1877—1879 281 



'^As for me, personally," wrote Pasteur in the first pages 

 of his Critical Examination of a Posthumous Work of Claude 

 Bernard on Fermentation, '^1 found myself cruelly puzzled; 

 had I the right to consider Claude Bernard's MS. as the expres- 

 sion of his thought, and was I free to criticize it thoroughly?'* 

 The table of contents and headings of chapters in Claude 

 Bernard's incomplete MS. condemned Pasteur's work on 

 alcoholic fermentation. The non-existence of life without air; 

 the ferment not originated by exterior germs; alcohol formed 

 by a soluble ferment outside life . . . such were Claude 

 Bernard's conclusions. **If Claude Bernard was convinced," 

 thought Pasteur, "that he held the key to the masterly con- 

 clusions with which he ended his manuscript, what could have 

 been his motive in withholding it from me? I looked back 

 upon the many marks of kindly affection which he had given 

 me since I entered on a scientific career, and I came to the 

 conclusion that the notes left by Bernard were but a pro- 

 gramme of studies, that he had tackled the subject, and that, 

 following in this a method habitual to him, he had, the better 

 to discover the truth, formed the intention of trying experi- 

 ments which might contradict my opinions and results." 



Pasteur, much perplexed, resolved to put the case before his 

 colleagues, and did so two days later. He spoke of Bernard's 

 silence, his abstention from any allusion at their weekly meet- 

 ings. ''It seems to me almost impossible," he said, "and I 

 wonder that those who are publishing these notes have not per- 

 ceived that it is a very delicate thing to take upon oneself, with 

 no authorization from the author, the making public of private 

 notebooks! Which of us would care to think it might be done 

 to him! . . . Bernard must have put before himself that 

 leading idea, that I was in the wrong on every point, and taken 

 that method of preparing the subject he intended to study." 

 Such was also the opinion of those who remembered that 

 Claude Bernard's advice invariably was that every theory 

 should be doubted at first and only trusted when found capable 

 of resisting objections and attacks. 



"If then, in the intimacy of conversation with his friends 

 and the yet more intimate secret of notes put down on paper 

 and carefully put away, Claude Bernard develops a plan of 

 research with a view to judging of a theory — if he imagines 

 experiments — he is resolved not to speak about it until those 

 experiments have been clearly checked; we should therefore 



