1895. LOUIS PASTEUR. 315 



solutions were also optically active. The result may be told in 

 Pasteur's own words : " M. Biot prepara les solutions en proportions 

 bien dosees et au moment de les observer dans I'appareil de polarisa- 

 tion il m'invita de nouveau a me rendre dans son cabinet. II pla9a 

 d'abord dans I'appareil la solution la plus interessante, celle qui devait 

 devier a gauche. Sans meme prendre de mesure, par I'aspect seul 

 des teintes des deux images ordinaire et extraordinaire de I'analyseur, 

 il vit qu'il y avait une forte deviation a gauche. Alors tres visible- 

 ment emu I'illustre vieillard me prit la main et me dit ' Mon cher 

 enfant, j'ai tant aime les sciences dans ma vie que cela me fait battre 

 le coeur ! ' " 



Subsequent researches in the hands of Van t'Hoff and others 

 have led to the further discovery that the dissymmetry of the crystal 

 corresponds to a dissymmetry in the chemical structure of the 

 substance, and this has resulted in a vast amount of observation, 

 experiment, and speculation upon the structure of chemical com- 

 pounds and the possible arrangement of the atoms within the molecule. 



But to Pasteur himself the interest of the matter was not 

 mainly chemical or physical. Nothing could better illustrate how a 

 brilliant intellect can achieve splendid results by the deductive method 

 so congenial to the French scientiiic school. In Pasteur's eyes this 

 dissymmetry was nothing less than a great characteristic feature 

 which distingxaishes living from non-living matter ; the quality of 

 dissymmetry he believed to be peculiar to substances, such as sugar 

 and albumen, which are formed by the action of life. " L'univers," 

 he said, " est un ensemble dissymetrique. Je suis porte a croire que 

 la vie, telle qu'elle se manifeste a nous, doit etre fonction de la dis- 

 symetrie de l'univers ou des consequences qu'elle entraine." 



It is easy to understand how this opinion was confirmed by 

 his next discovery, that a Hving organism {Penicillium glaucitm) is 

 capable of acting upon a solution of a racemate so as to separate the 

 right-handed from the left-handed tartrate ; and this discovery was a 

 step which led him on to the study of ferments and further from the 

 study of crystals. 



The view that dissymmetry is peculiar to the products of life is 

 now abandoned, but was held by Pasteur himself, at any rate until a 

 recent date. There can be little doubt that it was the desire to study 

 the nature of life which inspired him in his early researches on dis- 

 symmetry in crystalline compounds, and led him to make these 

 briUiant discoveries in crystallography and chemistry which now 

 appear so widely separated from biological science. 



H. A. MiERS. 



II. — The Clinical Results of Pasteur's Work. 



N attempting to estimate the benefits conferred upon medicine, 

 surgery, and the allied sciences by the direct and indirect results 

 of Pasteur's work, the first impression is one of surprise that so much 



I 



