4 LOUIS PASTEUK. 



houses of Arbois, all bearing his signature. Consider- 

 ing that his age at the time was only thirteen, the- 

 accuracy of the drawing is astonishing. 



' What a pity,' said an old lady of Arbois a short 

 time since, * that he should have buried himself in 

 chemistry ! He has missed his vocation, for he might 

 by this time have made his reputation as a painter.' 



It was not until he reached the third class that 

 Louis Pasteur, beginning to realise the sacrifices 

 which his father imposed upon himself, determined to 

 abandon his fishing implements and his crayons, feel- 

 ing aroused within him that passion for work which 

 was to form the foundation of his life. The Principal 

 of the college, who followed with watchful interest the 

 progress of a pupil who, in his first effort, had out- 

 stripped all his comrades, used to say, 'He will go 

 far. It is not for the chair of a small college like ours 

 that we must prepare him ; he must become pro- 

 fessor in a royal college. My little friend,' he would 

 add, ' think of the great Ecole Norrnale.' 



The College of Arbois having no professor of philo- 

 sophy, Pasteur quitted it for Besan9on. There he 

 remained for the scholars' year, received the degree of 

 bachelier es lettres, and was immediately appointed 

 tutor in the same college. In the intervals of his 

 duties he followed the course of mathematics neces- 

 sary to prepare him for the scientific examinations of 

 the Ecole Norrnale. He must have been already 



