12 LOUIS PASTEUR 



should see that this year I am no longer home- 

 sick/' 



During his year at Barbet's, Pasteur attended the 

 lectures on chemistry which were being given at 

 the Sorbonne by the celebrated chemist Dumas, 

 who was destined to have a strong influence upon 

 his future career. "You cannot imagine," Pasteur 

 wrote, "the popularity of this course. The room 

 is immense and always well filled. It is necessary 

 to go a half hour ahead of time to secure a good 

 place, just as in a theater. There is also much 

 applause. There are always six or seven hundred 

 persons." Dumas, noted for his important discov- 

 eries in chemistry, and the author of a series of 

 standard works in this field, was one of the com- 

 manding figures of the science of his day. The 

 lucidity and eloquence of his lectures aroused the 

 enthusiasm of young Pasteur, who listened with 

 rapt attention and admiration to the words of his 

 instructor. Pasteur soon set his heart upon becom- 

 ing a chemist, spoke of himself as a disciple of 

 Dumas, and resolved to devote himself to research 

 in his chosen field. In 1843 he realized his long 



r 



cherished ambition of entering the Ecole Normale. 

 This time he was fourth in the list of entrants. 

 At the Ecole Normale Pasteur plunged into work 



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