1885—1888 439 



myentor of antirabic vaccination may, now more than ever, 

 hold his head high and continue to accomplish his glorious task, 

 heedless of the clamour of systematic contradiction or of the 

 insidious murmurs of slander." 



The Academy of Sciences begged Pasteur to become its 

 Life Secretary in Vulpian's place. Pasteur did not reply at 

 once to this offer, but went to see M. Berthelot: ''This high 

 position,'* he said, "would be more suitable to you than to 

 me." M. Berthelot, much touched, refused unconditionally, 

 and Pasteur accepted. He was elected on July 18. He said, 

 in thanking his colleagues, "I would now spend what time 

 remains before me, on the one hand in encouraging to research 

 and in training for scientific studies, — the future of which seems 

 to me most promising, — pupils worthy of French science ; and, 

 on the other hand, in following attentively the work incited 

 and encouraged by this Academy. 



''Our only consolation, as we feel our own strength failing 

 us, is to feel that we may help those who come after us to do 

 more and to do better than ourselves, fixing their eyes as they 

 can on the great horizons of which we only had a glimpse." 



He did not long fulfil his new duties. On October 23, Sun- 

 day morning, after writing a letter in his room, he tried to speak 

 to Mme. Pasteur and could not pronounce a word; his tongue 

 was paralyzed. He had promised to lunch with his daughter 

 on that day, and, fearing that she might be alarmed, he drove 

 to her house. After spending a few hours in an easy chair, he 

 consented to remain at her house with Mme. Pasteur. In 

 the evening his speech returned, and two days later, when he 

 went back to the Ecole Normale, no one would have noticed 

 any change in him. But, on the following Saturday morning, 

 he had another almost similar attack, without any premonitory 

 sjTnptoms. His speech remained somewhat difficult, and his 

 deep powerful voice completely lost its strength. In January, 

 1888, he was obliged to resign his secretaryship. 



Ill-health had emaciated his features. A portrait of him by 

 Carolus Duran represents him looking ill and weary, a sad look 

 in his eyes. But goodness predominates in those worn features, 

 revealing that lovable soul, full of pity for all human sufferings, 

 and of which the painter has rendered the unspeakable thrill. 



Pasteur's various portraits, compared with one another, show 

 us different aspects of his physiognomy. A luminous profile, 

 painted by Henner ten years before, brings out the powerful 



