282 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



not take from his notes the most expressly formulated pro- 

 positions without reminding ourselves that all that was but a 

 project, and that he meant to go once again through the experi- 

 ments he had already made." 



Pasteur declared himself ready to answer any one who would 

 defend those experiments which he looked upon as doubtful, 

 erroneous, or wrongly interpreted. " In the opposite case," 

 he said, " out of respect for Claude Bernard's memory, I will 

 repeat his experiments before discussing them." 



Some Academicians discoursed on these notes as on simple 

 suggestions and advised Pasteur to continue his studies with- 

 out allowing himself to be delayed by mere control experi- 

 ments. Others considered these notes as the expression of 

 Claude Bernard's thought. "That opinion," said Pasteur 

 man of sentiment as he was "that opinion, however, does 

 not explain the enigma of his silence towards me. But why 

 should I look for that explanation elsewhere than in my inti- 

 mate knowledge of his fine character ? Was not his silence 

 a new proof of his kindness, and one of the effects of our 

 mutual esteem ? Since he thought that he held in his hands 

 a proof that the interpretation I had given to my experiments 

 was fallacious, did he not simply wish to wait to inform me 

 of it until the time when he thought himself ready for a definite 

 statement ? I prefer to attribute high motives to my friend's 

 actions, and, in my opinion, the surprise caused in me by his 

 reserve towards the one colleague whom his work most inter- 

 ested should give way in my heart to feelings of pious gratitude. 

 However, Bernard would have been the first to remind me that 

 scientific truth soars above the proprieties of friendship, and 

 that my duty lies in discussing views and opinions in my turn 

 with full liberty." 



Pasteur having made this communication to the Academy on 

 July 22, hastily ordered three glass houses, which he intended 

 to take with him into the Jura, " where I possess," he told his 

 colleagues, " a vineyard occupying some thirty or forty square 

 yards." 



Two observations expounded in a chapter of his Studies on 

 Beer tend to establish that yeast can only appear about the 

 time when grapes ripen, and that it disappears in the winter 

 only to show itself again at the end of the summer." There- 

 fore " germs of yeast do not yet exist on green grapes." ' We 

 are," he added, "at an epoch in the year when, by reason of 



