XXVili INTRODUCTION 



be overturned any more than the blows that would be 

 received. He was one of those rare men who support a 

 cause, not for the advantages they expect to receive, but 

 simply because they believe it is just. Duclaux sup- 

 ported those which he had adopted with the tenacity of 

 his Auvergnaise blood and also with a force of thought 

 and clarity, and a generous joyousness wiiich rendered 

 his faith contagious. As to attacks against himself, he 

 bore them with an imperturable serenity; this scientific 

 man with a slender body and frail members possessed 

 true courage, and he possessed it to the degree of giving 

 it to others in tragic moments. 



"Goodness and the disinterested worship of justice and 

 of truth were the rules of his private life as they were of 

 his scientific life. It was a delight to him to find in a 

 memoir new facts and well-conducted experiments. If 

 the publication was that of a young man his joy was com- 

 plete. He showed this in his articles in the Annales, 

 which were marvels of exposition and of criticism. So 

 much so, that the author often found in the analyses of 

 Duclaux more than he had himself put into the original. 



"In order to make the labors of a beginner useful, 

 Duclaux did not hesitate before the disagreeable task 

 of retouching the manuscript, pruning it, sometimes 

 even rewriting it, in order that the interesting point 

 might stand forth clearly, which point was not always 

 that one which the author had believed. 



"His penetrating and just criticisms, with an original 

 and piquant turn, never wounded; they guided into the 

 right pathway and kept from vanity. 



"Correspondents from all countries sought the advice 

 of Duclaux and he passed a good part of his time in inter- 

 course with them. He excelled in discovering young 

 talents and in giving to them a knowledge of themselves. 

 He was truly a midwife of minds for he knew how to 



