A LABORIOUS YOUTH 43 



visiting the museums, and here it was that the 

 artistic side of his nature found satisfaction. 

 In Dresden he kept a record of the paintings 

 which pleased him, and he made notes which 

 show the degree of his admiration for each of 

 them. Pasteur debated the question of going 

 all the way to Venice in order to obtain crude 

 tartar which contained the rare acid, but he re- 

 turned to France without having made this ex- 

 tra journey and very much fatigued by his long 

 ramblings. He had convinced himself that ra- 

 cemic acid existed in tartar that had not been 

 washed and that it was to be found in the 

 mother liquid. Hence his pursuit had not been 

 unprofitable. 



Upon returning to his laboratory in Stras- 

 burg, Pasteur undertook a task which it seemed 

 to him would be difficult to realise, but which 

 was not beyond his powers. He had decided 

 that this racemic acid which no other chemist 

 had produced should issue from his own labora- 

 tory ! With this ambitious design he began ex- 

 periments of unimagined delicacy, working with 



