SKETCH OF PAUL BERT, 403 



fore animals, in order to purify the atmosphere of the great quan- 

 tity of carbonic acid which it contained. In fact, germination, 

 even that of mildew, does not take place in air sufficiently charged 

 with carbonic acid to be fatal to warm-blooded animals. It is 

 quite as inaccurate to explain the anteriority of reptiles to warm- 

 blooded animals by the im^jurity of the air tainted with too much 

 carbonic acid. Reptiles, in fact, are more injured by this gas than 

 birds, and still more so than mammals. 



For these experiments, the Academy of Sciences, judging them 

 worthy of the highest recompense in its power to bestow, awarded 

 to Prof. Bert its grand bienniaL prize of twenty thousand francs. 



Another important research of M. Bert was concerning the safe 

 administration of chloroform and other anaesthetics, for which he 

 devised a special apparatus. 



A considerable portion of the work of Prof. Bert was per- 

 formed in the public service. After the military disasters of 1870, 

 he became Secretary-General of the prefecture of the Yonne, and 

 in January, 1871, prefect of the Ddpartement du Nord. He re- 

 signed this office when Gambetta retired from the Department of 

 War. He was chosen deputy from the Yonne in 1874 ; took his 

 seat among the Extreme Left; and participated actively in the 

 discussions of the National Assembly, particularly on questions 

 relating to ecclesiastical and educational matters, strongly oppos- 

 ing the pretensions of the clergy to control the education of the 

 young, making alarming exposures of the abuses which it was 

 alleged they had allowed to be introduced into the schools, and 

 condemning the teachings of some of their text-books. He advo- 

 cated the giving of an annual pension of twelve thousand francs 

 to Pasteur, and was one of the deputies who, in 1877, refused to 

 give a vote of confidence to the De Broglie ministry. From 1877 

 to 1879 he represented the Canton of Ailtenet in the General 

 Council of the Yonne. His appointment, in 1881, in the Gambetta 

 ministry, as Minister of Public Instruction and Worship, was re- 

 garded with great disfavor by the clericals, who looked upon him 

 as their pronounced enemy. His administration of the office was 

 able, and furthered the movement to secularize the schools. The 

 bill passed by the Chamber in March, 1884, was his work, and was 

 a stringent measure for the accomplishment of that purpose. It 

 directed the Government to secularize the state schools entirely 

 within five years, by appointing lay teachers instead of the friars 

 and nuns, who had a large proportion of the schools under their 

 control ; debarred the clergy and members of religious orders from 

 the direction of primary schools as teachers, inspectors, or mem- 

 bers of the educational councils, or of the officially appointed 

 school boards ; and forbade lay instructors from accepting sala- 

 ried employments in the churches. 



