1877—1879 61 



the lateness of vegetation due to a cold and rainy season, grapes 

 are still in the green stage in the vineyards of Arbois. If I 

 choose this moment to enclose some vines in almost hermeti- 

 cally closed glass houses, I shall have in October during the 

 vintage some vines bearing ripe grapes without the exterior 

 germs of wine yeast. Those grapes, crushed with precautions 

 which will not allow of the introduction of yeast germs, will 

 neither ferment nor produce wine. I shall give myself the 

 pleasure of bringing some back to Paris, to present them to 

 the Academy and to offer a few bunches to those of our col- 

 leagues who are still able to believe in the spontaneous genera- 

 tion of yeast." 



In the midst of the agitation caused by that posthumous 

 work some said, or only insinuated, that if Pasteur was 

 announcing new researches on the subject, it was because he 

 felt that his work was threatened. 



' I will not accept such an interpretation of my conduct." 

 he wrote to J. B. Dumas on August 4, 1878, at the very time 

 when he was starting for the Jura; " I have clearly explained 

 this in my notice of July 22, when I said I would make new 

 experiments solely from respect to Bernard's memory." 



As soon as Pasteur's glass houses arrived, they were put up 

 in the little vineyard he possessed, two kilometres from Arbois. 

 While they were being put together, he examined whether the 

 yeast germs were really absent from the bunches of green 

 grapes; he had the satisfaction of seeing that it was so, and 

 that the particular branches which were about to be placed 

 under glass did not bear a trace of yeast germs. Still, fearing 

 that the closing of the glass might be insufficient and that there 

 might thus be a danger of germs, he took the precaution, 

 ' while leaving some bunches free, of wrapping a few on each 

 plant with cotton wool previously heated to 150° C." 



He then returned to Paris and his studies on anthrax, whilst 

 patiently waiting for the ripening of his grapes. 



Besides M. Chamberland, Pasteur had enrolled M. Eoux, 

 the young man who was so desirous of taking part in the work 

 at the laboratory. He and M. Chamberland were to settle down 

 at Chartres in the middle of the summer. A recent student of 

 the Alfort Veterinary School, M. Vinsot, joined them at his 

 own request. M. Roux has told of those days in a paper on 

 Pasteur's Medical Work: 



' Our guide was M. Boutet, who had unrivalled knowledge 



