THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE 19 



stances where they could obtain nourishment. As early as 1854 he 

 had discovered the ferment lactique, which causes milk to sour. He 

 studied also what was called the ferment of butter, wine and vinegar, 

 and soon found out a way by which wine could be turned into vinegar 

 with great rapidity. The silk industry in the south of France having 

 been threatened with destruction, a commission was appointed, with 

 Dumas of the Sorbonne at its head, to study conditions, and if possible 

 report a remedy. Dumas sent Pasteur to Arlois, where he remained 

 most of the time from 1865 to 1868. The difficulty was found in 

 the papillons and was easily remedied. For some reason not given, 

 he returned in 1871 to Bonn the diploma for a professorship which 

 had been granted him in 1868. From this time he began to turn his 

 knowledge to practical use. Honors came from all quarters. In 

 1869 he was elected a foreign member of the Eoyal Society, London. 

 In 1856 he had received the Eumford medal, in 1861 the Jenner prize 

 and in 1874 the Copley medal. In 1872 the London Society of Arts 

 offered him the Albert medal and in 1883 the University of Oxford 

 made him doctor of science. Money also came to him with the ex- 

 pectation that it would be used in the increase of practical knowledge. 

 In recognition of what he had done in saving the silk industry, 

 through the minister of agriculture, Austria-Hungary gave him in 

 1868 10,000 florins, about $5,000. The Academy of Sciences in Paris 

 received him into membership in 1862, and in 1875 the Academy of 

 Medicine, although he was not a physician, made him a free associate 

 member. Tbe same year a prize of 12,000 francs was given him for 

 his services in promoting industry, and in 1874 the French govern- 

 ment voted him a pension of 12,000 francs. In 1881 he was received 

 into the French Academy as one of the Immortals. As early as 1868 

 he was a commander of the Legion of Honor and was pushed forward 

 as rapidly as possible for the reception of the Grand Cross. Such 

 astonishing recognition could not come except for what the public, 

 as well as scientific men, deemed good reasons. These reasons were 

 his services for humanity. For Pasteur was one of the men whose 

 nature compels them to make practical use of whatever knowledge they 

 gain, whether from books or from experiment. Though men of science 

 had long known something of his ability, his lecture in 1868 on the 

 madness which follows the bite of dogs afflicted with rabies first 

 brought him to the notice of the public. Yet he did not begin the 

 systematic study of rabies till about 1880. He had already found a 

 vaccine for the cure of chicken cholera, and the suggestion had come 

 to him that perhaps the bite of mad dogs might be cured in the same 

 way. Up to 1880 his laboratory had been in the normal school. But 

 in view of what seemed natural to expect from him the municipal 

 council gave him tbe us? of the old garden belonging to the College 



