ON THE ROAD TO FAME 63 



generation in any and every locality. Both 

 parties made experiments in their own behalf, 

 and each experiment gave different results. 

 These polemics spread beyond scientific circles 

 to the daily press, and, since the question of 

 religion was involved, the public took sides for 

 the one party or the other, according to their 

 individual opinions, the results obtained by 

 Pasteur being regarded as conforming with the 

 biblical account of the creation, while those of 

 Pouchet seemed to invalidate and contradict it. 

 For his first demonstration Pasteur employed 

 globes with a curving neck, into which he in- 

 troduced an infusion liable to putrefy, either of 

 hay or of malt, which had been brought to the 

 boiling point in order to destroy whatever 

 germs it might contain ; and, having done this, 

 he left the globes exposed to the open air. No 

 disturbances took place in the infusion, but if, 

 by tipping the globes, he brought the liquid into 

 contact with the walls of the curved neck, 

 after a longer or shorter time the infusion 

 would begin to swarm with life, thus furnish- 



