BERTHELOT 161 



Berthelot received a public funeral, and his remains 

 were placed in the Panthe'on on 25th March 1907, side by 

 side with those of his wife. The crowds which gathered 

 to see the two bodies laid to rest together in the nation's 

 great mausoleum proved the popularity and universal 

 renown of Berthelot, who did perhaps as much for 

 chemistry as Pasteur did for medicine, if not more ; for 

 not only did he open up new fields of inquiry and lead 

 the way to innumerable discoveries and developments, but 

 he practically founded new branches of science, namely, 

 synthetic and therm o- chemistry. Berthelot was one of 

 those "prodigious" men who honour every country and 

 every epoch. He made science the highest and noblest 

 end of man. With Berthelot science became a real 

 creative power. He proved that organic and inorganic 

 chemical laws are identical. He did not get so far, by 

 the imperfect means at his disposal in his laboratory, 

 as to create a leaf or a fruit, but he did produce certain 

 essential parts of the whole. What a field did he open 

 up to human activity ! Chemistry at once created arti- 

 ficial substances akin to natural ones, and by leading 

 the way in this immense field of discovery Berthelot 

 placed himself in the foremost ranks of the benefactors 

 of humanity. 



A few words about the burial-place of Berthelot will 



form a suitable conclusion to the present chapter. The 



11 



