64 LOUIS PASTEUR 



devoted the services of his laboratories to the solu- 

 tion of the practical problems that presented them- 

 selves in the industries of the surrounding region. 

 Although fully aware of the importance of the 

 search for knowledge regardless of its practical 

 applications, Pasteur was not one of those who dis- 

 dained to spend his time upon matters of practical 

 economy. In fact, a considerable part of his re- 

 searches has been devoted to economic problems. 

 The maladies of wine and beer, the production of 

 vinegar, the diseases of silkworms, and the epi- 

 demics of fowl cholera, swine plague, and splenic 

 fever in sheep and cattle, are all matters whose 

 economic importance had much to do with enlist- 

 ing his interest. He was ever ready to respond 

 when the industries of his country called upon 

 science for help. That a problem is an economic 

 one does not detract in the least from the scientific 

 importance of its solution. If it may be said in 

 behalf of pure science that it leads to valuable prac- 

 tical results, it may also be said that investigations 

 carried on with purely practical aims frequently 

 yield discoveries of the greatest theoretical import. 

 In most of the researches of Pasteur theoretical 

 and practical considerations were very closely re- 

 lated. The solution of the practical problems 



