6 PASTEUR 



of brilliant qualities. He studied diligently, 

 but without enthusiasm, and at times he would 

 fall into long reveries, which seemed to isolate 

 him from the outside world. When he was not 

 attending his classes and during vacations, he 

 was fond of playing and of roaming across 

 country; but he avoided all brutal games, such 

 as destroying nests and killing birds. For he 

 suffered at the sight of any kind of suffering, 

 whether of man or beast. 



From his father, who was a reflective, opin- 

 ionated, yet kind-hearted man, Louis Pasteur 

 inherited a strong will, not yet sure of itself, but 

 which was destined later on to become the dom- 

 inant force of his life; a prudent judgment, a 

 practical common sense, based upon experi- 

 ence which protected him from hasty conclu- 

 sions ; and, on the other hand, he derived from 

 his mother the secret side, so to speak, of his 

 nature: a quivering sensitiveness, a vivid im- 

 agination, an intuitive intelligence, which often 

 revealed to him the hidden mystery of things, 

 through swift, vast flashes of illumination : also, 



