1873—1877 23 



" the greatness of human actions can be measured by the inspi- 

 rations which give them birth." He was convinced that there 

 are no vain prayers. If all is simple to the simple, all is 

 great to the great ; it was through ' ' the Divine regions of 

 Knowledge and of Light " that he had visions of those who are 

 no more. 



It was very seldom that he spoke of such things, though 

 he was sometimes induced to do so in the course of a dis- 

 cussion so as to manifest his repugnance for vainglorious 

 negations and barren irony ; sometimes too he would enter into 

 such feelings when speaking to an assembly of young men. 



Those discussions at the Academy of Medicine had the 

 advantage of inciting medical men to the research of the 

 infinitesimally small, described by the Annual Secretary 

 Roger as ' those subtle artisans of many disorders in the 

 living economy." 



M. Roger, at the end of a brief account of his colleague's 

 work, wrote, " To the signal services rendered by M. Pasteur 

 to science and to our country, it was but fair that a signal re- 

 compense should be given : the National Assembly has under- 

 taken that care." 



That recompense, voted a few months previously, was the 

 third national recompense accorded to French scientists since 

 the beginning of the century. In 1837, Arago, before the 

 Chamber of Deputies, and Gay Lussac, before the Chamber 

 of Peers, had otained a glorious recognition of the services 

 rendered by Daguerre and Niepce. In 1845 another national 

 recompense was accorded, to M. Vicat, the engineer. In 1874, 

 Paul Bert, a member of the National Assembly, gladly re- 

 porting on the projected law tending to offer a national 

 recompense to Pasteur, wrote quoting those precedents : 



" Such an assurance of gratitude, given by a nation to men 

 who have made it richer and more illustrious, honours it at 

 least as much as it does them. ..." Paul Bert continued 

 by enumerating Pasteur's discoveries, and spoke of the millions 

 Pasteur had assured to France, " without retaining the least 

 share of them for himself." In sericiculture alone, the losses 

 in twenty years, before Pasteur's interference, rose to 1,500 

 millions of francs. 



" M. Pasteur's discoveries, gentlemen," concluded Paul 

 Bert, " after throwing a new light on the obscure question of 

 fermentations and of the mode of appearance of microscopic 



