106 ESSAYS BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHEMICAL 



remark this absolute devotion to each other ; never was 

 there a happier family. Although not a conversationalist, 

 Madame Berthelot, by her perfect tact, her serene manner, 

 and her charming sympathetic face, knew how to make 

 each guest appear at his best; the ball of conversation 

 was lightly tossed round the table, Berthelot himself, by 

 his quaint and paradoxical remarks, contributing his 

 share. A dinner at Berthelot's, in his old house in the 

 Palais Mazarin, the home of the Institute, was a thing to 

 be remembered. Always charitably disposed, Madame 

 Berthelot used to send all the cast-off clothes of the 

 family to the cleaners, and after they had been carefully 

 mended, they were distributed to poor friends. 



In 1881, Berthelot was elected a ' Permanent Senator ' ; 

 he thought it incumbent on him to bear his share in the 

 government of his country. With his wife's help, he 

 managed to carry on his two functions at the same time. 

 In his place in the Senate, Berthelot used to sit buried in 

 his arm-chair, his head thrown back, and his eyes closed, 

 apparently inattentive to all that passed ; but nothing of 

 importance escaped him. He took a leading and active 

 part as member of various Committees dealing with 

 education, and in 1886, as Minister of Education in the 

 Goblet Cabinet, he busied himself with the reform of 

 educational methods in such a manner as to acquire 

 a wide popularity; the Bills introduced by him dealt 

 with primary and with higher instruction, with universi- 

 ties, and with technical schools ; in the last he was no 

 believer, except in so far as manual training was given. 

 Later, in 1895, he was for a short time Foreign Minister 

 in the Bourgeois Cabinet ; but the delays of parliamentary 

 procedure were not to his mind. It was with difficulty 

 that he was persuaded to sign the Anglo-French Treaty 

 denning the position of Siam ; and, almost immediately 

 after, he resigned office. 



