54 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



functionary which was entertained by a certain party. M. 

 Laurent had the very highest respect for justice ; he distrusted 

 the upstarts whose virtues were very much on the surface ; he 

 never decided on the fate of an inferior without the most pains- 

 taking inquiry ; he did not look on an accidental mistake as 

 an unpardonable fault ; he refused to take any immediate and 

 violent measures : all this caused him to be looked upon with 

 suspicion. " The influence of the Hector " (thus ran Komieu's 

 official report) "is hardly, if at all, noticeable. He should be 

 replaced by a safe man." 



The Minister of Public Instruction, M. de Parieu, had to 

 bow before the formal wish of the Minister of the Interior, 

 founded upon peremptory arguments of this kind. M. 

 Laurent was offered the post of Rector at Chateauroux, a 

 decided step downward. He refused, left Strasburg, and, with 

 no complaint or recriminations, retired into private life at the 

 age of fifty-five. 



It was when this happy family circle was just about to be 

 enlarged that its quiet was thus broken into by this untoward 

 result of political agitation. M. Laurent's youngest daughter 

 soon after became engaged to M. Loir, a professor at the 

 Strasburg Pharmaceutical School, who had been a student at 

 the Ecole Normale, and who ultimately became Dean of the 

 Faculty of Sciences at Lyons. He was then preparing, assisted 

 by Pasteur, his " thesis" for the degree of Doctor of Science 

 In this he announced some new results based on the simul- 

 taneous existence of hemihedral crystalline forms and the 

 rotatory power. He wrote, "I am happy to have brought 

 new facts to bear upon the law that M. Pasteur has 

 enunciated." 



' ' Why are you not a professor of physics or chemistry ! ' * 

 wrote Pasteur to Chappuis ; " we should work together, and in 

 ten years' time we would revolutionize chemistry. There are 

 wonders hidden in crystallization, and, through it, the inmost 

 construction of substances will one day be revealed. If you 

 come to Strasburg, you shall become a chemist ; I shall talk to 

 you of nothing but crystals." 



The vacation was always impatiently awaited by Pasteur. 

 He was able to work more, and to edit the result of his 

 researches in an extract for the Academic des Sciences. On 

 October 2 his friend received the following letter: "On 

 Monday I presented this year's work to the ' Institut.' I 



