14 PASTEUR 



the Essay on the Art of Being Happy, by Jo- 

 seph Droz. He appreciated the honesty of its 

 sentiments, the gentleness of its philosophy 

 and the kindliness which emanated from one 

 and all of its aphorisms. He also read My 

 Prisons, by Silvio Pellico, some rather dull nov- 

 els which he recommended to his sisters, and 

 some poetry. He had a friend who shared his 

 literary enthusiasms, Charles Chappuis, with 

 whom he was destined throughout life to enjoy 

 a more than brotherly intimacy, and they used 

 to work themselves to the highest pitch of ex- 

 altation by reading together the Meditations of 

 Lamartine. Poetry rested Pasteur after the 

 strain of mathematics, and, far removed from 

 figures and calculations, it afforded him emo- 

 tions so delicate that sometimes he was moved 

 to tears. 



Nevertheless, Louis Pasteur was by no means 

 neglecting his scientific studies and his prepa- 

 ration for the Ecole Normale. He even thought 

 for a time of applying for admission to the 

 Polytechnique, but he renounced this idea, in 



