1860—1864 111 



researches on the rotatory power of certain liquids and their 

 steam. 



Afrthat same time, the heterogenists had at last placed them- 

 selves at the disposal of the Academie and were invited to meet 

 Pasteur before the Natural History Commission at M. 

 Chevreul's laboratory. "I affirm," said Pasteur, "that in 

 any place it is possible to take up from the ambient atmosphere 

 a determined volume of air containing neither egg nor spore 

 and producing no generation in putrescible solutions." The 

 Commission declared that, the whole contest bearing upon one 

 simple fact, one experiment only should take place. The 

 heterogenists wanted to recommence a whole series of experi- 

 ments, thus reopening the discussion. The Commission re- 

 fused, and the heterogenists, unwilling to concede the point, 

 retired from the field, repudiating the arbiters that they had 

 themselves chosen. 



And yet Joly had written to the Academie, " If one only 

 of our flasks remains pure, we will loyally own our defeat." 

 A scientist who later became Permanent Secretary of the 

 Academie des Sciences, Jamin, wrote about this conflict : 

 ' The heterogenists, however they may have coloured their 

 retreat, have condemned themselves. If they had been sure 

 of the fact — which they had solemnly engaged to prove or to 

 own themselves vanquished, — they would have insisted on 

 showing it, it would have been the triumph of their doctrine." 

 The heterogenists appealed to the public. A few days after 

 their defeat, Joly gave a lecture at the Faculty of Medicine. 

 He called the trial, as decided on by the Commission, a " circus 

 competition " ; he was applauded by those who saw other than 

 scientific questions in the matter. The problem was now 

 coming down from mountains and laboratories into the arena of 

 society discussions. If all comes from a germ, people said, whence 

 came the first germ? We must bow before that mystery, 

 said Pasteur; it is the question of the origin of all things, and 

 absolutely outside the domain of scientific research. But an 

 invincible curiosity exists amongst most men which cannot 

 admit that science should have the wisdom to content itself 

 with the vast space between the beginning of the world and 

 the unknown future. Many people transform a question of 

 fact into a question of faith. Though Pasteur had brought into 

 his researches a solely scientific preoccupation, many people 

 approved or blamed him as the defender of a religious cause. 



