CHAPTER IV 



STUDIES IN FERMENTATION 



Pasteur had scarcely more than entered upon the 



study of fermentation at Strasbourg when he was 



appointed Professor and Dean of the Faculty of 



Science at Lille. The faculty at Lille had just been 



reorganized, and one of the innovations made in 



the course of instruction was to grant to students 



for a small fee the privilege of entering scientific 



laboratories and carrying on experiments. This 



improvement in education was warmly approved 



by Pasteur. In his opening address as Dean he 



spoke of the advantages of laboratory instruction 



in the following terms: "Where will you find in 



your families a young man whose curiosity and 



interest are not awakened as soon as you put into 



his hands a potato with which he will make sugar, 



with this sugar alcohol, with this alcohol ether and 



vinegar? Who would not be happy to tell to his 



family in the evening that he was about to make 



an electric telegraph? 



"And, gentlemen, be convinced of this, such 



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