1870—1872 207 



( ( 



If I dared to quote myself, I would recall those words from 

 mv book — 



" 'If I were a silkworm cultivator I never would raise seed 

 from worms I had not observed during the last days of their life, 

 so as to satisfy myself as to their vigour and agility just before 

 spinning. The seed chosen should be that wliich comes from 

 worms who climbed the twigs with agility, who showed no 

 mortality from flachery between the fourth moulting and climb- 

 ing time, and whose freedom from corpuscles will have been 

 demonstrated by the microscope. If that is done, any one with 

 the slightest knowledge of silkworm culture will succeed in 

 every case.* " 



Italy and Austria vied with each other in adopting the seed 

 selected by the Pasteur system. But it was only when Pasteur 

 was on the eve of receiving from the Austrian Government the 

 great prize offered in 1868 to ** whoever should discover a pre- 

 ventive and curative remedy against pebrine" that French 

 sericicultors began to be convinced. The French character 

 offers this strange contrast, that France is often wiUing to risk 

 her fortune and her blood for causes which may be unworthy, 

 whilst at another moment, in everyday life, she shrinks at the 

 least innovation before accepting a benefit originated on her 

 own soil. The French often wait until other nations have 

 adopted and approved a French discovery before venturing to 

 adopt it in their turn. 



Pasteur did not stop to look back and delight in his success, 

 but hastened to turn his mind to another kind of study. His 

 choice of a subject was influenced by patriotic motives. 

 Germany was incontestably superior to France in the manufac- 

 ture of beer, and he conceived the thought of making France a 

 successful rival in that respect ; in order to enable himself to 

 do so, he undertook to study the scientific mechanism of beer 

 manufacture. 



There was a brewery at Chamalieres, between Clermont and 

 Royat. Pasteur began by visiting it with eager curiosity, 

 inquiring into the minutest details, endeavouring to find out 

 the why and the wherefore of every process, and receiving 

 vague answers with much astonishment. M. Kuhn, the 

 Chamalieres brewer, did not know much more about beer than 

 did his fellow brewers in general. Very little was known at 

 that time about the way it was produced ; when brewers re- 

 ceived complaints from their customers, they procured yeas^ 



