, combine with each other, and -result in a most majestic unity.”</p> - -<p>Renan handled the French language, “this old and admirable language, -poor but to those who do not know it,” with a dexterity, a choice of -delicate shades, of tasteful harmonies which have never been surpassed. -Able as he was to define every human feeling, he went on from the above -comparison, painting divergent intellectual capabilities, to the -following imprecation against death: “Death, according to a thought -admired by M. Littré, is but a function, the last and quietest of all. -To me it seems odious, hateful, insane, when it lays its cold blind hand -on virtue and on genius. A voice is in us, which only great and good -souls can hear, and that voice cries unceasingly ‘Truth and Good are the -ends of thy life; sacrifice all to that goal’; and when, following the -call of that siren within us, claiming to bear the promises of life, we -reach the place where the reward should await us, the deceitful consoler -fails us. Philosophy, which had promised us the secret of death, makes a -lame apology, and the ideal which had brought us to the limits of the -air we breathe disappears from view at the supreme hour when we look for -it. Nature’s object has been attained; a powerful effort has been -realized, and then, with characteristic carelessness, the enchantress -abandons us and leaves us to the hooting birds of the night.”</p> - -<p>Renan, save in one little sentence in his answer to Pasteur—“The divine -work accomplishes itself by the intimate tendency to what is Good and -what is True in the universe”—did not go further into the statement of -his doctrines. Perhaps he thought them too austere for his audience; he -was wont to eschew critical and religious considerations when in a -world<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_350" id="page_350">{350}</a></span> which he looked upon as frivolous. Moreover, he thought his own -century amusing, and was willing to amuse it further. If he raised his -eyes to Heaven, he said that we owe virtue to the Eternal, but that we -have the right to add to it irony. Pasteur thought it strange that irony -should be applied to subjects which have beset so many great minds and -which so many simple hearts solve in their own way.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The week which followed Pasteur’s reception at the Académie Française -brought him a manifestation of applause in the provinces. The town of -Aubenas in the Ardèche was erecting a statue to Olivier de Serres, and -desired to associate with the name of the founder of the silk industry -in France in the sixteenth century that of its preserver in the -nineteenth.</p> - -<p>This was the second time that a French town proclaimed its gratitude -towards Pasteur. A few months before, the Melun Agricultural Society had -held a special meeting in his honour, and had decided “to strike a medal -with Pasteur’s effigy on it, in commemoration of one of the greatest -services ever rendered by Science to Agriculture.”</p> - -<p>But amidst this pæan of praise, Pasteur, instead of dwelling -complacently on the recollection of his experiments at Pouilly le Fort, -was absorbed in one idea, characteristic of the man: he wanted to at -once begin some experiments on the peripneumonia of horned cattle. The -veterinary surgeon, Rossignol, had just been speaking on this subject to -the meeting. Pasteur, who had recently been asked by the Committee of -Epizootic Diseases to inquire into the mortality often caused by the -inoculation of the peripneumonia virus, reminded his hearers in a few -words of the variable qualities of virus and how the slightest impurity -in a virus may exercise an influence on the effects of that virus.</p> - -<p>He and his collaborators had vainly tried to cultivate the virus of -peripneumonia in chicken-broth, veal-broth, yeast-water, etc. They had -to gather the virus from the lung of a cow which had died of -peripneumonia, by means of tubes previously sterilized; it was injected, -with every precaution against alteration, under the skin of the tail of -the animal, this part being chosen on account of the thickness of the -skin and of the cellular tissue. By operating on other parts, serious -accidents were apt to occur, the virus being extremely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_351" id="page_351">{351}</a></span> violent, so much -so in fact that the local irritation sometimes went so far as to cause -the loss of part of the tail. At the end of the same year (1882), -Pasteur published in the <i>Recueil de la Médecine Vétérinaire</i> a paper -indicating the following means of preserving the virus in a state of -purity—</p> - -<p>“Pure virus remains virulent for weeks and months. One lung is -sufficient to provide large quantities of it, and its purity can easily -be tested in a stove and even in ordinary temperature. From one lung -only, enough can be procured to be used for many animals. Moreover, -without having recourse to additional lungs, the provision of virus -could be maintained in the following manner; it would suffice, before -exhausting the first stock of virus, to inoculate a young calf behind -the shoulder. Death speedily supervenes, and all the tissues are -infiltrated with a serosity, which in its turn becomes virulent. This -also can be collected and preserved in a state of purity.” It remained -to be seen whether virus thus preserved would become so attenuated as to -lose all degree of virulence.</p> - -<p>Aubenas, then, wished to follow the example of Melun. In deference to -the unanimous wish of the inhabitants of the little town, Pasteur went -there on the 4th of May. His arrival was a veritable triumph; there were -decorations at the station, floral arches in the streets, brass and -other bands, speeches from the Mayor, presentation of the Municipal -Council, of the Chamber of Commerce, etc., etc. Excitement reigned -everywhere, and the music of the bands was almost drowned by the -acclamations of the people. At the meeting of the Agricultural Society, -Pasteur was offered a medal with his own effigy, and a work of art -representing genii around a cup, their hands full of cocoons. A little -microscope—that microscope which had been called an impracticable -instrument, fit for scientists only—figured as an attribute.</p> - -<p>“For us all,” said the President of the Aubenas Spinning Syndicate, “you -have been the kindly magician whose intervention conjured away the -scourge which threatened us; in you we hail our benefactor.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, effacing his own personality as he had done at the Académie, -laid all this enthusiasm and gratitude as an offering to Science.</p> - -<p>“I am not its object, but rather a pretext for it,” he said, and -continued: “Science has been the ruling passion of my life. I have lived -but for Science, and in the hours of difficulty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_352" id="page_352">{352}</a></span> which are inherent to -protracted efforts, the thought of France upheld my courage. I -associated her greatness with the greatness of Science.</p> - -<p>“By erecting a statue to Olivier de Serres, the illustrious son of the -Vivarais, you give to France a noble example; you show to all that you -venerate great men and the great things they have accomplished. Therein -lies fruitful seed; you have gathered it, may your sons see it grow and -fructify. I look back upon the time, already distant, when, desirous of -responding to the suggestions of a kind and illustrious friend, I left -Paris to study in a neighbouring Department the scourge which was -decimating your <i>magnaneries</i>. For five years I struggled to obtain some -knowledge of the evil and the means of preventing it; and, after having -found it, I still had to struggle to implant in other minds the -convictions I had acquired.</p> - -<p>“All that is past and gone now, and I can speak of it with moderation. I -am not often credited with that characteristic, and yet I am the most -hesitating of men, the most fearful of responsibility, so long as I am -not in possession of a proof. But when solid scientific proofs confirm -my convictions, no consideration can prevent me from defending what I -hold to be true.</p> - -<p>“A man whose kindness to me was truly paternal (Biot) had for his motto: -<i>Per vias rectas</i>. I congratulate myself that I borrowed it from him. If -I had been more timid or more doubtful in view of the principles I had -established, many points of science and of application might have -remained obscure and subject to endless discussion. The hypothesis of -spontaneous generation would still throw its veil over many questions. -Your nurseries of silkworms would be under the sway of charlatanism, -with no guide to the production of good seed. The vaccination of -charbon, destined to preserve agriculture from immense losses, would be -misunderstood and rejected as a dangerous practice.</p> - -<p>“Where are now all the contradictions? They pass away, and Truth -remains. After an interval of fifteen years, you now render it a noble -testimony. I therefore feel a deep joy in seeing my efforts understood -and celebrated in an impulse of sympathy which will remain in my memory -and in that of my family as a glorious recollection.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was not allowed to return at once to his laboratory. The -agricultors and veterinary surgeons of Nîmes, who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_353" id="page_353">{353}</a></span> taken an interest -in all the tests on the vaccination of charbon, had, in their turn, -drawn up a programme of experiments.</p> - -<p>Pasteur arrived at a meeting of the Agricultural Society of the Gard in -time to hear the report of the veterinary surgeons and to receive the -congratulations of the Society. The President expressed to him the -gratitude of all the cattle-owners and breeders, hitherto powerless to -arrest the progress of the disease which he had now vanquished. Whilst a -commemoration medal was being offered to him and a banquet being -prepared—for Southern enthusiasm always implies a series of -toasts—Pasteur thanked these enterprising men who were contemplating -new experiments in order to dispel the doubts of a few veterinary -surgeons, and especially the characteristic distrust, felt by some of -the shepherds, of everything that did not come from the South. Sheep, -oxen, and horses, some of them vaccinated, others intact, were put at -Pasteur’s disposal; he, with his usual energy, fixed the experiments for -the next morning at eight o’clock. After inoculating all the animals -with the charbon virus, Pasteur announced that those which had been -vaccinated would remain unharmed, but that the twelve unvaccinated sheep -would be dead or dying within forty-eight hours. An appointment was made -for next day but one, on May 11, at the town knacker’s, near the Bridge -of Justice, where post-mortem examinations were made. Pasteur then went -on to Montpellier, where he was expected by the Hérault Central Society -of Agriculture, who had also made some experiments and had asked him to -give a lecture at the Agricultural School. He entered the large hall, -feeling very tired, almost ill, but his face lighted up at the sight of -that assembly of professors and students who had hurried from all the -neighbouring Faculties, and those agricultors crowding from every part -of the Department, all of them either full of scientific curiosity or -moved by their agricultural interests. His voice, at first weak and -showing marks of weariness, soon became strengthened, and, forgetting -his fatigue, he threw himself into the subject of virulent and -contagious diseases. He gave himself up, heart and soul, to this -audience for two whole hours, inspiring every one with his own -enthusiasm. He stopped now and then to invite questions, and his answers -to the objectors swept away the last shred of resistance.</p> - -<p>“We must not,” said the Vice-President of the Agricultural Society, M. -Vialla, “encroach further on the time of M.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_354" id="page_354">{354}</a></span> Pasteur, which belongs to -France itself. Perhaps, however he will allow me to prefer a last -request: he has delivered us from the terrible scourge of splenic fever; -will he now turn to a no less redoubtable infection, viz. rot, which is, -so to speak, endemic in our regions? He will surely find the remedy for -it.”</p> - -<p>“I have hardly finished my experiments on splenic fever,” answered -Pasteur gently, “and you want me to find a remedy for rot! Why not for -phylloxera as well?” And, while regretting that the days were not -longer, he added, with the energy of which he had just given a new -proof: “As to efforts, I am yours <i>usque ad mortem</i>.”</p> - -<p>He afterwards was the honoured guest at the banquet prepared for him. It -was now not only Sericiculture, but also Agriculture, which proclaimed -its infinite gratitude to him; he was given an enthusiastic ovation, in -which, as usual, he saw no fame for himself, but for work and science -only.</p> - -<p>On May 11, at nine o’clock in the morning, he was again at Nîmes to meet -the physicians, veterinary surgeons, cattle-breeders, and shepherds at -the Bridge of Justice. Of the twelve sheep, six were already dead, the -others dying; it was easy to see that their symptoms were the same as -are characteristic of the ordinary splenic fever. “M. Pasteur gave all -necessary explanations with his usual modesty and clearness,” said the -local papers.</p> - -<p>“And now let us go back to work!” exclaimed Pasteur, as he stepped into -the Paris express; he was impatient to return to his laboratory.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>In order to give him a mark of public gratitude greater still than that -which came from this or that district, the Académie des Sciences -resolved to organize a general movement of Scientific Societies. It was -decided to present him with a medal, engraved by Alphée Dubois, and -bearing on one side Pasteur’s profile and on the other the inscription: -“To Louis Pasteur, his colleagues, his friends, and his admirers.”</p> - -<p>On June 25, a Sunday, a delegation, headed by Dumas, and composed of -Boussingault, Bouley, Jamin, Daubrée, Bertin, Tisserand and Davaine -arrived at the Ecole Normale and found Pasteur in the midst of his -family.</p> - -<p>“My dear Pasteur,” said Dumas, in his deep voice, “forty years ago, you -entered this building as a student. From the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_355" id="page_355">{355}</a></span> very first, your masters -foresaw that you would be an honour to it, but no one would have dared -to predict the startling services which you were destined to render to -science, France, and the world.”</p> - -<p>And after summing up in a few words Pasteur’s great career, the sources -of wealth which he had discovered or revived, the benefits he had -acquired to medicine and surgery: “My dear Pasteur,” continued Dumas, -with an affectionate emotion, “your life has known but success. The -scientific method which you use in such a masterly manner owes you its -greatest triumphs. The Ecole Normale is proud to number you amongst its -pupils; the Académie des Sciences is proud of your work; France ranks -you amongst its glories.</p> - -<p>“At this time, when marks of public gratitude are flowing towards you -from every quarter, the homage which we have come to offer you, in the -name of your admirers and friends, may seem worthy of your particular -attention. It emanates from a spontaneous and universal feeling, and it -will preserve for posterity the faithful likeness of your features.</p> - -<p>“May you, my dear Pasteur, long live to enjoy your fame, and to -contemplate the rich and abundant fruit of your work. Science, -agriculture, industry, and humanity will preserve eternal gratitude -towards you, and your name will live in their annals amongst the most -illustrious and the most revered.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, standing with bowed head, his eyes full of tears, was for a few -moments unable to reply, and then, making a violent effort, he said in a -low voice—</p> - -<p>“My dear master—it is indeed forty years since I first had the -happiness of knowing you, and since you first taught me to love science.</p> - -<p>“I was fresh from the country; after each of your classes, I used to -leave the Sorbonne transported, often moved to tears. From that moment, -your talent as a professor, your immortal labours and your noble -character have inspired me with an admiration which has but grown with -the maturity of my mind.</p> - -<p>“You have surely guessed my feelings, my dear master. There has not been -one important circumstance in my life or in that of my family, either -happy or painful, which you have not, as it were, blessed by your -presence and sympathy.</p> - -<p>“Again to-day, you take the foremost rank in the expression of that -testimony, very excessive, I think, of the esteem of my masters, who -have become my friends. And what you<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_356" id="page_356">{356}</a></span> have done for me, you have done -for all your pupils; it is one of the distinctive traits of your nature. -Behind the individual, you have always considered France and her -greatness.</p> - -<p>“What shall I do henceforth? Until now, great praise had inflamed my -ardour, and only inspired me with the idea of making myself worthy of it -by renewed efforts; but that which you have just given me in the names -of the Académie and of the Scientific Societies is in truth beyond my -courage.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, who for a year had been applauded by the crowd, received on -that June 25, 1882, the testimony which he rated above every other: -praise from his master.</p> - -<p>Whilst he recalled the beneficent influence which Dumas had had over -him, those who were sitting in his drawing-room at the Ecole Normale -were thinking that Dumas might have evoked similar recollections with -similar charm. He too had known enthusiasms which had illumined his -youth. In 1822, the very year when Pasteur was born, Dumas, who was then -living in a student’s attic at Geneva, received the visit of a man about -fifty, dressed Directoire fashion, in a light blue coat with steel -buttons, a white waistcoat and yellow breeches. It was Alexander von -Humboldt, who had wished, on his way through Geneva, to see the young -man who, though only twenty-two years old, had just published, in -collaboration with Prévost, treatises on blood and on urea. That visit, -the long conversations, or rather the monologues, of Humboldt had -inspired Dumas with the feelings of surprise, pride, gratitude and -devotion with which the first meeting with a great man is wont to fill -the heart of an enthusiastic youth. When Dumas heard Humboldt speak of -Laplace, Berthollet, Gay-Lussac, Arago, Thenard, Cuvier, etc., and -describe them as familiarly accessible, instead of as the awe-inspiring -personages he had imagined, Dumas became possessed with the idea of -going to Paris, knowing those men, living near them and imbibing their -methods. “On the day when Humboldt left Geneva,” Dumas used to say, “the -town for me became empty.” It was thus that Dumas’ journey to Paris was -decided on, and his dazzling career of sixty years begun.</p> - -<p>He was now near the end of his scientific career, closing peacefully -like a beautiful summer evening, and he was happy in the fame of his -former pupil. As he left the Ecole Normale, on that June afternoon, he -passed under the windows of the laboratory, where a few young men, -imbued with Pasteu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_357" id="page_357">{357}</a></span>r’s doctrines, represented a future reserve for the -progress of science.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>That year 1882 was the more interesting in Pasteur’s life, in that -though victory on many points was quite indisputable, partial struggles -still burst out here and there, and an adversary often arose suddenly -when he had thought the engagement over.</p> - -<p>The sharpest attacks came from Germany. The Record of the Works of the -German Sanitary Office had led, under the direction of Dr. Koch and his -pupils, a veritable campaign against Pasteur, whom they declared -incapable of cultivating microbes in a state of purity. He did not even, -they said, know how to recognize the septic vibrio, though he had -discovered it. The experiments by which hens contracted splenic fever -under a lowered temperature after inoculation signified nothing. The -share of the earthworms in the propagation of charbon, the inoculation -into guinea-pigs of the germs found in the little cylinders produced by -those worms followed by the death of the guinea-pigs, all this they said -was pointless and laughable. They even contested the preserving -influence of vaccination.</p> - -<p>Whilst these things were being said and written, the Veterinary School -of Berlin asked the laboratory of the Ecole Normale for some charbon -vaccine. Pasteur answered that he wished that experiments should be made -before a commission nominated by the German Government. It was -constituted by the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, and Virchow was -one of the members of it. A former student of the Ecole Normale—who, -after leaving the school first on the list of competitors for the -<i>agrégation</i> of physical science, had entered the laboratory—one in -whom Pasteur founded many hopes, Thuillier, left for Germany with his -little tubes of attenuated virus. Pasteur was not satisfied; he would -have liked to meet his adversaries face to face and oblige them publicly -to own their defeat. An opportunity was soon to arise. He had come to -Arbois, as usual, for the months of August and September, and was having -some alterations made in his little house. The tannery pits were being -filled up. “It will not improve the house itself,” he wrote to his son, -“but it will be made brighter and more comfortable by having a tidy yard -and a garden along the riverside.”</p> - -<p>The Committee of the International Congress of Hygiene,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_358" id="page_358">{358}</a></span> which was to -meet at Geneva, interrupted these peaceful holidays by inviting Pasteur -to read a paper on attenuated virus. As a special compliment, the whole -of one meeting, that of Tuesday, September 5, was to be reserved for his -paper only. Pasteur immediately returned to work; he only consented -under the greatest pressure to go for a short walk on the Besançon road -at five o’clock every afternoon. After spending the whole morning and -the whole afternoon sitting at his writing table over laboratory -registers, he came away grumbling at being disturbed in his work. If any -member of his family ventured a question on the proposed paper, he -hastily cut them short, declaring that he must be let alone. It was only -when Mme. Pasteur had copied out in her clear handwriting all the little -sheets covered with footnotes, that the contents of the paper became -known.</p> - -<p>When Pasteur entered the Congress Hall, great applause greeted him on -every side. The seats were occupied, not only by the physicians and -professors who form the usual audience of a congress, but also by -tourists, who take an interest in scientific things when they happen to -be the fashion.</p> - -<p>Pasteur spoke of the invitation he had received. “I hastened to accept -it,” he said, “and I am pleased to find myself the guest of a country -which has been a friend to France in good as in evil days. Moreover, I -hoped to meet here some of the contradictors of my work of the last few -years. If a congress is a ground for conciliation, it is in the same -degree a ground for courteous discussion. We all are actuated by a -supreme passion, that of progress and of truth.”</p> - -<p>Almost always, at the opening of a congress, great politeness reigns in -a confusion of languages. Men are seen offering each other pamphlets, -exchanging visiting cards, and only lending an inattentive ear to the -solemn speeches going on. This time, the first scene of the first act -suspended all private conversation. Pasteur stood above the assembly in -his full strength and glory. Though he was almost sixty, his hair had -remained black, his beard alone was turning grey. His face reflected -indomitable energy; if he had not been slightly lame, and if his left -hand had not been a little stiff, no one could have supposed that he had -been struck with paralysis fourteen years before. The feeling of the -place France should hold in an International Congress gave him a proud -look and an imposing accent of authority. He was visibly ready to meet -his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_359" id="page_359">{359}</a></span> adversaries and to make of this assembly a tribunal of judges. -Except for a few diplomats who at the first words exchanged anxious -looks at the idea of possible polemics, Frenchmen felt happy at being -better represented than any other nation. Men eagerly pointed out to -each other Dr. Koch, twenty-one years younger than Pasteur, who sat on -one of the benches, listening, with impassive eyes behind his gold -spectacles.</p> - -<p>Pasteur analysed all the work he had done with the collaboration of MM. -Chamberland, Roux, and Thuillier. He made clear to the most ignorant -among his hearers his ingenious experiments either to obtain, preserve -or modify the virulence of certain microbes. “It cannot be doubted,” he -said, “that we possess a general method of attenuation.... The general -principles are found, and it cannot be disbelieved that the future of -those researches is rich with the greatest hopes. But, however obvious a -demonstrated truth may be, it has not always the privilege of being -easily accepted. I have met in France and elsewhere with some obstinate -contradictors.... Allow me to choose amongst them the one whose personal -merit gives him the greatest claims to our attention, I mean Dr Koch, of -Berlin.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur then summed up the various criticisms which had appeared in the -Record of the Works of the German Sanitary Office. “Perhaps there may be -some persons in this assembly,” he went on, “who share the opinions of -my contradictors. They will allow me to invite them to speak; I should -be happy to answer them.”</p> - -<p>Koch, mounting the platform, declined to discuss the subject, -preferring, he said, to make answer in writing later on. Pasteur was -disappointed; he would have wished the Congress, or at least a -Commission designated by Koch, to decide on the experiments. He resigned -himself to wait. On the following days, as the members of the Congress -saw him attending meetings on general hygiene, school hygiene, and -veterinary hygiene, they hardly recognized in the simple, attentive man, -anxious for instruction, the man who had defied his adversary. Outside -the arena, Pasteur became again the most modest of men, never allowing -himself to criticize what he had not thoroughly studied. But, when sure -of his facts, he showed himself full of a violent passion, the passion -of truth; when truth had triumphed, he preserved not the least -bitterness of former struggles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_360" id="page_360">{360}</a></span></p> - -<p>That day of the 5th September was remembered in Geneva. “All the honour -was for France,” wrote Pasteur to his son; “that was what I had wished.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>He was already keen in the pursuit of another malady which caused great -damage, the “rouget” disease or swine fever. Thuillier, ever ready to -start when a demonstration had to be made or an experiment to be -attempted, had ascertained, in March, 1882, in a part of the Department -of the Vienne, the existence of a microbe in the swine attacked with -that disease.</p> - -<p>In order to know whether this microbe was the cause of the evil, the -usual operations of the sovereign method had to be resorted to. First of -all, a culture medium had to be found which was suitable to the -micro-organism (veal broth was found to be very successful); then a drop -of the culture had to be abstracted from the little phials where the -microbe was developing and sown into other flasks; lastly the culture -liquid had to be inoculated into swine. Death supervened with all the -symptoms of swine fever; the microbe was therefore the cause of the -evil? Could it be attenuated and a vaccine obtained? Being pressed to -study that disease, and to find the remedy for it, by M. Maucuer, a -veterinary surgeon of the Department of Vaucluse, living at Bollène, -Pasteur started, accompanied by his nephew, Adrien Loir, and M. -Thuillier. The three arrived at Bollène on September 13.</p> - -<p>“It is impossible to imagine more obliging kindness than that of those -excellent Maucuers,” wrote Pasteur to his wife the next day. “Where, in -what dark corner they sleep, in order to give us two bedrooms, mine and -another with two beds, I do not like to think. They are young, and have -an eight-year-old son at the Avignon College, for whom they have -obtained a half-holiday to-day in order that he may be presented to ‘M. -Pasteur.’ The two men and I are taken care of in a manner you might -envy. It is colder here and more rainy than in Paris. I have a fire in -my room, that green oak-wood fire that you will remember we had at the -Pont Gisquet.</p> - -<p>“I was much pleased to hear that the swine fever is far from being -extinguished. There are sick swine everywhere, some dying, some dead, at -Bollène and in the country around; the evil is disastrous this year. We -saw some dead and dying yesterday afternoon. We have brought here a -young hog who is very ill, and this morning we shall attempt vaccination -at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_361" id="page_361">{361}</a></span> M. de Ballincourt’s, who has lost all his pigs, and who has just -bought some more in the hope that the vaccine will be preservative. From -morning till night we shall be able to watch the disease and to try to -prevent it. This reminds me of the pébrine, with pigsties and sick pigs -instead of nurseries full of dying silkworms. Not ten thousand, but at -least twenty thousand swine have perished, and I am told it is worse -still in the Ardèche.”</p> - -<p>On the 17th, the day was taken up by the inoculation of some pigs on the -estate of M. de la Gardette, a few kilometres from Bollène. In the -evening, a former State Councillor, M. de Gaillard, came at the head of -a delegation to compliment Pasteur and invite him to a banquet. Pasteur -declined this honour, saying he would accept it when the swine fever was -conquered. They spoke to him of his past services, but he had no thought -for them; like all progress-seeking men, he saw but what was before him. -Experiments were being carried out—he had hastened to have an -experimental pigsty erected near M. Maucuer’s house—and already, on the -21st, he wrote to Mme. Pasteur, in one of those letters which resembled -the loose pages of a laboratory notebook—</p> - -<p>“Swine fever is not nearly so obscure to me now, and I am persuaded that -with the help of time the scientific and practical problem will be -solved.</p> - -<p>“Three post-mortem examinations to-day. They take a long time, but that -seems of no account to Thuillier, with his cool and patient eagerness.”</p> - -<p>Three days later: “I much regret not being able to tell you yet that I -am starting back for Paris. It is quite impossible to abandon all these -experiments which we have commenced; I should have to return here at -least once or twice. The chief thing is that things are getting clearer -with every experiment. You know that nowadays a medical knowledge of -disease is nothing; it must be prevented beforehand. We are attempting -this, and I think I can foresee success; but keep this for yourself and -our children. I embrace you all most affectionately.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—I have never felt better. Send me 1,000 fr.; I have but 300 fr. -left of the 1,600 fr. I brought. Pigs are expensive, and we are killing -a great many.”</p> - -<p>At last on December 8: “I am sending M. Dumas a note for to-morrow’s -meeting at the Academy. If I had time I would transcribe it for the -laboratory and for René.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_362" id="page_362">{362}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Our researches”—thus ran the report to the Academy—“may be summed up -in the following propositions—</p> - -<p>“I. The swine fever, or rouget disease, is produced by a special -microbe, easy to cultivate outside the animal’s body. It is so tiny that -it often escapes the most attentive search. It resembles the microbe of -chicken cholera more than any other; its shape is also that of a figure -8, but finer and less visible than that of the cholera. It differs -essentially from the latter by its physiological properties; it kills -rabbits and sheep, but has no effect on hens.</p> - -<p>“II. If inoculated in a state of purity into pigs, in almost -inappreciable doses, it speedily brings the fever and death, with all -the characteristics usual in <i>spontaneous</i> cases. It is most deadly to -the white, so-called improved, race, that which is most sought after by -pork-breeders.</p> - -<p>“III. Dr. Klein published in London (1878) an extensive work on swine -fever which he calls <i>Pneumo-enteritis of Swine</i>; but that author is -entirely mistaken as to the nature of the parasite. He has described as -the microbe of the rouget a bacillus with spores, more voluminous even -than the bacteridium of splenic fever. Dr. Klein’s microbe is very -different from the true microbe of swine fever, and has, besides, no -relation to the etiology of that disease.</p> - -<p>“IV. After having satisfied ourselves by direct tests that the malady -does not recur, we have succeeded in inoculating in a benignant form, -after which the animal has proved refractory to the mortal disease.</p> - -<p>“V. Though we consider that further control experiments are necessary, -we have already great confidence in this, that, dating from next spring, -vaccination by the virulent microbe of swine fever, attenuated, will -become the salvation of pigsties.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur ended thus his letter of December 3: “We shall start to-morrow, -Monday. Adrien Loir and I shall sleep at Lyons. Thuillier will go -straight to Paris, to take care of ten little pigs which we have bought, -and which he will take with him. In this way they will not be kept -waiting at stations. Pigs, young and old, are very sensitive to cold; -they will be wrapped up in straw. They are very young and quite -charming; one cannot help getting fond of them.”</p> - -<p>The next day Pasteur wrote to his son: “Everything has gone off well, -and we much hope, Thuillier and I, that preventive vaccination of this -evil can be established in a practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_363" id="page_363">{363}</a></span> fashion. It would be a great -boon in pork-breeding countries, where terrible ravages are made by the -rouget (so called because the animals die covered with red or purple -blotches, already developed during the fever which precedes death). In -the United States, over a million swine died of this disease in 1879; it -rages in England and in Germany. This year, it has desolated the -Côtes-du-Nord, the Poitou, and the departments of the Rhone Valley. I -sent to M. Dumas yesterday a <i>résumé</i> in a few lines of our results, to -be read at to-day’s meeting.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, once more in Paris, returned eagerly to his studies on divers -virus and on hydrophobia. If he was told that he over-worked himself, he -replied: “It would seem to me that I was committing a theft if I were to -let one day go by without doing some work.” But he was again disturbed -in the work he enjoyed by the contradictions of his opponents.</p> - -<p>Koch’s reply arrived soon after the Bollène episode. The German -scientist had modified his views to a certain extent; instead of denying -the attenuation of virus as in 1881, he now proclaimed it as a discovery -of the first order. But he did not believe much, he said, in the -practical results of the vaccination of charbon.</p> - -<p>Pasteur put forward, in response, a report from the veterinary surgeon -Boutet to the Chartres Veterinary and Agricultural School, made in the -preceding October. The sheep vaccinated in Eure et Loir during the last -year formed a total of 79,392. Instead of a mortality which had been -more than nine per cent, on the average in the last ten years, the -mortality had only been 518 sheep, much less than one per cent; 5,700 -sheep had therefore been preserved by vaccination. Amongst cattle 4,562 -animals had been vaccinated; out of a similar number 300 usually died -every year. Since vaccination, only eleven cows had died.</p> - -<p>“Such results appear to us convincing,” wrote M. Boutet. “If our -cultivators of the Beauce understand their own interest, splenic fever -and malignant pustules will soon remain a mere memory, for charbon -diseases never are spontaneous, and, by preventing the death of their -cattle by vaccination, they will destroy all possibility of propagation -of that terrible disease, which will in consequence entirely disappear.”</p> - -<p>Koch continued to smile at the discovery on the earthworms’ action in -the etiology of anthrax. “You are mistaken, Sir,” replied Pasteur. “You -are again preparing for yourself a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_364" id="page_364">{364}</a></span> vexing change of opinion.” And he -concluded as follows: “However violent your attacks, Sir, they will not -hinder the success of the method of attenuated virus. I am confidently -awaiting the consequences which it holds in reserve to help humanity in -its struggle against the diseases which assault it.”</p> - -<p>This debate was hardly concluded when new polemics arose at the Académie -de Médecine. A new treatment of typhoid fever was under discussion.</p> - -<p>In 1870, M. Glénard, a Lyons medical student, who had enlisted, was, -with many others, taken to Stettin as prisoner of war. A German -physician, Dr. Brand, moved with compassion by the sufferings of the -vanquished French soldiers, showed them great kindness and devotion. The -French student attached himself to him, helped him with his work, and -saw him treat typhoid fever with success by baths at 20° C. Brand prided -himself on this cold-bath treatment, which produced numerous cures. M. -Glénard, on his return to Lyons, remembering with confidence this method -of which he had seen the excellent results, persuaded the physician of -the Croix Rousse hospital, where he resided, to attempt the same -treatment. This was done for ten years, and nearly all the Lyons -practitioners became convinced that Brand’s method was efficacious. M. -Glénard came to Paris and read to the Academy of Medicine a paper on the -cold-bath treatment of typhoid fever. The Academy appointed a -commission, composed of civil and military physicians, and the -discussion was opened.</p> - -<p>The oratorical display which had struck Pasteur when he first came to -the Académie de Médecine was much to the fore on that occasion; the -merely curious hearers of that discussion had an opportunity of enjoying -medical eloquence, besides acquiring information on the new treatment of -typhoid fever. There were some vehement denunciations of the microbe -which was suspected in typhoid fever. “You aim at the microbe and you -bring down the patient!” exclaimed one of the orators, who added, amidst -great applause, that it was time “to offer an impassable barrier to such -adventurous boldness and thus to preserve patients from the unforeseen -dangers of that therapeutic whirlwind!”</p> - -<p>Another orator took up a lighter tone: “I do not much believe in that -invasion of parasites which threatens us like an eleventh plague of -Egypt,” said M. Peter. And attacking<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_365" id="page_365">{365}</a></span> the scientists who meddled with -medicine, <i>chymiasters</i> as he called them, “They have come to this,” he -said, “that in typhoid fevers they only see <i>the</i> typhoid fever, in -typhoid fever, fever only, and in fever, increased heat. They have thus -reached that luminous idea that heat must be fought by cold. This -organism is on fire, let us pour water over it; it is a fireman’s -doctrine.”</p> - -<p>Vulpian, whose grave mind was not unlike Pasteur’s, intervened, and said -that new attempts should not be discouraged by sneers. Without -pronouncing on the merits of the cold-bath method, which he had not -tried, he looked beyond this discussion, indicating the road which -theoretically seemed to him to lead to a curative treatment. The first -thing was to discover the agent which causes typhoid fever, and then, -when that was known, attempt to destroy or paralyse it in the tissues of -typhoid patients, or else to find drugs capable either of preventing the -aggressions of that agent or of annihilating the effects of that -aggression, “to produce, relatively to typhoid fever, the effect -determined by salicylate of soda in acute rheumatism of the -articulations.”</p> - -<p>Beyond the restricted audience, allowed a few seats in the Académie de -Médecine, the general public itself was taking an interest in this -prolonged debate. The very high death rate in the army due to typhoid -fever was the cause of this eager attention. Whilst the German army, -where Brand’s method was employed, hardly lost five men out of a -thousand, the French army lost more than ten per thousand.</p> - -<p>Whilst military service was not compulsory, epidemics in barracks were -looked upon with more or less compassionate attention. But the thought -that typhoid fever had been more destructive within the last ten years -than the most sanguinary battle now awakened all minds and hearts. Is -then personal fear necessary to awaken human compassion?</p> - -<p>Bouley, who was more given to propagating new doctrines than to -lingering on such philosophical problems, thought it was time to -introduce into the debate certain ideas on the great problems tackled by -medicine since the discovery of what might be called a fourth kingdom in -nature, that of microbia. In a statement read at the Académie de -Médecine, he formulated in broad lines the rôle of the infinitesimally -small and their activity in producing the phenomena of fermentations and -diseases. He showed by the parallel works of Pasteur on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">{366}</a></span> one hand, -and M. Chauveau on the other, that contagion is the function of a living -element. “It is especially,” said Bouley, “on the question of the -prophylaxis of virulent diseases that the microbian doctrine has given -the most marvellous results. To seize upon the most deadly virus, to -submit them to a methodical culture, to cause modifying agents to act -upon them in a measured proportion, and thus to succeed in attenuating -them in divers degrees, so as to utilize their strength, reduced but -still efficacious, in transmitting a benignant malady by means of which -immunity is acquired against the deadly disease: what a beautiful -dream!! And M. Pasteur has made that dream into a reality!!!...”</p> - -<p>The debate widened, typhoid fever became a mere incident. The pathogenic -action of the infinitesimally small entered into the discussion; -traditional medicine faced microbian medicine. M. Peter rushed once more -to the front rank for the fight. He declared that he did not apply the -term <i>chymiaster</i> to Pasteur; he recognized that it was but “fair to -proclaim that we owe to M. Pasteur’s researches the most useful -practical applications in surgery and in obstetrics.” But considering -that medicine might claim more independence, he repeated that the -discovery of the material elements of virulent diseases did not throw so -much light as had been said, either on pathological anatomy, on the -evolution, on the treatment or especially on the prophylaxis of virulent -diseases. “Those are but natural history curiosities,” he added, -“interesting no doubt, but of very little profit to medicine, and not -worth either the time given to them or the noise made about them. After -so many laborious researches, nothing will be changed in medicine, there -will only be a few more microbes.”</p> - -<p>A newspaper having repeated this last sentence, a professor of the -Faculty of Medicine, M. Cornil, simply recalled how, at the time when -the acarus of itch had been discovered, many partisans of old doctrines -had probably exclaimed, “What is your acarus to me? Will it teach me -more than I know already?” “But,” added M. Cornil, “the physician who -had understood the value of that discovery no longer inflicted internal -medication upon his patients to cure them of what seemed an inveterate -disease, but merely cured them by means of a brush and a little -ointment.”</p> - -<p>M. Peter, continuing his violent speech, quoted certain vaccination -failures, and incompletely reported experiments, say<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_367" id="page_367">{367}</a></span>ing, grandly: “M. -Pasteur’s excuse is that he is a chemist, who has tried, out of a wish -to be useful, to reform medicine, to which he is a complete stranger....</p> - -<p>“In the struggle I have undertaken the present discussion is but a -skirmish; but, to judge from the reinforcements which are coming to me, -the <i>mêlée</i> may become general, and victory will remain, I hope, to the -larger battalions, that is to say, to the ‘old medicine.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Bouley, amazed that M. Peter should thus scout the notion of microbia -introduced into pathology, valiantly fought this “skirmish” alone. He -recalled the discussions à propos of tuberculosis, so obscure until a -new and vivifying notion came to simplify the solution of the problem. -“And you reject that solution! You say, ‘What does it matter to me?’... -What! M. Koch, of Berlin—who with such discoveries as he has made might -well abstain from envy—M. Koch points out to you the presence of -bacteria in tubercles, and that seems to you of no importance? But that -microbe gives you the explanation of those contagious properties of -tuberculosis so well demonstrated by M. Villemin, for it is the -instrument of virulence itself which is put under your eyes.”</p> - -<p>Bouley then went on to refute the arguments of M. Peter, epitomized the -history of the discovery of the attenuation of virus, and all that this -method of cultures possible in an extra-organic medium might suggest -that was hopeful for a vaccine of cholera and of yellow fever, which -might be discovered one day and protect humanity against those terrible -scourges. He concluded thus—“Let M. Peter do what I have done; let him -study M. Pasteur, and penetrate thoroughly into all that is admirable, -through the absolute certainty of the results, in the long series of -researches which have led him from the discovery of ferments to that of -the nature of virus; and then I can assure him that instead of decrying -this great glory of France, of whom we must all be proud, he too will -feel himself carried away by enthusiasm and will bow with admiration and -respect before the chemist, who, though not a physician, illumines -medicine and dispels, in the light of his experiments, a darkness which -had hitherto remained impenetrable.”</p> - -<p>A year before this (Peter had not failed to report the fact) an -experiment of anthrax vaccination had completely failed at the Turin -Veterinary School. All the sheep, vaccinated and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_368" id="page_368">{368}</a></span> non-vaccinated, had -succumbed subsequently to the inoculation of the blood of a sheep which -had died of charbon.</p> - -<p>This took place in March, 1882. As soon as Pasteur heard of this -extraordinary fiasco, which seemed the counterpart of the -Pouilly-le-Fort experiment, he wrote on April 16 to the director of the -Turin Veterinary School, asking on what day the sheep had died the blood -of which had been used for the virulent inoculation.</p> - -<p>The director answered simply that the sheep had died on the morning of -March 22, and that its blood had been inoculated during the course of -the following day. “There has been,” said Pasteur, “a grave scientific -mistake; the blood inoculated was septic as well as full of charbon.”</p> - -<p>Though the director of the Turin Veterinary School affirmed that the -blood had been carefully examined and that it was in no wise septic, -Pasteur looked back on his 1877 experiments on anthrax and septicæmia, -and maintained before the Paris Central Veterinary Society on June 8, -1882, that the Turin School had done wrong in using the blood of an -animal at least twenty-four hours after its death, for the blood must -have been septic besides containing anthrax. The six professors of the -Turin School protested unanimously against such an interpretation. “We -hold it marvellous,” they wrote ironically, “that your Illustrious -Lordship should have recognized so surely, from Paris, the disease which -made such havoc amongst the animals vaccinated and non-vaccinated and -inoculated with blood containing anthrax in our school on March 23, -1882.</p> - -<p>“It does not seem to us possible that a scientist should affirm the -existence of septicæmia in an animal he has not even seen....”</p> - -<p>The quarrel with the Turin School had now lasted a year. On April 9, -1883, Pasteur appealed to the Academy of Sciences to judge of the Turin -incident and to put an end to this agitation, which threatened to cover -truth with a veil. He read out the letter he had just addressed to the -Turin professors.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen, a dispute having arisen between you and myself respecting -the interpretation to be given to the absolute failure of your control -experiment of March 23, 1882, I have the honour to inform you that, if -you will accept the suggestion, I will go to Turin any day you may -choose; you shall inoculate in my presence some virulent charbon into -any number of sheep you like. The exact moment of death in each case -shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_369" id="page_369">{369}</a></span> be determined, and I will demonstrate to you that in every case -the blood of the corpse containing only charbon at the first will also -be septic on the next day. It will thus be established with absolute -certainty that the assertion formulated by me on June 8, 1882, against -which you have protested on two occasions, arises, not as you say, from -an arbitrary opinion, but from an immovable scientific principle; and -that I have legitimately affirmed from Paris the presence of septicæmia -without it being in the least necessary that I should have seen the -corpse of the sheep you utilized for your experiments.</p> - -<p>“Minutes of the facts as they are produced shall be drawn up day by day, -and signed by the professors of the Turin Veterinary School and by the -other persons, physicians or veterinary surgeons, who may have been -present at the experiments; these minutes will then be published both at -the Academies of Turin and of Paris.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur contented himself with reading this letter to the Academy of -Sciences. For months he had not attended the Academy of Medicine; he was -tired of incessant and barren struggles; he often used to come away from -the discussions worn out and excited. He would say to Messrs. -Chamberland and Roux, who waited for him after the meetings, “How is it -that certain doctors do not understand the range, the value, of our -experiments? How is it that they do not foresee the great future of all -these studies?”</p> - -<p>The day after the Académie des Sciences meeting, judging that his letter -to Turin sufficiently closed the incident, Pasteur started for Arbois. -He wanted to set up a laboratory adjoining his house. Where the father -had worked with his hands, the son would work at his great -light-emitting studies.</p> - -<p>On April 3 a letter from M. Peter had been read at the Academy of -Medicine, declaring that he did not give up the struggle and that -nothing would be lost by waiting.</p> - -<p>At the following sitting, another physician, M. Fauvel, while declaring -himself an admirer of Pasteur’s work and full of respect for his person, -thought it well not to accept blindly all the inductions into which -Pasteur might find himself drawn, and to oppose those which were -contradictory to acquired facts. After M. Fauvel, M. Peter violently -attacked what he called “microbicidal drugs which may become homicidal,” -he said. When reading the account of this meeting, Pasteur had an -impulse of anger. His resolutions not to return to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_370" id="page_370">{370}</a></span> Academy of -Medicine gave way before the desire not to leave Bouley alone to lead -the defensive campaign; he started for Paris.</p> - -<p>As his family was then at Arbois, and the doors of his flat at the Ecole -Normale closed, the simplest thing for Pasteur was to go to the Hôtel du -Louvre, accompanied by a member of his family. The next morning he -carefully prepared his speech, and, at three o’clock in the afternoon, -he entered the Academy of Medicine. The President, M. Hardy, welcomed -him in these words—“Allow me, before you begin to speak, to tell you -that it is with great pleasure that we see you once again among us, and -that the Academy hopes that, now that you have once more found your way -to its precincts, you will not forget it again.”</p> - -<p>After isolating and rectifying the points of discussion, Pasteur advised -M. Peter to make a more searching inquiry into the subject of anthrax -vaccination, and to trust to Time, the only sovereign judge. Should not -the recollection of the violent hostility encountered at first by Jenner -put people on their guard against hasty judgments? There was not one of -the doctors present who could not remember what had been written at one -time against vaccination!!!</p> - -<p>He went on to oppose the false idea that each science should restrict -itself within its own limitations. “What do I, a physician, says M. -Peter, want with the minds of the chemist, the physicist and the -physiologist?</p> - -<p>“On hearing him speak with so much disdain of the chemists and -physiologists who touch upon questions of disease, you might verily -think that he is speaking in the name of a science whose principles are -founded on a rock! Does he want proofs of the slow progress of -therapeutics? It is now six months since, in this assembly of the -greatest medical men, the question was discussed whether it is better to -treat typhoid fever with cold lotions or with quinine, with alcohol or -salicylic acid, or even not to treat it at all.</p> - -<p>“And, when we are perhaps on the eve of solving the question of the -etiology of that disease by a microbe, M. Peter commits the medical -blasphemy of saying, ‘What do your microbes matter to me? It will only -be one microbe the more!’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Amazed that sarcasm should be levelled against new studies which opened -such wide horizons, he denounced the flippancy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_371" id="page_371">{371}</a></span> with which a professor -of the Faculty of Medicine allowed himself to speak of vaccinations by -attenuated virus.</p> - -<p>He ended by rejoicing once more that this great discovery should have -been a French one.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pasteur went back to Arbois for a few days. On his return to Paris, he -was beginning some new experiments, when he received a long letter from -the Turin professors. Instead of accepting his offer, they enumerated -their experiments, asked some questions in an offended and ironical -manner, and concluded by praising an Italian national vaccine, which -produced absolute immunity in the future—when it did not kill.</p> - -<p>“They cannot get out of this dilemma,” said Pasteur; “either they knew -my 1877 notes, unravelling the contradictory statements of Davaine, -Jaillard and Leplat, and Paul Bert, or they did not know them. If they -did not know them on March 22, 1882, there is nothing more to say; they -were not guilty in acting as they did, but they should have owned it -freely. If they did know them, why ever did they inoculate blood taken -from a sheep twenty-four hours after its death? They say that this blood -was not septic; but how do they know? They have done nothing to find -out. They should have inoculated some guinea-pigs, by choice, and then -tried some cultures in a vacuum to compare them with cultures in contact -with air. Why will they not receive me? A meeting between truth-seeking -men would be the most natural thing in the world!”</p> - -<p>Still hoping to persuade his adversaries to meet him at Turin and be -convinced, Pasteur wrote to them. “<i>Paris, May 9, 1883.</i> Gentlemen—Your -letter of April 30 surprises me very much. What is in question between -you and me? That I should go to Turin, if you will allow me, to -demonstrate that sheep, dead of charbon, as numerous as you like, will, -for a few hours after their death, be exclusively infected with anthrax, -and that the day after their death they will present both anthrax and -septic infection; and that therefore, when, on March 23, 1882, wishing -to inoculate blood infected with anthrax only into sheep vaccinated and -non-vaccinated, you took blood from a carcase twenty-four hours after -death, you committed a grave scientific mistake.</p> - -<p>“Instead of answering yes or no, instead of saying to me ‘Come to -Turin,’ or ‘Do not come,’ you ask me, in a manu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_372" id="page_372">{372}</a></span>script letter of -seventeen pages, to send you from Paris, in writing, preliminary -explanations of all that I should have to demonstrate in Turin.</p> - -<p>“Really, what is the good? Would not that lead to endless discussions? -It is because of the uselessness of a written controversy that I have -placed myself at your disposal.</p> - -<p>“I have once more the honour of asking you to inform me whether you -accept the proposal made to you on April 9, that I should go to Turin to -place before your eyes the proofs of the facts I have just mentioned.</p> - -<p>“P.S.—In order not to complicate the debate, I do not dwell upon the -many erroneous quotations and statements contained in your letter.”</p> - -<p>M. Roux began to prepare an interesting curriculum of experiments to be -carried out at Turin. But the Turin professors wrote a disagreeable -letter, published a little pamphlet entitled <i>Of the Scientific -Dogmatism of the Illustrious Professor Pasteur</i>, and things remained as -they were.</p> - -<p>All these discussions, renewed on so many divers points, were not -altogether a waste of time; some of them bore fruitful results by -causing most decisive proofs to be sought for. It has also made the path -of Pasteur’s followers wider and smoother that he himself should have -borne the brunt of the first opposition.</p> - -<p>In the meanwhile, testimonials of gratitude continued to pour in from -the agricultors and veterinary surgeons who had seen the results of two -years’ practice of the vaccination against anthrax.</p> - -<p>In the year 1882, 613,740 sheep and 83,946 oxen had been vaccinated. The -Department of the Cantal which had before lost about 3,000,000 fr. every -year, desired in June, 1883, on the occasion of an agricultural show, to -give M. Pasteur a special acknowledgement of their gratitude. It -consisted of a cup of silver-plated bronze, ornamented with a group of -cattle. Behind the group—imitating in this the town of Aubenas, who had -made a microscope figure as an attribute of honour—was represented, in -small proportions, an instrument which found itself for the first time -raised to such an exalted position, the little syringe used for -inoculations.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was much pressed to come himself and receive this offering from -a land which would henceforth owe its fortune to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_373" id="page_373">{373}</a></span> him. He allowed -himself to be persuaded, and arrived, accompanied as usual by his -family.</p> - -<p>The Mayor, surrounded by the municipal councillors, greeted him in these -words: “Our town of Aurillac is very small, and you will not find here -the brilliant population which inhabits great cities; but you will find -minds capable of understanding the scientific and humanitarian mission -which you have so generously undertaken. You will also find hearts -capable of appreciating your benefits and of preserving the memory of -them; your name has been on all our lips for a long time.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, visiting that local exhibition, did not resemble the official -personages who listen wearily to the details given them by a staff of -functionaries. He thought but of acquiring knowledge, going straight to -this or that exhibitor and questioning him, not with perfunctory -politeness, but with a real desire for practical information; no detail -seemed to him insignificant. “Nothing should be neglected,” he said; -“and a remark from a rough labourer who does well what he has to do is -infinitely precious.”</p> - -<p>After visiting the products and agricultural implements, Pasteur was met -in the street by a peasant who stopped and waved his large hat, -shouting, “Long live Pasteur!”... “You have saved my cattle,” continued -the man, coming up to shake hands with him.</p> - -<p>Physicians in their turn desired to celebrate and to honour him who, -though not a physician, had rendered such service to medicine. -Thirty-two of them assembled to drink his health. The head physician of -the Aurillac Hospital, Dr. Fleys, said in proposing the toast: “What the -mechanism of the heavens owes to Newton, chemistry to Lavoisier, geology -to Cuvier, general anatomy to Bichat, physiology to Claude Bernard, -pathology and hygiene will owe to Pasteur. Unite with me, dear -colleagues, and let us drink to the fame of the illustrious Pasteur, the -precursor of the medicine of the future, a benefactor to humanity.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>This glorious title was now associated with his name. In the first rank -of his enthusiastic admirers came the scientists, who, from the point of -view of pure science, admired the achievements, within those thirty-five -years, of that great man whose perseverance equalled his penetration. -Then came the manufacturers, the sericicultors, and the agricultors, who -owed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_374" id="page_374">{374}</a></span> fortune to him who had placed every process he discovered -into the public domain. Finally, France could quote the words of the -English physiologist, Huxley, in a public lecture at the London Royal -Society: “Pasteur’s discoveries alone would suffice to cover the war -indemnity of five milliards paid by France to Germany in 1870.”</p> - -<p>To that capital was added the inestimable price of human lives saved. -Since the antiseptic method had been adopted in surgical operations, the -mortality had fallen from 50 per 100 to 5 per 100.</p> - -<p>In the lying-in hospitals, more than decimated formerly (for the -statistics had shown a death-rate of not only 100 but 200 per 1,000), -the number of fatalities was now reduced to 3 per 1,000 and soon -afterwards fell to 1 per 1,000. And, in consequence of the principles -established by Pasteur, hygiene was growing, developing, and at last -taking its proper place in the public view. So much progress -accomplished had brought Pasteur a daily growing acknowledgment of -gratitude, his country was more than proud of him. His powerful mind, -allied with his very tender heart, had brought to French glory an -aureole of charity.</p> - -<p>The Government of the Republic remembered that England had voted two -national rewards to Jenner, one in 1802 and one in 1807, the first of -£10,000, and the second of £20,000. It was at the time of that -deliberation that Pitt, the great orator, exclaimed, “Vote, gentlemen, -your gratitude will never reach the amount of the service rendered.”</p> - -<p>The French Ministry proposed to augment the 12,000 fr. pension accorded -to Pasteur in 1874 as a national recompense, and to make it 25,000 fr., -to revert first to Pasteur’s widow, and then to his children. A -Commission was formed and Paul Bert again chosen to draw up the report.</p> - -<p>On several occasions at the meetings of the commission one of its -members, Benjamin Raspail, exalted the parasitic theory propounded in -1843 by his own father. His filial pleading went so far as to accuse -Pasteur of plagiarism. Paul Bert, whilst recognizing the share -attributed by F. V. Raspail to microscopic beings, recalled the fact -that his attempt in favour of epidemic and contagious diseases had not -been adopted by scientists. “No doubt,” he said, “the parasitic origin -of the itch was now definitely accepted, thanks in a great measure to -the efforts of Raspail; but generalizations were considered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_375" id="page_375">{375}</a></span> as out of -proportion to the fact they were supposed to rest on. It seemed -excessive to conclude from the existence of the acarus of itch, visible -to the naked eye or with the weakest magnifying glass, the presence of -microscopic parasites in the humours of virulent diseases.... Such -hypotheses can be considered but as a sort of intuition.”</p> - -<p>“Hypotheses,” said Pasteur, “come into our laboratories in armfuls; they -fill our registers with projected experiments, they stimulate us to -research—and that is all.” One thing only counted for him: experimental -verification.</p> - -<p>Paul Bert, in his very complete report, quoted Huxley’s words to the -Royal Society and Pitt’s words to the House of Commons. He stated that -since the first Bill had been voted, a new series of discoveries, no -less marvellous from a theoretical point of view and yet more important -from a practical point of view, had come to strike the world of Science -with astonishment and admiration.” Recapitulating Pasteur’s works, he -said—</p> - -<p>“They may be classed in three series, constituting three great -discoveries.</p> - -<p>“The first one may be formulated thus: <i>Each fermentation is produced by -the development of a special microbe</i>.</p> - -<p>“<i>The second one may be given this formula: Each infectious disease</i> -(those at least that M. Pasteur and his immediate followers have -studied) <i>is produced by the development within the organism of a -special microbe</i>.</p> - -<p>“The third one may be expressed in this way: <i>The microbe of an -infectious disease, cultivated under certain detrimental conditions, is -attenuated in its pathogenic activity; from a virus it has become a -vaccine</i>.</p> - -<p>“As a practical consequence of the first discovery, M. Pasteur has given -rules for the manufacture of beer and of vinegar, and shown how beer and -wine may be preserved against secondary fermentations which would turn -them sour, bitter or slimy, and which render difficult their transport -and even their preservation on the spot.</p> - -<p>“As a practical consequence of the second discovery, M. Pasteur has -given rules to be followed to preserve cattle from splenic fever -contamination, and silkworms from the diseases which decimated them. -Surgeons, on the other hand, have succeeded, by means of the guidance it -afforded, in effecting almost completely the disappearance of erysipelas -and of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_376" id="page_376">{376}</a></span> purulent infections which formerly brought about the death -of so many patients after operations.</p> - -<p>“As a practical consequence of the third discovery, M. Pasteur has given -rules for, and indeed has effected, the preservation of horses, oxen, -and sheep from the anthrax disease which every year kills in France -about 20,000,000 francs’ worth. Swine will also be preserved from the -rouget disease which decimates them, and poultry from the cholera which -makes such terrible havoc among them. Everything leads us to hope that -rabies will also soon be conquered.” When Paul Bert was congratulated on -his report, he said, “Admiration is such a good, wholesome thing!!”</p> - -<p>The Bill was voted by the Chamber, and a fortnight later by the Senate, -unanimously. Pasteur heard the first news through the newspapers, for he -had just gone to the Jura. On July 14, he left Arbois for Dôle, where he -had promised to be present at a double ceremony.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>On that national holiday, a statue of Peace was to be inaugurated, and a -memorial plate placed on the house where Pasteur was born; truly a -harmonious association of ideas. The prefect of the Jura evidently felt -it when, while unveiling the statue in the presence of Pasteur, he said: -“This is Peace, who has inspired Genius and the great services it has -rendered.” The official procession, followed by popular acclamation, -went on to the narrow Rue des Tanneurs. When Pasteur, who had not seen -his native place since his childhood, found himself before that tannery, -in the low humble rooms of which his father and mother had lived, he -felt himself the prey to a strong emotion.</p> - -<p>The mayor quoted these words from the resolutions of the Municipal -Council: “M. Pasteur is a benefactor of Humanity, one of the great men -of France; he will remain for all Dôlois and in particular those who, -like him, have risen from the ranks of the people, an object of respect -as well as an example to follow; we consider that it is our duty to -perpetuate his name in our town.”</p> - -<p>The Director of Fine Arts, M. Kaempfen, representing the Government at -the ceremony, pronounced these simple words: “In the name of the -Government of the Republic, I salute the inscription which commemorates -the fact that in this little house, in this little street, was born, on -December 27, 1822,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_377" id="page_377">{377}</a></span> he who was to become one of the greatest scientists -of this century so great in science, and who has, by his admirable -labours, increased the glory of France and deserved well of the whole of -humanity.”</p> - -<p>The feelings in Pasteur’s heart burst forth in these terms: “Gentlemen, -I am profoundly moved by the honour done to me by the town of Dôle; but -allow me, while expressing my gratitude, to protest against this excess -of praise. By according to me a homage rendered usually but to the -illustrious dead, you anticipate too much the judgment of posterity. -Will it ratify your decision? and should not you, Mr. Mayor, have -prudently warned the Municipal Council against such a hasty resolution?</p> - -<p>“But after protesting, gentlemen, against the brilliant testimony of an -admiration which is more than I deserve, let me tell you that I am -touched, moved to the bottom of my soul. Your sympathy has joined on -that memorial plate the two great things which have been the passion and -the delight of my life: the love of Science and the cult of the home.</p> - -<p>“Oh! my father, my mother, dear departed ones, who lived so humbly in -this little house, it is to you that I owe everything. Thy enthusiasm, -my brave-hearted mother, thou hast instilled it into me. If I have -always associated the greatness of Science with the greatness of France, -it is because I was impregnated with the feelings that thou hadst -inspired. And thou, dearest father, whose life was as hard as thy hard -trade, thou hast shown to me what patience and protracted effort can -accomplish. It is to thee that I owe perseverance in daily work. Not -only hadst thou the qualities which go to make a useful life, but also -admiration for great men and great things. To look upwards, learn to the -utmost, to seek to rise ever higher, such was thy teaching. I can see -thee now, after a hard day’s work, reading in the evening some story of -the battles in the glorious epoch of which thou wast a witness. Whilst -teaching me to read, thy care was that I should learn the greatness of -France.</p> - -<p>“Be ye blessed, my dear parents, for what ye have been, and may the -homage done to-day to your little house be yours!</p> - -<p>“I thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity of saying aloud what I have -thought for sixty years. I thank you for this fête and for your welcome, -and I thank the town of Dôle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_378" id="page_378">{378}</a></span> which loses sight of none of her -children, and which has kept such a remembrance of me.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing is more exquisite,” wrote Bouley to Pasteur, “than those -feelings of a noble heart, giving credit to the parents’ influence for -all the glory with which their son has covered their name. All your -friends recognized you, and you appeared under quite a new light to -those who may have misjudged your heart by knowing of you only the -somewhat bitter words of some of your Academy speeches, when the love of -truth has sometimes made you forgetful of gentleness.”</p> - -<p>It might have seemed that after so much homage, especially when offered -in such a delicate way as on this last occasion, Pasteur had indeed -reached a pinnacle of fame. His ambition however was not satisfied. Was -it then boundless, in spite of the modesty which drew all hearts towards -him? What more did he wish? Two great things: to complete his studies on -hydrophobia and to establish the position of his collaborators—whose -name he ever associated with his work—as his acknowledged successors.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>A few cases of cholera had occurred at Damietta in the month of June. -The English declared that it was but endemic cholera, and opposed the -quarantines. They had with them the majority of the Alexandria Sanitary -Council, and could easily prevent sanitary measures from being taken. If -the English, voluntarily closing their eyes to the dangers of the -epidemic, had wished to furnish a new proof of the importation of -cholera, they could not have succeeded better. The cholera spread, and -by July 14 it had reached Cairo. Between the 14th and 22nd there were -five hundred deaths per day.</p> - -<p>Alexandria was threatened. Pasteur, before leaving Paris for Arbois, -submitted to the Consulting Committee of Public Hygiene the idea of a -French Scientific Mission to Alexandria. “Since the last epidemic in -1865,” he said, “science has made great progress on the subject of -transmissible diseases. Every one of those diseases which has been -subjected to a thorough study has been found by biologists to be -produced by a microscopic being developing within the body of man or of -animals, and causing therein ravages which are generally mortal. All the -symptoms of the disease, all the causes of death depend directly upon -the physiological properties of the microbe.... What is wanted at this -moment to satisfy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_379" id="page_379">{379}</a></span> the preoccupations of science is to inquire into the -primary cause of the scourge. Now the present state of knowledge demands -that attention should be drawn to the possible existence within the -blood, or within some organ, of a micro-organism whose nature and -properties would account in all probability for all the peculiarities of -cholera, both as to the morbid symptoms and the mode of its propagation. -The proved existence of such a microbe would soon take precedence over -the whole question of the measures to be taken to arrest the evil in its -course, and might perhaps suggest new methods of treatment.”</p> - -<p>Not only did the Committee of Hygiene approve of Pasteur’s project, but -they asked him to choose some young men whose knowledge would be -equalled by their devotion. Pasteur only had to look around him. When, -on his return to the laboratory, he mentioned what had taken place at -the Committee of Hygiene, M. Roux immediately offered to start. A -professor at the Faculty of Medicine who had some hospital practice, M. -Straus, and a professor at the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Nocard, both -of whom had been authorised to work in the laboratory, asked permission -to accompany M. Roux. Thuillier had the same desire, but asked for -twenty-four hours to think over it.</p> - -<p>The thought of his father and mother, who had made a great many -sacrifices for his education, and whose only joy was to receive him at -Amiens, where they lived, during his short holidays, made him hesitate. -But the thought of duty overcame his regrets; he put his papers and -notes in order and went to see his dear ones again. He told his father -of his intention, but his mother did not know of it. At the time when -the papers spoke of a French commission to study cholera, his elder -sister, who loved him with an almost motherly tenderness, said to him -suddenly, “You are not going to Egypt, Louis? swear that you are not!” -“I am not going to swear anything,” he answered, with absolute calm; -adding that he might some time go to Russia to proceed to some -vaccination of anthrax, as he had done at Buda-Pesth in 1881. When he -left Amiens nothing in his farewells revealed his deep emotion; it was -only from Marseilles that he wrote the truth.</p> - -<p>Administrative difficulties retarded the departure of the Commission, -which only reached Egypt on August 15. Dr. Koch had also come to study -cholera. The head physician of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_380" id="page_380">{380}</a></span> the European hospital, Dr. Ardouin, -placed his wards at the entire disposal of the French savants. In a -certain number of cases, it was possible to proceed to post-mortem -examinations immediately after death, before putrefaction had begun. It -was a great thing from the point of view of the search after a -pathogenic micro-organism as well as from the anatomo-pathological point -of view.</p> - -<p>The contents of the intestines and the characteristic stools of the -cholera patients offered a great variety of micro-organisms. But which -was really the cause of cholera? The most varied modes of culture were -attempted in vain. The same negative results followed inoculations into -divers animal species, cats, dogs, swine, monkeys, pigeons, rabbits, -guinea-pigs, etc., made with the blood of cholerics or with the contents -of their bowels. Experiments were made with twenty-four corpses. The -epidemic ceased unexpectedly. Not to waste time, while waiting for a -reappearance of the disease, the French Commission took up some -researches on cattle plague. Suddenly a telegram from M. Roux informed -Pasteur that Thuillier had succumbed to an attack of cholera.</p> - -<p>“I have just heard the news of a great misfortune,” wrote Pasteur to J. -B. Dumas on September 19; “M. Thuillier died yesterday at Alexandria of -cholera. I have telegraphed to the Mayor of Amiens asking him to break -the news to the family.</p> - -<p>“Science loses in Thuillier a courageous representative with a great -future before him. I lose a much-loved and devoted pupil; my laboratory -one of its principal supports.</p> - -<p>“I can only console myself for this death by thinking of our beloved -country and all he has done for it.”</p> - -<p>Thuillier was only twenty-six. How had this happened? Had he neglected -any of the precautions which Pasteur had written down before the -departure of the Commission, and which were so minute as to be thought -exaggerated?</p> - -<p>Pasteur remained silent all day, absolutely overcome. The head of the -laboratory, M. Chamberland, divining his master’s grief, came to Arbois. -They exchanged their sorrowful thoughts, and Pasteur fell back into his -sad broodings.</p> - -<p>A few days later, a letter from M. Roux related the sad story: -“<i>Alexandria, September 21.</i> Sir and dear master—Having just heard that -an Italian ship is going to start, I am writing a few lines without -waiting for the French mail. The tele<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_381" id="page_381">{381}</a></span>graph has told you of the terrible -misfortune which has befallen us.”</p> - -<p>M. Roux then proceeded to relate in detail the symptoms presented by the -unfortunate young man, who, after going to bed at ten o’clock, -apparently in perfect health, had suddenly been taken ill about three -o’clock in the morning of Saturday, September 15. At eight o’clock, all -the horrible symptoms of the most violent form of cholera were apparent, -and his friends gave him up for lost. They continued their desperate -endeavours however, assisted by the whole staff of French and Italian -doctors.</p> - -<p>“By dint of all our strength, all our energy, we protracted the struggle -until seven o’clock on Wednesday morning, the 19th. The asphyxia, which -had then lasted twenty-four hours, was stronger than our efforts.</p> - -<p>“Your own feelings will help you to imagine our grief.</p> - -<p>“The French colony and the medical staff are thunderstruck. Splendid -funeral honours have been rendered to our poor Thuillier.</p> - -<p>“He was buried at four o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, with the finest -and most imposing manifestation Alexandria had seen for a long time.</p> - -<p>“One very precious and affecting homage was rendered by the German -Commission with a noble simplicity which touched us all very much.</p> - -<p>“M. Koch and his collaborators arrived when the news spread in the town. -They gave utterance to beautiful and touching words to the memory of our -dead friend. When the funeral took place, those gentlemen brought two -wreaths which they themselves nailed on the coffin. ‘They are simple,’ -said M. Koch, ‘but they are of laurel, such as are given to the brave.’</p> - -<p>“M. Koch hold one corner of the pall. We embalmed our comrade’s body; he -lies in a sealed zinc coffin. All formalities have been complied with, -so that his remains may be brought back to France when the necessary -time has expired. In Egypt the period of delay is a whole year.</p> - -<p>“The French colony desires to erect a monument to the memory of Louis -Thuillier.</p> - -<p>“Dear master, how much more I should like to tell you! The recital of -the sad event which happened so quickly would take pages. This blow is -altogether incomprehensible. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_382" id="page_382">{382}</a></span> more than a fortnight since we had -seen a single case of cholera; we were beginning to study cattle-plague.</p> - -<p>“Of us all, Thuillier was the one who took most precautions; he was -irreproachably careful.</p> - -<p>“We are writing by this post a few lines to his family, in the names of -all of us.</p> - -<p>“Such are the blows cholera can strike at the end of an epidemic! Want -of time forces me to close this letter. Pray believe in our respectful -affection.”</p> - -<p>The whole of the French colony, who received great marks of sympathy -from the Italians and other foreigners, wished to perpetuate the memory -of Thuillier. Pasteur wrote, on October 16, to a French physician at -Alexandria, who had informed him of this project:</p> - -<p>“I am touched with the generous resolution of the French colony at -Alexandria to erect a monument to the memory of Louis Thuillier. That -valiant and beloved young man was deserving of every honour. I know, -perhaps better than any one, the loss inflicted on science by his cruel -death. I cannot console myself, and I am already dreading the sight of -the dear fellow’s empty place in my laboratory.”</p> - -<p>On his return to Paris, Pasteur read a paper to the Academy of Sciences, -in his own name and in that of Thuillier, on the now well-ascertained -mode of vaccination for swine-fever. He began by recalling Thuillier’s -worth:</p> - -<p>“Thuillier entered my laboratory after taking the first rank at the -Physical Science Agrégation competition at the Ecole Normale. His was a -deeply meditative, silent nature; his whole person breathed a virile -energy which struck all those who knew him. An indefatigable worker, he -was ever ready for self-sacrifice.”</p> - -<p>A few days before, M. Straus had given to the Biology Society a summary -statement of the studies of the Cholera Commission, concluding thus: -“The documents collected during those two months are far from solving -the etiological problem of cholera, but will perhaps not be useless for -the orientation of future research.”</p> - -<p>The cholera bacillus was put in evidence, later on, by Dr. Koch, who had -already suspected it during his researches in Egypt.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Glory, which had been seen in the battlefield at the beginning of the -nineteenth century, now seemed to elect to dwell in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_383" id="page_383">{383}</a></span> laboratory, -that “temple of the future” as Pasteur called it. From every part of the -world, letters reached Pasteur, appeals, requests for consultations. -Many took him for a physician. “He does not cure individuals,” answered -Edmond About one day to a foreigner who was under that misapprehension; -“he only tries to cure humanity.” Some sceptical minds were predicting -failure to his studies on hydrophobia. This problem was complicated by -the fact that Pasteur was trying in vain to discover and isolate the -specific microbe.</p> - -<p>He was endeavouring to evade that difficulty; the idea pursued him that -human medicine might avail itself of “the long period of incubation of -hydrophobia, by attempting to establish, during that interval before the -appearance of the first rabic symptoms, a refractory condition in the -subjects bitten.”</p> - -<p>At the beginning of the year 1884, J. B. Dumas enjoyed following from a -distance Pasteur’s readings at the Académie des Sciences. His failing -health and advancing age (he was more than eighty years old) had forced -him to spend the winter in the South of France. On January 26, 1884, he -wrote to Pasteur for the last time, à propos of a book<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> which was a -short summary of Pasteur’s discoveries and their concatenation:</p> - -<p>“Dear colleague and friend,—I have read with a great and sincere -emotion the picture of your scientific life drawn by a faithful and -loving hand.</p> - -<p>“Myself a witness and a sincere admirer of your happy efforts, your -fruitful genius and your imperturbable method, I consider it a great -service rendered to Science, that the accurate and complete whole should -be put before the eyes of young people.</p> - -<p>“It will make a wholesome impression on the public in general; to young -scientists, it will be an initiation, and to those who, like me, have -passed the age of labour it will bring happy memories of youthful -enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>“May Providence long spare you to France, and maintain in you that -admirable equilibrium between the mind that observes, the genius that -conceives, and the hand that executes with a perfection unknown until -now.”</p> - -<p>This was a last proof of Dumas’ affection for Pasteur. Although his life -was now fast drawing to its close, his mental faculties were in no wise -impaired, for we find him three weeks later, on February 20, using his -influence as Permanent Secre<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_384" id="page_384">{384}</a></span>tary of the Academy to obtain the Lacaze -prize for M. Cailletet, the inventor of the well-known apparatus for the -liquefaction of gases.</p> - -<p>J. B. Dumas died on April 11, 1884. Pasteur was then about to start for -Edinburgh on the occasion of the tercentenary of the celebrated Scotch -University. The “Institut de France,” invited to take part in these -celebrations, had selected representatives from each of the five -Academies: the Académie Française was sending M. Caro; the Academy of -Sciences, Pasteur and de Lesseps; the Academy of Moral Sciences, M. -Gréard; the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, M. Perrot; and the -Academy of Fine Arts, M. Eugène Guillaume. The Collège de France sent M. -Guillaume Guizot, and the Academy of Medicine Dr. Henry Gueneau de -Mussy.</p> - -<p>Pasteur much wished to relinquish this official journey; the idea that -he would not be able to follow to the grave the incomparable teacher of -his youth, the counsellor and confidant of his life, was infinitely -painful to him.</p> - -<p>He was however reconciled to it by one of his colleagues, M. Mézières, -who was going to Edinburgh on behalf of the Minister of Public -Instruction, and who pointed out to him that the best way of honouring -Dumas’ memory lay in remembering Dumas’ chief object in life—the -interests of France. Pasteur went, hoping that he would have an -opportunity of speaking of Dumas to the Edinburgh students.</p> - -<p>In London, the French delegates had the pleasant surprise of finding -that a private saloon had been reserved to take Pasteur and his friends -to Edinburgh. This hospitality was offered to Pasteur by one of his -numerous admirers, Mr. Younger, an Edinburgh brewer, as a token of -gratitude for his discoveries in the manufacture of beer. He and his -wife and children welcomed Pasteur with the warmest cordiality, when the -train reached Edinburgh; the principal inhabitants of the great Scotch -city vied with each other in entertaining the French delegates, who were -delighted with their reception.</p> - -<p>The next morning, they, and the various representatives from all parts -of the world, assembled in the Cathedral of St. Giles, where, with the -exalted feeling which, in the Scotch people, mingles religious with -political life, the Town Council had decided that a service should -inaugurate the rejoicings. The Rev. Robert Flint, mounting that pulpit -from which the impetuous John Knox, Calvin’s friend and disciple, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_385" id="page_385">{385}</a></span> -breathed forth his violent fanaticism, preached to the immense assembly -with a full consciousness of the importance of his discourse. He spoke -of the relations between Science and Faith, of the absolute liberty of -science in the realm of facts, of the thought of God considered as a -stimulant to research, progress being but a Divine impulse.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon, the students imparted life and merriment into the -proceedings; they had organized a dramatic performance, the members of -the orchestra, even, being undergraduates.</p> - -<p>The French delegates took great interest in the system of this -University. Accustomed as they were to look upon the State as sole -master and dispenser, they now saw an independent institution, owing its -fortune to voluntary contributions, revealing in every point the power -of private enterprise. Unlike what takes place in France, where -administrative unity makes itself felt in the smallest village, the -British Government effaces itself, and merely endeavours to inspire -faith in political unity. Absolutely her own mistress, the University of -Edinburgh is free to confer high honorary degrees on her distinguished -visitors. However, these honorary diplomas are but of two kinds, viz.: -Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) and Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). In 1884, seventeen -degrees of D.D. and 122 degrees of LL.D. were reserved for the various -delegates. “The only laws I know,” smilingly said the learned Helmholtz, -“are the laws of Physics.”</p> - -<p>The solemn proclamation of the University degrees took place on -Thursday, April 17. The streets and monuments of the beautiful city were -decorated with flags, and an air of rejoicing pervaded the whole -atmosphere.</p> - -<p>The ceremony began by a special prayer, alluding to the past, looking -forward to the future, and asking for God’s blessing on the delegates -and their countries. The large assembly filled the immense hall where -the Synod of the Presbyterian Church holds its meetings. The Chancellor -and the Rector of the University were seated on a platform with a large -number of professors; those who were about to receive honorary degrees -occupied seats in the centre of the hall; about three thousand students -found seats in various parts of the hall.</p> - -<p>The Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh had arranged that the new -graduates should be called in alphabetical order. As each of them heard -his name, he rose and mounted the platform. The students took great -pleasure in heartily cheer<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_386" id="page_386">{386}</a></span>ing those savants who had had most influence -on their studies. When Pasteur’s name was pronounced, a great silence -ensued; every one was trying to obtain a sight of him as he walked -towards the platform. His appearance was the signal for a perfect -outburst of applause; five thousand men rose and cheered him. It was -indeed a splendid ovation.</p> - -<p>In the evening, a banquet was set out in the hall, which was hung with -the blue and white colours of the University; there were a thousand -guests, seated round twenty-eight tables, one of which, the high table, -was reserved for the speakers who were to propose the toasts, which were -to last four hours. Pasteur was seated next to Virchow; they talked -together of the question of rabies, and Virchow owned that, when he saw -Pasteur in 1881 about to tackle this question, he much doubted the -possibility of a solution. This friendly chat between two such men -proves the desirability of such gatherings; intercourse between the -greatest scientists can but lead to general peace and fraternity between -nations. After having read a telegram from the Queen, congratulating the -University and welcoming the guests, a toast was drunk to the Queen and -to the Royal Family, and a few words spoken by the representative of the -Emperor of Brazil. Pasteur then rose to speak:</p> - -<p>“My Lord Chancellor, Gentlemen, the city of Edinburgh is now offering a -sight of which she may be proud. All the great scientific institutions, -meeting here, appear as an immense Congress of hopes and -congratulations. The honour and glory of this international rendezvous -deservedly belong to you, for it is centuries since Scotland united her -destinies with those of the human mind. She was one of the first among -the nations to understand that intellect leads the world. And the world -of intellect, gladly answering your call, lays a well-merited homage at -your feet. When, yesterday, the eminent Professor Robert Flint, -addressing the Edinburgh University from the pulpit of St. Giles, -exclaimed, ‘Remember the past and look to the future,’ all the -delegates, seated like judges at a great tribunal, evoked a vision of -past centuries and joined in a unanimous wish for a yet more glorious -future.</p> - -<p>“Amongst the illustrious delegates of all nations who bring you an -assurance of cordial good wishes, France has sent to represent her those -of her institutions which are most representative of the French spirit -and the best part of French glory. France is ready to applaud whenever a -source of light appears in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_387" id="page_387">{387}</a></span> the world; and when death strikes down a man -of genius, France is ready to weep as for one of her own children. This -noble spirit of solidarity was brought home to me when I heard some of -you speak feelingly of the death of the illustrious chemist, J. B. -Dumas, a celebrated member of all your Academies, and only a few years -ago an eloquent panegyrist of your great Faraday. It was a bitter grief -to me that I had to leave Paris before his funeral ceremony; but the -hope of rendering here a last and solemn homage to that revered master -helped me to conquer my affliction. Moreover, gentlemen, men may pass, -but their works remain; we all are but passing guests of these great -homes of intellect, which, like all the Universities who have come to -greet you in this solemn day, are assured of immortality.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, having thus rendered homage to J. B. Dumas, and having -glorified his country by his presence, his speech and the great honours -conferred on him, would have returned home at once; but the -undergraduates begged to be allowed to entertain, the next day, some of -those men whom they looked upon as examples and whom they might never -see again.</p> - -<p>Pasteur thanked the students for this invitation, which filled him with -pride and pleasure, for he had always loved young people, he said, and -continued, in his deep, stirring voice:</p> - -<p>“Ever since I can remember my life as a man, I do not think I have ever -spoken for the first time with a student without saying to him, ‘Work -perseveringly; work can be made into a pleasure, and alone is profitable -to man, to his city, to his country.’ It is even more natural that I -should thus speak to you. The common soul (if I may so speak) of an -assembly of young men is wholly formed of the most generous feelings, -being yet illumined with the divine spark which is in every man as he -enters this world. You have just given a proof of this assurance, and I -have felt moved to the heart in hearing you applaud, as you have just -been doing, such men as de Lesseps, Helmholtz and Virchow. Your language -has borrowed from ours the beautiful word <i>enthusiasm</i>, bequeathed to us -by the Greeks: εν θεός, an inward God. It was almost with a divine -feeling that you just now cheered those great men.</p> - -<p>“One of those of our writers who have best made known to France and to -Europe the philosophy of Robert Reid and Dugald Stewart said, addressing -young men in the preface of one of his works:<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_388" id="page_388">{388}</a></span>—</p> - -<p>“<span class="lftspc">‘</span>Whatever career you may embrace, look up to an exalted goal; worship -great men and great things.’</p> - -<p>“Great things! You have indeed seen them. Will not this centenary remain -one of Scotland’s glorious memories? As to great men, in no country is -their memory better honoured than in yours. But, if work should be the -very life of your life, if the cult for great men and great things -should be associated with your every thought, that is still not enough. -Try to bring into everything you undertake the spirit of scientific -method, founded on the immortal works of Galileo, Descartes and Newton.</p> - -<p>“You especially, medical students of this celebrated University of -Edinburgh—who, trained as you are by eminent masters, may aspire to the -highest scientific ambition—be you inspired by the experimental method. -To its principles, Scotland owes such men as Brewster, Thomson and -Lister.”</p> - -<p>The speaker who had to respond on behalf of the students to the foreign -delegates expressed himself thus, directly addressing Pasteur:</p> - -<p>“Monsieur Pasteur, you have snatched from nature secrets too carefully, -almost maliciously hidden. We greet in you a benefactor of humanity, all -the more so because we know that you admit the existence of spiritual -secrets, revealed to us by what you have just called the work of God in -us.</p> - -<p>“Representatives of France, we beg you to tell your great country that -we are following with admiration the great reforms now being introduced -into every branch of your education, reforms which we look upon as -tokens of a beneficent rivalry and of a more and more cordial -intercourse—for misunderstandings result from ignorance, a darkness -lightened by the work of scientists.”</p> - -<p>The next morning, at ten o’clock, crowds gathered on the station -platform with waving handkerchiefs. People were showing each other a -great Edinburgh daily paper, in which Pasteur’s speech to the -undergraduates was reproduced and which also contained the following -announcement in large print:</p> - -<p>“In memory of M. Pasteur’s visit to Edinburgh, Mr. Younger offers to the -Edinburgh University a donation of £500.”</p> - -<p>Livingstone’s daughter, Mrs. Bruce, on whom Pasteur had called the -preceding day, came to the station a few moments<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_389" id="page_389">{389}</a></span> before the departure -of the train, bringing him a book entitled <i>The Life of Livingstone</i>.</p> - -<p>The saloon carriage awaited Pasteur and his friends. They departed, -delighted with the hospitality they had received, and much struck with -the prominent place given to science and the welcome accorded to -Pasteur. “This is indeed glory,” said one of them. “Believe me,” said -Pasteur, “I only look upon it as a reason for continuing to go forward -as long as my strength does not fail me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_390" id="page_390">{390}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br /> -1884—1885</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Amidst</span> the various researches undertaken in his laboratory, one study -was placed by Pasteur above every other, one mystery constantly haunted -his mind—that of hydrophobia. When he was received at the Académie -Française, Renan, hoping to prove himself a prophet for once, said to -him: “Humanity will owe to you deliverance from a horrible disease and -also from a sad anomaly: I mean the distrust which we cannot help -mingling with the caresses of the animal in whom we see most of nature’s -smiling benevolence.”</p> - -<p>The two first mad dogs brought into the laboratory were given to -Pasteur, in 1880, by M. Bourrel, an old army veterinary surgeon who had -long been trying to find a remedy for hydrophobia. He had invented a -preventive measure which consisted in filing down the teeth of dogs, so -that they should not bite into the skin; in 1874, he had written that -vivisection threw no light on that disease, the laws of which were -“impenetrable to science until now.” It now occurred to him that, -perhaps, the investigators in the laboratory of the Ecole Normale might -be more successful than he had been in his kennels in the Rue -Fontaine-au-Roi.</p> - -<p>One of the two dogs he sent was suffering from what is called <i>dumb -madness</i>: his jaw hung, half opened and paralyzed, his tongue was -covered with foam, and his eyes full of wistful anguish; the other made -ferocious darts at anything held out to him, with a rabid fury in his -bloodshot eyes, and, in the hallucinations of his delirium, gave vent to -haunting, despairing howls.</p> - -<p>Much confusion prevailed at that time regarding this disease, its seat, -its causes, and its remedy. Three things seemed positive: firstly, that -the rabic virus was contained in the saliva of the mad animals; -secondly, that it was communicated through<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_391" id="page_391">{391}</a></span> bites; and thirdly, that the -period of incubation might vary from a few days to several months. -Clinical observation was reduced to complete impotence; perhaps -experiments might throw some light on the subject.</p> - -<p>Bouley had affirmed in April, 1870, that the germ of the evil was -localized in the saliva, and a new fact had seemed to support this -theory. On December 10, 1880, Pasteur was advised by Professor -Lannelongue that a five-year-old child, bitten on the face a month -before, had just been admitted into the Hôpital Trousseau. The -unfortunate little patient presented all the characteristics of -hydrophobia: spasms, restlessness, shudders at the least breath of air, -an ardent thirst, accompanied with an absolute impossibility of -swallowing, convulsive movements, fits of furious rage—not one symptom -was absent. The child died after twenty-four hours of horrible -suffering—suffocated by the mucus which filled the mouth. Pasteur -gathered some of that mucus four hours after the child’s death, and -mixed it with water; he then inoculated this into some rabbits, which -died in less than thirty-six hours, and whose saliva, injected into -other rabbits, provoked an almost equally rapid death. Dr. Maurice -Raynaud, who had already declared that hydrophobia could be transmitted -to rabbits through the human saliva, and who had also caused the death -of some rabbits with the saliva of that same child, thought himself -justified in saying that those rabbits had died of hydrophobia.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was slower in drawing conclusions. He had examined with a -microscope the blood of those rabbits which had died in the laboratory, -and had found in it a micro-organism; he had cultivated this organism in -veal broth, inoculated it into rabbits and dogs, and, its virulence -having manifested itself in these animals, their blood had been found to -contain that same microbe. “But,” added Pasteur at the meeting of the -Academy of Medicine (January 18, 1881), “I am absolutely ignorant of the -connection there may be between this new disease and hydrophobia.” It -was indeed a singular thing that the deadly issue of this disease should -occur so early, when the incubation period of hydrophobia is usually so -long. Was there not some unknown microbe associated with the rabic -saliva? This query was followed by experiments made with the saliva of -children who had died of ordinary diseases, and even with that of -healthy adults. Thuillier, following up and studying this saliva microbe -and its special virulence with his usual<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_392" id="page_392">{392}</a></span> patience, soon applied to it -with success the method of attenuation by the oxygen in air. “What did -we want with a new disease?” said a good many people, and yet it was -making a stop forward to clear up this preliminary confusion. Pasteur, -in the course of a long and minute study of the saliva of mad dogs—in -which it was so generally admitted that the virulent principle of rabies -had its seat, that precautions against saliva were the only ones taken -at post-mortem examinations—discovered many other mistakes. If a -healthy dog’s saliva contains many microbes, licked up by the dog in -various kinds of dirt, what must be the condition of the mouth of a -rabid dog, springing upon everything he meets, to tear it and bite it? -The rabic virus is therefore associated with many other micro-organisms, -ready to play their part and puzzle experimentalists; abscesses, morbid -complications of all sorts, may intervene before the development of the -rabic virus. Hydrophobia might evidently be developed by the inoculation -of saliva, but it could not be confidently asserted that it would. -Pasteur had made endless efforts to inoculate rabies to rabbits solely -through the saliva of a mad dog; as soon as a case of hydrophobia -occurred in Bourrel’s kennels, a telegram informed the laboratory, and a -few rabbits were immediately taken round in a cab.</p> - -<p>One day, Pasteur having wished to collect a little saliva from the jaws -of a rabid dog, so as to obtain it directly, two of Bourrel’s assistants -undertook to drag a mad bulldog, foaming at the mouth, from its cage; -they seized it by means of a lasso, and stretched it on a table. These -two men, thus associated with Pasteur in the same danger, with the same -calm heroism, held the struggling, ferocious animal down with their -powerful hands, whilst the scientist drew, by means of a glass tube held -between his lips, a few drops of the deadly saliva.</p> - -<p>But the same uncertainty followed the inoculation of the saliva; the -incubation was so slow that weeks and months often elapsed whilst the -result of an experiment was being anxiously awaited. Evidently the -saliva was not a sure agent for experiments, and if more knowledge was -to be obtained, some other means had to be found of obtaining it.</p> - -<p>Magendie and Renault had both tried experimenting with rabic blood, but -with no results, and Paul Bert had been equally unsuccessful. Pasteur -tried in his turn, but also in vain. “We must try other experiments,” he -said, with his usual indefatigable perseverance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_393" id="page_393">{393}</a></span></p> - -<p>As the number of cases observed became larger, he felt a growing -conviction that hydrophobia has its seat in the nervous system, and -particularly in the medulla oblongata. “The propagation of the virus in -a rabid dog’s nervous system can almost be observed in its every stage,” -writes M. Roux, Pasteur’s daily associate in these researches, which he -afterwards made the subject of his thesis. “The anguish and fury due to -the excitation of the grey cortex of the brain are followed by an -alteration of the voice and a difficulty in deglutition. The medulla -oblongata and the nerves starting from it are attacked in their turn; -finally, the spinal cord itself becomes invaded and paralysis closes the -scene.”</p> - -<p>As long as the virus has not reached the nervous centres, it may sojourn -for weeks or months in some point of the body; this explains the -slowness of certain incubations, and the fortunate escapes after some -bites from rabid dogs. The <i>a priori</i> supposition that the virus attacks -the nervous centres went very far back; it had served as a basis to a -theory enunciated by Dr. Duboué (of Pau), who had, however, not -supported it by any experiments. On the contrary, when M. Galtier, a -professor at the Lyons Veterinary School, had attempted experiments in -that direction, he had to inform the Academy of Medicine, in January, -1881, that he had only ascertained the existence of virus in rabid dogs -in the lingual glands and in the bucco-pharyngeal mucous membrane. “More -than ten times, and always unsuccessfully, have I inoculated the product -obtained by pressure of the cerebral substances of the cerebellum or of -the medulla oblongata of rabid dogs.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was about to prove that it was possible to succeed by operating -in a special manner, according to a rigorous technique, unknown in other -laboratories. When the post-mortem examination of a mad dog had revealed -no characteristic lesion, the brain was uncovered, and the surface of -the medulla oblongata scalded with a glass stick, so as to destroy any -external dust or dirt. Then, with a long tube, previously put through a -flame, a particle of the substance was drawn and deposited in a glass -just taken from a stove heated up to 200° C., and mixed with a little -water or sterilized broth by means of a glass agitator, also previously -put through a flame. The syringe used for inoculation on the rabbit or -dog (lying ready on the operating board) had been purified in boiling -water.</p> - -<p>Most of the animals who received this inoculation under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_394" id="page_394">{394}</a></span> skin -succumbed to hydrophobia; that virulent matter was therefore more -successful than the saliva, which was a great result obtained.</p> - -<p>“The seat of the rabic virus,” wrote Pasteur, “is therefore not in the -saliva only: the brain contains it in a degree of virulence at least -equal to that of the saliva of rabid animals.” But, to Pasteur’s eyes, -this was but a preliminary step on the long road which stretched before -him; it was necessary that all the inoculated animals should contract -hydrophobia, and the period of incubation had to be shortened.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>It was then that it occurred to Pasteur to inoculate the rabic virus -directly on the surface of a dog’s brain. He thought that, by placing -the virus from the beginning in its true medium, hydrophobia would more -surely supervene and the incubation might be shorter. The experiment was -attempted: a dog under chloroform was fixed to the operating board, and -a small, round portion of the cranium removed by means of a trephine (a -surgical instrument somewhat similar to a fret-saw); the tough fibrous -membrane called the dura-mater, being thus exposed, was then injected -with a small quantity of the prepared virus, which lay in readiness in a -Pravaz syringe. The wound was washed with carbolic and the skin stitched -together, the whole thing lasting but a few minutes. The dog, on -returning to consciousness, seemed quite the same as usual. But, after -fourteen days, hydrophobia appeared: rabid fury, characteristic howls, -the tearing up and devouring of his bed, delirious hallucination, and -finally, paralysis and death.</p> - -<p>A method was therefore found by which rabies was contracted surely and -swiftly. Trephinings were again performed on chloroformed -animals—Pasteur had a great horror of useless sufferings, and always -insisted on anæsthesia. In every case, characteristic hydrophobia -occurred after inoculation on the brain. The main lines of this -complicated question were beginning to be traceable; but other obstacles -were in the way. Pasteur could not apply the method he had hitherto -used, <i>i.e.</i> to isolate, and then to cultivate in an artificial medium, -the microbe of hydrophobia, for he failed in detecting this microbe. Yet -its existence admitted of no doubt; perhaps it was beyond the limits of -human sight. “Since this unknown being is living,” thought Pasteur, “we -must cultivate it; failing an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_395" id="page_395">{395}</a></span> artificial medium, let us try the brain -of living rabbits; it would indeed be an experimental feat!”</p> - -<p>As soon as a trephined and inoculated rabbit died paralyzed, a little of -his rabic medulla was inoculated to another; each inoculation succeeded -another, and the time of incubation became shorter and shorter, until, -after a hundred uninterrupted inoculations, it came to be reduced to -seven days. But the virus, having reached this degree, the virulence of -which was found to be greater than that of the virus of dogs made rabid -by an accidental bite, now became fixed; Pasteur had mastered it. He -could now predict the exact time when death should occur in each of the -inoculated animals; his predictions were verified with surprising -accuracy.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was not yet satisfied with the immense progress marked by -infallible inoculation and the shortened incubation; he now wished to -decrease the degrees of virulence—when the attenuation of the virus was -once conquered, it might be hoped that dogs could be made refractory to -rabies. Pasteur abstracted a fragment of the medulla from a rabbit which -had just died of rabies after an inoculation of the fixed virus; this -fragment was suspended by a thread in a sterilized phial, the air in -which was kept dry by some pieces of caustic potash lying at the bottom -of the vessel and which was closed by a cotton-wool plug to prevent the -entrance of atmospheric dusts. The temperature of the room where this -desiccation took place was maintained at 23° C. As the medulla gradually -became dry, its virulence decreased, until, at the end of fourteen days, -it had become absolutely extinguished. This now inactive medulla was -crushed and mixed with pure water, and injected under the skin of some -dogs. The next day they were inoculated with medulla which had been -desiccating for thirteen days, and so on, using increased virulence -until the medulla was used of a rabbit dead the same day. These dogs -might now be bitten by rabid dogs given them as companions for a few -minutes, or submitted to the intracranial inoculations of the deadly -virus: they resisted both.</p> - -<p>Having at last obtained this refractory condition, Pasteur was anxious -that his results should be verified by a Commission. The Minister of -Public Instruction acceded to this desire, and a Commission was -constituted in May, 1884, composed of Messrs. Béclard, Dean of the -Faculty of Medicine, Paul Bert, Bouley, Villemin, Vulpian, and -Tisserand, Director of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_396" id="page_396">{396}</a></span> Agriculture Office. The Commission -immediately set to work; a rabid dog having succumbed at Alfort on June -1, its carcase was brought to the laboratory of the Ecole Normale, and a -fragment of the medulla oblongata was mixed with some sterilized broth. -Two dogs, declared by Pasteur to be refractory to rabies, were -trephined, and a few drops of the liquid injected into their brains; two -other dogs and two rabbits received inoculations at the same time, with -the same liquid and in precisely the same manner.</p> - -<p>Bouley was taking notes for a report to be presented to the Minister:</p> - -<p>“M. Pasteur tells us that, considering the nature of the rabic virus -used, the rabbits and the two new dogs will develop rabies within twelve -or fifteen days, and that the two refractory dogs will not develop it at -all, however long they may be detained under observation.”</p> - -<p>On May 29, Mme. Pasteur wrote to her children:</p> - -<p>“The Commission on rabies met to-day and elected M. Bouley as chairman. -Nothing is settled as to commencing experiments. Your father is absorbed -in his thoughts, talks little, sleeps little, rises at dawn, and, in one -word, continues the life I began with him this day thirty-five years -ago.”</p> - -<p>On June 3, Bourrel sent word that he had a rabid dog in the kennels of -the Rue Fontaine-au-Roi; a refractory dog and a new dog were immediately -submitted to numerous bites; the latter was violently bitten on the head -in several places. The rabid dog, still living the next day and still -able to bite, was given two more dogs, one of which was refractory; this -dog, and the refractory dog bitten on the 3rd, were allowed to receive -the first bites, the Commission having thought that perhaps the saliva -might then be more abundant and more dangerous.</p> - -<p>On June 6, the rabid dog having died, the Commission proceeded to -inoculate the medulla of the animal into six more dogs, by means of -trephining. Three of those dogs were refractory, the three others were -fresh from the kennels; there were also two rabbits.</p> - -<p>On the 10th, Bourrel telegraphed the arrival of another rabid dog, and -the same operations were gone through.</p> - -<p>“This rabid, furious dog,” wrote Pasteur to his son-in-law, “had spent -the night lying on his master’s bed; his appearance had been suspicious -for a day or two. On the morning of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_397" id="page_397">{397}</a></span> 10th, his voice became -rabietic, and his master, who had heard the bark of a rabid dog twenty -years ago, was seized with terror, and brought the dog to M. Bourrel, -who found that he was indeed in the biting stage of rabies. Fortunately -a lingering fidelity had prevented him from attacking his master....</p> - -<p>“This morning the rabic condition is beginning to appear on one of the -new dogs trephined on June 1, at the same time as two refractory dogs. -Let us hope that the other new dog will also develop it and that the two -refractory ones will resist.”</p> - -<p>At the same time that the Commission examined this dog which developed -rabies within the exact time indicated by Pasteur, the two rabbits on -whom inoculation had been performed at the same time were found to -present the first symptoms of rabic paralysis. “This paralysis,” noted -Bouley, “is revealed by great weakness of the limbs, particularly of the -hind quarters; the least shock knocks them over and they experience -great difficulty in getting up again.” The second new dog on whom -inoculation had been performed on June 1 was now also rabid; the -refractory dogs were in perfect health.</p> - -<p>During the whole of June, Pasteur found time to keep his daughter and -son-in-law informed of the progress of events. “Keep my letters,” he -wrote, “they are almost like copies of the notes taken on the -experiments.”</p> - -<p>Towards the end of the month, dozens of dogs were submitted to -control-experiments which were continued until August. The dogs which -Pasteur declared to be refractory underwent all the various tests made -with rabic virus; bites, injections into the veins, trephining, -everything was tried before Pasteur would decide to call them -vaccinated. On June 17, Bourrel sent word that the new dog bitten on -June 3 was becoming rabic; the members of the Commission went to the Rue -Fontaine-au-Roi. The period of incubation had only lasted fourteen days, -a fact attributed by Bouley to the bites having been chiefly about the -head. The dog was destroying his kennel and biting his chain -ferociously. More new dogs developed rabies the following days. Nineteen -new dogs had been experimented upon: three died out of six bitten by a -rabid dog, six out of eight after intravenous inoculation, and five out -of five after subdural inoculation. Bouley thought that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_398" id="page_398">{398}</a></span> a few more -cases might occur, the period of incubation after bites being so -extremely irregular.</p> - -<p>Bouley’s report was sent to the Minister of Public Instruction at the -beginning of August. “We submit to you to-day,” he wrote, “this report -on the first series of experiments that we have just witnessed, in order -that M. Pasteur may refer to it in the paper which he proposes to read -at the Copenhagen International Scientific Congress on these magnificent -results, which devolve so much credit on French Science and which give -it a fresh claim to the world’s gratitude.”</p> - -<p>The Commission wished that a large kennel yard might be built, in order -that the duration of immunity in protected dogs might be timed, and that -other great problem solved, viz., whether it would be possible, through -the inoculation of attenuated virus, to defy the virus from bites.</p> - -<p>By the Minister’s request, the Commission investigated the Meudon woods -in search of a favourable site; an excellent place was found in the -lower part of the Park, away from dwelling houses, easy to enclose and -presumably in no one’s way. But, when the inhabitants of Meudon heard of -this project, they protested vehemently, evidently terrified at the -thought of rabid dogs, however securely bound, in their peaceful -neighbourhood.</p> - -<p>Another piece of ground was then suggested to Pasteur, near St. Cloud, -in the Park of Villeneuve l’Etang. Originally a State domain, this -property had been put up for sale, but had found no buyer, not being -suitable for parcelling out in small lots; the Bill was withdrawn which -allowed of its sale and the greater part of the domain was devoted by -the Ministry to Pasteur’s and his assistants’ experiments on the -prophylaxis of contagious diseases.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, his mind full of ideas, started for the International Medical -Congress, which was now to take place at Copenhagen. Sixteen hundred -members arranged to attend, and nearly all of them found on arriving -that they were to be entertained in the houses of private individuals. -The Danes carry hospitality to the most generous excess; several of them -had been learning French for the last three years, the better to -entertain the French delegates. Pasteur’s son, then secretary of the -French Legation at Copenhagen, had often spoken to his father with -appreciative admiration of those Northerners, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_399" id="page_399">{399}</a></span> hide deep enthusiasm -under apparent calmness, almost coldness.</p> - -<p>The opening meeting took place on August 10 in the large hall of the -Palace of Industry; the King and Queen of Denmark and the King and Queen -of Greece were present at that impressive gathering. The President, -Professor Panum, welcomed the foreign members in the name of his -country; he proclaimed the neutrality of Science, adding that the three -official languages to be used during the Congress would be French, -English, and German. His own speech was entirely in French, “the -language which least divides us,” he said, “and which we are accustomed -to look upon as the most courteous in the world.”</p> - -<p>The former president of the London Congress, Sir James Paget, emphasized -the scientific consequences of those triennial meetings, showing that, -thanks to them, nations may calculate the march of progress.</p> - -<p>Virchow, in the name of Germany, developed the same idea.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, representing France, showed again as he had done at Milan in -1878, in London in 1881, at Geneva in 1882, and quite recently in -Edinburgh, how much the scientist and the patriot were one in him.</p> - -<p>“In the name of France,” said he, “I thank M. le Président for his words -of welcome.... By our presence in this Congress, we affirm the -neutrality of Science ... Science is of no country.... But if Science -has no country, the scientist must keep in mind all that may work -towards the glory of his country. In every great scientist will be found -a great patriot. The thought of adding to the greatness of his country -sustains him in his long efforts, and throws him into the difficult but -glorious scientific enterprises which bring about real and durable -conquests. Humanity then profits by those labours coming from various -directions....”</p> - -<p>At the end of the meeting Pasteur was presented to the King. The Queen -of Denmark and the Queen of Greece, regardless of etiquette, walked -towards him, “a signal proof,” wrote a French contemporary, “of the -esteem in which our illustrious countryman is held at the Danish Court.”</p> - -<p>Five general meetings were to give some of the scientists an opportunity -of expounding their views on subjects of universal interest. Pasteur was -asked to read the first paper; his audience consisted, besides the -members of the Congress, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_400" id="page_400">{400}</a></span> many other men interested in scientific -things, who had come to hear him describe the steps by which he had made -such secure progress in the arduous question of hydrophobia. He began by -a declaration of war against the prejudice by which so many people -believe that rabies can occur spontaneously. Whatever the pathological, -physiological, or other conditions may be under which a dog or another -animal is placed, rabies never appears if the animal has not been bitten -or licked by another rabid animal; this is so truly the case that -hydrophobia is unknown in certain countries. In order to preserve a -whole land from the disease, it is sufficient that a law should, as in -Australia, compel every imported dog to be in quarantine for several -months; he would then, if bitten by a mad dog before his departure, have -ample time to die before infecting other animals. Norway and Lapland are -equally free from rabies, a few good prophylactic measures being -sufficient to avert the scourge.</p> - -<p>It will be objected that there must have been a first rabid dog -originally. “That,” said Pasteur, “is a problem which cannot be solved -in the present state of knowledge, for it partakes of the great and -unknown mystery of the origin of life.”</p> - -<p>The audience followed with an impassioned curiosity the history of the -stages followed by Pasteur on the road to his great discovery: the -preliminary experiments, the demonstration of the fact that the rabic -virus invades the nervous centres, the culture of the virus within -living animals, the attenuation of the rabic virus when passed from dogs -to monkeys, and simultaneously with this graduated attenuation, a -converse process by successive passages from rabbit to rabbit, the -possibility of obtaining in this way all the degrees of virulence, and -finally the acquired certainty of having obtained a preventive vaccine -against canine hydrophobia.</p> - -<p>“Enthusiastic applause,” wrote the reporter of the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, -“greeted the conclusion of the indefatigable worker.”</p> - -<p>In the course of one of the excursions arranged for the members of the -Congress, Pasteur had the pleasure of seeing his methods applied on a -large scale, not as in Italy to the progress of sericiculture, but to -that of the manufacture of beer. J. C. Jacobsen, a Danish citizen, whose -name was celebrated in the whole of Europe by his munificent donations -to science, had founded in 1847 the Carlsberg Brewery, now<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_401" id="page_401">{401}</a></span> one of the -most important in the world; at least 200,000 hectolitres were now -produced every year by the Carlsberg Brewery and the Ny Carlsberg branch -of it, which was under the direction of Jacobsen’s son.</p> - -<p>In 1879, Jacobsen, who was unknown to Pasteur, wrote to him, “I should -be very much obliged if you would allow me to order from M. Paul Dubois, -one of the great artists who do France so much credit, a marble bust of -yourself, which I desire to place in the Carlsberg laboratory in token -of the services rendered to chemistry, physiology, and beer-manufacture, -by your studies on fermentation, a foundation to all future progress in -the brewer’s trade.” Paul Dubois’ bust is a masterpiece: it is most -characteristic of Pasteur—the deep thoughtful far-away look in his -eyes, a somewhat stern expression on his powerful features.</p> - -<p>Actuated, like his father, by a feeling of gratitude, the younger -Jacobsen had placed a bronze reproduction of this bust in a niche in the -wall of the brewery, at the entrance of the Pasteur Street, leading to -Ny Carlsberg.</p> - -<p>This visit to the brewery was an object lesson to the members of the -Congress, who were magnificently entertained by Jacobsen and his son; no -better demonstration was ever made of the services which industry may -receive from science. In the great laboratory, the physiologist Hansen -had succeeded in finding differences in yeast; he had just separated -from each other three kinds of yeast, each producing beer with a -different flavour.</p> - -<p>The French scientists were delighted with the practical sense and -delicate feelings of the Danish people. Though they had gone through -bitter trials in 1864, though France, England, and Russia had -countenanced the unrighteous invasion, in the face of the old treaties -which guaranteed to Denmark the possession of Schleswig, the diminished -and impoverished nation had not given vent to barren recriminations or -declamatory protests. Proudly and silently sorrowing, the Danes had -preserved their respect for the past, faith in justice and the cult of -their great men. It is a strange thing that Shakespeare should have -chosen that land of good sense and well-balanced reason for the -surroundings of his mysterious hero, of all men the most haunted by the -maddening enigma of destiny.</p> - -<p>Elsinore is but a short distance from Copenhagen, and no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_402" id="page_402">{402}</a></span> member of the -Congress, especially among the English section, could have made up his -mind to leave Denmark without visiting Hamlet’s home.</p> - -<p>A Transport Company organized the visit to Elsinore for a day when the -Congress had arranged to have a complete holiday. Five steamers, gay -with flags, were provided for the thousand medical men and their -families, and accomplished the two hours’ crossing to Elsinore on a -lovely, clear day, with an absolutely calm sea. The scientific tourists -landed at the foot of the old Kronborg Castle, ready for the lunch which -was served out to them and which proved barely sufficient for their -appetites; there was not quite enough bread for the Frenchmen, -proverbially bread-eaters, and the water, running a little short, had to -be supplemented with champagne.</p> - -<p>Some of the visitors returned from a neighbouring wood, where they had -been to see the stones of the supposed tomb of Hamlet, disappointed at -having looked in vain for Ophelia’s stream and for the willow tree which -heard her sing her last song, her hands full of flowers. Evidently this -place was but an imaginary scenery given by Shakespeare to the drama -which stands like a point of interrogation before the mystery of human -life; but his life-giving art has for ever made of Elsinore the place -where Hamlet lived and suffered.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, to whom the Danish character, in its strength and simplicity, -proved singularly attractive, remained in Copenhagen for some time after -the Congress was over. He had much pleasure in visiting the Thorwaldsen -Museum. Copenhagen, after showering honours on the great artist during -his lifetime, has continued to worship him after his death. Every -statue, every plaster cast, is preserved in that Museum with -extraordinary care. Thorwaldsen himself lies in the midst of his -works—his simple stone grave, covered with graceful ivy, is in one of -the courtyards of the Museum.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pasteur went on to Arbois from Copenhagen. The laboratory he had built -there not being large enough to take in rabid dogs, he dictated from his -study the experiments to be carried out in Paris; his carefully kept -notebooks enabled him to know exactly how things were going on. His -nephew, Adrien Loir, now a curator in the laboratory of Rue d’Ulm, had -gladly given up his holidays and remained in Paris with the faithful -Eugène Viala. This excellent assistant had come<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_403" id="page_403">{403}</a></span> to Paris from Alais in -1871, at the request of Pasteur, who knew his family. Viala was then -only twelve years old and could barely read and write. Pasteur sent him -to an evening school and himself helped him with his studies; the boy -was very intelligent and willing to learn. He became most useful to -Pasteur, who, in 1885, was glad to let him undertake a great deal of the -laboratory work, under the guidance of M. Roux; he was ultimately -entrusted with all the trephining operations on dogs, rabbits, and -guinea-pigs.</p> - -<p>The letters written to him by Pasteur in 1884 show the exact point -reached at that moment by the investigations on hydrophobia. Many people -already thought those studies advanced enough to allow the method of -treatment to be applied to man.</p> - -<p>Pasteur wrote to Viala on September 19, “Tell M. Adrien (Loir) to send -the following telegram: ‘Surgeon Symonds, Oxford, England. Operation on -man still impossible. No possibility at present of sending attenuated -virus.’ See MM. Bourrel and Béraud, procure a dog which has died of -street-rabies, and use its medulla to inoculate a new monkey, two -guinea-pigs and two rabbits.... I am afraid Nocard’s dog cannot have -been rabid; even if you were sure that he was, you had better try those -tests again.</p> - -<p>“Since M. Bourrel says he has several mad dogs at present, you might -take two couple of new dogs to his kennels; when he has a good biting -dog, he can have a pair of our dogs bitten, after which you will treat -one of them so as to make him refractory (carefully taking note of the -time elapsed between the bites and the beginning of the treatment). Mind -you keep notes of every new experiment undertaken, and write to me every -other day at least.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur pondered on the means of extinguishing hydrophobia or of merely -diminishing its frequency. Could dogs be vaccinated? There are 100,000 -dogs in Paris, about 2,500,000 more in the provinces: vaccination -necessitates several preventive inoculations; innumerable kennels would -have to be built for the purpose, to say nothing of the expense of -keeping the dogs and of providing a trained staff capable of performing -the difficult and dangerous operations. And, as M. Nocard truly -remarked, where were rabbits to be found in sufficient number for the -vaccine emulsions?</p> - -<p>Optional vaccination did not seem more practicable; it could<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_404" id="page_404">{404}</a></span> only be -worked on a very restricted scale and was therefore of very little use -in a general way.</p> - -<p>The main question was the possibility of preventing hydrophobia from -occurring in a human being, previously bitten by a rabid dog.</p> - -<p>The Emperor of Brazil, who took the greatest interest in the doings of -the Ecole Normale laboratory, having written to Pasteur asking when the -preventive treatment could be applied to man, Pasteur answered as -follows—</p> - -<p class="r"> -“<i>September 22.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Sire</span>—Baron Itajuba, the Minister for Brazil, has handed me the letter -which Your Majesty has done me the honour of writing on August 21. The -Academy welcomed with unanimous sympathy your tribute to the memory of -our illustrious colleague, M. Dumas; it will listen with similar -pleasure to the words of regret which you desire me to express on the -subject of M. Wurtz’s premature death.</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty is kind enough to mention my studies on hydrophobia; they -are making good and uninterrupted progress. I consider, however, that it -will take me nearly two years more to bring them to a happy issue....</p> - -<p>“What I want to do is to obtain prophylaxis of rabies <i>after</i> bites.</p> - -<p>“Until now I have not dared to attempt anything on men, in spite of my -own confidence in the result and the numerous opportunities afforded to -me since my last reading at the Academy of Sciences. I fear too much -that a failure might compromise the future, and I want first to -accumulate successful cases on animals. Things in that direction are -going very well indeed; I already have several examples of dogs made -refractory after a rabietic bite. I take two dogs, cause them both to be -bitten by a mad dog; I vaccinate the one and leave the other without any -treatment: the latter dies and the first remains perfectly well.</p> - -<p>“But even when I shall have multiplied examples of the prophylaxis of -rabies in dogs, I think my hand will tremble when I go on to Mankind. It -is here that the high and powerful initiative of the head of a State -might intervene for the good of humanity. If I were a King, an Emperor, -or even the President of a Republic, this is how I should exercise my -right of pardoning criminals condemned to death. I should invite the -counsel of a condemned man, on the eve of the day fixed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_405" id="page_405">{405}</a></span> for his -execution, to choose between certain death and an experiment which would -consist in several preventive inoculations of rabic virus, in order to -make the subject’s constitution refractory to rabies. If he survived -this experiment—and I am convinced that he would—his life would be -saved and his punishment commuted to a lifelong surveillance, as a -guarantee towards that society which had condemned him.</p> - -<p>“All condemned men would accept these conditions, death being their only -terror.</p> - -<p>“This brings me to the question of cholera, of which Your Majesty also -has the kindness to speak to me. Neither Dr. Koch nor Drs. Straus and -Roux have succeeded in giving cholera to animals, and therefore great -uncertainty prevails regarding the bacillus to which Dr. Koch attributes -the causation of cholera. It ought to be possible to try and communicate -cholera to criminals condemned to death, by the injection of cultures of -that bacillus. When the disease declared itself, a test could be made of -the remedies which are counselled as apparently most efficacious.</p> - -<p>“I attach so much importance to these measures, that, if Your Majesty -shared my views, I should willingly come to Rio Janeiro, notwithstanding -my age and the state of my health, in order to undertake such studies on -the prophylaxis of hydrophobia and the contagion of cholera and its -remedies.</p> - -<p>“I am, with profound respect, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient -servant.”</p> - -<p>In other times, the right of pardon could be exercised in the form of a -chance of life offered to a criminal lending himself to an experiment. -Louis XVI, having admired a fire balloon rising above Versailles, -thought of proposing to two condemned men that they should attempt to go -up in one. But Pilâtre des Roziers, whose ambition it was to be the -first aëronaut, was indignant at the thought that “vile criminals should -be the first to rise up in the air.” He won his cause, and in November, -1783, he organized an ascent at the Muette which lasted twenty minutes.</p> - -<p>In England, in the eighteenth century, before Jenner’s discovery, -successful attempts had been made at the direct inoculation of -small-pox. In some historical and medical <i>Researches on Vaccine</i>, -published in 1803, Husson relates that the King of England, wishing to -have the members of his family inoculated, began by having the method -tried on six<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_406" id="page_406">{406}</a></span> criminals condemned to death; they were all saved, and the -Royal Family submitted to inoculation.</p> - -<p>There is undoubtedly a beautiful aspect of that idea of utilizing the -fate of a criminal for the cause of Humanity. But in our modern laws no -such liberty is left to Justice, which has no power to invent new -punishments, or to enter into a bargain with a condemned criminal.</p> - -<p>Before his departure from Arbois, Pasteur encountered fresh and -unforeseen obstacles. The successful opposition of the inhabitants of -Meudon had inspired those of St. Cloud, Ville d’Avray, Vaucresson, -Marnes, and Garches with the idea of resisting in their turn the -installation of Pasteur’s kennels at Villeneuve l’Etang. People spoke of -public danger, of children exposed to meet ferocious rabid dogs -wandering loose about the park, of popular Sundays spoilt, picnickers -disturbed, etc., etc.</p> - -<p>A former pupil of Pasteur’s at the Strasburg Faculty, M. Christen, now a -Town Councillor at Vaucresson, warned Pasteur of all this excitement, -adding that he personally was ready to do his best to calm the terrors -of his townspeople.</p> - -<p>Pasteur answered, thanking him for his efforts. “...I shall be back in -Paris on October 24, and on the morning of the twenty-fifth and -following days I shall be pleased to see any one desiring information on -the subject.... But you may at once assure your frightened neighbours, -Sir, that there will be no mad dogs at Villeneuve l’Etang, but only dogs -made refractory to rabies. Not having enough room in my laboratory, I am -actually obliged to quarter on various veterinary surgeons those dogs, -which I should like to enclose in covered kennels, quite safely secured, -you may be sure.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, writing about this to his son, could not help saying, “Months -of fine weather have been wasted! This will keep my plans back almost a -year.”</p> - -<p>Little by little, in spite of the opposition which burst out now and -again, calm was again re-established. French good sense and appreciation -of great things got the better of the struggle; in January, 1885, -Pasteur was able to go to Villeneuve l’Etang to superintend the -arrangements. The old stables were turned into an immense kennel, paved -with asphalte. A wide passage went from one end to the other, on each -side of which accommodation for sixty dogs was arranged behind a double -barrier of wire netting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_407" id="page_407">{407}</a></span></p> - -<p>The subject of hydrophobia goes back to the remotest antiquity; one of -Homer’s warriors calls Hector a mad dog. The supposed allusions to it to -be found in Hippocrates are of the vaguest, but Aristotle is quite -explicit when speaking of canine rabies and of its transmission from one -animal to the other through bites. He gives expression, however, to the -singular opinion that man is not subject to it. More than three hundred -years later we come to Celsus, who describes this disease, unknown or -unnoticed until then. “The patient,” said Celsus, “is tortured at the -same time by thirst and by an invincible repulsion towards water.” He -counselled cauterization of the wound with a red-hot iron and also with -various caustics and corrosives.</p> - -<p>Pliny the Elder, a worthy precursor of village quacks, recommended the -livers of mad dogs as a cure; it was not a successful one. Galen, who -opposed this, had a no less singular recipe, a compound of cray-fish -eyes. Later, the shrine of St. Hubert in Belgium was credited with -miraculous cures; this superstition is still extant.</p> - -<p>Sea bathing, unknown in France until the reign of Louis XIV, became a -fashionable cure for hydrophobia, Dieppe sands being supposed to offer -wonderful curing properties.</p> - -<p>In 1780 a prize was offered for the best method of treating hydrophobia, -and won by a pamphlet entitled <i>Dissertation sur la Rage</i>, written by a -surgeon-major of the name of Le Roux.</p> - -<p>This very sensible treatise concluded by recommending cauterization, now -long forgotten, instead of the various quack remedies which had so long -been in vogue, and the use of butter of antimony.</p> - -<p>Le Roux did not allude in his paper to certain tenacious and cruel -prejudices, which had caused several hydrophobic persons, or persons -merely suspected of hydroprobia, to be killed like wild beasts, shot, -poisoned, strangled, or suffocated.</p> - -<p>It was supposed in some places that hydrophobia could be transmitted -through the mere contact of the saliva or even by the breath of the -victims; people who had been bitten were in terror of what might be done -to them. A girl, bitten by a mad dog and taken to the Hôtel Dieu -Hospital on May 8, 1780, begged that she might not be suffocated!</p> - -<p>Those dreadful occurrences must have been only too frequent, for, in -1810, a philosopher asked the Government to enact a Bill in the -following terms: “It is forbidden, under pain of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_408" id="page_408">{408}</a></span> death, to strangle, -suffocate, bleed to death, or in any other way murder individuals -suffering from rabies, hydrophobia, or any disease causing fits, -convulsions, furious and dangerous madness; all necessary precautions -against them being taken by families or public authorities.”</p> - -<p>In 1819, newspapers related the death of an unfortunate hydrophobe, -smothered between two mattresses; it was said à propos of this murder -that “it is the doctor’s duty to repeat that this disease cannot be -transmitted from man to man, and that there is therefore no danger in -nursing hydrophobia patients.” Though old and fantastic remedies were -still in vogue in remote country places, cauterization was the most -frequently employed; if the wounds were somewhat deep, it was -recommended to use long, sharp and pointed needles, and to push them -well in, even if the wound was on the face.</p> - -<p>One of Pasteur’s childish recollections (it happened in October, 1831) -was the impression of terror produced throughout the Jura by the advent -of a rabid wolf who went biting men and beasts on his way. Pasteur had -seen an Arboisian of the name of Nicole being cauterized with a red-hot -iron at the smithy near his father’s house. The persons who had been -bitten on the hands and head succumbed to hydrophobia, some of them -amidst horrible sufferings; there were eight victims in the immediate -neighbourhood. Nicole was saved. For years the whole region remained in -dread of that mad wolf.</p> - -<p>The long period of incubation encouraged people to hope that some -preventive means might be found, instead of the painful operation of -cauterization; some doctors attempted inoculating another poison, a -viper’s venom for instance, to neutralize the rabic virus—needless to -say with fatal results. In 1852 a reward was promised by the Government -to the finder of a remedy against hydrophobia; all the old quackeries -came to light again, even Galen’s remedy of cray-fish eyes!</p> - -<p>Bouchardat, who had to report to the Academy on these remedies, -considered them of no value whatever; his conclusion was that -cauterization was the only prophylactic treatment of hydrophobia.</p> - -<p>Such was also Bouley’s opinion, eighteen years later, when he wrote that -the object to keep in view was the quickest possible destruction of the -tissues touched by rabietic saliva. Failing an iron heated to a light -red heat, or the sprinkling of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_409" id="page_409">{409}</a></span> gunpowder over the wound and setting a -match to it, he recommended caustics, such as nitric acid, sulphuric -acid, hydrochloric acid, potassa fusa, butter of antimony, corrosive -sublimate, and nitrate of silver.</p> - -<p>Thus, after centuries had passed, and numberless remedies had been -tried, no progress had been made, and nothing better had been found than -cauterization, as indicated by Celsus in the first century.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>As to the origin of rabies, it remained unknown and was erroneously -attributed to divers causes. Spontaneity was still believed in. Bouley -himself did not absolutely reject the idea of it, for he said in 1870: -“In the immense majority of cases, this disease proceeds from contagion; -out of 1,000 rabid dogs, 999 at least owe their condition to inoculation -by a bite.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was anxious to uproot this fallacy, as also another very serious -error, vigorously opposed by Bouley, by M. Nocard, and by another -veterinary surgeon in a <i>Manual on Rabies</i>, published in 1882, and still -as tenacious as most prejudices, viz., that the word hydrophobia is -synonymous with rabies. The rabid dog is <i>not</i> hydrophobe, he does <i>not</i> -abhor water. The word is applicable to rabid human beings, but is false -concerning rabid dogs.</p> - -<p>Many people in the country, constantly seeing Pasteur’s name associated -with the word rabies, fancied that he was a consulting veterinary -surgeon, and pestered him with letters full of questions. What was to be -done to a dog whose manner seemed strange, though there was no evidence -of a suspicious bite? Should he be shot? “No,” answered Pasteur, “shut -him up securely, and he will soon die if he is really mad.” Some dog -owners hesitated to destroy a dog manifestly bitten by a mad dog. “It is -such a good dog!” “The law is absolute,” answered Pasteur; “every dog -bitten by a mad dog must be destroyed at once.” And it irritated him -that village mayors should close their eyes to the non-observance of the -law, and thus contribute to a recrudescence of rabies.</p> - -<p>Pasteur wasted his precious time answering all those letters. On March -28, 1885, he wrote to his friend Jules Vercel—</p> - -<p>“Alas! we shall not be able to go to Arbois for Easter; I shall be busy -for some time settling down, or rather settling my dogs down at -Villeneuve l’Etang. I also have some new experiments on rabies on hand -which will take some months.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_410" id="page_410">{410}</a></span> I am demonstrating this year that dogs can -be vaccinated, or made refractory to rabies <i>after</i> they have been -bitten by mad dogs.</p> - -<p>“I have not yet dared to treat human beings after bites from rabid dogs; -but the time is not far off, and I am much inclined to begin by -myself—inoculating myself with rabies, and then arresting the -consequences; for I am beginning to feel very sure of my results.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur gave more details three days later, in a letter to his son, then -Secretary of the French Embassy at the Quirinal—</p> - -<p>“The experiments before the Rabies Commission were resumed on March 10; -they are now being carried out, and the Commission has already held six -sittings; the seventh will take place to-day.</p> - -<p>“As I only submit to it results which I look upon as acquired, this -gives me a surplus of work to do; for those control experiments are -added to those I am now carrying out. For I am continuing my researches, -trying to discover new principles, and hardening myself by habit and by -increased conviction in order to attempt preventive inoculations on man -after a bite.</p> - -<p>“The Commission’s experiments have led to no result so far, for, as you -know, weeks have to pass before any results occur. But no untoward -incident has occurred up to now; and if all continues equally well, the -Commission’s second report will be as favorable as that of last year, -which left nothing to be desired.</p> - -<p>“I am equally satisfied with my new experiments in this difficult study. -Perhaps practical application on a large scale may not be far off....”</p> - -<p>In May, everything at Villeneuve l’Etang was ready for the reception of -sixty dogs. Fifty of them, already made refractory to bites or rabic -inoculation, were successively accommodated in the immense kennel, where -each had his cell and his experiment number. They had been made -refractory by being inoculated with fragments of medulla, which had hung -for a fortnight in a phial, and of which the virulence was extinguished, -after which further inoculations had been made, gradually increasing in -virulence until the highest degree of it had again been reached.</p> - -<p>All those dogs, which were to be periodically taken back to Paris for -inoculations or bite tests, in order to see what was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_411" id="page_411">{411}</a></span> the duration of -the immunity conferred, were stray dogs picked up by the police. They -were of various breeds, and showed every variety of character, some of -them gentle and affectionate, others vicious and growling, some -confiding, some shrinking, as if the recollection of chloroform and the -laboratory was disagreeable to them. They showed some natural impatience -of their enforced captivity, only interrupted by a short daily run. One -of them, however, was promoted to the post of house-dog, and loosened -every night; he excited much envy among his congeners. The dogs were -very well cared for by a retired <i>gendarme</i>, an excellent man of the -name of Pernin.</p> - -<p>A lover of animals might have drawn an interesting contrast between the -fate of those laboratory dogs, living and dying for the good of -humanity, and that of the dogs buried in the neighbouring dogs’ cemetery -at Bagatelle, founded by Sir Richard Wallace, the great English -philanthropist. Here lay toy dogs, lap dogs, drawing-room dogs, -cherished and coddled during their useless lives, and luxuriously buried -after their useless deaths, while the dead bodies of the others went to -the knacker’s yard.</p> - -<p>Rabbit hutches and guinea-pig cages leaned against the dogs’ palace. -Pasteur, having seen to the comfort of his animals, now thought of -himself; it was frequently necessary that he should come to spend two or -three days at Villeneuve l’Etang. The official architect thought of -repairing part of the little palace of Villeneuve, which was in a very -bad state of decay. But Pasteur preferred to have some rooms near the -stables put into repair, which had formerly been used for -non-commissioned officers of the Cent Gardes; there was less to do to -them, and the position was convenient. The roof, windows, and doors were -renovated, and some cheap paper hung on the walls inside. “This is -certainly not luxurious!” exclaimed an astonished millionaire, who came -to see Pasteur one day on his way to his own splendid villa at Marly.</p> - -<p>On May 29 Pasteur wrote to his son—</p> - -<p>“I thought I should have done with rabies by the end of April; I must -postpone my hopes till the end of July. Yet I have not remained -stationary; but, in these difficult studies, one is far from the goal as -long as the last word, the last decisive proof is not acquired. What I -aspire to is the possibility of treating a man after a bite with no fear -of accidents.</p> - -<p>“I have never had so many subjects of experiment on hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_412" id="page_412">{412}</a></span>—sixty dogs at -Villeneuve l’Etang, forty at Rollin, ten at Frégis’, fifteen at -Bourrel’s, and I deplore having no more kennels at my disposal.</p> - -<p>“What do you say of the Rue Pasteur in the large city of Lille? The news -has given me very great pleasure.”</p> - -<p>What Pasteur briefly called “Rollin” in this letter was the former -<i>Lycée Rollin</i>, the old buildings of which had been transformed into -outhouses for his laboratory. Large cages had been set up in the old -courtyard, and the place was like a farm, with its population of hens, -rabbits, and guinea-pigs.</p> - -<p>Two series of experiments were being carried out on those 125 dogs. The -first consisted in making dogs refractory to rabies by preventive -inoculations; the second in preventing the onset of rabies in dogs -bitten or subjected to inoculation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_413" id="page_413">{413}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><br /> -1885—1888</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">Pasteur</span> had the power of concentrating his thoughts to such a degree -that he often, when absorbed in one idea, became absolutely unconscious -of what took place around him. At one of the meetings of the Académie -Française, whilst the Dictionary was being discussed, he scribbled the -following note on a stray sheet of paper—</p> - -<p>“I do not know how to hide my ideas from those who work with me; still, -I wish I could have kept those I am going to express a little longer to -myself. The experiments have already begun which will decide them.</p> - -<p>“It concerns rabies, but the results might be general.</p> - -<p>“I am inclined to think that the virus which is considered rabic may be -accompanied by a substance which, by impregnating the nervous system, -would make it unsuitable for the culture of the microbe. Thence vaccinal -immunity. If that is so, the theory might be a general one: it would be -a stupendous discovery.</p> - -<p>“I have just met Chamberland in the Rue Gay-Lussac, and explained to him -this view and my experiments. He was much struck, and asked my -permission to make at once on anthrax the experiment I am about to make -on rabies as soon as the dog and the culture rabbits are dead. Roux, the -day before yesterday, was equally struck.</p> - -<p>“<i>Académie Française, Thursday, January 29, 1885.</i>”</p> - -<p>Could that vaccinal substance associated with the rabic virus be -isolated? In the meanwhile a main fact was acquired, that of preventive -inoculation, since Pasteur was sure of his series of dogs rendered -refractory to rabies after a bite. Months were going by without bringing -an answer to the question “Why?” of the antirabic vaccination, as -mysterious as the “Why?” of Jennerian vaccination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_414" id="page_414">{414}</a></span></p> - -<p>On Monday, July 6, Pasteur saw a little Alsatian boy, Joseph Meister, -enter his laboratory, accompanied by his mother. He was only nine years -old, and had been bitten two days before by a mad dog at Meissengott, -near Schlestadt.</p> - -<p>The child, going alone to school by a little by-road, had been attacked -by a furious dog and thrown to the ground. Too small to defend himself, -he had only thought of covering his face with his hands. A bricklayer, -seeing the scene from a distance, arrived, and succeeded in beating the -dog off with an iron bar; he picked up the boy, covered with blood and -saliva. The dog went back to his master, Théodore Vone, a grocer at -Meissengott, whom he bit on the arm. Vone seized a gun and shot the -animal, whose stomach was found to be full of hay, straw, pieces of -wood, etc. When little Meister’s parents heard all these details they -went, full of anxiety, to consult Dr. Weber, at Villé, that same -evening. After cauterizing the wounds with carbolic, Dr. Weber advised -Mme. Meister to start for Paris, where she could relate the facts to one -who was not a physician, but who would be the best judge of what could -be done in such a serious case. Théodore Vone, anxious on his own and on -the child’s account, decided to come also.</p> - -<p>Pasteur reassured him; his clothes had wiped off the dog’s saliva, and -his shirt-sleeve was intact. He might safely go back to Alsace, and he -promptly did so.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s emotion was great at the sight of the fourteen wounds of the -little boy, who suffered so much that he could hardly walk. What should -he do for this child? could he risk the preventive treatment which had -been constantly successful on his dogs? Pasteur was divided between his -hopes and his scruples, painful in their acuteness. Before deciding on a -course of action, he made arrangements for the comfort of this poor -woman and her child, alone in Paris, and gave them an appointment for 5 -o’clock, after the Institute meeting. He did not wish to attempt -anything without having seen Vulpian and talked it over with him. Since -the Rabies Commission had been constituted, Pasteur had formed a growing -esteem for the great judgment of Vulpian, who, in his lectures on the -general and comparative physiology of the nervous system, had already -mentioned the profit to human clinics to be drawn from experimenting on -animals.</p> - -<p>His was a most prudent mind, always seeing all the aspects of a problem. -The man was worthy of the scientist: he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_415" id="page_415">{415}</a></span> absolutely straightforward, -and of a discreet and active kindness. He was passionately fond of work, -and had recourse to it when smitten by a deep sorrow.</p> - -<p>Vulpian expressed the opinion that Pasteur’s experiments on dogs were -sufficiently conclusive to authorize him to foresee the same success in -human pathology. Why not try this treatment? added the professor, -usually so reserved. Was there any other efficacious treatment against -hydrophobia? If at least the cauterizations had been made with a red-hot -iron! but what was the good of carbolic acid twelve hours after the -accident. If the almost certain danger which threatened the boy were -weighed against the chances of snatching him from death, Pasteur would -see that it was more than a right, that it was a duty to apply antirabic -inoculation to little Meister.</p> - -<p>This was also the opinion of Dr. Grancher, whom Pasteur consulted. M. -Grancher worked at the laboratory; he and Dr. Straus might claim to be -the two first French physicians who took up the study of bacteriology; -these novel studies fascinated him, and he was drawn to Pasteur by the -deepest admiration and by a strong affection, which Pasteur thoroughly -reciprocated.</p> - -<p>Vulpian and M. Grancher examined little Meister in the evening, and, -seeing the number of bites, some of which, on one hand especially, were -very deep, they decided on performing the first inoculation immediately; -the substance chosen was fourteen days old and had quite lost its -virulence: it was to be followed by further inoculations gradually -increasing in strength.</p> - -<p>It was a very slight operation, a mere injection into the side (by means -of a Pravaz syringe) of a few drops of a liquid prepared with some -fragments of medulla oblongata. The child, who cried very much before -the operation, soon dried his tears when he found the slight prick was -all that he had to undergo.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had had a bedroom comfortably arranged for the mother and child -in the old Rollin College, and the little boy was very happy amidst the -various animals—chickens, rabbits, white mice, guinea-pigs, etc.; he -begged and easily obtained of Pasteur the life of several of the -youngest of them.</p> - -<p>“All is going well,” Pasteur wrote to his son-in-law on July 11: “the -child sleeps well, has a good appetite, and the inoculated matter is -absorbed into the system from one day<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_416" id="page_416">{416}</a></span> to another without leaving a -trace. It is true that I have not yet come to the test inoculations, -which will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If the lad -keeps well during the three following weeks, I think the experiment will -be safe to succeed. I shall send the child and his mother back to -Meissengott (near Schlestadt) in any case on August 1, giving these good -people detailed instruction as to the observations they are to record -for me. I shall make no statement before the end of the vacation.”</p> - -<p>But, as the inoculations were becoming more virulent, Pasteur became a -prey to anxiety: “My dear children,” wrote Mme. Pasteur, “your father -has had another bad night; he is dreading the last inoculations on the -child. And yet there can be no drawing back now! The boy continues in -perfect health.”</p> - -<p>Renewed hopes were expressed in the following letter from Pasteur—</p> - -<p>“My dear René, I think great things are coming to pass. Joseph Meister -has just left the laboratory. The three last inoculations have left some -pink marks under the skin, gradually widening and not at all tender. -There is some action, which is becoming more intense as we approach the -final inoculation, which will take place on Thursday, July 16. The lad -is very well this morning, and has slept well, though slightly restless; -he has a good appetite and no feverishness. He had a slight hysterical -attack yesterday.”</p> - -<p>The letter ended with an affectionate invitation. “Perhaps one of the -great medical facts of the century is going to take place; you would -regret not having seen it!”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was going through a succession of hopes, fears, anguish, and an -ardent yearning to snatch little Meister from death; he could no longer -work. At nights, feverish visions came to him of this child whom he had -seen playing in the garden, suffocating in the mad struggles of -hydrophobia, like the dying child he had seen at the Hôpital Trousseau -in 1880. Vainly his experimental genius assured him that the virus of -that most terrible of diseases was about to be vanquished, that humanity -was about to be delivered from this dread horror—his human tenderness -was stronger than all, his accustomed ready sympathy for the sufferings -and anxieties of others was for the nonce centred in “the dear lad.”</p> - -<p>The treatment lasted ten days; Meister was inoculated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_417" id="page_417">{417}</a></span> twelve times. The -virulence of the medulla used was tested by trephinings on rabbits, and -proved to be gradually stronger. Pasteur even inoculated on July 16, at -11 a.m., some medulla only one day old, bound to give hydrophobia to -rabbits after only seven days’ incubation; it was the surest test of the -immunity and preservation due to the treatment.</p> - -<p>Cured from his wounds, delighted with all he saw, gaily running about as -if he had been in his own Alsatian farm, little Meister, whose blue eyes -now showed neither fear nor shyness, merrily received the last -inoculation; in the evening, after claiming a kiss from “Dear Monsieur -Pasteur,” as he called him, he went to bed and slept peacefully. Pasteur -spent a terrible night of insomnia; in those slow dark hours of night -when all vision is distorted, Pasteur, losing sight of the accumulation -of experiments which guaranteed his success, imagined that the little -boy would die.</p> - -<p>The treatment being now completed, Pasteur left little Meister to the -care of Dr. Grancher (the lad was not to return to Alsace until July 27) -and consented to take a few days’ rest. He spent them with his daughter -in a quiet, almost deserted country place in Burgundy, but without -however finding much restfulness in the beautiful peaceful scenery; he -lived in constant expectation of Dr. Grancher’s daily telegram or letter -containing news of Joseph Meister.</p> - -<p>By the time he went to the Jura, Pasteur’s fears had almost disappeared. -He wrote from Arbois to his son August 3, 1885: “Very good news last -night of the bitten lad. I am looking forward with great hopes to the -time when I can draw a conclusion. It will be thirty-one days to-morrow -since he was bitten.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>On August 20, six weeks before the new elections of Deputies, Léon Say, -Pasteur’s colleague at the Académie Française, wrote to him that many -Beauce agricultors were anxious to put his name down on the list of -candidates, as a recognition of the services rendered by science. A few -months before, Jules Simon had thought Pasteur might be elected as a -Life Senator, but Pasteur had refused to be convinced. He now replied to -Léon Say—</p> - -<p>“Your proposal touches me very much and it would be agreeable to me to -owe a Deputy’s mandate to electors, several of whom have applied the -results of my investigations. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_418" id="page_418">{418}</a></span> politics frighten me and I have -already refused a candidature in the Jura and a seat in the Senate in -the course of this year.</p> - -<p>“I might be tempted perhaps, if I no longer felt active enough for my -laboratory work. But I still feel equal to further researches, and on my -return to Paris, I shall be organizing a ‘service’ against rabies which -will absorb all my energies. I now possess a very perfect method of -prophylaxis against that terrible disease, a method equally adapted to -human beings and to dogs, and by which your much afflicted Department -will be one of the first to benefit.</p> - -<p>“Before my departure for Jura I dared to treat a poor little -nine-year-old lad whose mother brought him to me from Alsace, where he -had been attacked on the 4th ult., and bitten on the thighs, legs, and -hand in such a manner that hydrophobia would have been inevitable. He -remains in perfect health.”</p> - -<p>Whilst many political speeches were being prepared, Pasteur was thinking -over a literary speech. He had been requested by the Académie Française -to welcome Joseph Bertrand, elected in place of J. B. Dumas—the -eulogium of a scientist, spoken by one scientist, himself welcomed by -another scientist. This was an unusual programme for the Académie -Française, perhaps too unusual in the eyes of Pasteur, who did not think -himself worthy of speaking in the name of the Académie. Such was his -modesty; he forgot that amongst the savants who had been members of the -Académie, several, such as Fontenelle, Cuvier, J. B. Dumas, etc., had -published immortal pages, and that some extracts from his own works -would one day become classical.</p> - -<p>The vacation gave him time to read over the writings of his beloved -teacher, and also to study the life and works of Joseph Bertrand, -already his colleague at the Académie des Sciences.</p> - -<p>Bertrand’s election had been simple and easy, like everything he had -undertaken since his birth. It seemed as if a good fairy had leant over -his cradle and whispered to him, “Thou shalt know many things, without -having had to learn them.” It is a fact that he could read without -having held a book in his hands. He was ill and in bed whilst his -brother Alexander was being taught to read; he listened to the lessons -and kept the various combinations of letters in his mind. When he became -convalescent, his parents brought him a book of Natural History so that -he might look at the pictures. He took the volume<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_419" id="page_419">{419}</a></span> and read from it -fluently; he was not five years old. He learnt the elements of geometry -very much in the same way.</p> - -<p>Pasteur in his speech thus described Joseph Bertrand’s childhood: “At -ten years old you were already celebrated, and it was prophesied that -you would pass at the head of the list into the Ecole Polytechnique and -become a member of the Academy of Sciences? No one doubted this, not -even yourself. You were indeed a child prodigy. Sometimes it amused you -to hide in a class of higher mathematics, and when the Professor -propounded a difficult problem that no one could solve, one of the -students would triumphantly lift you in his arms, stand you on a chair -so that you might reach the board, and you would then give the required -solution with a calm assurance, in the midst of applause from the -professors and pupils.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, whose every progress had been painfully acquired, admired the -ease with which Bertrand had passed through the first stages of his -career. At an age when marbles and india-rubber balls are usually an -important interest, Bertrand walked merrily to the <i>Jardin des Plantes</i> -to attend a course of lectures by Gay-Lussac. A few hours later, he -might be seen at the Sorbonne, listening with interest to Saint Marc -Girardin, the literary moralist. The next day, he would go to a lecture -on Comparative Legislation; never was so young a child seen in such -serious places. He borrowed as many books from the Institute library as -Biot himself; he learnt whole passages by heart, merely by glancing at -them. He became a <i>doctor ès sciences</i> at sixteen, and a Member of the -Institute at thirty-four.</p> - -<p>Besides his personal works—such as those on Analytic Mechanics, which -place him in the very first rank—his teaching had been brought to bear -during forty years on all branches of mathematics. Bertrand’s life, -apparently so happy, had been saddened by the irreparable loss, during -the Commune, of a great many precious notes, letters, and manuscripts, -which had been burnt with the house where he had left them. Discouraged -by this ruin of ten years’ work, he had given way to a tendency to -writing slight popular articles, of high literary merit, instead of -continuing his deeper scientific work. His eulogy of J. B. Dumas was not -quite seriously enthusiastic enough to please Pasteur, who had a -veritable cult for the memory of his old teacher, and who eagerly -grasped this opportunity of speaking again of J. B. Dumas’ influence on -himself, of his admirable scientific discoveries, and of his political -duties,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_420" id="page_420">{420}</a></span> undertaken in the hope of being useful to Science, but often -proving a source of disappointment.</p> - -<p>Pasteur enjoyed looking back on the beloved memory of J. B. Dumas, as he -sat preparing his speech in his study at Arbois, looking out on the -familiar landscape of his childhood, where the progress of practical -science was evidenced by the occasional passing, through the distant -pine woods, of the white smoke of the Switzerland express.</p> - -<p>When in his laboratory in Paris, Pasteur hated to be disturbed whilst -making experiments or writing out notes of his work. Any visitor was -unwelcome; one day that some one was attempting to force his way in, M. -Roux was amused at seeing Pasteur—vexed at being disturbed and anxious -not to pain the visitor—come out to say imploringly, “Oh! not now, -please! I am too busy!”</p> - -<p>“When Chamberland and I,” writes Dr. Roux, “were engaged in an -interesting occupation, he mounted guard before us, and when, through -the glazed doors, he saw people coming, he himself would go and meet -them in order to send them away. He showed so artlessly that his sole -thought was for the work, that no one ever could be offended.”</p> - -<p>But, at Arbois, where he only spent his holidays, he did not exercise so -much severity; any one could come in who liked. He received in the -morning a constant stream of visitors, begging for advice, -recommendations, interviews, etc.</p> - -<p>“It is both comical and touching,” wrote M. Girard, a local journalist, -“to see the opinion the vineyard labourers have of him. These good -people have heard M. Pasteur’s name in connection with the diseases of -wine, and they look upon him as a sort of wine doctor. If they notice a -barrel of wine getting sour, they knock at the savant’s door, bottle in -hand; this door is never closed to them. Peasants are not precise in -their language; they do not know how to begin their explanations or how -to finish them. M. Pasteur, ever calm and serious, listens to the very -end, takes the bottle and studies it at his leisure. A week later, the -wine is ‘cured.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>He was consulted also on many other subjects—virus, silkworms, rabies, -cholera, swine-fever, etc.; many took him for a physician. Whilst -telling them of their mistake, he yet did everything he could for them.</p> - -<p>During this summer of 1885, he had the melancholy joy of seeing a bust -erected in the village of Monay to the memory of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_421" id="page_421">{421}</a></span> a beloved friend of -his, J. J. Perraud, a great and inspired sculptor, who had died in 1876. -Perraud, whose magnificent statue of Despair is now at the Louvre, had -had a sad life, and, on his lonely death-bed (he was a widower, with no -children), Pasteur’s tender sympathy had been an unspeakable comfort. -Pasteur now took a leading part in the celebration of his friend’s fame, -and was glad to speak to the assembled villagers at Monay of the great -and disinterested artist who had been born in their midst.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>On his return to Paris, Pasteur found himself obliged to hasten the -organization of a “service” for the preventive treatment of hydrophobia -after a bite. The Mayors of Villers-Farlay, in the Jura, wrote to him -that, on October 14, a shepherd had been cruelly bitten by a rabid dog.</p> - -<p>Six little shepherd boys were watching over their sheep in a meadow; -suddenly they saw a large dog passing along the road, with hanging, -foaming jaws.</p> - -<p>“A mad dog!” they exclaimed. The dog, seeing the children, left the road -and charged them; they ran away shrieking, but the eldest of them, J. B. -Jupille, fourteen years of age, bravely turned back in order to protect -the flight of his comrades. Armed with his whip, he confronted the -infuriated animal, who flew at him and seized his left hand. Jupille, -wrestling with the dog, succeeded in kneeling on him, and forcing its -jaws open in order to disengage his left hand; in so doing, his right -hand was seriously bitten in its turn; finally, having been able to get -hold of the animal by the neck, Jupille called to his little brother to -pick up his whip, which had fallen during the struggle, and securely -fastened the dog’s jaws with the lash. He then took his wooden <i>sabot</i>, -with which he battered the dog’s head, after which, in order to be sure -that it could do no further harm, he dragged the body down to a little -stream in the meadow, and held the head under water for several minutes. -Death being now certain, and all danger removed from his comrades, -Jupille returned to Villers-Farlay.</p> - -<p>Whilst the boy’s wounds were being bandaged, the dog’s carcase was -fetched, and a necropsy took place the next day. The two veterinary -surgeons who examined the body had not the slightest hesitation in -declaring that the dog was rabid.</p> - -<p>The Mayor of Villers-Farlay, who had been to see Pasteur during the -summer, wrote to tell him that this lad would die<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_422" id="page_422">{422}</a></span> a victim of his own -courage unless the new treatment intervened. The answer came -immediately: Pasteur declared that, after five years’ study, he had -succeeded in making dogs refractory to rabies, even six or eight days -after being bitten; that he had only once yet applied his method to a -human being, but that once with success, in the case of little Meister, -and that, if Jupille’s family consented, the boy might be sent to him. -“I shall keep him near me in a room of my laboratory; he will be watched -and need not go to bed; he will merely receive a daily prick, not more -painful than a pin-prick.”</p> - -<p>The family, on hearing this letter, came to an immediate decision; but, -between the day when he was bitten and Jupille’s arrival in Paris, six -whole days had elapsed, whilst in Meister’s case there had only been two -and a half!</p> - -<p>Yet, however great were Pasteur’s fears for the life of this tall lad, -who seemed quite surprised when congratulated on his courageous conduct, -they were not what they had been in the first instance—he felt much -greater confidence.</p> - -<p>A few days later, on October 26, Pasteur in a statement at the Academy -of Sciences described the treatment followed for Meister. Three months -and three days had passed, and the child remained perfectly well. Then -he spoke of his new attempt. Vulpian rose—</p> - -<p>“The Academy will not be surprised,” he said, “if, as a member of the -Medical and Surgical Section, I ask to be allowed to express the -feelings of admiration inspired in me by M. Pasteur’s statement. I feel -certain that those feelings will be shared by the whole of the medical -profession.</p> - -<p>“Hydrophobia, that dread disease against which all therapeutic measures -had hitherto failed, has at last found a remedy. M. Pasteur, who has -been preceded by no one in this path, has been led by a series of -investigations unceasingly carried on for several years, to create a -method of treatment, by means of which the development of hydrophobia -can <i>infallibly</i> be prevented in a patient recently bitten by a rabid -dog. I say infallibly, because, after what I have seen in M. Pasteur’s -laboratory, I do not doubt the constant success of this treatment when -it is put into full practice a few days only after a rabic bite.</p> - -<p>“It is now necessary to see about organizing an installation for the -treatment of hydrophobia by M. Pasteur’s method. Every person bitten by -a rabid dog must be given the oppor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_423" id="page_423">{423}</a></span>tunity of benefiting by this great -discovery, which will seal the fame of our illustrious colleague and -bring glory to our whole country.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur had ended his reading by a touching description of Jupille’s -action, leaving the Assembly under the impression of that boy of -fourteen, sacrificing himself to save his companions. An Academician, -Baron Larrey, whose authority was rendered all the greater by his -calmness, dignity, and moderation, rose to speak. After acknowledging -the importance of Pasteur’s discovery, Larrey continued, “The sudden -inspiration, agility and courage, with which the ferocious dog was -muzzled, and thus made incapable of committing further injury to -bystanders, ... such an act of bravery deserves to be rewarded. I -therefore have the honour of begging the Académie des Sciences to -recommend to the Académie Française this young shepherd, who, by giving -such a generous example of courage and devotion, has well deserved a -Montyon prize.”</p> - -<p>Bouley, then chairman of the Academy, rose to speak in his turn—</p> - -<p>“We are entitled to say that the date of the present meeting will remain -for ever memorable in the history of medicine, and glorious for French -science; for it is that of one of the greatest steps ever accomplished -in the medical order of things—a progress realized by the discovery of -an efficacious means of preventive treatment for a disease, the -incurable nature of which was a legacy handed down by one century to -another. From this day, humanity is armed with a means of fighting the -fatal disease of hydrophobia and of preventing its onset. It is to M. -Pasteur that we owe this, and we could not feel too much admiration or -too much gratitude for the efforts on his part which have led to such a -magnificent result....”</p> - -<p>Five years previously, Bouley, in the annual combined public meeting of -the five Academies, had proclaimed his enthusiasm for the discovery of -the vaccination of anthrax. But on hearing him again on this October -day, in 1885, his colleagues could not but be painfully struck by the -change in him; his voice was weak, his face thin and pale. He was dying -of an affection of the heart, and quite aware of it, but he was -sustained by a wonderful energy, and ready to forget his sufferings in -his joy at the thought that the sum of human sorrows would be diminished -by Pasteur’s victory. He went to the Académie<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_424" id="page_424">{424}</a></span> de Médecine the next day -to enjoy the echo of the great sitting of the Académie des Sciences. He -died on November 29.</p> - -<p>The chairman of the Academy of Medicine, M. Jules Bergeron, applauded -Pasteur’s statement all the more that he too had publicly deplored (in -1862) the impotence of medical science in the presence of this cruel -disease.</p> - -<p>But while M. Bergeron shared the admiration felt by Vulpian and Dr. -Grancher for the experiments which had transformed the rabic virus into -its own vaccine, other medical men were divided into several categories: -some were full of enthusiasm, others reserved their opinion, many were -sceptical, and a few even positively hostile.</p> - -<p>As soon as Pasteur’s paper was published, people bitten by rabid dogs -began to arrive from all sides to the laboratory. The “service” of -hydrophobia became the chief business of the day. Every morning was -spent by Eugène Viala in preparing the fragments of marrow used for -inoculations: in a little room permanently kept at a temperature of 20° -to 23° C., stood rows of sterilized flasks, their tubular openings -closed by plugs of cotton-wool. Each flask contained a rabic marrow, -hanging from the stopper by a thread and gradually drying up by the -action of some fragments of caustic potash lying at the bottom of the -flask. Viala cut those marrows into small pieces by means of scissors -previously put through a flame, and placed them in small sterilized -glasses; he then added a few drops of veal broth and pounded the mixture -with a glass rod. The vaccinal liquid was now ready; each glass was -covered with a paper cover, and bore the date of the medulla used, the -earliest of which was fourteen days old. For each patient under -treatment from a certain date, there was a whole series of little -glasses. Pasteur always attended these operations personally.</p> - -<p>In the large hall of the laboratory, Pasteur’s collaborators, Messrs. -Chamberland and Roux, carried on investigations into contagious diseases -under the master’s directions; the place was full of flasks, pipets, -phials, containing culture broths. Etienne Wasserzug, another curator, -hardly more than a boy, fresh from the Ecole Normale, where his bright -intelligence and affectionate heart had made him very popular, -translated (for he knew the English, German, Italian, Hungarian and -Spanish languages, and was awaiting a favourable opportunity of learning -Russian) the letters which arrived from all parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_425" id="page_425">{425}</a></span> world; he also -entertained foreign scientists. Pasteur had in him a most valuable -interpreter. Physicians came from all parts of the world asking to be -allowed to study the details of the method. One morning, Dr. Grancher -found Pasteur listening to a physician who was gravely and solemnly -holding forth his objections to microbian doctrines, and in particular -to the treatment of hydrophobia. Pasteur having heard this long -monologue, rose and said, “Sir, your language is not very intelligible -to me. I am not a physician and do not desire to be one. Never speak to -me of your dogma of morbid spontaneity. I am a chemist; I carry out -experiments and I try to understand what they teach me. What do you -think, doctor?” he added, turning to M. Grancher. The latter smilingly -answered that the hour for inoculations had struck. They took place at -eleven, in Pasteur’s study; he, standing by the open door, called out -the names of the patients. The date and circumstances of the bites and -the veterinary surgeon’s certificate were entered in a register, and the -patients were divided into series according to the degree of virulence -which was to be inoculated on each day of the period of treatment.</p> - -<p>Pasteur took a personal interest in each of his patients, helping those -who were poor and illiterate to find suitable lodgings in the great -capital. Children especially inspired him with a loving solicitude. But -his pity was mingled with terror, when, on November 9, a little girl of -ten was brought to him who had been severely bitten on the head by a -mountain dog, on October 3, thirty-seven days before!! The wound was -still suppurating. He said to himself, “This is a hopeless case: -hydrophobia is no doubt about to appear immediately; it is much too late -for the preventive treatment to have the least chance of success. Should -I not, in the scientific interest of the method, refuse to treat this -child? If the issue is fatal, all those who have already been treated -will be frightened, and many bitten persons, discouraged from coming to -the laboratory, may succumb to the disease!” These thoughts rapidly -crossed Pasteur’s mind. But he found himself unable to resist his -compassion for the father and mother, begging him to try and save their -child.</p> - -<p>After the treatment was over, Louise Pelletier had returned to school, -when fits of breathlessness appeared, soon followed by convulsive -spasms; she could swallow nothing. Pasteur hastened to her side when -these symptoms began, and new inoculations were attempted. On December -2, there was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_426" id="page_426">{426}</a></span> respite of a few hours, moments of calm which inspired -Pasteur with the vain hope that she might yet be saved. This delusion -was a short-lived one. After attending Bouley’s funeral, his heart full -of sorrow, Pasteur spent the day by little Louise’s bedside, in her -parents’ rooms in the Rue Dauphine. He could not tear himself away; she -herself, full of affection for him, gasped out a desire that he should -not go away, that he should stay with her! She felt for his hand between -two spasms. Pasteur shared the grief of the father and mother. When all -hope had to be abandoned: “I did so wish I could have saved your little -one!” he said. And as he came down the staircase, he burst into tears.</p> - -<p>He was obliged, a few days later, to preside at the reception of Joseph -Bertrand at the Académie Française; his sad feelings little in harmony -with the occasion. He read in a mournful and troubled voice the speech -he had prepared during his peaceful and happy holidays at Arbois. Henry -Houssaye, reporting on this ceremony in the <i>Journal des Débats</i>, wrote, -“M. Pasteur ended his speech amidst a torrent of applause, he received a -veritable ovation. He seemed unaccountably moved. How can M. Pasteur, -who has received every mark of admiration, every supreme honour, whose -name is consecrated by universal renown, still be touched by anything -save the discoveries of his powerful genius?” People did not realize -that Pasteur’s thoughts were far away from himself and from his -brilliant discovery. He was thinking of Dumas, his master, of Bouley, -his faithful friend and colleague, and of the child he had been unable -to snatch from the jaws of death; his mind was not with the living, but -with the dead.</p> - -<p>A telegram from New York having announced that four children, bitten by -rabid dogs, were starting for Paris, many adversaries who had heard of -Louise Pelletier’s death were saying triumphantly that, if those -children’s parents had known of her fate, they would have spared them so -long and useless a journey.</p> - -<p>The four little Americans belonged to workmen’s families and were sent -to Paris by means of a public subscription opened in the columns of the -<i>New York Herald</i>; they were accompanied by a doctor and by the mother -of the youngest of them, a boy only five years old. After the first -inoculation, this little boy, astonished at the insignificant prick, -could not help saying, “Is this all we have come such a long journey -for?” The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_427" id="page_427">{427}</a></span> children were received with enthusiasm on their return to New -York, and were asked “many questions about the great man who had taken -such care of them.”</p> - -<p>A letter dated from that time (January 14, 1886) shows that Pasteur yet -found time for kindness, in the midst of his world-famed occupations.</p> - -<p>“My dear Jupille, I have received your letters, and I am much pleased -with the news you give me of your health. Mme. Pasteur thanks you for -remembering her. She, and every one at the laboratory, join with me in -wishing that you may keep well and improve as much as possible in -reading, writing and arithmetic. Your writing is already much better -than it was, but you should take some pains with your spelling. Where do -you go to school? Who teaches you? Do you work at home as much as you -might? You know that Joseph Meister, who was first to be vaccinated, -often writes to me; well, I think he is improving more quickly than you -are, though he is only ten years old. So, mind you take pains, do not -waste your time with other boys, and listen to the advice of your -teachers, and of your father and mother. Remember me to M. Perrot, the -Mayor of Villers-Farlay. Perhaps, without him, you would have become -ill, and to be ill of hydrophobia means inevitable death; therefore you -owe him much gratitude. Good-bye. Keep well.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s solicitude did not confine itself to his two first patients, -Joseph Meister and the fearless Jupille, but was extended to all those -who had come under his care; his kindness was like a living flame. The -very little ones who then only saw in him a “kind gentleman” bending -over them understood later in life, when recalling the sweet smile -lighting up his serious face, that Science, thus understood, unites -moral with intellectual grandeur.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Good, like evil, is infectious; Pasteur’s science and devotion inspired -an act of generosity which was to be followed by many others. He -received a visit from one of his colleagues at the Académie Française, -Edouard Hervé, who looked upon journalism as a great responsibility and -as a school of mutual respect between adversaries. He was bringing to -Pasteur, from the Comte de Laubespin, a generous philanthropist, a sum -of 40,000 fr. destined to meet the expenses necessitated by the -organization of the hydrophobia treatment. Pasteur, when<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_428" id="page_428">{428}</a></span> questioned by -Hervé, answered that his intention was to found a model establishment in -Paris, supported by donations and international subscriptions, without -having recourse to the State. But he added that he wanted to wait a -little longer until the success of the treatment was undoubted. -Statistics came to support it; Bouley, who had been entrusted with an -official inquiry on the subject under the Empire, had found that the -proportion of deaths after bites from rabid dogs had been 40 per 100, -320 cases having been watched. The proportion often was greater still: -whilst Joseph Meister was under Pasteur’s care, five persons were bitten -by a rabid dog on the Pantin Road, near Paris, and every one of them -succumbed to hydrophobia.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, instead of referring to Bouley’s statistics, preferred to adopt -those of M. Leblanc, a veterinary surgeon and a member of the Academy of -Medicine, who had for a long time been head of the sanitary department -of the <i>Préfecture de Police</i>. These statistics only gave a proportion -of deaths of 16 per 100, and had been carefully and accurately kept.</p> - -<p>On March 1, he was able to affirm, before the Academy, that the new -method had given proofs of its merit, for, out of 350 persons treated, -only one death had taken place, that of the little Pelletier. He -concluded thus—</p> - -<p>“It may be seen, by comparison with the most rigorous statistics, that a -very large number of persons have already been saved from death.</p> - -<p>“The prophylaxis of hydrophobia after a bite is established.</p> - -<p>“It is advisable to create a vaccinal institute against hydrophobia.”</p> - -<p>The Academy of Sciences appointed a Commission who unanimously adopted -the suggestion that an establishment for the preventive treatment of -hydrophobia after a bite should be created in Paris, under the name of -<i>Institut Pasteur</i>. A subscription was about to be opened in France and -abroad. The spending of the funds would be directed by a special -Committee.</p> - -<p>A great wave of enthusiasm and generosity swept from one end of France -to another and reached foreign countries. A newspaper of Milan, the -<i>Perseveranza</i>, which had opened a subscription, collected 6,000 fr. in -its first list. The <i>Journal d’Alsace</i> headed a propaganda in favour of -this work, “sprung from Science and Charity.” It reminded its readers -that Pasteur had occupied a professor’s chair in the former brilliant<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_429" id="page_429">{429}</a></span> -Faculty of Science of Strasburg, and that his first inoculation was made -on an Alsatian boy, Joseph Meister. The newspaper intended to send the -subscriptions to Pasteur with these words: “Offerings from -Alsace-Lorraine to the Pasteur Institute.”</p> - -<p>The war of 1870 still darkened the memories of nations. Amongst eager -and numerous inventions of instruments of death and destruction, -humanity breathed when fresh news came from the laboratory, where a -continued struggle was taking place against diseases. The most -mysterious, the most cruel of all was going to be reduced to impotence.</p> - -<p>Yet the method was about to meet with a few more cases like Louise -Pelletier’s; accidents would result, either from delay or from -exceptionally serious wounds. Happy days were still in store for those -who sowed doubt and hatred.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>During the early part of March, Pasteur received nineteen Russians, -coming from the province of Smolensk. They had been attacked by a rabid -wolf and most of them had terrible wounds: one of them, a priest, had -been surprised by the infuriated beast as he was going into church, his -upper lip and right cheek had been torn off, his face was one gaping -wound. Another, the youngest of them, had had the skin of his forehead -torn off by the wolf’s teeth; other bites were like knife cuts. Five of -these unhappy wretches were in such a condition that they had to be -carried to the Hôtel Dieu Hospital as soon as they arrived.</p> - -<p>The Russian doctor who had accompanied these mujiks related how the wolf -had wandered for two days and two nights, tearing to pieces every one he -met, and how he had finally been struck down with an axe by one of those -he had bitten most severely.</p> - -<p>Because of the gravity of the wounds, and in order to make up for the -time lost by the Russians before they started, Pasteur decided on making -two inoculations every day, one in the morning and one in the evening; -the patients at the Hôtel Dieu could be inoculated upon at the hospital.</p> - -<p>The fourteen others came every morning in their <i>touloupes</i> and fur -caps, with their wounds bandaged, and joined without a word the motley -groups awaiting treatment at the laboratory—an English family, a Basque -peasant, a Hungarian in his national costume, etc., etc.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_430" id="page_430">{430}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the evening, the dumb and resigned band of mujiks came again to the -laboratory door. They seemed led by Fate, heedless of the struggle -between life and death of which they were the prize. “Pasteur” was the -only French word they knew, and their set and melancholy faces -brightened in his presence as with a ray of hope and gratitude.</p> - -<p>Their condition was the more alarming that a whole fortnight had elapsed -between their being bitten and the date of the first inoculations. -Statistics were terrifying as to the results of wolf-bites, the average -proportion of deaths being 82 per 100. General anxiety and excitement -prevailed concerning the hapless Russians, and the news of the death of -three of them produced an intense emotion.</p> - -<p>Pasteur had unceasingly continued his visits to the Hôtel Dieu. He was -overwhelmed with grief. His confidence in his method was in no wise -shaken, the general results would not allow it. But questions of -statistics were of little account in his eyes when he was the witness of -a misfortune; his charity was not of that kind which is exhausted by -collective generalities: each individual appealed to his heart. As he -passed through the wards at the Hôtel Dieu, each patient in his bed -inspired him with deep compassion. And that is why so many who only saw -him pass, heard his voice, met his pitiful eyes resting on them, have -preserved of him a memory such as the poor had of St. Vincent de Paul.</p> - -<p>“The other Russians are keeping well so far,” declared Pasteur at the -Academy sitting of April 12, 1886. Whilst certain opponents in France -continued to discuss the three deaths and apparently saw nought but -those failures, the return of the sixteen survivors was greeted with an -almost religious emotion. Other Russians had come before them and were -saved, and the Tsar, knowing these things, desired his brother, the -Grand Duke Vladimir, to bring to Pasteur an imperial gift, the Cross of -the Order of St. Anne of Russia, in diamonds. He did more, he gave -100,000 fr. in aid of the proposed Pasteur Institute.</p> - -<p>In April, 1886, the English Government, seeing the practical results of -the method for the prophylaxis of hydrophobia, appointed a Commission to -study and verify the facts. Sir James Paget was the president of it, and -the other members were:—Dr. Lauder-Brunton, Mr. Fleming, Sir Joseph -Lister, Dr. Quain, Sir Henry Roscoe, Professor Burdon Sanderson, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_431" id="page_431">{431}</a></span> -Mr. Victor Horsley, secretary. The <i>résumé</i> of the programme was as -follows—</p> - -<p>Development of the rabic virus in the medulla oblongata of animals dying -of rabies.</p> - -<p>Transmission of this virus by subdural or subcutaneous inoculation.</p> - -<p>Intensification of this virus by successive passages from rabbit to -rabbit.</p> - -<p>Possibility either of protecting healthy animals from ulterior bites -from rabid animals, or of preventing the onset of rabies in animals -already bitten, by means of vaccinal inoculations.</p> - -<p>Applications of this method to man and value of its results.</p> - -<p>Burdon Sanderson and Horsley came to Paris, and two rabbits, inoculated -on by Pasteur, were taken to England; a series of experiments was to be -begun on them, and an inquiry was to take place afterwards concerning -patients treated both in France and in England. Pasteur, who lost his -temper at prejudices and ill-timed levity, approved and solicited -inquiry and careful examination.</p> - -<p>Long lists of subscribers appeared in the <i>Journal -Officiel</i>—millionaires, poor workmen, students, women, etc. A great -festival was organized at the Trocadéro in favour of the Pasteur -Institute; the greatest artistes offered their services. Coquelin -recited verses written for the occasion which excited loud applause from -the immense audience. Gounod, who had conducted his <i>Ave Maria</i>, turned -round after the closing bars, and, in an impulse of heartfelt -enthusiasm, kissed both his hands to the savant.</p> - -<p>In the evening at a banquet, Pasteur thanked his colleagues and the -organizers of this incomparable performance. “Was it not,” he said, “a -touching sight, that of those immortal composers, those great charmers -of fortunate humanity coming to the assistance of those who wish to -study and to serve suffering humanity? And you too come, great artistes, -great actors, like so many generals re-entering the ranks to give -greater vigour to a common feeling. I cannot easily describe what I -felt. Dare I confess that I was hearing most of you for the first time? -I do not think I have spent more than ten evenings of my whole life at a -theatre. But I can have no regrets now that you have given me, in a few -hours’ interval, as in an exquisite synthesis, the feelings that so many -others scatter over several months, or rather several years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_432" id="page_432">{432}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A few days later, the subscription from Alsace-Lorraine brought in -43,000 fr. Pasteur received it with grateful emotion, and was pleased -and touched to find the name of little Joseph Meister among the list of -private subscribers. It was now eleven months since he had been bitten -so cruelly by the dog, whose rabic condition had immediately been -recognized by the German authorities. Pasteur ever kept a corner of his -heart for the boy who had caused him such anxiety.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pasteur’s name was now familiar to all those who were trying to benefit -humanity; his presence at charitable gatherings was considered as a -happy omen, and he was asked to preside on many such occasions. He was -ever ready with his help and sympathy, speaking in public, answering -letters from private individuals, giving wholesome advice to young -people who came to him for it, and doing nothing by halves. If he found -the time, even during that period when the study of rabies was absorbing -him, to undertake so many things and to achieve so many tasks, he owed -it to Mme. Pasteur, who watched over his peace, keeping him safe from -intrusions and interruptions. This retired, almost recluse life, enabled -him to complete many works, a few of which would have sufficed to make -several scientists celebrated.</p> - -<p>Every morning, between ten and eleven o’clock, Pasteur walked down the -Rue Claude-Bernard to the Rue Vauquelin, where a few temporary buildings -had been erected to facilitate the treatment of hydrophobia, close to -the rabbit hutches, hencoops, and dog kennels which occupied the yard of -the old Collège Rollin. The patients under treatment walked about -cheerfully amidst these surroundings, looking like holiday makers in a -Zoological Garden. Children, whose tears were already dried at the -second inoculation, ran about merrily. Pasteur, who loved the little -ones, always kept sweets or new copper coins for them in his drawer. One -little girl amused herself by having holes bored in those coins, and -hung them round her neck like a necklace; she was wearing this ornament -on the day of her departure, when she ran to kiss the great man as she -would have kissed her grandfather.</p> - -<p>Drs. Grancher, Roux, Chantemesse, and Charrin came by turns to perform -the inoculations. A surgery ward had been installed to treat the -numerous wounds of the patients, and entrusted to the young and -energetic Dr. Terrillon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_433" id="page_433">{433}</a></span></p> - -<p>In August, 1886, while staying at Arbois, Pasteur spent much time over -his notes and registers; he was sometimes tempted to read over certain -articles of passionate criticism. “How difficult it is to obtain the -triumph of truth!” he would say. “Opposition is a useful stimulant, but -bad faith is such a pitiable thing. How is it that they are not struck -with the results as shown by statistics? From 1880 to 1885, sixty -persons are stated to have died of hydrophobia in the Paris hospitals; -well, since November 1, 1885, when the prophylactic method was started -in my laboratory, only three deaths have occurred in those hospitals, -two of which were cases which had not been treated. It is evident that -very few people who had been bitten did not come to be treated. In -France, out of that unknown but very restricted number, seventeen cases -of death have been noted, whilst out of the 1,726 French and Algerians -who came to the laboratory only ten died after the treatment.”</p> - -<p>But Pasteur was not yet satisfied with this proportion, already so low; -he was trying to forestall the outburst of hydrophobia by a greater -rapidity and intensity of the treatment. He read a paper on the subject -to the Academy of Sciences on November 2, 1886. Admiral Jurien de la -Gravière, who was in the chair, said to him, “All great discoveries have -gone through a time of trial. May your health withstand the troubles and -difficulties in your way.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s health had indeed suffered from so much work and anxiety, and -there were symptoms of some heart trouble. Drs. Villemin and Grancher -persuaded him to interrupt his work and to think of spending a restful -winter in the south of France. M. Raphael Bischoffsheim, a great lover -of science, placed at Pasteur’s disposal his beautiful villa at -Bordighera, close to the French frontier, which he had on divers -occasions lent to other distinguished guests, the Queen of Italy, Henri -Sainte-Claire Deville, Gambetta, etc.</p> - -<p>Pasteur consented to leave his work at the end of November, and started -one evening from the Gare de Lyon with his wife, his daughter and her -husband, and his two grandchildren; eighteen friends came to the station -to see him off, including his pupils, M. Bischoffsheim, and some foreign -physicians who were staying in Paris to study the prophylactic treatment -of hydrophobia.</p> - -<p>The bright dawn and the sunshine already appearing at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_434" id="page_434">{434}</a></span> Avignon -contrasted with the foggy November weather left behind in Paris and -brought a feeling of comfort, almost of returning health; a delegation -of doctors met the train at Nice, bringing Pasteur their good wishes.</p> - -<p>The travelling party drove from Vintimille to Bordighera under the deep -blue sky reflected in a sea of a yet deeper blue, along a road bordered -with cacti, palms and other tropical plants. The sight of the lovely -gardens of the Villa Bischoffsheim gave Pasteur a delicious feeling of -rest.</p> - -<p>His health soon improved sufficiently for him to be able to take some -short walks. But his thoughts constantly recurred to the laboratory. M. -Duclaux was then thinking of starting a monthly periodical entitled -<i>Annals of the Pasteur Institute</i>. Pasteur, writing to him on December -27, 1887, to express his approbation, suggested various experiments to -be attempted. He attributed the action of the preventive inoculations to -a vaccinal matter associated with the rabic microbe. Pasteur had thought -at first that the first development of the pathogenic microbe caused the -disappearance from the organism of an element necessary to the life of -that microbe. It was, in other words, a theory of exhaustion. But since -1885, he adopted the other idea, supported indeed by biologists, that -immunity was due to a substance left in the body by the culture of the -microbe and which opposed the invasion—a theory of addition.</p> - -<p>“I am happy to learn,” wrote Villemin, his friend and his medical -adviser, “that your health is improving; continue to rest in that -beautiful country, you have well deserved it, and rest is <i>absolutely</i> -necessary to you. You have overtaxed yourself beyond all reason and you -must make up for it. Repairs to the nervous system are worked chiefly by -relaxation from the mental storms and moral anxieties which your <i>rabid</i> -work has occasioned in you. Give the Bordighera sun a chance!”</p> - -<p>But Pasteur was not allowed the rest he so much needed; on January 4, -1887, referring to a death which had occurred after treatment in the -preceding December, M. Peter declared that the antirabic cure was -useless; at the following meeting he called it dangerous when applied in -the “intensive” form. Dujardin-Beaumetz, Chauveau and Verneuil -immediately intervened, declaring that the alleged fact was “devoid of -any scientific character.” A week later, MM. Grancher and Brouardel bore -the brunt of the discussion. Grancher, Pasteur’s representative on this -occasion, disproved certain allegations, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_435" id="page_435">{435}</a></span> added: “The medical men -who have been chosen by M. Pasteur to assist him in his work have not -hesitated to practise the antirabic inoculation on themselves, as a -safeguard against an accidental inoculation of the virus which they are -constantly handling. What greater proof can they give of their bonâ fide -convictions?” He showed that the mortality amongst the cases treated -remained below 1 per 100. “M. Pasteur will soon publish foreign -statistics from Samara, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, Warsaw and -Vienna: they are all absolutely favourable.”</p> - -<p>As it was insinuated that the laboratory of the Ecole Normale kept its -failures a secret, it was decided that the <i>Annals of the Pasteur -Institute</i> would publish a monthly list and bulletin of patients under -treatment.</p> - -<p>Vulpian, at another meeting (it was almost the last time he was heard at -the Académie de Médecine), said, à propos of what he called an -inexcusable opposition, “This new benefit adds to the number of those -which our illustrious Pasteur has already rendered to humanity.... Our -works and our names will soon be buried under the rising tide of -oblivion: the name and the works of M. Pasteur will continue to stand on -heights too great to be reached by its sullen waves.” Pasteur was much -disturbed by the noise of these discussions; every post increased his -feverishness, and he spoke every morning of returning to Paris to answer -his opponents.</p> - -<p>It was a pitiful thing to note on his worn countenance the visible signs -of the necessity of the peace and rest offered by this beautiful land of -serene sunshine; and to hear at the same time a constant echo of those -angry debates. Anonymous letters were sent to him, insulting newspaper -articles—all that envy and hatred can invent; the seamy side of human -nature was being revealed to him. “I did not know I had so many -enemies,” he said mournfully. He was consoled to some extent by the -ardent support of the greatest medical men in France.</p> - -<p>Vulpian, in a statement to the Académie des Sciences, constituted -himself Pasteur’s champion. Pasteur indeed was safe from attacks in that -centre, but certain low slanderers who attended the public meetings of -the Académie continued to accuse Pasteur of concealing the failures of -his method. Vulpian—who was furiously angry at such an insinuation -against “a man like M. Pasteur, whose good faith, loyalty and scientific -integrity should be an example to his adversaries as they are to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_436" id="page_436">{436}</a></span> his -friends”—thought that it was in the interest both of science and of -humanity to state once more the facts recently confirmed by new -statistics; the public is so impressionable and so mobile in its -opinions that one article is often enough to shake general confidence. -He was therefore anxious to reassure all those who had been inoculated -on and who might be induced by those discussions to wonder with anguish -whether they really were saved. The Academy of Sciences decided that -Vulpian’s statement should be inserted <i>in extenso</i> in all the reports -and a copy of it sent to every village in France. Vulpian wrote to -Pasteur at the same time, “All your admirers hope that those interested -attacks will merely excite your contempt. Fine weather is no doubt -reigning at Bordighera: you must take advantage of it and become quite -well.... The Academy of Medicine is almost entirely on your side; there -are at the most but four or five exceptions.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pasteur had a few calm days after these debates. Whilst planning out new -investigations, he was much interested in the plans for his Institute -which were now submitted to him. His thoughts were always away from -Bordighera, which he seemed to look upon as a sort of exile. This -impression was partly due to the situation of the town, so close to the -frontier, and the haunt of so many homeless wanderers. He once met a -sad-faced, still beautiful woman, in mourning robes, and recognized the -Empress Eugénie.</p> - -<p>Shortly afterwards, he received a visit from Prince Napoleon, who -dragged his haughty <i>ennui</i> from town to town. He presented himself at -the Villa Bischoffsheim under the name of Count Moncalieri, coming, he -said, to greet his colleague of the Institute. Rabies formed the subject -of their conversation. The next day, Pasteur called on the Prince, in -his commonplace hotel rooms, a mere temporary resting place for the -exiled Bonaparte, whose mysterious, uncompleted destiny was made more -enigmatical by his startling resemblance to the great Emperor.</p> - -<p>On February 23, the day after the carnival, early in the morning, a -violent earthquake cast terror over that peaceful land where nature -hides with flowers the spectre of death. At 6.20 a.m. a low and distant -rumbling sound was heard, coming from the depths of the earth and -resembling the noise of a train passing in an underground tunnel; houses -began to rock and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_437" id="page_437">{437}</a></span> ominous cracks were heard. This first shock lasted -more than a minute, during which the sense of solidity disappeared -altogether, to be succeeded by a feeling of absolute, hopeless, -impotence. No doubt, in every household, families gathered together, -with a sudden yearning not to be divided. Pasteur’s wife, children and -grandchildren had barely had time to come to him when another shock took -place, more terrible than the first; everything seemed about to be -engulfed in an abyss. Never had morning been more radiant; there was not -a breath of wind, the air was absolutely transparent.</p> - -<p>An early departure was necessary: the broken ceilings were dropping to -pieces, shaken off by an incessant vibration of the ground which -continued after the second shock, and of which Pasteur observed the -effect on glass windows with much interest. Pasteur and his family dove -off to Vintimille in a carriage, along a road lined with ruined houses, -crowded with sick people in quest of carriages and peasants coming down -from their mountain dwellings, destroyed by the shock, leading donkeys -loaded with bedding, the women followed by little children hastily wrapt -in blankets and odd clothes. At Vintimille station, terrified travellers -were trying to leave France for Italy or Italy for France, fancying that -the danger would cease on the other side of the frontier.</p> - -<p>“We have resolved to go to Arbois,” wrote Mme. Pasteur to her son from -Marseilles; “your father will be better able there than anywhere else to -recover from this shock to his heart.”</p> - -<p>After a few weeks’ stay at Arbois, Pasteur seemed quite well again. He -was received with respect and veneration on his return to the Academies -of Sciences and of Medicine. His best and greatest colleagues had -realized what the loss of him would mean to France and to the world, and -surrounded him with an anxious solicitude.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of July, Pasteur received the report presented to the -House of Commons by the English Commission after a fourteen months’ -study of the prophylactic method against hydrophobia. The English -scientists had verified every one of the facts upon which the method was -founded, but they had not been satisfied with their experimental -researches in Mr. Horsley’s laboratory, and had carried out a long and -minute inquiry in France. After noting on Pasteur’s registers the names -of ninety persons treated, who had come from the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_438" id="page_438">{438}</a></span> neighbourhood, -they had interviewed each one of them in their own homes. “It may -therefore be considered as certain”—thus ran the report—“that M. -Pasteur has discovered a prophylactic method against hydrophobia which -may be compared with that of vaccination against small-pox. It would be -difficult to overestimate the utility of this discovery, both from the -point of view of its practical side and of its application to general -pathology. We have here a new method of inoculation, or vaccination, as -M. Pasteur sometimes calls it, and similar means might be employed to -protect man and domestic animals against other virus as active as that -of hydrophobia.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur laid this report on the desk of the Academy of Sciences on July -4. He spoke of its spirit of entire and unanimous confidence, and -added—</p> - -<p>“Thus fall to the ground the contradictions which have been published. I -leave on one side the passionate attacks which were not justified by the -least attempt at experiment, the slightest observation of facts in my -laboratory, or even an exchange of words and ideas with the Director of -the Hydrophobia Clinic, Professor Grancher, and his medical assistants.</p> - -<p>“But, however deep is my satisfaction as a Frenchman, I cannot but feel -a sense of deepest sadness at the thought that this high testimony from -a commission of illustrious scientists was not known by him who, at the -very beginning of the application of this method, supported me by his -counsels and his authority, and who later on, when I was ill and absent, -knew so well how to champion truth and justice; I mean our beloved -colleague Vulpian.”</p> - -<p>Vulpian had succumbed to a few days’ illness. His speech in favour of -Pasteur was almost the farewell to the Academy of this great-hearted -scientist.</p> - -<p>The discussion threatened to revive. Other colleagues defended Pasteur -at the Academy of Medicine on July 12. Professor Brouardel spoke, also -M. Villemin, and then Charcot, who insisted on quoting word for word -Vulpian’s true and simple phrase: “The discovery of the preventive -treatment of hydrophobia after a bite, entirely due to M. Pasteur’s -experimental genius, is one of the finest discoveries ever made, both -from the scientific and the humanitarian point of view.” And Charcot -continued: “I am persuaded that I express in these words the opinion of -all the medical men who have studied the question with an open mind, -free from prejudice; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_439" id="page_439">{439}</a></span> inventor of antirabic vaccination may, now -more than ever, hold his head high and continue to accomplish his -glorious task, heedless of the clamour of systematic contradiction or of -the insidious murmurs of slander.”</p> - -<p>The Academy of Sciences begged Pasteur to become its Life Secretary in -Vulpian’s place. Pasteur did not reply at once to this offer, but went -to see M. Berthelot: “This high position,” he said, “would be more -suitable to you than to me.” M. Berthelot, much touched, refused -unconditionally, and Pasteur accepted. He was elected on July 18. He -said, in thanking his colleagues, “I would now spend what time remains -before me, on the one hand in encouraging to research and in training -for scientific studies,—the future of which seems to me most -promising,—pupils worthy of French science; and, on the other hand, in -following attentively the work incited and encouraged by this Academy.</p> - -<p>“Our only consolation, as we feel our own strength failing us, is to -feel that we may help those who come after us to do more and to do -better than ourselves, fixing their eyes as they can on the great -horizons of which we only had a glimpse.”</p> - -<p>He did not long fulfil his new duties. On October 23, Sunday morning, -after writing a letter in his room, he tried to speak to Mme. Pasteur -and could not pronounce a word; his tongue was paralyzed. He had -promised to lunch with his daughter on that day, and, fearing that she -might be alarmed, he drove to her house. After spending a few hours in -an easy chair, he consented to remain at her house with Mme. Pasteur. In -the evening his speech returned, and two days later, when he went back -to the Ecole Normale, no one would have noticed any change in him. But, -on the following Saturday morning, he had another almost similar attack, -without any premonitory symptoms. His speech remained somewhat -difficult, and his deep powerful voice completely lost its strength. In -January, 1888, he was obliged to resign his secretaryship.</p> - -<p>Ill-health had emaciated his features. A portrait of him by Carolus -Duran represents him looking ill and weary, a sad look in his eyes. But -goodness predominates in those worn features, revealing that lovable -soul, full of pity for all human sufferings, and of which the painter -has rendered the unspeakable thrill.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s various portraits, compared with one another, show us -different aspects of his physiognomy. A luminous profile, painted by -Henner ten years before, brings out the powerful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_440" id="page_440">{440}</a></span> harmony of the -forehead. In 1886, Bonnat painted, for the brewer Jacobsen, who wished -to present it to Mme. Pasteur, a large portrait which may be called an -official one. Pasteur is standing in rather an artificial attitude, -which might be imperious, if his left hand was not resting on the -shoulder of his granddaughter, a child of six, with clear pensive eyes. -In that same year, Edelfeldt, the Finnish painter, begged to be allowed -to come into the laboratory for a few sketches. Pasteur came and went, -attending to his work and taking no notice of the painter. One day that -Edelfeldt was watching him thus, deep in observation, his forehead lined -with almost painful thoughts, he undertook to portray the savant in his -meditative attitude. Pasteur is standing clad in a short brown coat, an -experimental card in his left hand, in his right, a phial containing a -fragment of rabic marrow, the expression in his eyes entirely -concentrated on the scientific problem.</p> - -<p>During the year 1888, Pasteur, after spending the morning with his -patients, used to go and watch the buildings for the Pasteur Institute -which were being erected in the Rue Dutot. 11,000 square yards of ground -had been acquired in the midst of some market gardens. Instead of rows -of hand-lights and young lettuces, a stone building, with a Louis XIII -façade, was now being constructed. An interior gallery connected the -main building with the large wings. The Pasteur Institute was to be at -the same time a great dispensary for the treatment of hydrophobia, a -centre of research on virulent and contagious diseases, and also a -teaching centre. M. Duclaux’s class of biological chemistry, held at the -Sorbonne, was about to be transferred to the Pasteur Institute, where -Dr. Roux would also give a course of lectures on technical microbia. The -“service” of vaccinations against anthrax was entrusted to M. -Chamberland. (The statistics of 1882—1887 gave a total of 1,600,000 -sheep and nearly 200,000 oxen.) There would also be, under M. -Metchnikoff’s direction, some private laboratories, the monkish cells of -the Pastorians.</p> - -<p>At the end of October, the work was almost completed; Pasteur invited -the President of the Republic to come and inaugurate the Institute. “I -shall certainly not fail to do so,” answered Carnot; “your Institute is -a credit to France.”</p> - -<p>On November 14, politicians, colleagues, friends, collaborators, pupils -assembled in the large library of the new Institute. Pasteur had the -pleasure of seeing before him, in the first rank,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_441" id="page_441">{441}</a></span> Duruy and Jules -Simon; it was a great day for these former Ministers of Public -Instruction. Like them, Pasteur had all his life been deeply interested -in higher education. “If that teaching is but for a small number,” he -said, “it is with this small number, this élite that the prosperity, -glory and supremacy of a nation rest.”</p> - -<p>Joseph Bertrand, chairman of the Institute Committee, knowing that by so -doing he responded to Pasteur’s dearest wishes, spoke of the past and -recalled the memories of Biot, Senarmont, Claude Bernard, Balard, and J. -B. Dumas.</p> - -<p>Professor Grancher, Secretary of the Committee, alluded to the way in -which not only Vulpian but Breuardel, Charcot, Verneuil, Chauveau and -Villemin had recently honoured themselves by supporting the cause of -progress and preparing its triumph. These memories of early friends, -associated with that of recent champions, brought before the audience a -vision of the procession of years. After speaking of the obstacles -Pasteur had so often encountered amongst the medical world—</p> - -<p>“You know,” said M. Grancher, “that M. Pasteur is an innovator, and that -his creative imagination, kept in check by rigorous observation of -facts, has overturned many errors and built up in their place an -entirely new science. His discoveries on ferments, on the generation of -the infinitesimally small, on microbes, the cause of contagious -diseases, and on the vaccination of those diseases, have been for -biological chemistry, for the veterinary art and for medicine, not a -regular progress, but a complete revolution. Now, revolutions, even -those imposed by scientific demonstration, ever leave behind them -vanquished ones who do not easily forgive. M. Pasteur has therefore many -adversaries in the world, without counting those Athenian French who do -not like to see one man always right or always fortunate. And, as if he -had not enough adversaries, M. Pasteur makes himself new ones by the -rigorous implacability of his dialectics and the absolute form he -sometimes gives to his thought.”</p> - -<p>Going on to the most recently acquired results, M. Grancher stated that -the mortality amongst persons treated after bites from rabid dogs -remained under 1 per 100.</p> - -<p>“If those figures are indeed eloquent,” said M. Christophle, the -treasurer, who spoke after M. Grancher, “other figures are touching. I -would advise those who only see the dark side of humanity,” he remarked, -before entering upon the statement<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_442" id="page_442">{442}</a></span> of accounts—“those who go about -repeating that everything here below is for the worst, that there is no -disinterestedness, no devotion in this world—to cast their eyes over -the ‘human documents’ of the Pasteur Institute. They would learn -therein, beginning at the beginning, that Academies contain colleagues -who are not offended, but proud and happy in the fame of another; that -politicians and journalists often have a passion for what is good and -true; that at no former epoch have great men been more beloved in -France; that justice is already rendered to them during their lifetime, -which is very much the best way of doing so; that we have cheered Victor -Hugo’s birthday, Chevreul’s centenary, and the inauguration of the -Pasteur Institute. When a Frenchman runs himself down, said one of M. -Pasteur’s colleagues, do not believe him; he is boasting! Reversing a -celebrated and pessimistic phrase, it might be said that in this public -subscription all the virtues flow into unselfishness like rivers into -the sea.”</p> - -<p>M. Christophle went on to show how rich and poor had joined in this -subscription and raised an amount of 2,586,680 fr. The French Chambers -had voted 200,000 fr., to which had been added international gifts from -the Tsar, the Emperor of Brazil, and the Sultan. The total expenses -would probably reach 1,563,786 fr., leaving a little more than a million -to form an endowment for the Pasteur Institute, a fund which was to be -increased every year by the product of the sale of vaccines from the -laboratory, which Pasteur and Messrs. Chamberland and Roux agreed to -give up to the Institute.</p> - -<p>“It is thus, Sir,” concluded the treasurer, directly addressing Pasteur, -“that public generosity, practical help from the Government, and your -own disinterestedness have founded and consolidated the establishment -which we are to-day inaugurating.” And, persuaded that the solicitude of -the public would never fail to support this great work, “This is for -you, Sir, a rare and almost unhoped for happiness; let it console you -for the passionate struggles, the terrible anxiety and the many emotions -you have gone through.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, overcome by his feelings, had to ask his son to read his -speech. It began by a rapid summary of what France had done for -education in all its degrees. “From village schools to laboratories, -everything has been founded or renovated.” After acknowledging the help -given him in later years by the public authorities, he continued<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_443" id="page_443">{443}</a></span>—</p> - -<p>“And when the day came that, foreseeing the future which would be opened -by the discovery of the attenuation of virus, I appealed to my country, -so that we should be allowed, through the strength and impulse of -private initiative, to build laboratories to be devoted, not only to the -prophylactic treatment of hydrophobia, but also to the study of virulent -and contagious diseases—on that day again, France gave in handfuls.... -It is now finished, this great building, of which it might be said that -there is not a stone but what is the material sign of a generous -thought. All the virtues have subscribed to build this dwelling place -for work.</p> - -<p>“Alas! mine is the bitter grief that I enter it, a man ‘vanquished by -Time,’ deprived of my masters, even of my companions in the struggle, -Dumas, Bouley, Paul Bert, and lastly Vulpian, who, after having been -with you, my dear Grancher, my counsellor at the very first, became the -most energetic, the most convinced champion of this method.</p> - -<p>“However, if I have the sorrow of thinking that they are no more, after -having valiantly taken their part in discussions which I have never -provoked but have had to endure; if they cannot hear me proclaim all -that I owe to their counsels and support; if I feel their absence as -deeply as on the morrow of their death, I have at least the consolation -of believing that all that we struggled for together will not perish. -The collaborators and pupils who are now here share our scientific -faith....” He continued, as in a sort of testament: “Keep your early -enthusiasm, dear collaborators, but let it ever be regulated by rigorous -examinations and tests. Never advance anything which cannot be proved in -a simple and decisive fashion.</p> - -<p>“Worship the spirit of criticism. If reduced to itself, it is not an -awakener of ideas or a stimulant to great things, but, without it, -everything is fallible; it always has the last word. What I am now -asking you, and you will ask of your pupils later on, is what is most -difficult to an inventor.</p> - -<p>“It is indeed a hard task, when you believe you have found an important -scientific fact and are feverishly anxious to publish it, to constrain -yourself for days, weeks, years sometimes, to fight with yourself, to -try and ruin your own experiments and only to proclaim your discovery -after having exhausted all contrary hypotheses.</p> - -<p>“But when, after so many efforts, you have at last arrived at a -certainty, your joy is one of the greatest which can be felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_444" id="page_444">{444}</a></span> by a human -soul, and the thought that you will have contributed to the honour of -your country renders that joy still deeper.</p> - -<p>“If science has no country, the scientist should have one, and ascribe -to it the influence which his works may have in this world. If I might -be allowed, M. le Président, to conclude by a philosophical remark -inspired by your presence in this Home of Work, I should say that two -contrary laws seem to be wrestling with each other nowadays; the one, a -law of blood and of death, ever imagining new means of destruction and -forcing nations to be constantly ready for the battlefield—the other, a -law of peace, work and health, ever evolving new means of delivering man -from the scourges which beset him.</p> - -<p>“The one seeks violent conquests, the other the relief of humanity. The -latter places one human life above any victory; while the former would -sacrifice hundreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. The -law of which we are the instruments seeks, even in the midst of carnage, -to cure the sanguinary ills of the law of war; the treatment inspired by -our antiseptic methods may preserve thousands of soldiers. Which of -those two laws will ultimately prevail, God alone knows. But we may -assert that French Science will have tried, by obeying the law of -Humanity, to extend the frontiers of Life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_445" id="page_445">{445}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /><br /> -1889—1895</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this Institute, which Pasteur entered ill and weary, he contemplated -with joy those large laboratories, which would enable his pupils to work -with ease and to attract around them investigators from all countries. -He was happy to think that the material difficulties which had hampered -him would be spared those who came after him. He believed in the -realization of his wishes for peace, work, mutual help among men. -Whatever the obstacles, he was persuaded that science would continue its -civilizing progress and that its benefits would spread from domain to -domain. Differing from those old men who are ever praising the past, he -had an enthusiastic confidence in the future; he foresaw great -developments of his studies, some of which were already apparent. His -first researches on crystallography and molecular dissymmetry had served -as a basis to stereo-chemistry. But, while he followed the studies on -that subject of Le Bel and Van t’Hoff, he continued to regret that he -had not been able to revert to the studies of his youth, enslaved as he -had been by the inflexible logical sequence of his works. “Every time we -have had the privilege of hearing Pasteur speak of his early -researches,” writes M. Chamberland, in an article in the <i>Revue -Scientifique</i>, “we have seen the revival in him of a smouldering fire, -and we have thought that his countenance showed a vague regret at having -forsaken them. Who can now say what discoveries he might have made in -that direction?” “One day,” said Dr. Héricourt—who spent the summer -near Villeneuve l’Etang, and who often came into the Park with his two -sons—“he favoured me with an admirable, captivating discourse on this -subject, the like of which I have never heard.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur, instead of feeling regret, might have looked back with calm -pride on the progress he had made in other directions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_446" id="page_446">{446}</a></span></p> - -<p>In what obscurity were fermentation and infection enveloped before his -time, and with what light he had penetrated them! When he had discovered -the all-powerful rôle of the infinitesimally small, he had actually -mastered some of those living germs, causes of disease; he had -transformed them from destructive to preservative agents. Not only had -he renovated medicine and surgery, but hygiene, misunderstood and -neglected until then, was benefiting by the experimental method. Light -was being thrown on preventive measures.</p> - -<p>M. Henri Monod, Director of Hygiene and Public Charities, one day -quoted, à propos of sanitary measures, these words of the great English -Minister, Disraeli—</p> - -<p>“Public health is the foundation upon which rest the happiness of the -people and the power of the State. Take the most beautiful kingdom, give -it intelligent and laborious citizens, prosperous manufactures, -productive agriculture; let arts flourish, let architects cover the land -with temples and palaces; in order to defend all these riches, have -first-rate weapons, fleets of torpedo boats—if the population remains -stationary, if it decreases yearly in vigour and in stature, the nation -must perish. And that is why I consider that the first duty of a -statesman is the care of Public Health.”</p> - -<p>In 1889, when the International Congress of Hygiene met in Paris, M. -Brouardel was able to say—</p> - -<p>“If echoes from this meeting could reach them ... our ancestors would -learn that a revolution, the most formidable for thirty centuries, has -shaken medical science to its very foundations, and that it is the work -of a stranger to their corporation; and their sons do not cry Anathema, -they admire him, bow to his laws.... We all proclaim ourselves disciples -of Pasteur.”</p> - -<p>On the very day after those words were pronounced, Pasteur saw the -realization of one of his most ardent wishes, the inauguration of the -new Sorbonne. At the sight of the wonderful facilities for work offered -by this palace, he remembered Claude Bernard’s cellar, his own garret at -the Ecole Normale, and felt a movement of patriotic pride.</p> - -<p>In October, 1889, though his health remained shaken, he insisted on -going to Alais, where a statue was being raised to J. B. Dumas. Many of -his colleagues tried to dissuade him from this long and fatiguing -journey, but he said: “I am alive, I shall go.” At the foot of the -statue, he spoke of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_447" id="page_447">{447}</a></span> master, one of those men who are “the tutelary -spirits of a nation.”</p> - -<p>The sericicultors, desiring to thank him for the five years he had spent -in studying the silkworm disease, offered him an artistic souvenir: a -silver heather twig laden with gold cocoons.</p> - -<p>Pasteur did not fail to remind them that it was at the request of their -fellow citizen that he had studied pébrine. He said, “In the expression -of your gratitude, by which I am deeply touched, do not forget that the -initiative was due to M. Dumas.”</p> - -<p>Thus his character revealed itself on every occasion. Every morning, -with a step rendered heavy by age and ill-health, he went from his rooms -to the Hydrophobia Clinic, arriving there long before the patients. He -superintended the preparation of the vaccinal marrows; no detail escaped -him. When the time came for inoculations, he was already informed of -each patient’s name, sometimes of his poor circumstances; he had a kind -word for every one, often substantial help for the very poor. The -children interested him most; whether severely bitten, or frightened at -the inoculation, he dried their tears and consoled them. How many -children have thus kept a memory of him! “When I see a child,” he used -to say, “he inspires me with two feelings: tenderness for what he is -now, respect for what he may become hereafter.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Already in May, 1892, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway had formed various -Committees of scientists and pupils of Pasteur to celebrate his -seventieth birthday. In France, it was in November that the Medical and -Surgical Section of the Academy of Sciences constituted a Subscription -Committee to offer Pasteur an affectionate homage. Roty, the celebrated -engraver, was desired to finish a medal he had already begun, -representing Pasteur in profile, a skull cap on his broad forehead, the -brow strongly prominent, the whole face full of energy and meditation. -His shoulders are covered with the cape he usually wore in the morning -in the passages of his Institute. Roty had not time to design a -satisfactory reverse side; he surrounded with laurels and roses the -following inscription: “To Pasteur, on his seventieth birthday. France -and Humanity grateful.”</p> - -<p>On the morning of December 27, 1892, the great theatre of the Sorbonne -was filled. The seats of honour held the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_448" id="page_448">{448}</a></span> and foreign delegates -from Scientific Societies, the members of the Institute, and the -Professors of Faculties. In the amphitheatre were the deputations from -the Ecoles Normale, Polytechnique, Centrale, of Pharmacy, Vétérinaires, -and of Agriculture—deep masses of students. People pointed out to each -other Pasteur’s pupils, Messrs. Duclaux, Roux, Chamberland, Metchnikoff, -in their places; M. Perdrix, a former Normalien, now an -<i>Agrégé-préparateur</i>; M. Edouard Calmette, a former student of the Ecole -Centrale, who had taken part in the studies on beer; and M. Denys -Cochin, who, thirteen years before, had studied alcoholic fermentation -in the laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm. The first gallery was full of those -who had subscribed towards the presentation about to be made to Pasteur. -In the second gallery, boys from <i>lycées</i> crowned the immense assembly -with a youthful garland.</p> - -<p>At half past 10 o’clock, whilst the band of the Republican Guard played -a triumphal march, Pasteur entered, leaning on the arm of the President -of the Republic. Carnot led him to a little table, whereon the addresses -from the various delegates were to be laid. The Presidents of the Senate -and of the Chamber, the Ministers and Ambassadors, took their seats on -the platform. Behind the President of the Republic stood, in their -uniform, the official delegates of the five Academies which form the -Institut de France. The Academy of Medicine and the great Scientific -Societies were represented by their presidents and life-secretaries.</p> - -<p>M. Charles Dupuy, Minister of Public Instruction, rose to speak, and -said, after retracing Pasteur’s great works—</p> - -<p>“Who can now say how much human life owes to you and how much more it -will owe to you in the future! The day will come when another Lucretius -will sing, in a new poem on Nature, the immortal Master whose genius -engendered such benefits.</p> - -<p>“He will not describe him as a solitary, unfeeling man, like the hero of -the Latin poet; but he will show him mingling with the life of his time, -with the joys and trials of his country, dividing his life between the -stern enjoyment of scientific research and the sweet communion of family -intercourse; going from the laboratory to his hearth, finding in his -dear ones, particularly in the helpmeet who has understood him so well -and loved him all the better for it, that comforting encouragement of -every hour and each moment, without which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_449" id="page_449">{449}</a></span> so many struggles might have -exhausted his ardour, arrested his perseverance, and enervated his -genius....</p> - -<p>“May France keep you for many more years, and show you to the world as -the worthy object of her love, of her gratitude and pride.”</p> - -<p>The President of the Academy of Sciences, M. d’Abbadie, was chosen to -present to Pasteur the commemorative medal of this great day.</p> - -<p>Joseph Bertrand said that the same science, wide, accurate, and solid, -had been a foundation to all Pasteur’s works, each of them shining “with -such a dazzling light, that, in looking at either, one is inclined to -think that it eclipses all others.”</p> - -<p>After a few words from M. Daubrée, senior member of the Mineralogical -Section and formerly a colleague of Pasteur’s at the Strasburg Faculty, -the great Lister, who represented the Royal Societies of London and -Edinburgh, brought to Pasteur the homage of medicine and surgery. “You -have,” said he, “raised the veil which for centuries had covered -infectious diseases; you have discovered and demonstrated their -microbian nature.”</p> - -<p>When Pasteur rose to embrace Lister, the sight of those two men gave the -impression of a brotherhood of science labouring to diminish the sorrows -of humanity.</p> - -<p>After a speech from M. Bergeron, Life-Secretary of the Academy of -Medicine, and another from M. Sauton, President of the Paris Municipal -Council, the various delegates presented the addresses they had brought. -Each of the large cities of Europe had its representative. The national -delegates were called in their turn. A student from the Alfort -Veterinary School brought a medal offered by the united Veterinary -Schools of France. Amongst other offerings, Pasteur was given an album -containing the signatures of the inhabitants of Arbois, and another -coming from Dôle, in which were reproduced a facsimile of his -birth-certificate and a photograph of the house in which he was born. -The sight of his father’s signature at the end of the certificate moved -him more than anything else.</p> - -<p>The Paris Faculty of Medicine was represented by its Dean, Professor -Brouardel. “More fortunate than Harvey and than Jenner,” he said, “you -have been able to see the triumph of your doctrines, and what a -triumph!...”</p> - -<p>The last word of homage was pronounced by M. Devise,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_450" id="page_450">{450}</a></span> President of the -Students’ Association, who said to Pasteur, “You have been very great -and very good; you have given a beautiful example to students.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s voice, made weaken than usual by his emotion, could not have -been heard all over the large theatre; his thanks were read out by his -son—</p> - -<p>“Monsieur le Président de la République, your presence transforms an -intimate fête into a great ceremony, and makes of the simple birthday of -a savant a special date for French science.</p> - -<p>“M. le Ministre, Gentlemen—In the midst of all this magnificence, my -first thought takes me back to the melancholy memory of so many men of -science who have known but trials. In the past, they had to struggle, -against the prejudices which hampered their ideas. After those -prejudices were vanquished, they encountered obstacles and difficulties -of all kinds.</p> - -<p>“Very few years ago, before the public authorities and the town councils -had endowed science with splendid dwellings, a man whom I loved and -admired, Claude Bernard, had, for a laboratory, a wretched cellar not -far from here, low and damp. Perhaps it was there that he contracted the -disease of which he died. When I heard what you were preparing for me -here, the thought of him arose in my mind; I hail his great memory.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen, by an ingenious and delicate thought, you seem to make the -whole of my life pass before my eyes. One of my Jura compatriots, the -Mayor of Dôle, has brought me a photograph of the very humble home where -my father and mother lived such a hard life. The presence of the -students of the Ecole Normale brings back to me the glamour of my first -scientific enthusiasms. The representatives of the Lille Faculty evoke -memories of my first studies on crystallography and fermentation, which -opened to me a new world. What hopes seized upon me when I realized that -there must be laws behind so many obscure phenomena! You, my dear -colleagues, have witnessed by what series of deductions it was given to -me, a disciple of the experimental method, to reach physiological -studies. If I have sometimes disturbed the calm of our Academies by -somewhat violent discussions, it was because I was passionately -defending truth.</p> - -<p>“And you, delegates from foreign nations, who have come from so far to -give to France a proof of sympathy, you bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_451" id="page_451">{451}</a></span> me the deepest joy that -can be felt by a man whose invincible belief is that Science and Peace -will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will unite, not to -destroy, but to build, and that the future will belong to those who will -have done most for suffering humanity. I appeal to you, my dear Lister, -and to you all, illustrious representatives of medicine and surgery.</p> - -<p>“Young men, have confidence in those powerful and safe methods, of which -we do not yet know all the secrets. And, whatever your career may be, do -not let yourselves become tainted by a deprecating and barren -scepticism, do not let yourselves be discouraged by the sadness of -certain hours which pass over nations. Live in the serene peace of -laboratories and libraries. Say to yourselves first: ‘What have I done -for my instruction?’ and, as you gradually advance, ‘What have I done -for my country?’ until the time comes when you may have the immense -happiness of thinking that you have contributed in some way to the -progress and to the good of humanity. But, whether our efforts are or -not favoured by life, let us be able to say, when we come near the great -goal, ‘I have done what I could.’</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen, I would express to you my deep emotion and hearty gratitude. -In the same way as Roty, the great artist, has, on the back of this -medal, hidden under roses the heavy number of years which weigh on my -life, you have, my dear colleagues, given to my old age the most -delightful sight of all this living and loving youth.”</p> - -<p>The shouts “Vive Pasteur!” resounded throughout the building. The -President of the Republic rose, went towards Pasteur to congratulate -him, and embraced him with effusion.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Hearts went out to Pasteur even from distant countries. The Canadian -Government, acting on the suggestion of the deputies of the province of -Quebec, gave the name of Pasteur to a district on the borders of the -state of Maine.</p> - -<p>A few weeks after the fête, the Governor-General of Algeria, M. Cambon, -wrote to Pasteur as follows—</p> - -<p>“Sir—Desirous of showing to you the special gratitude which Algeria -bears you for the immense services you have rendered to science and to -humanity by your great and fruitful discoveries, I have decided that -your name should be given to the village of Sériana, situated in the -<i>arrondissement</i> of Batna,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_452" id="page_452">{452}</a></span> department of Constantine. I am happy that I -have been able to render this slight homage to your illustrious person.” -“I feel a deep emotion,” replied Pasteur, “in thinking that, thanks to -you, my name will remain attached to that corner of the world. When a -child of this village asks what was the origin of this denomination, I -should like the schoolmaster to tell him simply that it is the name of a -Frenchman who loved France very much, and who, by serving her, -contributed to the good of humanity. My heart is thrilled at the thought -that my name might one day awaken the first feelings of patriotism in a -child’s soul. I shall owe to you this great joy in my old age; I thank -you more than I can say.” The origin of Sériana is very ancient. M. -Stéphane Gsell relates that this village was occupied long before the -coming of the Romans, by a tribe which became Christian, as is seen by -ruins of chapels and basilicas. It is situated on the slope of a -mountain covered with oaks and cedars, and giving rise to springs of -fresh water. A bust of Pasteur was soon after erected in this village, -at the request of the inhabitants.</p> - -<p>Enthusiasm for Pasteur was spreading everywhere. Women understood that -science was entering their domain, since it served charity. They gave -magnificent gifts; clauses in wills bore these words: “To Pasteur, to -help in his humanitarian task.” In November, 1893, Pasteur saw an -unknown lady enter his study in the Rue Dutot, and heard her speak thus: -“There must be some students who love science and who, having to earn -their living, cannot give themselves up to disinterested work. I should -like to place at your disposal four scholarships, for four young men -chosen by you. Each scholarship would be of 3,000 fr.; 2,400 for the men -themselves, and 600 fr. for the expenses they would incur in your -laboratories. Their lives would be rendered easier. You could find -amongst them, either an immediate collaborator for your Institute or a -missionary whom you might send far away; and if a medical career tempted -them, they would be enabled by their momentary independence to prepare -themselves all the better for their profession. I only ask one thing, -which is that my name should not be mentioned.”</p> - -<p>Pasteur was infinitely touched by the scheme of this mysterious lady. -The scholarship foundation was for one year only, but other years were -about to follow and to resemble this one.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_453" id="page_453">{453}</a></span></p> - -<p>Many letters brought to Pasteur requested that he should study or order -the study of such and such a disease. Some of these letters responded to -preoccupations which had long been in the mind of Pasteur and his -disciples. One day he received these lines:</p> - -<p>“You have done all the good a man could do on earth. If you will, you -can surely find a remedy for the horrible disease called diphtheria. Our -children, to whom we teach your name as that of a great benefactor, will -owe their lives to you.—<span class="smcap">A Mother.</span>”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pasteur, in spite of his failing strength, had hopes that he would yet -live to see the defeat of the foe so dreaded by mothers. In the -laboratory of the Pasteur Institute, Dr. Roux and Dr. Yersin were -obstinately pursuing the study of this disease. In their first paper on -the subject, modestly entitled <i>A Contribution to the Study of -Diphtheria</i>, they said: “Ever since Bretonneau, diphtheria has been -looked upon as a specific and contagious disease; its study has -therefore been undertaken of late years with the help of the microbian -methods which have already been the means of finding the cause of many -other infectious diseases.”</p> - -<p>In spite of the convictions of Bretonneau, who had, in 1818, witnessed a -violent epidemic of croup in the centre of France, his view was far from -being generally adopted. Velpeau, then a young student, wrote to him in -1820 that all the members, save two, of the Faculty of Medicine were -agreed in opposing or blaming his opinions. Another brilliant pupil of -Bretonneau’s, Dr. Trousseau, who never ceased to correspond with his old -master, wrote to him in 1854: “It remains to be proved that diphtheria -always comes from a germ. I hardly doubt this with regard to small-pox; -to be consistent, I ought not to doubt it either with regard to -diphtheria. I was thinking so this morning, as I was performing -tracheotomy on a poor child twenty-eight months old; opposite the bed, -there was a picture of his five-year-old brother, painted on his -death-bed. He had succumbed five years ago, to malignant angina.”</p> - -<p>Knowing Bretonneau’s ideas on contagion, Trousseau wrote further down: -“I shall have the beds and bedding burnt, the paper hangings also, for -they have a velvety and attractive<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_454" id="page_454">{454}</a></span> surface; I shall tell the mother to -purify herself like a Hindoo—else what would you say to me!”</p> - -<p>A German of the name of Klebs discovered the bacillus of diphtheria in -1883, by studying the characteristic membranes; it was afterwards -isolated by Loeffler, another German.</p> - -<p>Pure cultures of this bacillus, injected on the surface of the -excoriated fauces of rabbits, guinea-pigs, and pigeons, produce the -diphtheritic membranes: Messrs. Roux and Yersin demonstrated this fact -and ascertained the method of its deadly action.</p> - -<p>Dr. Roux, in a lecture to the London Royal Society, in 1889, said: -“Microbes are chiefly dangerous on account of the toxic matters which -they produce.” He recalled that Pasteur had been the first to -investigate the action of the toxic products elaborated by the microbe -of chicken-cholera. By filtering the culture, Pasteur had obtained a -liquid which contained no microbes. Hens inoculated with this liquid -presented all the symptoms of cholera. “This experiment shows us,” -continued M. Roux, “that the chemical products contained in the culture -are capable by themselves of provoking the symptoms of the disease; it -is therefore very probable that the same products are prepared within -the body itself of a hen attacked with cholera. It has been shown since -then that many pathogenic microbes manufactured these toxic products. -The microbes of typhoid fever, of cholera, of blue pus, of acute -experimental septicæmia, of diphtheria, are great poison-producers. The -cultures of the diphtheria bacillus particularly are, after a certain -time, so full of the toxin that, without microbes, and in infinitesimal -doses, they cause the death of the animals with all the signs observed -after inoculation with the microbe itself. The picture of the disease is -complete, even presenting the ensuing paralysis if the injected dose is -too weak to bring about a rapid death. Death in infectious diseases is -therefore caused by intoxication.”</p> - -<p>This bacillus, like that of tetanus, secretes a poison which reaches the -kidneys, attacks the nervous system, and acts on the heart, the beats of -which are accelerated or suddenly arrested. Sheltered in the membrane -like a foe in an ambush, the microbe manufactures its deadly poison. -Diphtheria, as defined by M. Roux, is an intoxication caused by a very -active poison formed by the microbe within the restricted area wherein -it develops.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_455" id="page_455">{455}</a></span></p> - -<p>It was sufficient to examine a portion of diphtheritic membrane to -distinguish the diphtheritic bacilli, tiny rods resembling short needles -laid across each other. Other microbes were frequently associated with -these bacilli, and it became necessary to study microbian associations -in diphtheria. The Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, disseminated in broth, gave -within a month or three weeks a richly toxic culture; the bottom of the -vessel was covered with a thick deposit of microbes, and a film of -younger bacilli floated on the surface. By filtering this broth and -freeing it from microbes, Messrs. Roux and Yersin made a great -discovery: they obtained pure toxin, capable of killing, in forty-eight -hours, a guinea-pig inoculated with one-tenth of a cubic centimetre of -it.</p> - -<p>Now that the toxin was found, the remedy, the antitoxin, could be -discovered. This was done by Behring, a German scientist, and by -Kitasato, a Japanese physician. Drs. Richet and Héricourt had already -opened the way in 1888, while studying another disease.</p> - -<p>M. Roux inoculated a horse with diphtheritic toxin mitigated by the -addition of iodine, in doses, very weak at first, but gradually -stronger; the horse grew by degrees capable of resisting strong doses of -pure toxin. It was then bled by means of a large trocar introduced into -the jugular vein, the blood received in a bowl was allowed to coagulate, -and the liquid part of it, the serum, was then collected; this serum was -antitoxic, antidiphtheritic—in one word, the long-desired cure.</p> - -<p>At the beginning of 1894, M. Roux had several horses rendered immune by -the above process. He desired to prove the efficiency of the serum in -the treatment of diphtheria, with the collaboration of MM. Martin and -Chaillou, who had, both clinically and bacteriologically, studied more -than 400 cases of diphtheria.</p> - -<p>There are in Paris two hospitals where diphtheritic children are taken -in. It was decided that the new treatment should be applied at the -hospital of the <i>Enfants Malades</i>, whilst the old system should be -continued at the Hôpital Trousseau.</p> - -<p>From February 1, MM. Roux, Martin, and Chaillou paid a daily visit to -the <i>Enfants Malades</i>; they treated all the little diphtheria patients -by injection, in the side, of a dose of twenty cubic centimetres of -serum, followed, twenty-four hours later, by another dose of twenty, or -only of ten cubic centimetres.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_456" id="page_456">{456}</a></span> Almost invariably, not only did the -membranes cease to increase during the twenty-four hours following the -first injection, but they began to come away within thirty-six or -forty-eight hours, the third day at the latest; the livid, leaden -paleness of the face disappeared; the child was saved.</p> - -<p>From 1890 to 1893 there had been 3,971 cases of diphtheria, fatal in -2,029 cases, the average mortality being therefore 51 per 100. The serum -treatment, applied to hundreds of children, brought it down to less than -24 per 100 in four months. At the Trousseau Hospital, where the serum -was not employed, the mortality during the same period was 60 per 100.</p> - -<p>In May, M. Roux gave a lecture on diphtheria at Lille, at the request of -the Provident Society of the Friends of Science, which held its general -meeting in that town. Pasteur, who was president of the Society, came to -Lille to thank its inhabitants for the support they had afforded for -forty years to the Society.</p> - -<p>The master and his disciple were received in the Hall of the Industrial -Society. Pasteur listened with an admiring emotion to his pupil, whose -rigorous experimentation, together with the beauty of the object in -view, filled him with enthusiasm. He who had said, “Exhaust every -combination, until the mind can conceive no others possible,” was -delighted to hear the methodical exposition of the manner in which this -great problem had been attacked and solved.</p> - -<p>At the Hygiene and Demography Congress at Buda-Pesth, M. Roux, repeating -and enlarging his lecture, made a communication on the serotherapy of -diphtheria which created a great sensation in Europe.</p> - -<p>In France, prefects asked the Minister of the Interior how local -physicians might obtain this antidiphtheritic serum. The <i>Figaro</i> -newspaper opened a subscription towards preserving children from croup; -it soon reached more than a million francs. The Pasteur Institute was -now able to build stables, buy a hundred horses, render them immune, and -constitute a permanent organization for serotherapy. In three months, -50,000 doses of serum were about to be given away.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, who was then at Arbois, followed every detail with passionate -interest. Sitting under the old quinces in his little garden, he read -the lists of subscribers, names of little children, offering charitable -gifts as they entered this life, and names of sorrowing parents, giving -in the names of dear lost ones.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_457" id="page_457">{457}</a></span></p> - -<p>When he started again for Paris, October 4, 1894, Pasteur was seized -again with the melancholy feeling which had attended his first departure -from his home, when he was sixteen years old. He saw the same grey sky, -the same fine rain and misty horizon, as he looked for the last time -upon the distant hills and wide plains he loved, perhaps conscious that -it was so. But he remained silent, as was his wont when troubled by his -thoughts, his sadness only revealing itself to those who lovingly -watched every movement of his countenance.</p> - -<p>On October 6, the Pasteur Institute was invaded by a crowd of medical -men; M. Martin gave a special lecture in compliance with the desire of -many practitioners unaccustomed to laboratory work, who desired to -understand the diagnosis of diphtheria and the mode in which the serum -should be used. Pasteur, from his study window, was watching all this -coming and going in his Institute. A twofold feeling was visible on his -worn features: a sorrowing regret that his age now disarmed him for -work, but also the satisfaction of feeling that his work was growing day -by day, and that other investigators would, in a similar spirit, pursue -the many researches which remained to be undertaken. About that time, M. -Yersin, now a physician in the colonies, communicated to the <i>Annals of -the Pasteur Institute</i> the discovery of the plague bacillus. He had been -desired to go to China in order to study the nature of the scourge, its -conditions of propagation, and the most efficient means of preventing it -from attacking the French possessions. Pasteur had long recognized very -great qualities in this pupil whose habits of silent labour were almost -those of an ascete. M. Yersin started with a missionary’s zeal. When he -reached Hong-Kong, three hundred Chinese had already succumbed, and the -hospitals of the colony were full; he immediately recognized the -symptoms of the bubonic plague, which had ravaged Europe on many -occasions. He noticed that the epidemic raged principally in the slums -occupied by Chinese of the poorer classes, and that in the infected -quarters there were a great many rats which had died of the plague. -Pasteur read with the greatest interest the following lines, so exactly -in accordance with his own method of observation: “The peculiar aptitude -to contract plague possessed by certain animals,” wrote M. Yersin, -“enabled me to undertake an experimental study of the disease under very -favourable circumstances; it was obvious that the first thing to do was -to look for a microbe in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_458" id="page_458">{458}</a></span> the blood of the patients and in the bubonic -pulp.” When M. Yersin inoculated rats, mice, or guinea-pigs with this -pulp, the animals died, and he found several bacilli in the ganglions, -spleen, and blood. After some attempts at cultures and inoculations, he -concluded thus: “The plague is a contagious and inoculable disease. It -seems likely that rats constitute its principal vehicle, but I have also -ascertained that flies can contract the disease and die of it, and may -therefore become agents for its transmission.”</p> - -<p>At the very time when M. Yersin was discovering the specific bacillus of -the plague in the bubonic pulp, Kitasato was making similar -investigations. The foe now being recognized, hopes of vanquishing it -might be entertained.</p> - -<p>And whilst those good tidings were arriving, Pasteur was reading a new -work by M. Metchnikoff, a Russian scientist, who had elected to come to -France for the privilege of working by the side of Pasteur. M. -Metchnikoff explained by the action of the white corpuscles of the -blood, named “leucocytes,” the immunity or resistance, either natural or -acquired, of the organism against a defined disease. These corpuscles -may be considered as soldiers entrusted with the defence of the organism -against foreign invasions. If microbes penetrate into the tissues, the -defenders gather all their forces together and a free fight ensues. The -organism resists or succumbs according to the power or inferiority of -the white blood-cells. If the invading microbe is surrounded, eaten up, -and ingested by the victorious white corpuscles (also named -<i>phagocytes</i>), the latter find in their victory itself fresh reserve -forces against a renewed invasion.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>On November 1, in the midst of all this laborious activity and daily -progress, Pasteur was about to pay his daily visit to his grandchildren, -when he was seized by a violent attack of uræmia. He was laid on his -bed, and remained nearly unconscious for four hours; the sweat of agony -bathed his forehead and his whole body, and his eyes remained closed. -The evening brought with it a ray of hope; he was able to speak, and -asked not to be left alone. Immediate danger seemed avoided, but great -anxiety continued to be felt.</p> - -<p>It was easy to organize a series of devoted nurses; all Pasteur’s -disciples were eager to watch by his bedside. Every evening, two persons -took their seats in his room: one a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_459" id="page_459">{459}</a></span> member of the family, and one a -“Pastorian.” About one a.m. they were replaced by another Pastorian and -another member of the family. From November 1 to December 25, the -laboratory workers continued this watching, regulated by Dr. Roux as -follows:—</p> - -<p>Sunday night, Roux and Chantemesse; Monday, Queyrat and Marmier; -Tuesday, Borrel and Martin; Wednesday, Mesnil and Pottevin; Thursday, -Marchoux and Viala; Friday, Calmette and Veillon; Saturday, Renon and -Morax. A few alterations were made in this order; Dr. Marie claimed the -privilege. M. Metchnikoff, full of anxiety, came and went continually -from the laboratory to the master’s room. After the day’s work, each -faithful watcher came in, bringing books or notes, to go on with the -work begun, if the patient should be able to sleep. In the middle of the -night, Mme. Pasteur would come in and send away with a sweet authority -one of the two volunteer nurses. Pasteur’s loving and faithful wife was -straining every faculty of her valiant and tender soul to conjure the -vision of death which seemed so near. In spite of all her courage, there -were hours of weakness, at early dawn, when life was beginning to revive -in the quiet neighbourhood, when she could not keep her tears from -flowing silently. Would they succeed in saving him whose life was so -precious, so useful to others? In the morning, Pasteur’s two -grandchildren came into the bedroom. The little girl of fourteen, fully -realizing the prevailing anxiety, and rendered serious by the sorrow she -struggled to hide, talked quietly with him. The little boy, only eight -years old, climbed on to his grandfather’s bed, kissing him -affectionately and gazing on the loved face which always found enough -strength to smile at him.</p> - -<p>Dr. Chantemesse attended Pasteur with an incomparable devotion. Dr. -Gille, who had often been sent for by Pasteur when staying at Villeneuve -l’Etang, came to Paris from Garches to see him. Professor Guyon showed -his colleague the most affectionate solicitude. Professor Dieulafoy was -brought in one morning by M. Metchnikoff; Professor Grancher, who was -ill and away from Paris, hurried back to his master’s side.</p> - -<p>How often did they hang over him, anxiously following the respiratory -rhythm due to the uræmic intoxication! movements slow at first, then -rapid, accelerated, gasping, slackening again,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_460" id="page_460">{460}</a></span> and arrested in a long -pause of several seconds, during which all seemed suspended.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>At the end of December, a marked improvement took place. On January 1, -after seeing all his collaborators, down to the youngest laboratory -attendant, Pasteur received the visit of one of his colleagues of the -Académie Française. It was Alexandre Dumas, carrying a bunch of roses, -and accompanied by one of his daughters. “I want to begin the year -well,” he said: “I am bringing you my good wishes.” Pasteur and -Alexandre Dumas, meeting at the Academy every Thursday for twelve years, -felt much attraction towards each other. Pasteur, charmed from the first -by this dazzling and witty intellect, had been surprised and touched by -the delicate attentions of a heart which only opened to a chosen few. -Dumas, who had observed many men, loved and admired Pasteur, a modest -and kindly genius; for this dramatic author hid a man thirsting for -moral action, his realism was lined with mysticism, and he placed the -desire to be useful above the hunger for fame. His blue eyes, usually -keen and cold, easily detecting secret thoughts and looking on them with -irony, were full of an expression of affectionate veneration when they -rested on “our dear and great Pasteur,” as he called him. Alexandre -Dumas’ visit gave Pasteur very great pleasure; he compared it to a ray -of sunshine.</p> - -<p>As he could not go out, those who did not come to see him thought him -worse than he really was. It was therefore with great surprise that -people heard that he would be pleased to receive the old Normaliens, who -were about to celebrate the centenary of their school, and who, after -putting up a memorial plate on the small laboratory of the Rue d’Ulm, -desired to visit the Pasteur Institute. They filed one after another -into the drawing-room on the first floor. Pasteur, seated by the fire, -seemed to revive the old times when he used to welcome young men into -his home circle on Sunday evenings. He had an affectionate word or a -smile for each of those who now passed before him, bowing low. Every one -was struck with the keen expression of his eyes; never had the strength -of his intellect seemed more independent of the weakness of his body. -Many believed in a speedy recovery and rejoiced. “Your health,” said -some one, “is not only national but universal property.”</p> - -<p>On that day, Dr. Roux had arranged on tables, in the large<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_461" id="page_461">{461}</a></span> laboratory, -the little flasks which Pasteur had used in his experiments on so-called -spontaneous generation, which had been religiously preserved; also rows -of little tubes used for studies on wines; various preparations in -various culture media; microbes and bacilli, so numerous that it was -difficult to know which to see first. The bacteria of diphtheria and -bubonic plague completed this museum.</p> - -<p>Pasteur was carried into the laboratory about twelve o’clock, and Dr. -Roux showed his master the plague bacillus through a microscope. -Pasteur, looking at these things, souvenirs of his own work and results -of his pupils’ researches, thought of those disciples who were -continuing his task in various parts of the world. In France, he had -just sent Dr. Calmette to Lille, where he soon afterwards created a new -and admirable Pasteur Institute. Dr. Yersin was continuing his -investigations in China. A Normalien, M. Le Dantec, who had entered the -Ecole at sixteen at the head of the list, and who had afterwards become -a curator at the laboratory, was in Brazil, studying yellow fever, of -which he very nearly died. Dr. Adrien Loir, after a protracted mission -in Australia, was head of a Pasteur Institute at Tunis. Dr. Nicolle was -setting up a laboratory of bacteriology at Constantinople. “There is -still a great deal to do!” sighed Pasteur as he affectionately pressed -Dr. Roux’ hand.</p> - -<p>He was more than ever full of a desire to allay human suffering, of a -humanitarian sentiment which made of him a citizen of the world. But his -love for France was in no wise diminished, and the permanence of his -patriotic feelings was, soon after this, revealed by an incident. The -Berlin Academy of Sciences was preparing a list of illustrious -contemporary scientists to be submitted to the Kaiser with a view to -conferring on them the badge of the Order of Merit. As Pasteur’s protest -and return of his diploma to the Bonn University had not been forgotten, -the Berlin Academy, before placing his name on the list, desired to know -whether he would accept this distinction at the hands of the German -Emperor. Pasteur, while acknowledging with courteous thanks the honour -done to him as a scientist, declared that he could not accept it.</p> - -<p>For him, as for Victor Hugo, the question of Alsace-Lorraine was a -question of humanity; the right of peoples to dispose of themselves was -in question. And by a bitter irony of Fate, France, which had proclaimed -this principle all over<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_462" id="page_462">{462}</a></span> Europe, saw Alsace tom away from her. And by -whom? by the very nation whom she had looked upon as the most -idealistic, with whom she had desired an alliance in a noble hope of -pacific civilization, a hope shared by Humboldt, the great German -scientist.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>It was obvious to those who came near Pasteur that, in spite of the -regret caused in him by the decrease of his physical strength, his moral -energy remained unimpaired. He never complained of the state of his -health, and usually avoided speaking of himself. A little tent had been -put up for him in the new garden of the Pasteur Institute, under the -young chestnuts, the flowers of which were now beginning to fall, and he -often spent his afternoons there. One or other of those who had watched -over him through the long winter nights frequently came to talk with -him, and he would inquire, with all his old interest, into every detail -of the work going on.</p> - -<p>His old friend Chappuis, now Honorary Rector of the Academy of Dijon, -often came to sit with him under this tent. Their friendship remained -unchanged though it had lasted more than fifty years. Their conversation -now took a yet more exalted turn than in the days of their youth and -middle age. The dignity of Chappuis’ life was almost austere, though -tempered by a smiling philosophy.</p> - -<p>Pasteur, less preoccupied than Chappuis by philosophical discussions, -soared without an effort into the domain of spiritual things. Absolute -faith in God and in Eternity, and a conviction that the power for good -given to us in this world will be continued beyond it, were feelings -which pervaded his whole life; the virtues of the Gospel had ever been -present to him. Full of respect for the form of religion which had been -that of his forefathers, he came to it simply and naturally for -spiritual help in these last weeks of his life.</p> - -<p>On June 13, he came, for the last time, down the steps of the Pasteur -Institute, and entered the carriage which was to take him to Villeneuve -l’Etang. Every one spoke to him of this stay as if it were sure to bring -him back to health. Did he believe it? Did he try, in his tenderness for -those around him, to share their hopes? His face almost bore the same -expression as when he used to go to Villeneuve l’Etang to continue his -studies. When the carriage passed through Saint Cloud, some of the -inhabitants, who had seen him pass in former years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_463" id="page_463">{463}</a></span> saluted him with a -mixture of emotion and respectful interest.</p> - -<p>At Villeneuve l’Etang, the old stables of the Cent Gardes had reverted -to their former purpose and were used for the preparation of the -diphtheria antitoxin. There were about one hundred horses there; old -chargers, sold by the military authorities as unfit for further work; -racehorses thus ending their days; a few, presents from their owners, -such as Marshal Canrobert’s old horse.</p> - -<p>Pasteur spent those summer weeks in his room or under the trees on the -lawns of the Park. A few horses had been put out to grass, the stables -being quite full, and occasionally came near, looking over their hurdles -towards him. Pasteur felt a deep thankfulness in watching the busy -comings and goings of Dr. Roux and his curator, M. Martin, and of the -veterinary surgeon, M. Prévôt, who was entrusted with the bleeding -operations and the distribution of the flasks of serum. He thought of -all that would survive him and felt that his weakened hand might now -drop the torch which had set so many others alight. And, more than -resigned, he sat peacefully under a beautiful group of pines and purple -beeches, listening to the readings of Mme. Pasteur and of his daughter. -They smiled on him with that valiant smile which women know how to keep -through deepest anguish.</p> - -<p>Biographies interested him as of yore. There was at that time a renewal -of interest in memories of the First Empire; old letters, memoirs, war -anecdotes were being published every day. Pasteur never tired of those -great souvenirs. Many of those stories brought him back to the emotions -of his youth, but he no longer looked with the same eyes on the glory of -conquerors. The true guides of humanity now seemed to him to be those -who gave devoted service, not those who ruled by might. After enjoying -pages full of the thrill of battlefields, Pasteur admired the life of a -great and good man, St. Vincent de Paul. He loved this son of poor -peasants, proud to own his humble birth before a vainglorious society; -this tutor of a future cardinal, who desired to become the chaplain of -some unhappy convicts; this priest, who founded the work of the <i>Enfants -Trouvés</i>, and who established lay and religious alliance over the vast -domain of charity.</p> - -<p>Pasteur himself exerted a great and charitable influence. The unknown -lady who had put at his disposal four scholarships<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_464" id="page_464">{464}</a></span> for young men -without means came to him in August and offered him the funds for a -Pasteur Hospital, the natural outcome, she said, of the Pastorian -discoveries.</p> - -<p>Pasteur’s strength diminished day by day, he now could hardly walk. When -he was seated in the Park, his grandchildren around him suggested young -rose trees climbing around the trunk of a dying oak. The paralysis was -increasing, and speech was becoming more and more difficult. The eyes -alone remained bright and clear; Pasteur was witnessing the ruin of what -in him was perishable.</p> - -<p>How willingly they would have given a moment of their lives to prolong -his, those thousands of human beings whose existence had been saved by -his methods: sick children, women in lying-in hospitals, patients -operated upon in surgical wards, victims of rabid dogs saved from -hydrophobia, and so many others protected against the infinitesimally -small! But, whilst visions of those living beings passed through the -minds of his family, it seemed as if Pasteur already saw those dead ones -who, like him, had preserved absolute faith in the Future Life.</p> - -<p>The last week in September he was no longer strong enough to leave his -bed, his weakness was extreme. On September 27, as he was offered a cup -of milk: “I cannot,” he murmured; his eyes looked around him with an -unspeakable expression of resignation, love and farewell. His head fell -back on the pillows, and he slept; but, after this delusive rest, -suddenly came the gaspings of agony. For twenty-four hours he remained -motionless, his eyes closed, his body almost entirely paralyzed; one of -his hands rested in that of Mme. Pasteur, the other held a crucifix.</p> - -<p>Thus, surrounded by his family and disciples, in this room of almost -monastic simplicity, on Saturday, September 28, 1895, at 4.40 in the -afternoon, very peacefully, he passed away.</p> - -<p class="fint"><span class="smcap">The End.</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_465" id="page_465">{465}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> - -<p class="c"><a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">E</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#K">K</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#O">O</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#Q">Q</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#U">U</a>, -<a href="#V">V</a>, -<a href="#W">W</a>, -<a href="#Y">Y</a>, -<a href="#Z">Z</a></p> - -<p class="nind"> -<a name="A" id="A"></a><span class="letra">A</span><br /> - -Abbadie, d’, presents medals to Pasteur, <a href="#page_449">449</a><br /> - -Abdul Aziz, Sultan, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -About, Edmond:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur, <a href="#page_383">383</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur’s lecture at Sorbonne, <a href="#page_122">122</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pamphlet quoted, <a href="#page_177">177</a></span><br /> - -Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_29">29</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_81">81</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">During siege of Paris, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> - -Académie Française, Pasteur’s reception at, <a href="#page_345">345</a><br /> - -Aërobes, <a href="#page_99">99</a><br /> - -<i>Agrégation</i>, <a href="#page_31">31</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Alais:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur goes to, <a href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_129">129</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Statue to J. B. Dumas at, <a href="#page_446">446</a></span><br /> - -Alexandria, French mission to, <a href="#page_377">377</a><br /> - -Alfort, experiments on sheep at, <a href="#page_306">306</a><br /> - -Alsace-Lorraine question, <a href="#page_461">461</a><br /> - -Amat, Mlle., <a href="#page_170">170</a><br /> - -Anaërobes, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a><br /> - -Andral, Dr., <a href="#page_160">160</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Pasteur, <a href="#page_247">247</a></span><br /> - -Anglada, work “On Contagion” quoted, <a href="#page_80">80</a><br /> - -<i>Anguillulæ</i>, <a href="#page_150">150</a><br /> - -<i>Anthrax</i> (splenic fever, charbon), <a href="#page_257">257</a> <i>seqq.</i>, <a href="#page_292">292</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hens and, <a href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Commission on, <a href="#page_278">278</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaccination against, <a href="#page_311">311</a>, <a href="#page_312">312</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Experiment, <a href="#page_315">315</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Results, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a></span><br /> - -Antirabic inoculation on man, <a href="#page_414">414</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discussion on, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> - -Anti-vivisection, Virchow on, <a href="#page_332">332</a><br /> - -Aosta, Duke and Duchess of, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -Arago, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Monge, <a href="#page_195">195</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech before Chamber of Deputies, <a href="#page_245">245</a></span><br /> - -Arbois:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur at, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_437">437</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presentation to Pasteur from, <a href="#page_449">449</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prussians at, <a href="#page_202">202</a></span><br /> - -Arboisian characteristics, <a href="#page_8">8</a><br /> - -Arcis-sur-Aube, battle of, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Ardèche, <a href="#page_32">32</a><br /> - -Ardouin, Dr., <a href="#page_380">380</a><br /> - -Aristotle, allusions to hydrophobia, <a href="#page_407">407</a><br /> - -Arsonval, M. d’, <a href="#page_280">280</a><br /> - -Aselli, discoveries through vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a><br /> - -Aspartic acid, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a><br /> - -<i>Aspergillus niger</i>, <a href="#page_204">204</a><br /> - -Aubenas, tribute to Pasteur, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_351">351</a><br /> - -Augier, Emile, <a href="#page_174">174</a><br /> - -Aurillac, testimonial to Pasteur, <a href="#page_373">373</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="B" id="B"></a><span class="letra">B</span><br /> - -“Baccalauréat,” <a href="#page_10">10</a> <i>and note</i><br /> - -Baciocchi, Princess, leaves Villa Vicentina to Prince Imperial, <a href="#page_173">173</a><br /> - -Bagnères-de-Luchon, <a href="#page_104">104</a><br /> - -Balard, lecturer at Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Pasteur, <a href="#page_217">217</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Appeal to Pasteur, <a href="#page_217">217</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discovers bromin, <a href="#page_32">32</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inspector-General of Higher Education, <a href="#page_145">145</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur’s discovery, <a href="#page_40">40</a></span><br /> - -Bar-sur-Aube, 3rd Regiment at, <a href="#page_3">3</a><br /> - -Barbet Boarding School, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a><br /> - -Barbet, M., <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a><br /> - -Barbier, Captain, <a href="#page_10">10</a><br /> - -Barrnel, Dumas’ Curator, <a href="#page_25">25</a><br /> - -Bastian, Dr., attacks Pasteur, <a href="#page_253">253</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Baudry, Paul, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Bazaine at Metz, <a href="#page_186">186</a><br /> - -Beauce, <a href="#page_147">147</a> <i>note</i><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Splenic fever in, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_276">276</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_314">314</a></span><br /> - -Béchamp, theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_241">241</a><br /> - -Béclard, Permanent Secretary of Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_309">309</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a></span><br /> - -Beer, Pasteur studies manufacture of, <a href="#page_207">207</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Béhier, Dr., <a href="#page_233">233</a><br /> - -Behring discovers antitoxin for diphtheria, <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> - -Bellaguet, M., <a href="#page_137">137</a><br /> - -Belle, Jeanne, wife of Claude Pasteur, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Bellevue, Château, Napoleon and William of Prussia meet at, <a href="#page_182">182</a><br /> - -Belotti, M., <a href="#page_206">206</a><br /> - -Berchon, sanitary director, Bordeaux, <a href="#page_340">340</a><br /> - -Bergeron, Jules:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Annual Secretary of Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_309">309</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur’s treatment of hydrophobia, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a></span><br /> - -Bernard, Claude, <a href="#page_42">42</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discoveries, <a href="#page_135">135</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiment on dog, <a href="#page_335">335</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments on fermentation, <a href="#page_280">280</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Illness, <a href="#page_134">134</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joins in Pasteur’s experiments, <a href="#page_104">104</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Deville, <a href="#page_137">137</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_136">136</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On fermentation, <a href="#page_80">80</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Medicine, <a href="#page_226">226</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Pasteur’s researches, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_87">87</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Primary causes, <a href="#page_244">244</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Posthumous notes, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Senator, <a href="#page_174">174</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies cholera, <a href="#page_126">126</a></span><br /> - -Bersot, Ernest, quoted on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_92">92</a><br /> - -Bert, Paul, <a href="#page_279">279</a>, <a href="#page_374">374</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Classifies Pasteur’s work, <a href="#page_375">375</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments, <a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_392">392</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech on Pasteur’s discoveries, <a href="#page_245">245</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a></span><br /> - -Berthelot, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consulted by Pasteur, <a href="#page_439">439</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On alcoholic fermentation, <a href="#page_286">286</a></span><br /> - -Berthollet, M., <a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discoveries, <a href="#page_195">195</a></span><br /> - -Bertillon, candidate for Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a><br /> - -Bertin, M., <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_19">19</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professor of Physics, Strasburg, <a href="#page_45">45</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Welcomes Pasteur to Paris, <a href="#page_212">212</a></span><br /> - -Bertrand, Joseph:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Pasteur, <a href="#page_138">138</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_419">419</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_441">441</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a></span><br /> - -Berzelius, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies paratartaric acid, <a href="#page_25">25</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theories of fermentation, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -Besançon, Jean Henri Pasteur at, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Besson, candidature for Senate, <a href="#page_249">249</a><br /> - -Beust, Baron von, superintendent of factories, <a href="#page_65">65</a><br /> - -Bigo manufactures beetroot alcohol, <a href="#page_79">79</a><br /> - -Biot, J. J., <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attitude towards spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Pasteur, <a href="#page_41">41</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Last letter, <a href="#page_103">103</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Joseph Pasteur, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Louis Pasteur, <a href="#page_59">59</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oldest member of Institute, <a href="#page_81">81</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Passion for reading, <a href="#page_89">89</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Praises Pasteur, <a href="#page_55">55</a></span><br /> - -Biot, M., veterinary surgeon, at Pouilly le Fort experiment, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a><br /> - -Bischoffsheim, Raphael, lends villa to Pasteur, <a href="#page_433">433</a><br /> - -Bismarck, Prince:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armistice with France, <a href="#page_193">193</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Jules Favre, <a href="#page_184">184</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Napoleon III, <a href="#page_182">182</a></span><br /> - -Blondeau, registrar of mortgages, <a href="#page_13">13</a><br /> - -Bollène, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_360">360</a><br /> - -Bonaparte, Elisa, at Villa Vicentina, <a href="#page_173">173</a><br /> - -Bonn, <i>sous-préfecture</i>, <a href="#page_189">189</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">University, <a href="#page_189">189</a></span><br /> - -Bonnat, portrait of Pasteur, <a href="#page_440">440</a><br /> - -Bordeaux, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_338">338</a><br /> - -Bordighera:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earthquake at, <a href="#page_436">436</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur at, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> - -Borrel attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Bouchardat, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission of Hygiene, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Report on remedies for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_408">408</a></span><br /> - -Bouillaud, Dr., <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_262">262</a>, <a href="#page_294">294</a><br /> - -Bouillier, M. F., Director of Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a><br /> - -Bouley, H., <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At experiment on earthworms, <a href="#page_304">304</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chairman of Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>, <a href="#page_398">398</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Report, <a href="#page_398">398</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Pasteur, <a href="#page_324">324</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— on Colin, <a href="#page_320">320</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— germ of hydrophobia, <a href="#page_398">398</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— methods of Delafond and Pasteur, <a href="#page_275">275</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— microbes, <a href="#page_365">365</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Pasteur’s treatment of hydrophobia, <a href="#page_423">423</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— remedies for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_408">408</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— virulence of bacteridia, <a href="#page_311">311</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_262">262</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Statistics of death from hydrophobia, <a href="#page_428">428</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaccinates sheep against anthrax, <a href="#page_306">306</a></span><br /> - -Bourbaki, General:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_193">193</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Retreat of Army Corps, <a href="#page_192">192</a></span><br /> - -Bourboulon, Commandant, gives Pasteur news of his son, <a href="#page_193">193</a><br /> - -Bourgeois, Philibert, <a href="#page_3">3</a><br /> - -Bourrel sends dogs to laboratory, <a href="#page_390">390</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a><br /> - -Boussingault, M., <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> - -Boutet, veterinary surgeon, <a href="#page_261">261</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On splenic fever, <a href="#page_276">276</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Report of vaccinated sheep, <a href="#page_363">363</a></span><br /> - -Boutroux, curator in Pasteur’s laboratory, <a href="#page_255">255</a><br /> - -Boyle, Robert, on fermentation, <a href="#page_223">223</a><br /> - -Brand, Dr., treatment of typhoid, <a href="#page_364">364</a><br /> - -Breithaupt, Professor of Mineralogy, <a href="#page_65">65</a><br /> - -Bretonneau, on diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a><br /> - -Brie cattle suffer from anthrax, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_314">314</a><br /> - -Brochin, candidate for Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a><br /> - -Brongniart, Alexandre, <a href="#page_42">42</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_106">106</a></span><br /> - -Brouardel, Professor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a>, <a href="#page_437">437</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Congress of Hygiene, <a href="#page_446">446</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a></span><br /> - -Broussais, surgery under, <a href="#page_235">235</a><br /> - -Bruce, Mrs., presents Pasteur with <i>Life of Livingstone</i>, <a href="#page_389">389</a><br /> - -Buda-Pesth, Hygiene and Demography Congress at, <a href="#page_456">456</a><br /> - -Budberg, M. de, Russian Ambassador, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Budin and antisepsis, <a href="#page_290">290</a><br /> - -Buffon, theory of spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Buonanni, recipe for producing worms, <a href="#page_89">89</a><br /> - -Butyric fermentation, <a href="#page_99">99</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="C" id="C"></a><span class="letra">C</span><br /> - -Cagniard-Latour studies yeast, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a><br /> - -Cailletet invents apparatus for liquefaction of gases, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Cairo, cholera at, <a href="#page_377">377</a><br /> - -Calmette, Edouard:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Lille, <a href="#page_461">461</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_447">447</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> - -Cambon, Governor-General of Algeria, letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_451">451</a><br /> - -Cardaillac, M. de, <a href="#page_163">163</a><br /> - -Cardinal cultivates silkworms, <a href="#page_139">139</a><br /> - -Carnot, President, <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a></span><br /> - -Caro, deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Casabianca, Comte de, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a><br /> - -Celsus on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_407">407</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a><br /> - -Chaffois, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a><br /> - -Chaillou collaborates with Roux, <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> - -Chamalières brewery, <a href="#page_207">207</a><br /> - -Chamberland, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_447">447</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Pasteur, <a href="#page_260">260</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_305">305</a>, <a href="#page_306">306</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cross of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_326">326</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur’s early researches, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaccinations against anthrax, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> - -Chambéry, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_131">131</a><br /> - -Chamecin, wood merchant, <a href="#page_3">3</a><br /> - -Chamonix, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_97">97</a><br /> - -Chantemesse, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a>, <a href="#page_460">460</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Performs inoculations, <a href="#page_432">432</a></span><br /> - -Chanzy, General, open letter, <a href="#page_190">190</a><br /> - -Chappuis, Charles, <a href="#page_33">33</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_20">20</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On national testimonial to Pasteur, <a href="#page_246">246</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_18">18</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Visits Pasteur, <a href="#page_462">462</a></span><br /> - -Chaptal, discoveries of, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Charbon. (<i>See Anthrax</i>)<br /> - -Charcot on Pasteur’s antirabic cure, <a href="#page_438">438</a><br /> - -Charrière, schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_37">37</a><br /> - -Charrin, Dr., performs inoculations, <a href="#page_432">432</a><br /> - -Chartres:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiment on vaccination against anthrax near, <a href="#page_328">328</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur at, <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scientific congress at, <a href="#page_276">276</a></span><br /> - -Chassaignac, Dr., on “laboratory surgery,” <a href="#page_228">228</a><br /> - -Chauveau on contagion, <a href="#page_366">366</a><br /> - -Chemists and Physicians, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a><br /> - -Chevreul, M., <a href="#page_59">59</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On siege of Paris, <a href="#page_188">188</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a></span><br /> - -Chicken cholera, <a href="#page_297">297</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Chiozza, letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_200">200</a><br /> - -Cholera, <a href="#page_126">126</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Damietta and Cairo, <a href="#page_378">378</a></span><br /> - -Christen, town councillor at Vaucresson, <a href="#page_406">406</a><br /> - -Christophle, speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_441">441</a><br /> - -Clermont Ferrand, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_206">206</a><br /> - -Clouet invents system of manufacturing steel, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Coblentz, <i>préfecture</i>, <a href="#page_189">189</a><br /> - -Cochin, Denys, at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a><br /> - -Colin, Professor G., <a href="#page_277">277</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Biot, <a href="#page_319">319</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments on anthrax, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_268">268</a></span><br /> - -Collège de France, <a href="#page_40">40</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_146">146</a><br /> - -Compiègne, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Comte, Auguste, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Doctrine, <a href="#page_342">342</a></span><br /> - -Conseil-Général de département, <a href="#page_78">78</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Contagious diseases, problem of, <a href="#page_223">223</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Conti, Napoleon III’s secretary, <a href="#page_153">153</a><br /> - -Copenhagen Medical Congress, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_398">398</a><br /> - -Coquelin:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Recites at Trocadéro fête, <a href="#page_431">431</a></span><br /> - -Cornil, on acarus of itch, <a href="#page_366">366</a><br /> - -Coulon, schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a><br /> - -Cribier, Mme., <a href="#page_161">161</a><br /> - -Cuisance River, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a><br /> - -Cuvier, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="D" id="D"></a><span class="letra">D</span><br /> - -Daguerre, national testimonial to, <a href="#page_245">245</a><br /> - -Dalimier, Paul, Pasteur’s advice to, <a href="#page_109">109</a><br /> - -Dalloz, editor of <i>Moniteur</i>, <a href="#page_158">158</a><br /> - -Damietta, cholera at, <a href="#page_378">378</a><br /> - -Darboux, “doyen” of Faculty of Science, <a href="#page_31">31</a><br /> - -Daremberg, Dr., on Pasteur at<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medical Congress, <a href="#page_332">332</a></span><br /> - -Darlay as science master, <a href="#page_14">14</a><br /> - -Darwin:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On earthworms, <a href="#page_304">304</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On vivisection, <a href="#page_337">337</a></span><br /> - -Dastre, M., <a href="#page_279">279</a><br /> - -Daubrée, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a><br /> - -Daunas, sketch of, <a href="#page_14">14</a><br /> - -David, Jeanne, wife of Denis Pasteur, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Davaine, Dr. C., <a href="#page_272">272</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At experiment on earthworms, <a href="#page_304">304</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments on septicæmia, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On butyric ferment, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a></span><br /> - -Davy, Sir H., <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Debray, M., <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> - -Déclat, Dr., on Pasteur’s experiments, <a href="#page_223">223</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, <a href="#page_239">239</a></span><br /> - -Delafond, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On charbon blood, <a href="#page_258">258</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies anthrax, <a href="#page_275">275</a></span><br /> - -Delafosse, Professor of Mineralogy, <a href="#page_33">33</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a><br /> - -Delaunay acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Delesse, Professor of Science at Besançon, <a href="#page_45">45</a><br /> - -Delort, General Baron, <a href="#page_30">30</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Native of Arbois, <a href="#page_202">202</a></span><br /> - -Demarquay, Dr., prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, <a href="#page_239">239</a><br /> - -Denmark, King and Queen of, at Medical Congress, <a href="#page_399">399</a><br /> - -Denonvilliers, surgery under, <a href="#page_235">235</a><br /> - -<i>Départements</i>, <a href="#page_52">52</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Descartes in Holland, <a href="#page_200">200</a><br /> - -Despeyroux, Professor of Chemistry, <a href="#page_171">171</a><br /> - -Dessaignes, chemist, <a href="#page_70">70</a><br /> - -Deville, Henri Sainte Claire, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Admiration for Pasteur’s precision, <a href="#page_287">287</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Compiègne, <a href="#page_162">162</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character, <a href="#page_146">146</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congratulates Pasteur on Testimonial, <a href="#page_246">246</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_327">327</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laboratory, <a href="#page_84">84</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Mme. Pasteur, <a href="#page_174">174</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Académie and Science, <a href="#page_196">196</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission of Hygiene, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scientific mission in Germany, <a href="#page_179">179</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies cholera, <a href="#page_126">126</a></span><br /> - -Devise, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a><br /> - -Diabetes, <a href="#page_135">135</a><br /> - -Diderot on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Didon, gratitude to Pasteur, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a><br /> - -Dieffenbach, M., <a href="#page_335">335</a><br /> - -Dieulafoy, Professor, attends Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Statistics of mortality, <a href="#page_456">456</a></span><br /> - -Disraeli quoted on public health, <a href="#page_446">446</a><br /> - -Dôle:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jean Joseph Pasteur settles at, <a href="#page_5">5</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memorial plate on Pasteur’s house at, <a href="#page_376">376</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presentation to Pasteur from, <a href="#page_450">450</a></span><br /> - -Douay village, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Doucet, Camille, on Pasteur’s speech, <a href="#page_345">345</a><br /> - -Dresden, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_65">65</a><br /> - -Droz, Joseph, his moral doctrine, <a href="#page_16">16</a><br /> - -Dubois, Alphée, engraves medal for Pasteur, <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> - -Dubois, Paul, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bust of Pasteur, <a href="#page_401">401</a></span><br /> - -Duboué, Dr., theory on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_393">393</a><br /> - -Duc, Viollet le, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Du Camp, Maxime, <a href="#page_346">346</a><br /> - -Duchartre elected member of Académie, <a href="#page_100">100</a><br /> - -Duclaux, M., <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, <a href="#page_250">250</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Pasteur, <a href="#page_217">217</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Annals of Pasteur Institute</i>, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Class of biological chemistry, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congratulates Pasteur on testimonial, <a href="#page_246">246</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Bastian, <a href="#page_253">253</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On heating liquids, <a href="#page_255">255</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professor of Chemistry at Clermont Ferrand, <a href="#page_206">206</a></span><br /> - -Ducret, Antoine and Charles, shot, <a href="#page_202">202</a><br /> - -Ducrot, General, <a href="#page_155">155</a><br /> - -Dujardin-Beaumetz, on antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a><br /> - -Dumas, Alexandre, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur and, <a href="#page_341">341</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Visits Pasteur, <a href="#page_460">460</a></span><br /> - -Dumas, J. B., <a href="#page_418">418</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Académie sponsor for Pasteur, <a href="#page_344">344</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Pasteur, <a href="#page_89">89</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Appreciation of Pasteur, <a href="#page_252">252</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Alais, <a href="#page_170">170</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_384">384</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interest in sericiculture, <a href="#page_117">117</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>La Vie d’un Savant</i>, <a href="#page_383">383</a> <i>note</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">letter on, <a href="#page_383">383</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laboratory, <a href="#page_42">42</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Bouley, <a href="#page_312">312</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Pasteur, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Académie and Science, <a href="#page_196">196</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Commission on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_106">106</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— <i>Critical Examination</i>, <a href="#page_287">287</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Destruction of Regnault’s instruments, <a href="#page_191">191</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Fermentation, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presents Pasteur to Napoleon III, <a href="#page_104">104</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Monetary Commission, <a href="#page_145">145</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Requests Pasteur for article on</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lavoisier, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Senator, <a href="#page_174">174</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_356">356</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sorbonne lecturer, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Péclet’s tomb, <a href="#page_328">328</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech to Pasteur, <a href="#page_354">354</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Statue at Alais to, <a href="#page_446">446</a></span><br /> - -Dumont, Dr., <a href="#page_8">8</a><br /> - -Dupuy, Charles, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a><br /> - -Duran, Carolus, portrait of Pasteur, <a href="#page_439">439</a><br /> - -Duruy, M., <a href="#page_106">106</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_441">441</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attitude towards Germany, <a href="#page_178">178</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_139">139</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Minister of Public Instruction, <a href="#page_130">130</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">System of National Education, <a href="#page_140">140</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Visits Pasteur, <a href="#page_165">165</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="E" id="E"></a><span class="letra">E</span><br /> - -Earthworms, pathogenic action of, <a href="#page_304">304</a><br /> - -Eastern Army Corps, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a><br /> - -<i>Ecole Normale</i>, <a href="#page_10">10</a> <i>and note</i>, <a href="#page_154">154</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An ambulance, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disturbances at, <a href="#page_143">143</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Scientific Annals of</i>, <a href="#page_110">110</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Students enlist, <a href="#page_180">180</a></span><br /> - -Ecole Polytechnique, <a href="#page_43">43</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_154">154</a><br /> - -Edelfeldt, portrait of Pasteur, <a href="#page_440">440</a><br /> - -Eggs, researches on alteration of, <a href="#page_231">231</a><br /> - -Ehrenberg, discoveries on infusories, <a href="#page_214">214</a><br /> - -Electric telegraph, birth of, <a href="#page_76">76</a><br /> - -Elsinore, congress visit, <a href="#page_402">402</a><br /> - -Emperor of Brazil, interest in Pasteur’s experiments, <a href="#page_403">403</a><br /> - -Empress Eugénie:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Bordighera, <a href="#page_436">436</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Pasteur, <a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Regent, <a href="#page_182">182</a></span><br /> - -<i>Enfants Malades</i> hospital: diphtheritic treatment at, <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> - -English commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Report, <a href="#page_437">437</a></span><br /> - -Erdmann, M., <a href="#page_64">64</a><br /> - -Exhibition reward distribution, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="F" id="F"></a><span class="letra">F</span><br /> - -<i>Facultés</i>, <a href="#page_31">31</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Falloux, attitude towards liberty of teaching, <a href="#page_52">52</a><br /> - -Fauvel, on Pasteur’s inductions, <a href="#page_369">369</a><br /> - -Favé, General, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a><br /> - -Favre, Jules, Minister of Foreign Affairs, <a href="#page_182">182</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armistice, <a href="#page_193">193</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Bismarck, <a href="#page_184">184</a></span><br /> - -“February days,” <a href="#page_37">37</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Feltz on puerperal fever, <a href="#page_292">292</a><br /> - -Fermentation, teaching on, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alcoholic, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Butyric, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_228">228</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lactic, <a href="#page_83">83</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of tan, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virus, <a href="#page_223">223</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> - -Ferrières Château, interview between Bismarck and Favre at, <a href="#page_184">184</a><br /> - -Fikentscher, obtains racemic acid, <a href="#page_62">62</a><br /> - -Fleming, Mr., <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a></span><br /> - -Flesschutt, Dr., <a href="#page_131">131</a><br /> - -Fleys, Dr., proposes toast of Pasteur, <a href="#page_373">373</a><br /> - -Flourens, on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a><br /> - -Fontainebleau, Napoleon at, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Formate of strontian crystals, <a href="#page_50">50</a><br /> - -Fortoul, Minister of Public Instruction, <a href="#page_75">75</a><br /> - -Fouqué, M., <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> - -Fourcroy, M., <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discoveries of, <a href="#page_195">195</a></span><br /> - -Foy, General, works of, <a href="#page_183">183</a><br /> - -Franco-German War, <a href="#page_177">177</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Franklin on scientific discovery, <a href="#page_76">76</a><br /> - -Frederic III, sketch of, <a href="#page_330">330</a><br /> - -Frémy, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On origin of ferments, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_218">218</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -French character, <a href="#page_207">207</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="G" id="G"></a><span class="letra">G</span><br /> - -Gaidot, Father, <a href="#page_12">12</a><br /> - -Gaillard, M. de, <a href="#page_361">361</a><br /> - -Galen:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discoveries through vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remedy for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_407">407</a></span><br /> - -Galtier, experiments on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_393">393</a><br /> - -<i>Garde Nationale</i>, <a href="#page_37">37</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Gardette, M. de la, <a href="#page_361">361</a><br /> - -Gautier, Théophile, <a href="#page_125">125</a><br /> - -Gay-Lussac, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lectures at <i>Jardin des Plantes</i>, <a href="#page_419">419</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech before Chamber of Peers, <a href="#page_245">245</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies racemic acid, <a href="#page_26">26</a></span><br /> - -Gayon, researches on alteration of eggs, <a href="#page_231">231</a><br /> - -Geneva Congress of Hygiene, <a href="#page_357">357</a><br /> - -Germs, Pasteur’s theory of, <a href="#page_187">187</a><br /> - -Gernez, M., <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_170">170</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Centenary of Ecole Normale</i>, <a href="#page_110">110</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Pasteur, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a></span><br /> - -Gérôme, Knight of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_142">142</a><br /> - -Gille, Dr., attends Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Girard on vineyard labourers and Pasteur, <a href="#page_420">420</a><br /> - -Girardin, St. Marc, <a href="#page_82">82</a><br /> - -Girod, Henry, Royal Notary of Salins, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Glénard adopts Brand’s treatment of typhoid, <a href="#page_364">364</a><br /> - -Godélier, Dr., <a href="#page_160">160</a><br /> - -Goltz, M. de, Prussian Ambassador, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Gosselin, Dr., <a href="#page_240">240</a><br /> - -Got acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Gounod conducts <i>Ave Maria</i> at Trocadéro fête, <a href="#page_431">431</a><br /> - -Grancher, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Admiration for Pasteur’s experiments, <a href="#page_417">417</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advises Pasteur to winter in South, <a href="#page_432">432</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur consults, <a href="#page_415">415</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Performs inoculations, <a href="#page_432">432</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_441">441</a></span><br /> - -Grandeau, M., <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_341">341</a></span><br /> - -Gravière, Admiral Jurien de la, <a href="#page_433">433</a><br /> - -Gréard, deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Greece, King and Queen of, at Medical Congress, <a href="#page_399">399</a><br /> - -Grenet, Pasteur’s curator, <a href="#page_213">213</a><br /> - -Gressier, M., Minister of Agriculture, <a href="#page_275">275</a><br /> - -Grévy, Jules, supports Tamisier and Thurel, <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> - -Gridaine, Cunin, Minister of Agriculture, <a href="#page_275">275</a><br /> - -Gsell, Stéphane, on origin of Sériana, <a href="#page_452">452</a><br /> - -Guérin, Alphonse, on cause of purulent infection, <a href="#page_236">236</a><br /> - -Guérin, Jules, on vaccine, <a href="#page_308">308</a><br /> - -Guillaume, Eugène, deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Guillemin, M., <a href="#page_77">77</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Schoolfellow of Louis Pasteur, <a href="#page_7">7</a></span><br /> - -Guizot, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quoted on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_112">112</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Welcomes Biot to Académie, <a href="#page_82">82</a></span><br /> - -Guyon, Professor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accepts Pasteur’s advice, <a href="#page_232">232</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="H" id="H"></a><span class="letra">H</span><br /> - -Hankel, Professor of Physics at Leipzig, <a href="#page_64">64</a><br /> - -Hardy, M., welcomes Pasteur to Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_370">370</a><br /> - -Harvey, discoveries through vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a><br /> - -Hautefeuille, M., <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> - -Heated wine, experiments on, <a href="#page_157">157</a><br /> - -<i>Hemiorganism</i>, <a href="#page_216">216</a><br /> - -Henner, portrait of Pasteur, <a href="#page_439">439</a><br /> - -Henri IV plants mulberry trees, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a><br /> - -Hens and anthrax, <a href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commission on, <a href="#page_278">278</a></span><br /> - -Héricourt, Dr., <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Villeneuve l’Etang, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> - -Hervé, Edouard, <a href="#page_427">427</a><br /> - -Heterogenia. (<i>See</i> Spontaneous generation)<br /> - -Hippocrates, allusions to hydrophobia, <a href="#page_407">407</a><br /> - -Horsley, Victor, secretary to Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_431">431</a>, <a href="#page_437">437</a><br /> - -Houssaye, Henry, on ovation to Pasteur, <a href="#page_426">426</a><br /> - -Hugo, Victor, <i>Année Terrible</i>, <a href="#page_191">191</a><br /> - -Huguenin, portrait of Bonaparte, <a href="#page_181">181</a><br /> - -Humbert of Italy, Prince, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -Humboldt, Alexander von, interview with J. B. Dumas, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> - -Husson, M., <a href="#page_166">166</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Researches on Vaccine</i>, <a href="#page_405">405</a></span><br /> - -Huxley on Pasteur’s discoveries, <a href="#page_374">374</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a><br /> - -Hydrophobia:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dogs inoculated against, <a href="#page_395">395</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Commission, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English Commission on inoculation for, <a href="#page_430">430</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Report, <a href="#page_437">437</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments on, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a>, <a href="#page_422">422</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Former remedies, <a href="#page_407">407</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Origin of, <a href="#page_409">409</a></span><br /> - -Hygiene:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Central Commission, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">International Congress of, <a href="#page_446">446</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="I" id="I"></a><span class="letra">I</span><br /> - -Iceland spar, <a href="#page_27">27</a><br /> - -Ingenhousz, <a href="#page_100">100</a><br /> - -<i>Institut de France</i>, <a href="#page_29">29</a> <i>note</i><br /> -<br /> -<a name="J" id="J"></a><span class="letra">J</span><br /> - -Jacobsen, J. C., founds Carlsberg Brewery, <a href="#page_401">401</a><br /> - -Jacquinet, sub-director of Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_84">84</a>, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a><br /> - -Jaillard, experiments on <i>anthrax</i>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_261">261</a><br /> - -Jamin, M., <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On heterogenist dispute, <a href="#page_111">111</a></span><br /> - -Jarry, Claude, royal notary, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Jenner, national rewards to, <a href="#page_374">374</a><br /> - -Joinville, Prince de, <a href="#page_53">53</a> <i>and note</i><br /> - -Joly, Nicolas, professor of physiology, Toulouse, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Demands Commission on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture at Faculty of Medicine, <a href="#page_111">111</a></span><br /> - -Jouassain, Mlle., acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Joubert, professor of physics at Collège Rollin, <a href="#page_254">254</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>, <a href="#page_269">269</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a><br /> - -Jourdan, Gabrielle, wife of Jean Henri Pasteur, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -<i>Journal de la Médecine et de la Chimie</i> quoted, <a href="#page_310">310</a><br /> - -Joux, forest of, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Jupille, J. B., bitten by mad dog, <a href="#page_421">421</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inoculated, <a href="#page_422">422</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="K" id="K"></a><span class="letra">K</span><br /> - -Kaempfen, director of fine arts, Dôle, <a href="#page_376">376</a><br /> - -Kestner, produces paratartaric acid, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>, <a href="#page_68">68</a><br /> - -Kitasato, discovers antitoxin for diphtheria, <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies plague, <a href="#page_458">458</a></span><br /> - -Klebs, discovers bacillus of diphtheria, <a href="#page_454">454</a><br /> - -Klein, Dr., <i>pneumo-enteritis of swine</i>, <a href="#page_362">362</a><br /> - -Koch, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Thuillier’s funeral, <a href="#page_381">381</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Campaign against Pasteur, <a href="#page_357">357</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Finds bacillus of tuberculosis, <a href="#page_227">227</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On <i>bacillus anthracis</i>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>, <a href="#page_260">260</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies cholera, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_382">382</a></span><br /> - -Kuhn, Chamalières brewer, <a href="#page_207">207</a><br /> -<br /> -<a name="L" id="L"></a><span class="letra">L</span><br /> - -Laboratories, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_84">84</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a><br /> - -Lachadenède, M. de, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_171">171</a><br /> - -Lactic fermentation, <a href="#page_83">83</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a><br /> - -Lagrange, quoted on Lavoisier’s execution, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Lamartine, <a href="#page_36">36</a> <i>and note</i><br /> - -Lambert, Françoise, wife of Claude Etienne Pasteur, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Lamy, Auguste, <a href="#page_161">161</a><br /> - -Landouzy, on ambulance ward (1870), <a href="#page_235">235</a><br /> - -Lannelongue, Dr., <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_391">391</a><br /> - -Laplace, M., <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> - -Lapparent, M. de, Chairman of Commission on wine, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a><br /> - -Larrey Baron, <a href="#page_309">309</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Jupille and Pasteur’s discovery, <a href="#page_423">423</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surgery under, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a></span><br /> - -Laubespin, Comte de, <a href="#page_427">427</a><br /> - -Lauder-Brunton, Dr., on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> - -Laurent, Auguste, <a href="#page_55">55</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_31">31</a>, <a href="#page_33">33</a></span><br /> - -Laurent, Madame, <a href="#page_47">47</a><br /> - -Laurent, Maria. (<i>See</i> Pasteur, Mme. Louis)<br /> - -Laurent, M., Rector of Academy of Strasburg, <a href="#page_47">47</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_47">47</a>, <a href="#page_54">54</a></span><br /> - -Lavoisier, death, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edition of his works, <a href="#page_122">122</a></span><br /> - -Le Bel, studies on stereo-chemistry, <a href="#page_445">445</a><br /> - -Le Dantec, studies on yellow fever in Brazil, <a href="#page_461">461</a><br /> - -Le Fort, Léon:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On puerperal fever, <a href="#page_290">290</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surgery under, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a></span><br /> - -Le Roux, <i>Dissertation sur la Rage</i>, <a href="#page_407">407</a><br /> - -Le Verrier, <a href="#page_129">129</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_131">131</a><br /> - -Leblanc, statistics of deaths from hydrophobia, <a href="#page_428">428</a><br /> - -Lechartier, M., <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> - -Lefebvre, General, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Lefort, Mayor of Arbois, <a href="#page_202">202</a><br /> - -Lemaire, Jules, prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, <a href="#page_239">239</a><br /> - -Lemuy, situation of, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Leplat, experiments on <i>anthrax</i>, <a href="#page_258">258</a>, <a href="#page_261">261</a><br /> - -Lereboullet, on anthrax, <a href="#page_269">269</a><br /> - -Lesseps, Ferdinand de, <a href="#page_142">142</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a></span><br /> - -Leval Division:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Arcis-sur-Aube, <a href="#page_4">4</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Bar-sur-Aube, <a href="#page_3">3</a></span><br /> - -Lhéritier, candidate for Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a><br /> - -Liberty of teaching, law on, <a href="#page_52">52</a><br /> - -Liebig:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ideas on fermentation, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Pasteur, <a href="#page_176">176</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -Lille:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur Dean of Faculté at, <a href="#page_75">75</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur Institute at, <a href="#page_461">461</a></span><br /> - -Lister, Sir Joseph:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Appreciation of Pasteur, <a href="#page_252">252</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_238">238</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Method of surgery, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a href="#page_239">239</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surgical method, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a></span><br /> - -Littré:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Medicine and Physicians</i>, <a href="#page_294">294</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On <i>Microbe</i>, <a href="#page_267">267</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On primary causes, <a href="#page_244">244</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_342">342</a></span><br /> - -Loeffler, isolates bacillus of diphtheria, <a href="#page_454">454</a><br /> - -Loir, Adrien, <a href="#page_54">54</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_360">360</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dean of Lyons Faculty of Science, <a href="#page_194">194</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Head of Pasteur Institute, Tunis, <a href="#page_461">461</a></span><br /> - -London, Pasteur visits, <a href="#page_210">210</a><br /> - -London Medical Congress, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_329">329</a><br /> - -London Society for Protection of Animals, complaints on vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a><br /> - -Longet, Dr., <i>Treatise on Physiology</i>, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Lons-le-Saulnier, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> - -Louis XI introduces mulberry tree into Touraine, <a href="#page_116">116</a><br /> - -Louis XVI, <a href="#page_171">171</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Proposal for balloon ascent, <a href="#page_405">405</a></span><br /> - -Lucas-Championnière, Just:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edits <i>Journal de la Médecine</i>, <a href="#page_310">310</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On dressing of wounds, <a href="#page_238">238</a></span><br /> - -Lycée St. Louis, <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_21">21</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a><br /> - -Lyons, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_194">194</a><br /> - -Lyons Commission on silkworm disease, <a href="#page_170">170</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="M" id="M"></a><span class="letra">M</span><br /> - -MacDonald, General, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Magendie, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiment with rabic blood, <a href="#page_392">392</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Quaker, <a href="#page_334">334</a></span><br /> - -Maillot, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, <a href="#page_249">249</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Pasteur, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a></span><br /> - -Mairet, Bousson de, sketch of, <a href="#page_8">8</a><br /> - -Maisonneuve, Dr., prescribes carbolic solution for wounds, <a href="#page_239">239</a><br /> - -Malic acid, optical study of, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a><br /> - -Malus, Etienne Louis, discovers polarization of light, <a href="#page_27">27</a><br /> - -Marat, conduct to Lavoisier, <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Marchoux, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Marcou, geologist, <a href="#page_161">161</a><br /> - -Marie, Dr., attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -Marmier, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Marnoz, Jean Joseph, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_6">6</a><br /> - -Martin, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Roux, <a href="#page_455">455</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture on diphtheria, <a href="#page_457">457</a></span><br /> - -Maternité, mortality at, <a href="#page_290">290</a><br /> - -Mathilde, Princesse, <a href="#page_107">107</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Salon, <a href="#page_125">125</a></span><br /> - -Maucuer, at Bollène, <a href="#page_360">360</a><br /> - -Maunory, M., <a href="#page_284">284</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a><br /> - -Maury, A., <a href="#page_137">137</a><br /> - -Medici, Catherine de, plants mulberry tree in Orléannais, <a href="#page_116">116</a><br /> - -Medicine, general condition (1873), <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a><br /> - -Meissonier, Knight of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_142">142</a><br /> - -Meister, Joseph, <a href="#page_432">432</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bitten by mad dog, <a href="#page_414">414</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inoculated, <a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_429">429</a></span><br /> - -Melun Agricultural Society, tribute to Pasteur, <a href="#page_350">350</a><br /> - -Melun, experiment on vaccination of anthrax near, <a href="#page_314">314</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a><br /> - -Méricourt, Le Roy de, <a href="#page_225">225</a><br /> - -Méry, on anatomists, <a href="#page_226">226</a><br /> - -Mesnil, M. du, <a href="#page_163">163</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> - -Metchnikoff:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Directs private laboratories, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Work on “leucocytes,” <a href="#page_458">458</a></span><br /> - -Metz surrendered, <a href="#page_185">185</a><br /> - -Meudon, proposed laboratory at, <a href="#page_398">398</a><br /> - -Mézières, mission to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Michelet quoted on his friendship with Poinsat, <a href="#page_18">18</a><br /> - -Microbe:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rossignol on, <a href="#page_314">314</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Word invented, <a href="#page_266">266</a></span><br /> - -Microscope, results of its invention, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Mièges, near Nozeroy, registers of, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Milan Congress of Sericiculture, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_249">249</a><br /> - -Miller, M., <a href="#page_66">66</a><br /> - -Milne-Edwards:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_106">106</a></span><br /> - -Mina, Espoz y, sketch of, <a href="#page_3">3</a><br /> - -Mitscherlich, chemist and crystallographer, <a href="#page_26">26</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Paris, <a href="#page_61">61</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -Moigno, Abbé, on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_112">112</a><br /> - -Molecular dissymmetry, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_72">72</a>, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_445">445</a><br /> - -Monge, method of founding cannon, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> - -Monod, Henri, quotes Disraeli on public health, <a href="#page_446">446</a><br /> - -Montaigne quoted on friendship, <a href="#page_18">18</a><br /> - -Montalembert, attitude towards liberty of teaching, <a href="#page_52">52</a><br /> - -Montanvert, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_105">105</a><br /> - -Montpellier, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_353">353</a><br /> - -Montrond, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_192">192</a><br /> - -Moquin-Tandon, on Pasteur’s candidature for Académie, <a href="#page_100">100</a><br /> - -Morax, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Moreau, Armand, <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a><br /> - -Moritz, on chicken cholera, <a href="#page_297">297</a><br /> - -Morveau, Guyton de, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_248">248</a><br /> - -Mount Poupet, Pasteur climbs, <a href="#page_97">97</a><br /> - -Mouthe Priory, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Mucors, Raulin’s experiments on, <a href="#page_204">204</a><br /> - -Mulberry tree, <a href="#page_116">116</a><br /> - -Musset, Charles, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Demands Commission on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_105">105</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New <i>Experimental Researches on Heterogenia</i>, <a href="#page_94">94</a></span><br /> - -Mussy, Dr. Henry Gueneau de:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congratulates Pasteur, <a href="#page_337">337</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paper on contagium germ, <a href="#page_263">263</a></span><br /> - -Mussy, Dr. Noël Guineau de, <a href="#page_160">160</a><br /> - -Mycoderma, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -<i>Mycoderma aceti</i>, <a href="#page_148">148</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a><br /> - -<i>Mycoderma vini</i>, <a href="#page_218">218</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="N" id="N"></a><span class="letra">N</span><br /> - -Napoleon I:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Fontainebleau, <a href="#page_4">4</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Respect for Science, <a href="#page_195">195</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Restores silk industry, <a href="#page_116">116</a></span><br /> - -Napoleon III:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Distributes exhibition rewards, <a href="#page_141">141</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grants laboratory to Pasteur, <a href="#page_147">147</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interest in sericiculture, <a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Pasteur, <a href="#page_104">104</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Invites Pasteur to Compiègne, <a href="#page_127">127</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Leaves Sedan and Paris, <a href="#page_181">181</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter on Pasteur’s laboratory, <a href="#page_162">162</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summons scientists to Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> - -Napoleon, Prince, interviews with Pasteur, <a href="#page_436">436</a><br /> - -National Testimonials, <a href="#page_245">245</a><br /> - -Naumann, Dr. Maurice, <a href="#page_197">197</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professor of mineralogy, <a href="#page_286">286</a></span><br /> - -Needham, partisan of spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Nélaton, on surgery (1870), <a href="#page_236">236</a><br /> - -Ney, General, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Nicolle, Dr., laboratory of bacteriology at Constantinople, <a href="#page_461">461</a><br /> - -Niepce, national testimonial to, <a href="#page_245">245</a><br /> - -Nîmes, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_352">352</a>, <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> - -Nisard, Professor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Academic sponsor for Pasteur, <a href="#page_344">344</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Director of Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_84">84</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Pasteur, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_345">345</a></span><br /> - -Nocard, M., <a href="#page_307">307</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes to Alexandria, <a href="#page_379">379</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On hydrophobia, <a href="#page_403">403</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="O" id="O"></a><span class="letra">O</span><br /> - -Oersted and modern telegraph, <a href="#page_76">76</a><br /> - -“Ordonnances,” <a href="#page_8">8</a> <i>and note</i>.<br /> - -Orleans, Pasteur lectures on vinegar at, <a href="#page_148">148</a><br /> - -Oudinot, General, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Ovariotomy, fatal results of, <a href="#page_235">235</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="P" id="P"></a><span class="letra">P</span><br /> - -Pagès, Dr., Mayor of Alais, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a><br /> - -Paget, Sir James:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Copenhagen Medical Congress, <a href="#page_399">399</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Medical Congress, <a href="#page_330">330</a></span><br /> - -Paillerols, near Digne, <a href="#page_169">169</a><br /> - -Panum, President of Copenhagen<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medical Congress, <a href="#page_399">399</a></span><br /> - -Parandier, M., <a href="#page_43">43</a><br /> - -Paratartaric (<i>racemic</i>) acid, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur in search of, <a href="#page_63">63</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> - -Pareau, Mayor of Arbois, <a href="#page_13">13</a><br /> - -Parieu, M. de, Minister of Public Instruction, <a href="#page_54">54</a><br /> - -Paris:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bombarded, <a href="#page_188">188</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Capitulation, <a href="#page_193">193</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prepares for siege, <a href="#page_183">183</a></span><br /> - -Parmentier on potato, <a href="#page_171">171</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Camille, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_123">123</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Cécile, <a href="#page_130">130</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Claude, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marriage contract, <a href="#page_1">1</a></span><br /> - -Pasteur, Claude Etienne, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enfranchised, <a href="#page_2">2</a></span><br /> - -Pasteur, Denis, marries Jeanne David, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Pasteur Hospital, project for, <a href="#page_464">464</a><br /> - -Pasteur Institute:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Annals of</i>, <a href="#page_434">434</a>, <a href="#page_435">435</a>, <a href="#page_457">457</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Founded, <a href="#page_428">428</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inauguration, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scholarships, <a href="#page_452">452</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trocadéro fête for, <a href="#page_431">431</a></span><br /> - -Pasteur, Jean Henri, at Besançon, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Jean Joseph, <a href="#page_250">250</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conscript, <a href="#page_3">3</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_118">118</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Paris, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_57">57</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marriage, <a href="#page_5">5</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sergeant-major, <a href="#page_4">4</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies, <a href="#page_31">31</a></span><br /> - -Pasteur, Jeanne, death of, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Josephine, <a href="#page_18">18</a>, <a href="#page_30">30</a>, <a href="#page_50">50</a><br /> - -Pasteur, Louis:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Administration of Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_84">84</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Paul Dalimier, <a href="#page_109">109</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Raulin, <a href="#page_203">203</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Article on Claude Bernard’s works, <a href="#page_134">134</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— indifference of public authorities, <a href="#page_151">151</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Lavoisier, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Arbois, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_437">437</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Besançon Royal College, <a href="#page_14">14</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Bordeaux, <a href="#page_339">339</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Compiègne, <a href="#page_127">127</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Copenhagen Medical Congress, <a href="#page_398">398</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech, <a href="#page_399">399</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Geneva Congress of Hygiene, <a href="#page_358">358</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— London Medical Congress, <a href="#page_357">357</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture, <a href="#page_331">331</a>, <a href="#page_337">337</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Milan Congress of Sericiculture, <a href="#page_250">250</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech, <a href="#page_251">251</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Villa Vicentina, <a href="#page_173">173</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Villeneuve l’Etang, <a href="#page_462">462</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Birth, <a href="#page_6">6</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Candidate for Academy of</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sciences, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Candidature for Senate, <a href="#page_247">247</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Characteristics, <a href="#page_9">9</a>, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_16">16</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_32">32</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>, <a href="#page_252">252</a>, <a href="#page_295">295</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_462">462</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chemistry and Physics theses, <a href="#page_34">34</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Consulted on inoculation for peripneumonia, <a href="#page_350">350</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Criticism of Bernard’s posthumous notes, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curator in Balard’s laboratory, <a href="#page_32">32</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crystallographic researches, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lecture on, <a href="#page_102">102</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dean of Lille Faculté, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_464">464</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Delegation to, <a href="#page_354">354</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech, <a href="#page_386">386</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discovers constitution of partartaric acid, <a href="#page_39">39</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discussion with Bastian, <a href="#page_253">253</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dispute with Rammelsberg, <a href="#page_102">102</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Experiments on atmospheric air, <a href="#page_93">93</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Friendship for Charles Chappuis, <a href="#page_18">18</a>, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_22">22</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grand Cross of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_326">326</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His masters, <a href="#page_146">146</a>, <a href="#page_252">252</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His name given to district in Canada and to village in Algeria, <a href="#page_451">451</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His teaching, <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_79">79</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Illness, <a href="#page_433">433</a>, <a href="#page_439">439</a>, <a href="#page_446">446</a>, <a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_464">464</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Watchers, <a href="#page_459">459</a>, <a href="#page_462">462</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In hospitals, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— London, <a href="#page_210">210</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Paris, <a href="#page_11">11</a>, <a href="#page_20">20</a>, <a href="#page_57">57</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Strasburg, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Influence of his labours, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Influence of Oxygen on Development of Yeast</i>, <a href="#page_221">221</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interview with Biot, <a href="#page_41">41</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Liebig, <a href="#page_176">176</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Mitscherlich and Rose, <a href="#page_61">61</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Napoleon III, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jubilee celebration, <a href="#page_447">447</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech, <a href="#page_450">450</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Knight of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_70">70</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laboratory (new), <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laureat of Exhibition, <a href="#page_140">140</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture on germ theory, <a href="#page_271">271</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lectures on vinegar at Orleans, <a href="#page_148">148</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters, <a href="#page_23">23</a>, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">On experiment at Pouilly le Fort, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To Bellotti, <a href="#page_207">207</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Chappuis on Lille Faculty, <a href="#page_77">77</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Dumas, <a href="#page_141">141</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Duruy, <a href="#page_131">131</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Emperor of Brazil, <a href="#page_404">404</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Jupille, <a href="#page_427">427</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Laurent, <a href="#page_48">48</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Napoleon III, <a href="#page_146">146</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Raulin, <a href="#page_199">199</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">— Sainte Beuve, <a href="#page_126">126</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">M.D. of Bonn, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Returns diploma, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marks of gratitude from agriculturists, <a href="#page_372">372</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marriage, <a href="#page_51">51</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Medal from Society of French Agricultors, <a href="#page_312">312</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Member of Académie de Médecine, <a href="#page_225">225</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_103">103</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Académie Française, <a href="#page_341">341</a>, <a href="#page_345">345</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Memorial plate on house at Dôle, <a href="#page_376">376</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">National testimonial, <a href="#page_245">245</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Obtains racemic acid, <a href="#page_69">69</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Offered professorship at Pisa, <a href="#page_200">200</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On chicken cholera, <a href="#page_299">299</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Littré and Positivism, <a href="#page_342">342</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Science and religion, <a href="#page_244">244</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Scientific supremacy of France, <a href="#page_195">195</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Vaccine, <a href="#page_309">309</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of anthrax, <a href="#page_311">311</a>, <a href="#page_312">312</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Experiment, <a href="#page_314">314</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Results, <a href="#page_325">325</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paper on Plague, <a href="#page_301">301</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Paralytic stroke, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_439">439</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pastel drawings, <a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_20">20</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pension augmented, <a href="#page_374">374</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Permanent Secretary of Académie des Sciences, <a href="#page_439">439</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Portraits, <a href="#page_439">439</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professor of Chemistry, Strasburg, <a href="#page_45">45</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professor of Physics at Dijon, <a href="#page_42">42</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Proposed studies, <a href="#page_198">198</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Refuses German decoration, <a href="#page_461">461</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reply to Dumas, <a href="#page_355">355</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“<i>Researches on Dimorphism</i>,” <a href="#page_36">36</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Researches on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_87">87</a> <i>seqq.</i>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lecture at Sorbonne on, <a href="#page_106">106</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Speech on, <a href="#page_242">242</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Researches on stereo-chemistry, <a href="#page_445">445</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Science’s Budget</i>, <a href="#page_153">153</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Scientific Annals of Ecole Normale</i>, <a href="#page_110">110</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Searches for his son, <a href="#page_192">192</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Solicitude for patients, <a href="#page_416">416</a>, <a href="#page_425">425</a>, <a href="#page_427">427</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Aubenas, <a href="#page_351">351</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at inauguration of Institute, <a href="#page_442">442</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech on Deville, <a href="#page_327">327</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech on Joseph Bertrand, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_426">426</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies beer, <a href="#page_207">207</a> <i>seqq.</i>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>, <a href="#page_285">285</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Book on, <a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_339">339</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Cholera, <a href="#page_126">126</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Contagious diseases, <a href="#page_224">224</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Fermentations, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_83">83</a>, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Hydrophobia, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_363">363</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_390">390</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Inoculates dogs, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Inoculates Joseph Meister, <a href="#page_416">416</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Inoculates Jupille, <a href="#page_422">422</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— <i>Silkworm Disease</i>, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_129">129</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— on Wine, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Book on, <a href="#page_133">133</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Rouget of pigs, <a href="#page_360">360</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Report on, <a href="#page_362">362</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">— Splenic fever, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_259">259</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Travels in search of racemic acid, <a href="#page_62">62</a> <i>seqq.</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trephines dog, <a href="#page_318">318</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Turin veterinary school and, <a href="#page_367">367</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vintage tour, <a href="#page_104">104</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Visitors, <a href="#page_420">420</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Visits Duclaux, <a href="#page_206">206</a></span><br /> - -Pasteur, Madame Louis, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_52">52</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_432">432</a>, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes to Alais, <a href="#page_130">130</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to daughter, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_322">322</a>, <a href="#page_325">325</a>, <a href="#page_396">396</a></span><br /> - -Paul, St. Vincent de, Life of, <a href="#page_463">463</a><br /> - -Payen, paper on beer, <a href="#page_208">208</a><br /> - -Pecquet, discoveries through vivisection, <a href="#page_336">336</a><br /> - -<i>Peers of France</i>, <a href="#page_30">30</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Pelletier, Louise, bitten by mad dog, <a href="#page_425">425</a><br /> - -Pellico, Silvio, <i>Miei prigioni</i>, <a href="#page_16">16</a><br /> - -Pelouze, M., <a href="#page_335">335</a><br /> - -<i>Penicillium glaucum</i>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a><br /> - -Perdrix, at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a><br /> - -Perraud, J. J., bust at Monay to, <a href="#page_421">421</a><br /> - -Perreyve, Henri, on Poland, <a href="#page_184">184</a><br /> - -Perroncito, on microbe of chicken cholera, <a href="#page_297">297</a><br /> - -Perrot, deputy to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> - -Persoz, Professor of Chemistry, Strasburg, <a href="#page_45">45</a><br /> - -Peter, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dispute with Pasteur, <a href="#page_364">364</a>, <a href="#page_366">366</a>, <a href="#page_369">369</a>, <a href="#page_370">370</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> - -Philomathic Society, Pasteur member of, <a href="#page_102">102</a><br /> - -Phthisis, theory of, <a href="#page_227">227</a><br /> - -Phylloxera, <a href="#page_295">295</a><br /> - -Physicians, attitude towards chemists, <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a><br /> - -Picard, General, candidature for Senate, <a href="#page_249">249</a><br /> - -Pidoux and Trousseau, <i>Traité de Thérapeutique</i>, <a href="#page_224">224</a><br /> - -Pidoux, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On disease, <a href="#page_227">227</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On tuberculosis, <a href="#page_227">227</a></span><br /> - -Pierrefonds Castle restored, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Pierron, on Laurent at Riom, <a href="#page_47">47</a><br /> - -Piorry, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On disease and patient, <a href="#page_264">264</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On tuberculosis, <a href="#page_228">228</a></span><br /> - -Pisa, Pasteur offered professorship at, <a href="#page_200">200</a><br /> - -Pitt, on vote to Jenner, <a href="#page_374">374</a>, <a href="#page_375">375</a><br /> - -Plague bacillus discovered, <a href="#page_457">457</a><br /> - -Plague, Pasteur’s paper on, <a href="#page_301">301</a><br /> - -<i>Plaideurs</i> acted at Compiègne, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Plénisette village, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Pliny the Elder, remedy for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_407">407</a><br /> - -Poggiale, speech on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_242">242</a><br /> - -Pointurier, M., <a href="#page_12">12</a><br /> - -Polarisation of light, <a href="#page_27">27</a><br /> - -Polignac, Cardinal of, <i>Anti-Lucretius</i>, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Poligny, <a href="#page_192">192</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Sous-préfet</i> of, <a href="#page_9">9</a></span><br /> - -Polytechnician, <a href="#page_43">43</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Pontarlier, retreat to, <a href="#page_192">192</a><br /> - -Positivist doctrine, <a href="#page_342">342</a><br /> - -Potatoes, prejudice against, <a href="#page_171">171</a><br /> - -Pottevin, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Pouchet, M., <a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_255">255</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Note on Vegetable and Animal Proto-organisms</i>, <a href="#page_92">92</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The Universe</i>, <a href="#page_214">214</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -Pouillet, Professor of Physics at Sorbonne, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_29">29</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a><br /> - -Pouilly le Fort, experiment on vaccination of anthrax, <a href="#page_315">315</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Results, <a href="#page_324">324</a></span><br /> - -Prague, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_66">66</a><br /> - -Prévôt, at Villeneuve l’Etang, <a href="#page_462">462</a><br /> - -Primary teaching, law on reorganization, <a href="#page_140">140</a><br /> - -Prince Imperial, Villa Vicentina, <a href="#page_173">173</a><br /> - -<i>Prix de Rome</i>, <a href="#page_191">191</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -<i>Prix Montyon</i>, <a href="#page_16">16</a> <i>note</i><br /> - -Provost, acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Provostaye, de la, work on crystallography, <a href="#page_33">33</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a><br /> - -Prussia, Crown Prince of, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -Puerperal fever, <a href="#page_290">290</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Puiseux, Professor of Science at Besançon, <a href="#page_45">45</a><br /> - -Putrefaction, <a href="#page_104">104</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="Q" id="Q"></a><span class="letra">Q</span><br /> - -Quain, Dr., on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> - -Quatrefages, essay on history of silkworm, <a href="#page_116">116</a><br /> - -Queyrat, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="R" id="R"></a><span class="letra">R</span><br /> - -Rabies and hydrophobia, <a href="#page_409">409</a><br /> - -Rabies, Commission. (<i>See under</i> Hydrophobia)<br /> - -Rabourdin, M., <a href="#page_284">284</a><br /> - -Racemic. (<i>See</i> Paratartaric acid)<br /> - -Raibaud-Lange, M., <a href="#page_169">169</a><br /> - -Rammelsberg, dispute with Pasteur, <a href="#page_102">102</a><br /> - -Randon, General, <a href="#page_166">166</a><br /> - -Raspail, F. V., researches on origin of itch, <a href="#page_374">374</a><br /> - -Rassmann, Dr., obtains racemic acid, <a href="#page_67">67</a><br /> - -Raulin, Jules, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accompanies Pasteur to Milan, <a href="#page_250">250</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_204">204</a></span><br /> - -Raulin’s liquid, <a href="#page_205">205</a><br /> - -Ravaisson, F., <a href="#page_137">137</a><br /> - -Rayer, on charbon blood, <a href="#page_258">258</a><br /> - -Raynaud, Dr. Maurice, <a href="#page_289">289</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On hydrophobia, <a href="#page_391">391</a></span><br /> - -Reaudin, Auguste, on Lister’s methods, <a href="#page_239">239</a><br /> - -Reclus, Dr., on purulent infection, <a href="#page_237">237</a><br /> - -Reculfoz village, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Redi, Francesco, experiment on spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_89">89</a><br /> - -Redtenbacher, M., <a href="#page_66">66</a><br /> - -“Régiment Dauphin,” <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -Regnault, Henri, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, 59 Death, <a href="#page_191">191</a><br /> - -Regnier acts in <i>Plaideurs</i>, <a href="#page_128">128</a><br /> - -Renan, E., <a href="#page_137">137</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On state of France, <a href="#page_199">199</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quoted from <i>Revue Germanique</i>, <a href="#page_110">110</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_348">348</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech to Pasteur on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_390">390</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Welcomes Pasteur to Académie Française, <a href="#page_346">346</a></span><br /> - -Renaud, M., <a href="#page_7">7</a><br /> - -Renault, experiments with rabic blood, <a href="#page_392">392</a><br /> - -Rencluse, <a href="#page_105">105</a><br /> - -Renon, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Répécaud, Headmaster of Royal College, Besançon, <a href="#page_14">14</a><br /> - -Rhenish provinces, <a href="#page_189">189</a><br /> - -Richet, Dr., <a href="#page_455">455</a><br /> - -Rigault, lectures at Collège de France, <a href="#page_82">82</a><br /> - -Robin, Charles, sketch of, <a href="#page_124">124</a><br /> - -Rochard, Dr., on plague, <a href="#page_303">303</a><br /> - -Rochette, Baron de la, sketch of, <a href="#page_314">314</a><br /> - -Rochleder, professor of chemistry, Prague, <a href="#page_67">67</a><br /> - -Roger, on Pasteur’s services, <a href="#page_245">245</a><br /> - -Rollin College, experiments in laboratory at, <a href="#page_411">411</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_432">432</a><br /> - -Romanet, Headmaster of Arbois College, <a href="#page_9">9</a>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_30">30</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a><br /> - -Romieu, sketch of, <a href="#page_53">53</a><br /> - -“Rouget” of pigs (swine fever), <a href="#page_360">360</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a><br /> - -Roqui, Jean Claude, <a href="#page_6">6</a><br /> - -Roqui, Jeanne Etiennette, wife of Jean Joseph Pasteur, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_7">7</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_40">40</a></span><br /> - -Roscoe, Sir Henry, on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> - -Rose, G., crystallographer, in Paris, <a href="#page_61">61</a><br /> - -Rossignol, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Article in <i>Veterinary Press</i> on microbe, <a href="#page_313">313</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaccination of sheep against anthrax and, <a href="#page_315">315</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_323">323</a></span><br /> - -Rotz, Pasteur medal, <a href="#page_447">447</a><br /> - -Rouher, at Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a><br /> - -Roux, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Account of Thuillier’s death, <a href="#page_381">381</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_448">448</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Pasteur, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_291">291</a>, <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_305">305</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_338">338</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_372">372</a>, <a href="#page_393">393</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cross of Legion of Honour, <a href="#page_326">326</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes to Alexandria, <a href="#page_379">379</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inoculates horse with diphtheritic toxin, <a href="#page_455">455</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lectures on diphtheria, <a href="#page_456">456</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lectures on technical microbia, <a href="#page_440">440</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture to London Royal Society, <a href="#page_454">454</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Pasteur’s medical work, <a href="#page_283">283</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Performs inoculations, <a href="#page_432">432</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_233">233</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a></span><br /> - -Roziers, Pilâtre de, balloon ascent, <a href="#page_405">405</a><br /> - -Russian mujiks bitten by wolf, <a href="#page_429">429</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="S" id="S"></a><span class="letra">S</span><br /> - -Saccharimeter, <a href="#page_28">28</a><br /> - -Sadowa, battle of, <a href="#page_178">178</a><br /> - -Sainte Beuve:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letters to Pasteur, <a href="#page_125">125</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Biot’s character, <a href="#page_56">56</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opinion of Joseph Droz, <a href="#page_14">14</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur attends his lectures, <a href="#page_123">123</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philosophy, <a href="#page_123">123</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Senate, <a href="#page_143">143</a></span><br /> - -St. Dizier, <a href="#page_4">4</a><br /> - -St. Hippolyte la Fort, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a><br /> - -St. Victor, Paul de, on Germany, <a href="#page_188">188</a><br /> - -Salimbeni, treatise on sericiculture, <a href="#page_159">159</a><br /> - -Salins, <a href="#page_97">97</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Claude Etienne Pasteur settles at, <a href="#page_2">2</a></span><br /> - -Sand, George, <a href="#page_107">107</a><br /> - -Sandeau, Jules, <a href="#page_127">127</a><br /> - -Sanderson, Professor Burdon, on Commission on inoculation for hydrophobia, <a href="#page_431">431</a><br /> - -Sarcey, Francisque, <a href="#page_37">37</a><br /> - -Saussure, Théodore de, <a href="#page_100">100</a><br /> - -Sauton, speech at Pasteur Jubilee, <a href="#page_449">449</a><br /> - -Say, Léon, Pasteur’s reply to, <a href="#page_417">417</a><br /> - -Scheele discovers tartaric acid, <a href="#page_26">26</a><br /> - -Schrotter, Professor, <a href="#page_66">66</a><br /> - -Schwann, Dr., observations on fermentations, <a href="#page_80">80</a><br /> - -Science and Religion, <a href="#page_244">244</a><br /> - -Scientists meet at Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a><br /> - -Sedan, <a href="#page_181">181</a><br /> - -Sédillot, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Correspondence of Institute, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_266">266</a></span><br /> - -Senarmont, M. de, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advice to Pasteur, <a href="#page_69">69</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Confidence in Pasteur, <a href="#page_89">89</a></span><br /> - -Septicæmia, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_263">263</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>, <a href="#page_368">368</a><br /> - -Sériana village, Algeria, <a href="#page_451">451</a><br /> - -Sericiculture, <a href="#page_115">115</a><br /> - -Serotherapy. (<i>See</i> Diphtheria)<br /> - -Serres, Olivier de, <a href="#page_172">172</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Statue to, <a href="#page_350">350</a>, <a href="#page_352">352</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Théâtre d’Agriculture</i>, <a href="#page_172">172</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Treatise on Gathering of Silk</i>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a></span><br /> - -Seybel, M., <a href="#page_66">66</a><br /> - -Signol, experiments, <a href="#page_262">262</a><br /> - -Silkworm disease, 1<a href="#page_16">16</a> <i>seq.</i>., <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lyons Commission on, <a href="#page_170">170</a></span><br /> - -Simon, Jules, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_418">418</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At inauguration of Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_441">441</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Ecole Normale, <a href="#page_23">23</a></span><br /> - -Sorbonne, <a href="#page_21">21</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_146">146</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Inauguration of new, <a href="#page_446">446</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur Jubilee celebration, <a href="#page_447">447</a></span><br /> - -Spallanzani, Abbé, experiments on animalculæ, <a href="#page_91">91</a><br /> - -Splenic fever (charbon). (<i>See Anthrax</i>)<br /> - -Spontaneous generation, <a href="#page_87">87</a> <i>seqq.</i>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commission on, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur’s lecture at Sorbonne on, <a href="#page_106">106</a></span><br /> - -Stoffel, Colonel Baron, <a href="#page_155">155</a><br /> - -Strasburg, Pasteur at, <a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_71">71</a><br /> - -Strasburg arsenal, <a href="#page_179">179</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a><br /> - -Strasburg University, <a href="#page_189">189</a><br /> - -Straus, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes to Alexandria, <a href="#page_379">379</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Cholera Commission, <a href="#page_382">382</a></span><br /> - -Sully, opposes silk industry, <a href="#page_116">116</a><br /> - -Sully-Prudhomme, love of France, <a href="#page_191">191</a><br /> - -Supt village, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Surgery before Pasteur, <a href="#page_234">234</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Susani, S., <a href="#page_250">250</a><br /> - -Swine fever. (<i>See</i> Rouget of pigs)<br /> - -<br /> -<a name="T" id="T"></a><span class="letra">T</span><br /> - -Talmy, Dr., at Bordeaux, <a href="#page_339">339</a><br /> - -Tamisier, candidature for Senate, <a href="#page_249">249</a><br /> - -Tantonville brewery, <a href="#page_213">213</a><br /> - -Tarnier, Dr., <a href="#page_289">289</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On puerperal fever, <a href="#page_289">289</a></span><br /> - -Tartaric acid, constitution of, <a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_38">38</a><br /> - -Teaching:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law on liberty of, <a href="#page_52">52</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Law on primary, <a href="#page_140">140</a></span><br /> - -Terrillon, Dr., <a href="#page_432">432</a><br /> - -Thenard, Baron, <a href="#page_59">59</a>, <a href="#page_356">356</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_45">45</a></span><br /> - -Thierry, M., at Pouilly le Fort experiment, <a href="#page_316">316</a>, <a href="#page_319">319</a><br /> - -Thiers, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_144">144</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On bravery of 3rd Regiment, <a href="#page_3">3</a></span><br /> - -Third Regiment of Line, <a href="#page_3">3</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Régiment Dauphin,” <a href="#page_4">4</a></span><br /> - -Thorwaldsen Museum, Copenhagen, <a href="#page_402">402</a><br /> - -Thuillier, Louis, <a href="#page_317">317</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Collaborates with Pasteur, <a href="#page_357">357</a>, <a href="#page_359">359</a>, <a href="#page_360">360</a>, <a href="#page_362">362</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_380">380</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Goes to Alexandria, <a href="#page_379">379</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies hydrophobia, <a href="#page_391">391</a></span><br /> - -Thurel, candidature for Senate, <a href="#page_249">249</a><br /> - -Tisserand, M., <a href="#page_354">354</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Director of Crown Agricultural establishments, <a href="#page_173">173</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a></span><br /> - -Toscanelli, S., <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a><br /> - -Toul, on second line of fortifications, <a href="#page_179">179</a><br /> - -Tourtel brewery at Tantonville, <a href="#page_213">213</a><br /> - -Toussaint, professor at Toulouse<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Veterinary School, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies microbe of chicken cholera, <a href="#page_297">297</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vaccinates sheep against anthrax, <a href="#page_306">306</a>, <a href="#page_307">307</a></span><br /> - -Traube, Dr., on ammoniacal fermentation, <a href="#page_232">232</a><br /> - -Trécul, Dr., <a href="#page_230">230</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On heterogenesis, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, <a href="#page_218">218</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theory of fermentation, <a href="#page_241">241</a></span><br /> - -Trélat, Dr., surgeon at Maternité, <a href="#page_290">290</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission of Hygiene, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> - -Trocadéro fête for Pasteur Institute, <a href="#page_431">431</a><br /> - -Troost, M., <a href="#page_327">327</a><br /> - -Trousseau and Pidoux, <i>Traité de Thérapeutique</i>, <a href="#page_224">224</a><br /> - -Trousseau, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lecture on ferments quoted, <a href="#page_229">229</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On puerperal fever, <a href="#page_290">290</a></span><br /> - -Tsar, sends Cross of St. Anne of Russia to Pasteur, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> - -Tuberculosis, researches on, <a href="#page_227">227</a><br /> - -Tuileries, scientists meet at, <a href="#page_154">154</a><br /> - -Tunis, Pasteur Institute at, <a href="#page_461">461</a><br /> - -Turin Veterinary School and Pasteur, <a href="#page_368">368</a>, <a href="#page_371">371</a><br /> - -Tyndall, Professor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Dust and Diseases</i>, <a href="#page_239">239</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Letter to Pasteur, <a href="#page_353">353</a></span><br /> - -Typhoid fever, medical methods of treating, <a href="#page_364">364</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="U" id="U"></a><span class="letra">U</span><br /> - -Udressier, Claude François, Count of, <a href="#page_1">1</a><br /> - -Udressier, Philippe-Marie-François, Count of, <a href="#page_2">2</a><br /> - -Université, <a href="#page_44">44</a> <i>note</i>, <a href="#page_155">155</a><br /> - -University of Edinburgh, Tercentenary, <a href="#page_384">384</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Degrees, <a href="#page_385">385</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="V" id="V"></a><span class="letra">V</span><br /> - -Vaccination, <a href="#page_300">300</a>, <a href="#page_309">309</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Against anthrax, <a href="#page_312">312</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Experiment, <a href="#page_314">314</a>, <a href="#page_317">317</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_320">320</a>, <a href="#page_328">328</a>, <a href="#page_367">367</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Results, <a href="#page_325">325</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Against swine fever, <a href="#page_382">382</a></span><br /> - -Vaillant, Field-Marshal, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Tuileries, <a href="#page_154">154</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silkworm nursery, <a href="#page_173">173</a></span><br /> - -Vallisneri, medical professor of Padua, <a href="#page_90">90</a><br /> - -Van Holmont, recipe for producing mice, <a href="#page_89">89</a><br /> - -Van t’Hoff, studies on stereo-chemistry, <a href="#page_445">445</a><br /> - -Van Tieghem, <a href="#page_217">217</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a><br /> - -Vauquelin, tanning process, <a href="#page_29">29</a><br /> - -Veillon, attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a><br /> - -Velpeau:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On pin prick, <a href="#page_234">234</a></span><br /> - -Venasque Pass, <a href="#page_105">105</a><br /> - -Vercel, Jules, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_36">36</a>, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Accompanies Pasteur to Paris, <a href="#page_10">10</a></span><br /> - -Verneuil, M.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On antirabic cure, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On surgery (1870), <a href="#page_236">236</a></span><br /> - -Vescovato, <a href="#page_169">169</a><br /> - -Veuillot, Louis, <a href="#page_36">36</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On liberty of teaching, <a href="#page_53">53</a></span><br /> - -Viala, Eugène:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attends on Pasteur, <a href="#page_459">459</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preparations for inoculations, <a href="#page_424">424</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sketch of, <a href="#page_402">402</a></span><br /> - -Vialla, M., Vice-President of Agricultural Society, Montpellier, <a href="#page_353">353</a><br /> - -Vicat, national testimonial to, <a href="#page_245">245</a><br /> - -Villa Vicentina, Illyria, <a href="#page_173">173</a><br /> - -Villemin, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advises Pasteur to winter in south, <a href="#page_433">433</a>, <a href="#page_434">434</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At experiment on earthworms, <a href="#page_304">304</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On contagion of tuberculosis, <a href="#page_367">367</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Researches on tuberculosis, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a></span><br /> - -Villeneuve l’Etang, branch establishment of laboratory at, <a href="#page_398">398</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>, <a href="#page_410">410</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stables, <a href="#page_463">463</a></span><br /> - -Villers-Farlay, Mayor of, writes to Pasteur, <a href="#page_421">421</a><br /> - -Vinegar, Pasteur lectures on manufacture of, <a href="#page_148">148</a><br /> - -Virchow, Professor:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Copenhagen Medical Congress, <a href="#page_399">399</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At Edinburgh, <a href="#page_386">386</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On anti-vivisection, <a href="#page_332">332</a></span><br /> - -<i>Virulent Diseases—Chicken Cholera</i>, <a href="#page_298">298</a><br /> - -Virus ferments, <a href="#page_223">223</a> <i>seqq.</i><br /> - -Vivisection:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Discoveries made through, <a href="#page_337">337</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virchow on, <a href="#page_332">332</a></span><br /> - -Volta, S., <a href="#page_195">195</a><br /> - -Voltaire:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Philosophic Dictionary</i> quoted on God, <a href="#page_92">92</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Singularities of Nature</i>, <a href="#page_92">92</a></span><br /> - -Vone, Théodore, consults Pasteur, <a href="#page_414">414</a><br /> - -Vulpian, <a href="#page_278">278</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Champions Pasteur, <a href="#page_435">435</a>, <a href="#page_436">436</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death, <a href="#page_438">438</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Brand’s treatment of typhoid, <a href="#page_365">365</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_395">395</a></span><br /> - -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur consults, <a href="#page_415">415</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech on Pasteur’s experiments on hydrophobia, <a href="#page_422">422</a>, <a href="#page_438">438</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="W" id="W"></a><span class="letra">W</span><br /> - -Wales, Prince of, <a href="#page_141">141</a><br /> - -Wallace, Sir Richard, founds dogs’ cemetery at Bagatelle, <a href="#page_411">411</a><br /> - -Wasserzug, Etienne, interprets for Pasteur, <a href="#page_424">424</a><br /> - -Weber, Dr., advises Mme. Meister to consult Pasteur, <a href="#page_414">414</a><br /> - -William, King of Prussia, meets Napoleon, <a href="#page_182">182</a><br /> - -Wine, studies on, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_158">158</a><br /> - -Wissemburg, <a href="#page_178">178</a><br /> - -Wolf-bites, statistics of death from, <a href="#page_430">430</a><br /> - -Wurtz:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laboratory, <a href="#page_42">42</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Commission of Hygiene, <a href="#page_186">186</a></span><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="Y" id="Y"></a><span class="letra">Y</span><br /> - -Yeast, <a href="#page_80">80</a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pasteur’s paper on, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(<i>See also</i> Fermentation)</span><br /> - -Yellow fever, Pasteur studies, <a href="#page_338">338</a><br /> - -Yersin, Dr.:<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies diphtheria, <a href="#page_453">453</a></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Studies plague in China, <a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_461">461</a></span><br /> - -Younger, welcomes Pasteur to Edinburgh, <a href="#page_38">38</a><br /> - -<br /> -<a name="Z" id="Z"></a><span class="letra">Z</span><br /> - -Zevort, M., <a href="#page_47">47</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a><br /> - -Zimmern, <i>sous-préfecture</i>, <a href="#page_189">189</a><br /> -</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> A great nation, said Disraeli, is a nation which produces -great men.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Ordonnances du 26 Juillet</i>, 1830. A royal Decree issued by -Charles X under the advice of his minister, Prince de Polignac; it was -based on a misreading of one of the articles of the Charter of 1814, and -dissolved the new Chamber of Deputies before it had even assembled; it -suppressed the freedom of the Press and created a new electoral system -to the advantage of the royalist party. These <i>ordonnances</i> were the -cause of the 1830 Revolution, which placed Louis Philippe of Orleans on -the Throne. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Ecole Normale Supérieure</i>, under the supervision of the -Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, founded in 1808 by -Napoleon I, with the object of training young professors. Candidates -must (1) be older than eighteen and younger than twenty-one; (2) pass -one written and one vivâ voce examination; (3) be already in possession -of their diploma as <i>bachelier</i> of science or of letters, according to -the branch of studies which they wish to take up; and (4) sign an -engagement for ten years’ work in public instruction. The professors of -the Ecole Normale take the title of <i>Maître des Conférences</i>. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Baccalauréat (low Latin <i>bachalariatus</i>), first degree -taken in a French Faculty; the next is <i>licence</i>, and the next -<i>doctorate</i>. It is much more elementary than a bachelor’s degree in an -English university. There are two baccalauréats: (1) the baccalauréat -<i>ès lettres</i> required of candidates for the Faculties of Medicine and of -Law, to the Ecole Normale Supérieure and to several public offices; (2) -the baccalauréat <i>ès sciences</i>, required for admission to the Schools of -Medicine and of Pharmacy, to the Ecole Normale Supérieure (scientific -section), and the Polytechnic, Military and Foresters’ Schools. -[Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Philosophie class. In French secondary schools or <i>lycées</i> -the forms or classes, in Pasteur’s time, were arranged as follows, -starting from the bottom— -</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td class="rt">1º</td><td align="left">huitième.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">2º</td><td align="left">septième.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">6º</td><td align="left">sixième (French grammar was begun).</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">5º</td><td align="left">cinquième (Latin was begun).</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">6º</td><td align="left">quatrième (Greek was begun).</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">7º</td><td align="left">troisième.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">8º</td><td align="left">seconde.</td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="3" class="c">|</td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="3" style="border-top:1px solid black;"></td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">9º</td><td align="left">Mathématiques élémentaires.</td><td align="left">Rhétorique.</td></tr> -<tr><td class="rt">10º</td><td align="left">Mathématiques spéciales.</td><td align="left">Philosophie.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p> -The seconde students who intended to pass their <i>baccalauréat ès -sciences</i> went into the mathématiques élémentaires class, whilst those -who were destined for letters or the law entered the rhétorique class, -from which they went on to the philosophie class. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Prix Montyon: a series of prizes founded at the beginning -of the nineteenth century by Baron de Montyon, a distinguished -philanthropist, and conferred on literary works for their moral worth, -and on individuals for acts of private virtue or self-sacrifice. The -laureates are chosen every year by the Académie Française, and in this -way many obscure heroes are deservedly rewarded, and many excellent -books brought to public notice. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Sorbonne. Name given to the Paris Faculty of Theology and -the buildings in which it was established. It was originally intended by -its founder, Robert de Sorbon (who was chaplain to St. Louis, King of -France, 1270) as a special establishment to facilitate theological -studies for poor students. This college became one of the most -celebrated in the world, and produced so many clever theologians that it -gave its name to all the members of the Faculty of Theology. It was -closed during the Revolution in 1789, and its buildings, which had been -restored by Richelieu in the seventeenth century, were given to the -Université in 1808. Since 1821 they have been the seat of the -Universitarian Academy of Paris, and used for the lectures of the -Faculties of Theology, of Letters, and of Sciences. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Accessit. A distinction accorded in French schools to those -who have come nearest to obtaining the prize in any given subject. -[Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Concours Général. An open competition held every year at -the Sorbonne between the <i>élite</i> of the students of all the colleges in -France, from the highest classes down to the <i>quatrième</i>. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Institut de France.</i> Name given collectively to the five -following societies— -</p><p> -1. <i>Académie Française</i>, founded by Richelieu in 1635 in order to polish -and maintain the purity of the French language. It is composed of forty -Life members, and publishes from time to time a dictionary which is -looked upon as a standard test of correct French. -</p><p> -2. <i>Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres</i>, founded by Colbert in -1663. -</p><p> -3. <i>Académie des Sciences</i>, also founded by Colbert in 1666. It has -published most valuable reports ever since 1699. -</p><p> -4. <i>Académie des Beaux-Arts</i>, which includes the Academies of Painting, -of Sculpture, of Music, and of Architecture. -</p><p> -5. <i>Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.</i> -</p><p> -It was in 1795 that these ancient academies, which had been suppressed -two years before by the Revolution, were reorganized and combined -together to form the <i>Institut de France</i>. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Peers of France.</i> A supreme Council formed originally of -the First Vassals of the Crown; became in 1420 one of the Courts of -Parliament. In 1789 the Peerage was suppressed, but reinstated in 1814 -by the Restoration, when it again formed part of the Legislative Corps; -there were then hereditary peers and life-peers. In 1831 the hereditary -peerage was abolished and life-peers were nominated by the King under -certain restrictions. This House of Peers was suppressed in 1848, and in -1852 the Senate was instituted in its stead. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Facultés</i>, Government establishments for superior -studies; there are in France Faculties of Theology, of Law, of Medicine, -of Sciences and of Letters, distributed among the larger provincial -towns as well as in Paris. The administrator of a faculty is styled -<i>doyen</i> (dean) and is chosen among the professors. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Agrégation.</i> An annual competition for recruiting -professors for faculties and secondary schools or <i>lycées</i>. A candidate -for the <i>lycées agrégation</i> must have passed his <i>licence</i> examination, -and a candidate for the superior <i>agrégation</i> must be in possession of -his doctorate. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> This celebrated poet took a large share in the Revolution -of 1848, when his popularity became enormous. His political talents, -however, apart from his wonderful eloquence, were less than mediocre, -and he retired into private life within three years. -</p><p> -His “Meditations,” “Jocelyn,” “Recueillements,” etc., etc., are -beautiful examples of lyrical poetry, and may be considered as forming -part of the literature of the world. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Garde Nationale. A city militia, intended to preserve -order and to maintain municipal liberties; it was improvised in 1789, -and its first Colonel was General Lafayette, of American Independence -fame. Its cockade united the King’s white to the Paris colours, blue and -red, and thus was inaugurated the celebrated Tricolour. -</p><p> -The National Guard was preserved by the Restoration, but Charles X -disbanded it as being dangerously Liberal in its tendencies. It -re-formed itself of its own accord in 1830, and helped to overthrow the -elder branch of Bourbon. It proved a source of disorder in 1848 and was -reorganized under the second Empire, but, having played an active and -disastrous part in the Commune (1871), it was disarmed and finally -suppressed. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> February days. The Republicans had organized a banquet in -Paris for February 22, 1848. The Government prohibited it, with the -result that an insurrection took place. Barricades were erected and some -fighting ensued; on the 24th, the insurgents were masters of the -situation. Louis Philippe abdicated (vainly) in favour of his grandson, -the Comte de Paris, and fled to England. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Collège de France. An establishment of superior studies -founded in Paris by Francis I in 1530, and where public lectures are -given on languages, literature, history, mathematics, physical science, -etc. It was formerly independent, but is now under the jurisdiction of -the Ministry of Public Instruction. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Polytechnician. A student of the Ecole Polytechnique, a -military and engineering school under the jurisdiction of the Minister -of War, founded in 1794. Candidates for admission must be older than -sixteen and younger than twenty, but the limit of age is raised to -twenty-five in the case of private soldiers and non-commissioned -officers. They must also have passed their <i>baccalauréat ès lettres</i> or -<i>ès sciences</i>—preferably the latter. After two years’ residence -(compulsory) students pass a leaving examination, and are entered -according to their list number as engineers of the Navy, Mines, or Civil -Works, or as officers in the military Engineers or in the Artillery; the -two last then have to go through one of the military training schools -(Ecoles d’Application). [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Université.</i> The celebrated body known as Université de -Paris, and instituted by Philippe Auguste in 1200, possessed great -privileges from its earliest times. It had the monopoly of teaching and -a jurisdiction of its own. It took a share in public affairs on several -occasions, and had long struggles to maintain against several religious -orders. The Université was suppressed by the Convention, but -re-organized by Napoleon I in 1808. It is now subdivided into sixteen -<i>Académies Universitaires</i>, each of which is administered by a Rector. -The title of Grand Master of the Université always accompanies that of -Minister of Public Instruction. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>Départements.</i> The present divisions of French territory, -numbering eighty-seven in all. Each department is administered by a -<i>préfet</i>, and subdivided into <i>arrondissements</i>, each of which has a -<i>sous-préfet</i>. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>Prince de Joinville.</i> Third son of Louis Philippe, and an -Admiral in the French navy. It was he who was sent to fetch Napoleon’s -remains from St. Helena. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Of the Legion of Honour.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Hectare: French measure of surface, about 2⅓ acres. -[Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Conseil-Général de département.</i> A representative -assembly for the general management of each département, somewhat -similar to the County Councils in England. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Le Verrier, a celebrated astronomer, at that time Director -of the Paris Observatory. His calculations led him to surmise the -existence of the planet Neptune, which was discovered accordingly. Adam, -an English astronomer, attained the same result, by the same means, at -the same time, each of the two scientists being in absolute ignorance of -the work of the other. Le Verrier was the first to publish his -discovery. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Ancient name of the high flat ground surrounding Chartres -and including parts of the Departments of Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher, -Loiret and Seine et Oise. These plains are very fertile, the soil being -extremely rich, and produce cereals chiefly. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Val-de-Grâce.</i> A handsome monument of the seventeenth -century, now a military hospital. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> By Dr. Smiles. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Ps. cxxxvii. 9.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Prix de Rome.</i> A competition takes place every year -amongst the students of the <i>Ecole des Beaux Arts</i> for this prize; the -successful competitor is sent to Rome for a year at the expense of the -Ecole. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Assistance Publique</i>, official organisation of the -charitable works supported by the State. [Trans.]</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>La Vie d’un Savant</i>, by the author of the present work. -[Trans.]</p></div> - -</div> - -<hr class="full" /> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The life of Pasteur, by René Vallery-Radot - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF PASTEUR *** - -***** This file should be named 60956-h.htm or 60956-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/9/5/60956/ - -Produced by Turgut Dincer, Chuck Greif and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -book was produced from images made available by the -HathiTrust Digital Library.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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