THE QUESTION OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. 93 



Thus the question as to the origin of microscopic 

 organisms and the part played by them in fermenta- 

 tion was imposed as a necessity on Pasteur. He 

 could not proceed further in his researches without 

 having solved this question. 



In the month of October, 1857, Pasteur was called 

 to Paris. After having been made dean at an incredibly 

 early age, he was now, at the age of thirty-five, entrusted 

 with the scientific studies at the Ecole Normale 

 Superieure. But if the position was flattering, it did not 

 give to Pasteur what he most desired. As he had no 

 Professor's chair, he had no laboratory. In those days 

 science, and the higher education in science, were at a 

 discount. It was the period when Claude Bernard 

 lived in a small damp laboratory, when M. Berthelot, 

 though known through his great labours, was still 

 nothing more than an assistant in the College de 

 France. 



At the time here referred to, the Minister of Public 

 Instruction said to Pasteur, There is no clause in 

 the budget to grant you 1,500 francs a year to defray 

 the expense of experiments.' Pasteur did not hesitate 

 to establish a laboratory at his own expense in one of 

 the garrets of the Ecole Normale. We can readily ima- 

 gine the modesty of such an establishment in such a 

 place. Dividing his time between his professional 

 duties and his laboratory experiments, Pasteur never 

 went out but to talk over his daily researches with 



