DISCUSSION WITH M. PASTEUR 189 

periments before the Commission which has been 
nominated by the Academy.” 
Several letters subsequently passed between M. 
Dumas and myself, which together with an account 
of what actually occurred at the meeting of the 
Commission are to be found in Mature for 
August 2, 1877. I shall, therefore, only give here 
an abbreviated account of this correspondence. 
Owing to my not having received a letter sent by 
M. Dumas on April 25 (which was subsequently 
forwarded in duplicate), I actually heard nothing 
from him till a letter was received dated May 5, 
saying that M. Pasteur had already performed his 
experiments before the Commission, that they were 
ready to receive me at any time, and placing the 
laboratory of the Ecole Normale at my service. 
I subsequently wrote to say I should be unable to 
come to Paris till ‘“‘ the third week in July when our 
medical session will terminate,’ and wished again 
to ascertain exactly what the programme of the 
Commission was to be. Later, I learned that ‘‘the 
Commission will allow to each of us the opportunity 
of producing before it the facts upon which we found 
our respective opinions.” This indeed I regarded as 
an essential condition of the inquiry. I then went 
on to say, “If the Commission proposes to limit 
itself to reporting upon this mere question of fact | 
will freely submit to its decision. If, however, it 
does not propose to restrict itself, and is empowered 
to express an opinion upon the interpretation of the 
fact attested, and on its bearings upon the ‘Germ 
