,J 



1'ASTEUR, LOUS. 



Normale in Paris. At the examination ho at- 

 um.-l tin- rank of f-urt. . n and was adn 



-fv hnn. 90 he settled in 



,n.l Miidir.1 in the In-lit ill i,"ii M.irbcl. ami 



l.l was admitted t<> tin nnalr. 



landing fourth in tin* class. Here In- studied 



nhemistrr under lialani and I Mima* ami 



tallofrraphy umi mplct- 



M< was successively assistant in 

 iad tdraoM Mid demonstrator in < hnn 



cheli 



receiving the degree . in 



- 



the eiBM of the difference in the U-ha-- 

 the amimn. 



ponding salt of tartan.- acid with p.- 

 light to I*' lack of symmetry in t 

 At this lime also ha pointed <>ut the difference 

 between 1 1 1 t he lievorota- 



tory tartaric acid. and proved that the two acids 

 cnuld be separated one from the other by a 

 process of fermentat 1 by a 



form of mold. This inv,-ti-ation. establishing 

 the relations between crystalline form and op- 

 tioal properties, and throwing considerable li-ht 

 on the architecture of molecules, was really the 

 foundation of stereochemistry, and was made 

 with f ied from his own slender re- 



sourer cs> in this particular branch 



of m.juiry wa- i remarkable f.. r so 



young a man. In 1848 he was called to the 

 chair of I'd-,-;. - in hijon. and in the -am-- 

 vear he accepted a similar appointment in - 



In 1854 he was charged, in the capacity of 

 dean, with th- tn-k f organising the faculty of 

 . and he remain. -d there until 

 1857. when he was called to Paris to take charge 

 of the scientific studies of th. nnale. 



He continued in the active administration of 

 v-.rk for ten years, and in \*'\1 became 

 also Professor of Geology. d ('hcmis- 



try at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Meanwhile in 

 183? he began his famous researches on fermcn- 

 U'l-.n. He d:-tinctly proved that the changes 



i each of the various processes 

 mentation were due to the presence and gr< . w t h 

 of a minute organism called the ferment, His 

 own words are: ~ Th" ch.-mieal act of fermenta- 

 tion is essentially a correlat i ve phenomenon ..fa 

 viul act beginning and eml ing with it. I think 

 that there is never any alcoholic fermentation 

 without there being at the -an..- time organiza- 

 tion, development, multiplication of globules 

 or the continued consecutive life of globules 

 already formed.** Thus the science of b 

 he has been called the f 

 ice. He also showed that this 

 o simple as was represent- 

 x up of sugar into alcohol and 

 >' other im|Mirtant sub- 

 - - vample. succjnic 

 4 : rical appl: 



ei.no lat. r when he showed that 

 Tmitof wine rv - on the surface of the 

 e wheti it ha* ripened, and when he indicated 





 orm of deterioration was dm- 



whi 



ept for a time, was 

 by him u be due to a similar cause. 



diseases were remedied .-n hi- -'.._-^-\\. 

 process called I'aMeiiri/.atioii." \\lnch cmiM>is 



ti in- the wine slowly, \\lu-n botth-i 

 a tein ,d then allowii. 



cool. A similar process wa- applied t- 

 lit MIL: out that the d-t. -ri. >ral i- 



and beers was due 



and by -h, .wiii- how the action of I hi- f. 



could be prevented, he accomplish. -. i 



.iiormou> sum- to t \\o v.-ry important inn 

 And this was done by careful . \|.. run. 

 b\ brin-ing to bear <>n the -ubj.- 

 gence tr.nned in exact in. lli--.|- and in in 

 :i. coupled With employ,, 



-.o|.e and the other aid- .f 1110,1. 

 search. 



In 1865, on the suggestion of Duma 

 chemist, he undertook the study of t 

 disease, which a-t that time threat 

 -troy the entire -ilk induMry ,,f central I 



alueof raw silk in is.'):'} \\ , 

 000,000 fnnos, and in isc>:> it had fall.-n 



fifth that -urn. \ itt.-i'iiani and < 

 shown in !*">! that, the mobile ci.rpn 



pre\ I..II- ..I .1 detected ill th- 



ill the ---. wep- cl..-e|y connected with ! 



ease. rSsteur, when he began the iiKjuii 



ilkworm. and kn.-w i, 

 of its habits and life hi-t- 



n- .f the pebrine" 

 disease through the variou- >ta-e- 

 meiit of the r--. larva, chry-ali-, ;ind in--' 

 soon found that the pan. 



persisted through all the stages of the animal'- 

 life, and that even the eggs w.r. ii 

 came to the conclu-ion that the only method 

 olTerin- any hojc of success was a ra<li 

 termination of all infected moth* a; 

 recommended the f..iiowin- plan of tn-a- 



When the femnlu has laid her eggs and d 

 body j< drie.l. pounded up ji, 



amine.l microscopically; if no e.>rpu-. 



found, the eggs are pr- -erv.-d for cult in- 



if any corpu-cles are di-c. .\.red. all the 



that moth are immediately burned. 



is examined in the same" wav. and all ii 



hatchings are d-t roved, h 



alone subsequent to the applicat ion of t h: 



ment the annual value of silk rose from 



OOOt 



In 1S(J7 he wa- iriv.-n the chair of rheun 

 the Sorbonne. which lie held until Is?:,, i 

 the close of this period a controversy an. 

 the truth of the theory of spontaneous L 



tion. I'a-leur. by a -.-rie- of the n. 

 and convincin- experiim-: 1 the exist- 



ence of micpi-nrganic f-.rin- and their 

 in thcair.and -howed that while unpiiri: 

 was capable of -ettin- up fern, 

 of variou- kind-, the -am.- air freed from 

 could not _- the-.- changes. Th'- 



ol ^pontaneoos gen< ml i- -n were silenced. 

 Later he began the study of inoci. 

 r-ure for dis'ases other than smallpox. I! 

 on-t rated that animaN of the (.vine and 



may le prevented from coir 

 isease of anthrax (charlMiin or -picnic f 

 it is variously called, by inocidat in- then 



-pe.-ific minute 

 i-m which i- found to <-xi-t in that 

 to be its efficient cause. The mor 



