296 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



widefy circulated of the French journals — the Petit Parisien — 

 appealed to its readers all over the country to vote upon the 

 relative prominence of great Frenchmen of the last century. 

 Pasteur was the winner of this interesting contest, having 

 received 1,338,425 votes of the fifteen millions cast, and rank- 

 ing above A'ictor Hugo, who stood second in popular esti- 

 mation, by more than one hundred thousand votes. This 

 enviable recognition was won, not by spectacular achieve- 

 ments in arms or in politics, but by indefatigable industry 

 in the quiet pursuit of those scientilic resc'arches that have 

 resulted in so much good to the human race. 



Personal Qualities. — He should be known also from the 

 side of his human qualities. He was devotedly attached to 

 his family, enjoying the close sympathy and assistance of his 

 wife and his daughter in his scientific struggles, a circum- 

 stance that aided much in ameliorating the severity of his 

 labors. His labors, indeed, overstrahied his powers, so that 

 he was smitten by paralysis in ] 868, at the age of forty-six, 

 but with splendid courage he overcame this handicap, and 

 continued his unremitting work until his death in 1895. 



The portrait of Pasteur with his granddaughter (Fig. 92) 

 gives a touch of personal interest to the investigator and the 

 contestant upon the field of science. His strong face shows 

 dignity of purpose and the grim determination which led to 

 colossal attainments; at the same time it is mellowed by 

 gentle affection, and contrasts finely with the trusting ex- 

 pression of the younger face. 



Pasteur was born of humble parents in Dole in the Jura, 

 on December the 27th, 1822. His father was a tanner, 

 but w^ithal, a man of fine character and stern experience, as 

 is "shown by the fact that he had fought in the legions 

 of the First Empire and been decorated on the field of 

 battle by Napoleon." The filial devotion of Pasteur and his 

 justifiable pride in his father's military service are shown 



