CHEMISTRY 21 



with his own eyes the whole business of the making 

 of wines, had carried him from crystals to ferments, 

 from experimental physics to one of the world's 

 most colossal industries. He has recorded how, at 

 this time, he discovered that a racemate, in the 

 presence of a ferment, is split up : that the ferment 

 picks out the right-handed acid, and leaves the left- 

 handed acid. Here, over this one observation, we 

 seem to be standing on the very border-line between 

 the two kingdoms, between " pure science " and 

 "applied science." Only, his genius inspired him 

 not to lower science to the level of trade, but to 

 exalt trade to the level of science. 



That he might have every advantage for his 

 work in the kingdom of the industrial sciences, he 

 must be set in a great industrial district, with 

 manufactories all round him. This part of the 

 design of his life was fulfilled in 1854. He was 

 appointed Professor and Dean of the newly 

 formed Faculty of Sciences in the University of 

 Lille. 



