78 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



" We are very comfortably settled on the first floor, and 1 

 have (on the ground floor immediately below) what I have 

 always wished for, a laboratory where I can go at any time. 

 This week, for instance, the gas remains on, and operations 

 follow their course whilst I am in bed. In this way I try to 

 make up a little of the time which I have to give to the direc- 

 tion of all the rather numerous departments in our Faculties. 

 Add to this that I am a member of two very active societies, 

 and that I have been entrusted, at the suggestion of the 

 Conseil-G^n^ral, 1 with the testing of manures for the d^parte- 

 ment of the Nord, a considerable work in this rich agricultural 

 land, but one which I have accepted eagerly, so as to popularize 

 and enlarge the influence of our young Faculty. 



" Do not fear lest all this should keep me from the studies 

 I love. I shall not give them up, and I trust that what is 

 already accomplished will grow without my help, with the 

 growth that time gives to everything that has within it the 

 germ of life. Let us all work; that only is enjoyable. I 

 am quoting M. Biot, who certainly is an authority on that 

 subject. You saw the share he took the other day in a great 

 discussion at the Academie des Sciences ; his presence of mind, 

 high reasoning powers, and youthfulness were magnificent, 

 and he is eighty-four ! " 



In a mere study on Pasteur as a scientific man, the way 

 in which he understood his duties as Dean would only be a 

 secondary detail. It is not so here, the very object of this 

 book being to paint what he was in all the circumstances, 

 all the trials of life. Besides his professional obligations, 

 his kindness in leaving his laboratory, however hard the sacri- 

 fice, bears witness to an ever present devotion. For instance, 

 he took his pupils round factories and foundries at Aniche, 

 Denain, Valenciennes, St. Omer. In July, 1856, he organized 

 for the same pupils a tour in Belgium. He took them to visit 

 factories, iron foundries, steel and metal works, questioning 

 the foremen with his insatiable curiosity, pleased to induce in 

 his tall students a desire to learn. All returned from these 

 trips with more pleasure in their work ; some with the fiery 

 enthusiasm that Pasteur wished to see. 



1 Conseil-Gentral de dipartement. A representative assembly for the 

 general management of each departement, somewhat similar to the 

 County Councils in England. [Trans.] 



