38 PASTEUR 



of the Minister of Instruction and, from the 

 moment that he was installed, applied himself 

 to a conscientious fulfilment of the duties of his 

 new function. He proved himself to be a 

 methodical and painstaking professor, seeking 

 above all things to be clear in expounding the 

 science that he taught, and, far from priding 

 himself on the superiority of his own intelli- 

 gence, he spent long hours in preparing his lec- 

 tures, in order to make them easily compre- 

 hensible to his young students. Nevertheless, 

 in spite of his faithful performance of his duties 

 as a public instructor, he was not without re- 

 gret for the days that he must spend outside of 

 the laboratory. This inactivity in regard to his 

 personal researches weighed so heavily upon 

 him that he asked to be transferred, some 

 months after his arrival at Dijon, and, upon be- 

 ing appointed to the Faculty of Strasburg as 

 substitute professor of chemistry, was able to 

 take possession of his new office on the 15th of 

 January, 1849, and to continue his researches, 



