ON THE ROAD TO FAME 53 



prepared for the experiment of the morrow. At 

 times his reverie assumed the intensity of ecs- 

 tacy ; and within the brain of this man of 

 genius flashes of light revealed his goal, and 

 gave him a prevision of all that was destined 

 to emanate from him. 



"How beautiful it is! How beautiful it is!" 

 he would murmur in low tones. Then, resum- 

 ing his pacing with a firmer step, he would add, 

 "I must work." And so he would continue un- 

 til the hour of eleven. 



Is there not something deeply touching in 

 this picture of the great man toiling on into 

 the night, after all the experiments he had 

 made during the day, experiments made under 

 very hard conditions? His laboratory in the 

 Ecole Normale was, as a matter of fact, ex- 

 ceedingly primitive and inconvenient. It con- 

 sisted of two inadequate rooms which he him- 

 self had contrived in the garret, and, while it 

 was freezing cold in winter, during the summer 

 the temperature would rise to 97 Fahrenheit. 

 Nevertheless, it was here that he completed his 



