HIS LIFE AND LABOURS. 189 



to Alais in January, 1869, for the express purpose of 

 combating the criticisms to which his labours had been 

 subjected. Pasteur is combustible, and contradiction 

 readily stirs him into flame. No scientific man now 

 living has fought so many battles as he. To enable 

 him to render his experiments decisive, the French 

 Emperor placed a villa at his disposal near Trieste, 

 where silkworm-culture had been carried on for some 

 time at a loss. The success here is described as mar- 

 vellous, the sale of cocoons giving to the villa a net 

 profit of twenty-six millions of francs.* From the 

 Imperial villa M. Pasteur addressed to me a letter, a 

 portion of which I have already published. It may 

 perhaps prove usefully suggestive to our Indian or 

 Colonial authorities if I reproduce it here : 



" Permettez-moi de terminer ces quelques lignes que 

 je dois dieter, vaincu que je suis par la maladie, en 

 vous faisant observer que vous rendriez service aux 

 Colonies de la Grande-Bretagne en repandant la con- 

 naissance de ce livre, et des principes que j'etablis 

 touchant la maladie des vers a soie. Beaucoup de ces 

 colonies pourraient cultiver le murier avec succes, et, 

 en jetant les yeux sur mon ouvrage, vous vous convain- 

 crez aisement qu'il est facile aujourd'hui, non seulement 

 d'eloigner la maladie regnante, mais en outre de donner 

 aux recoltes de la soie une prosperite qu'elles n'ont 

 jamais cue." 



The studies on wine prepare us for the " studies on 

 beer," which followed the investigation of silkworm dis- 

 eases. The sourness, putridity, and other maladies of 

 beer, Pasteur traced to special " ferments of disease," 

 of a totally different form, and therefore easily distin- 



* The work on Diseases of Silkworms was dedicated to the 

 Empress of the French. 



