INTRODUCTION Xlll 



when one can be with a master! Rauhn was his prede- 

 cessor, a ferocious anti-clerical. Mascart and Gernez 

 were also assistants in the Normal School at this time 

 and friends of Duclaux, especially the latter. 



These were the heroic times of the Pasteurian struggle. 

 The master was in the forefront of the debate on crystals, 

 the campaign on fermentations and the great battle over 

 spontaneous generations. 



In October, 1865, Duclaux left Paris for Tours, where 

 he had been appointed professor of chemistry in the sec- 

 ondary school. He now had the maintenance of the 

 family on his hands. He was the youngest professor in 

 the faculty of France, being only 26. From Tours he 

 was soon transferred to a better place at Clermont- 

 Ferrand, where a portion of his time could be given to 

 Pasteur's work. When Duclaux was seeking this trans- 

 fer Gernez interested himself in behalf of his friend and 

 was very much surprised and chagrined one day to learn 

 that he had himself been appointed to the place. This 

 appointment he would not accept nor would Duclaux, 

 under the circumstances, until Pasteur smoothed things 

 out by taking Gernez with him to Alais, which left 

 Duclaux free to accept the position at Clermont-Ferrand, 

 a fine old city, former capital of Auvergne and the birth- 

 place of Blaise Pascal. 



At Clermont he had about a hundred students, mostly 

 medical students. The pick of these he admitted to 

 his own laboratory and initiated into the experimental 

 method. Sundays he went with these choice spirits on 

 long excursions through the volcanic lands. His most 

 distinguished pupil was Emile Roux, the present director 

 of the Pasteur Institute, who says, "During these hours 

 of life in the open air Duclaux was the most delightful 

 of companions, overflowing with a deep spontaneous 

 gaiety. The day ended around the hospitable table of 



