106 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



nothing to say. It is now formed, and I give it : M. Pasteur's 

 experiments are decisive. If spontaneous generation is real, 

 what is required to obtain animalculse? Air and putrescible 

 liquor. M. Pasteur puts air and putrescible liquor together 

 and nothing happens. Therefore spontaneous generation is 

 not. To doubt further is to misunderstand the question." 



Already in the preceding year, the Academie itself had 

 evidenced its opinion by giving Pasteur the prize of a com- 

 petition proposed in these terms : " To attempt to throw some 

 new light upon the question of so-called spontaneous genera- 

 tion by well-conducted experiments." Pasteur's treatise on 

 Organized Corpuscles existing in Atmosphere had been unani- 

 mously preferred. Pasteur might have entrenched himself 

 behind the suffrages of the Academy, but begged it, in order 

 to close those incessant debates, to appoint the Commission 

 demanded by Joly and Musset. 



The members of the Commission were Flourens, Dumas, 

 Brongniart, Milne-Edwards, and Balard. Pasteur wished 

 that the discussion should take place as soon as possible, and 

 it was fixed for the first fortnight in March. But Pouchet, 

 Joly and Musset asked for a delay on account of the cold. 

 ' We consider that it might compromise, perhaps prevent, 

 our results, to operate in a temperature which often goes below 

 zero even in the south of France. How do we know that it 

 will not freeze in Paris between the first and fifteenth of 

 March ? ' ' They even asked the Commission to adjourn ex- 

 periments until the summer. " I am much surprised," wrote 

 Pasteur, "at the delay sought by Messrs. Pouchet, Joly and 

 Musset ; it would have been easy with a stove to raise the 

 temperature to the degree required by those gentlemen. For 

 my part I hasten to assure the Academy that I am at its 

 disposal, and that in summer, or in any other season, I am 

 ready to repeat my experiments." 



Some evening scientific lectures had just been inaugurated 

 at the Sorbonne ; such a subject as spontaneous generation 

 was naturally on the programme. When Pasteur entered the 

 large lecture room of the Sorbonne on April 7, 1864, he 

 must have been reminded of the days of his youth, when 

 crowds came, as to a theatrical performance, to hear J. B. 

 Dumas speak. Dumas' pupil, now a master, in his turn 

 found a still greater crowd invading every corner. Amongst 

 the professors and students, such celebrities as Duruy, 



