EXPERIMENTS IN CHEMISTRY 39 



bination of right-handed and left-handed acids. 

 But, although errors of detail in this difficult field 

 of research led Pasteur to an untenable deduction, 

 his general conception of molecular asymmetry has 

 proven to be a most fruitful one. Professor G. M. 

 Richardson, credits Pasteur with the first sugges- 

 tion that led to the development of stereo-chem- 

 istry. As Duclaux has stated in his admirable work 

 on Pasteur's discoveries, "Our knowledge has been 

 very much extended since Pasteur did his work, 

 but there has been no change in its source; and in 

 its immense development, it remains faithful to this 

 parent idea of Pasteur that all difference in the 

 grouping of the atoms of a molecule must be ex- 

 pressed externally in some way." 



One of Pasteur's observations is of especial im- 

 portance, not merely for its scientific interest, but 

 for its possible influence on the course of his future 

 studies. It had been observed by manufacturers 

 that calcium tartrate, when contaminated by a 

 small amount of albuminous matter, undergoes a 

 process of fermentation, giving rise to a variety of 

 products. Pasteur endeavored to find if other 

 tartrates would behave in a similar manner. 

 Taking a solution of pure right-handed or dextro- 

 ammonium tartrate, he placed in it a small amount 



