1877—1879 65 



pendently of cells would hamper me. It is true — I own it 

 without hesitation, and I am ready to explain myself more 

 lengthily if desired — that at present I neither see the necessity 

 for the existence of those ferments, nor the usefulness of their 

 action in this order of fermentations. Why should actions of 

 diastase, which are but phenomena of hydration, be confused 

 with those of organized ferments, or vice versa? But I do not 

 see that the presence of those soluble substances, if it were 

 ascertained, could change in any way the conclusions drawn 

 from my labours, and even less so if alcohol were formed by 

 electrolysis. 



" They agree with me who admit : 



"Firstly. That fermentations, properly so called, offer as 

 an essential condition the presence of microscopic organisms. 



" Secondly. That those organisms have not a spontaneous 

 origin. 



" Thirdly. That the life of every organism which can exist 

 away from free oxygen is suddenly concomitant with acts of 

 fermentation ; and that it is so with every cell which continues 

 to produce chemical action without the contact of oxygen." 



When Pasteur related this discussion, and formed of it an 

 appendix to his book, Critical Examination of a Posthumous 

 Work of Claude Bernard on Fermentations, his painful feelings 

 in opposing a friend who was no more were so clearly evidenced 

 that Sainte Claire Deville wrote to him (June 9, 1879) : " My 

 dear Pasteur, I read a few passages of your new book yester- 

 day to a small party of professors and savants. We all were 

 much moved by the expressions with which you praise our 

 dear Bernard, and by your feelings of friendship and pure 

 fraternity." 



Sainte Claire Deville often spoke of his admiration for 

 Pasteur's precision of thought, his forcible speech, the clearness 

 of his writings. As for J. B. Dumas, he called the attention 

 of his colleagues at the Academie Francaise to certain pages 

 of that Critical Examination. Though unaccustomed to those 

 particular subjects, they could not but be struck by the sagacity 

 and ingenuity of Pasteur's researches, and by the eloquence 

 inspired by his genius. A propos of those ferment germs, which 

 turn grape juice into wine, and from which he had preserved 

 his swathed bunches, Pasteur wrote — 



' What meditations are induced by those results ! It is 

 impossible not to observe that, the further we penetrate into the 



