HOME LIFE AND EARLY TRAINING 1 1 



the place of the wholesome effect of the close and 

 sympathetic companionship of two young and eager 

 minds. 



Pasteur's scholastic work in the college of 

 Besangon was creditable, but not brilliant. Twice 

 he was second in his class, and once he took the 

 first place in physics. He stood well in the esti- 

 mation of his teachers and he was entrusted with 

 giving some work to students in mathematics and 

 physical science. After graduation he was eligible 



r 



to take the examinations for the Ecole Normale, 

 but as he was only the fifteenth out of twenty-two 

 candidates, he resolved to give himself another year 

 of preparation. In 1842 we find him again at Paris 

 at the Barbet Boarding School, no longer homesick, 

 but full of energy, ambition and enthusiasm for his 

 work. Only a third of the regular fees were re- 

 quired of him on account of his giving instruction 

 in mathematics to some of the students from six 

 to seven in the morning. In one of his frequent 

 letters home he says, "I shall spend my Thursdays 

 in a neighboring library with Chappuis. He has 

 four hours to himself on that day. Sundays we 

 walk and work together. I shall do some philos- 

 ophy Sundays and perhaps also on Thursdays. 

 Then I shall read some literary works. You 



