230 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



attained we are now in the best position to form an opinion. 

 Three years after the birth of this son the Pasteur family 

 removed to Arbois, in the valley of the Cuisance, so noted 

 for its wine, where the lad received his early education in 

 the Communal College, the father devoting his evenings to 

 the superintendence of his son's lessons. Like most clever 

 lads he was not noted for his studiousness at this period, 

 fishing and portrait sketching occupying some of the time 

 and energy that might perhaps have been devoted (with 

 less advantage to the boy probably) to school work. Some 

 of the sketches made at this time, when he was only thirteen, 

 were so clever that it was afterwards said of him by an old 

 lady friend: "What a pity that he should have buried himself 

 in chemistry. He has missed his vocation, for he might by 

 this time have made his reputation as a painter." How- 

 ever, Pasteur had a talent for work which could not long lie 

 dormant, and he very soon set himself seriously to master 

 all that could be taught him by his teachers. In order to 

 complete his studies in Philosophy, Pasteur went from 

 Arbois, where his interest in chemical study had been 

 kindled by M. Darlay, to the College of Besancon ; here, 

 at the end of his scholar's year, he received the degree of 

 bachelier-es-lettres, and was appointed tutor in the college ; 

 he was thus able to continue his studies for the entrance 

 examination at the Ecole Normale. In 1842 he passed 

 fourteenth, but determined to devote another year to study 

 for the same examination, with the result that in October, 

 1843, ne was placed fourth on the list of successful candidates. 

 He at once commenced to study chemistry at the Ecole 

 Normale under M. Balard, and at the Sorbonne under 

 M. Dumas, from the former of whom he learned to be 

 enthusiastic and voracious for facts, from the latter a love 

 for precision and exact experiment. 



Here, with leisure to read and every encouragement 

 to carry on independent investigation, Pasteur now laid 

 the foundation of his future work, and, under the encourag- 

 ing direction of M. Delafosse, devoted himself to the study 

 of Crystallography, especially in relation to the arrange- 

 ment of the molecules in these crystals. As Tyndall 



