1870—1872 2H 



disease ; but guessing that it might have become clear through 

 a long rest, the ferments now inert having dropped to the 

 bottom of the reservoirs, I examined the deposit at the bottom 

 of the reservoirs. It was entirely composed of filaments of 

 disease unmixed with the least globule of alcoholic yeast. 

 The complementary fermentation of that beer had therefore 

 been exclusively a morbid fermentation." 



When he visited the same brewery again, a week later, he 

 found that not only had a microscope been procured imme- 

 diately, but the yeast of all the beer then being brewed had been 

 changed. 



Pasteur was happy to offer to the English, who like to call 

 themselves practical men, a proof of the usefulness of dis- 

 interested science, persuaded as he was that the moral debt 

 incurred to a French scientist would in some measure revert 

 to France herself. "We must make some friends for our 

 beloved France," he would say. And if in the course of con- 

 versation an Englishman gave expression to any doubt con- 

 cerning the future of the country, Pasteur, his grave and 

 powerful face full of energy, would answer that every French- 

 man, after the horrible storm which had raged for so many 

 months, was valiantly returning to his daily task, whether 

 great or humble, each one thinking of retrieving the national 

 fall. 



Every morning, as he left his hotel to go to the various 

 breweries which he was now privileged to visit in their smallest 

 details, he observed this English people, knowing the value of 

 time, seeing its own interests in all things, consistent in its 

 ideas and in its efforts, respectful of established institutions and 

 hierarchy ; and he thought with regret how his own country- 

 men lacked these qualities. But if the French are rightly 

 taxed with a feverish love of change, should not justice be 

 rendered to that generous side of the French character, so 

 gifted, capable of so much, and which finds in self-sacrifice 

 the secret of energy, for whom hatred is a real suffering? 

 " Let us work ! " Pasteur's favourite phrase ever ended those 

 philosophical discussions. 



He wanted to do two years' work in one, regardless of 

 health and strength. Beyond the diseases of beer, avoidable 

 since they come from outside, he foresaw the application of 

 the doctrine of exterior germs to other diseases. But he did 

 not allow his imagination to run away with him, and resolutely 



p 2 



