HOME LIFE AND EARLY TRAINING 17 



to the title of doctor I was far from expecting so 

 much. My ambition would have been satisfied 

 with the license to teach." 



After the newly fledged doctor had spent a short 

 vacation in the midst of his admiring family, who 

 were perhaps somewhat over-awed by his academic 

 distinction, he is back again in his laboratory in 

 Paris. It is impossible for him now to keep away 

 for long from his crucibles and retorts. "I am 

 supremely happy," he writes soon after his return. 

 "I shall soon publish a contribution on crystal- 

 lography." 



The Revolution of 1848 caused a temporary 

 interruption of Pasteur's labors. A popular up- 

 rising had dethroned the citizen king, Louis 

 Philippe, and proclaimed a Republic. Paris was 

 in a turmoil. Pasteur, full of enthusiasm for the 

 new republic, had joined the National Guard. The 

 ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity thrilled him 

 as they thrilled so many others who thought they 

 were witnessing the dawn of a new era for France. 

 Pasteur writes, "There are great and sublime doc- 

 trines which are now being unfolded before our 

 eyes. If it were required I should fight coura- 

 geously for the sacred cause of the Republic." 

 Seeing in the midst of a crowd a structure entitled 



