10 LOUIS PASTEUR 



live without it. Besides it is upon that which 

 everything in the world depends. With the aid of 

 science one can rise above all competitors. But I 

 hope that this advice is not needed and I am sure 

 that you devote considerable time every day to 

 learning your grammar. Love each other as I love 

 you. I am looking forward to the happy day when 

 I shall be admitted to the Ecole Normale." 



Pasteur's ambition to attend the Ecole Normale 

 now seemed nearer to realization, and he bent all 

 his energies to qualify himself to enter that great 

 school. His intellect was rapidly maturing, and in 

 addition to performing his assigned scholastic tasks 

 we find him reading books on philosophy, litera- 

 ture, and science in the endeavor to satisfy the 

 hunger of his mind for knowledge and understand- 

 ing. At Besancon he contracted a lasting friend- 

 ship with a fellow student, Charles Chappuis, whose 

 alert mind and wide intellectual interests afforded 

 him both stimulus and diversion. The two read 

 books together, and took long walks together in 

 which they discussed all sorts of topics from the 

 subtleties of theology to the peculiarities of chem- 

 ical reactions. Such friendships are among the 

 most valuable experiences of college life. The in- 

 fluence of a teacher, however great, can never take 



