1850—1854 61 



anxious that he should not be disturbed in these ingenious 

 researches, and advised him to remain at Strasburg in terms 

 as vigorous as any of his previous advice. " As to the accidents 

 which come from or depend on men's caprice, be strong- 

 minded enough to disdain them yet awhile. Do not trouble 

 about anything, but pursue indefatigably your great career. 

 You will be rewarded in the end, the more certainly and un- 

 questionably that you will have deserved it more fully. The 

 time is not far when those who can serve you efficiently will 

 feel as much pride in doing so as shame and embarrassment 

 in not having done so already." 



When Pasteur came to Paris in August, for what he might 

 have called his annual pilgrimage, Biot had reserved for him a 

 most agreeable surprise. Mitscherlich was in Paris, where 

 he had come, accompanied by another German crystallo- 

 grapher, G. Eose, to thank the Academie for appointing him 

 a foreign Associate. They both expressed a desire to see 

 Pasteur, who was staying in a hotel in the Rue de Tournon. 

 Biot, starting for his daily walk round the Luxembourg 

 Garden, left this note : " Please come to my house to-morrow 

 at 8 a.m., if possible with your products. M. Mitscherlich and 

 M. Eose are coming at 9 to see them." The interview was 

 lengthy and cordial. In a letter to his father — who now knew 

 a great deal about crystals and their forms, thanks to Pasteur's 

 lucid explanations — we find these words. ' I spent two and a 

 half hours with them on Sunday at the College de France, 

 showing them my crystals. They were much pleased, and 

 highly praised my work. I dined with them on Tuesday at M. 

 Thenard's ; you will like to see the names of the guests : 

 Messrs. Mitscherlich, Eose, Dumas, Chevreul, Eegnault, 

 Pelouze, Peligot, C. Prevost, and Bussy. You see I was the 

 only outsider, they are all members of the Academie. . . . But 

 the chief advantage of my meeting these gentlemen is that I 

 have heard from them the important fact that there is a 

 manufacturer in Germany who again produces some racemic 

 acid. I intend to go and see him and his products, so as to 

 study thoroughly that singular substance." 



At the time when scientific novels were in fashion, a whole 

 chapter might have been written on Pasteur in search of that 

 acid. In order to understand in a measure his emotion on 

 learning that a manufacturer in Saxony possessed this 

 mysterious acid, we must remember that the racemic acid — 



