74 PASTEUR 



tained his results he boldly and vigorously pro- 

 claimed them. He had a scorn of bad faith, 

 routine and prejudice, and every one knows the 

 famous apostrophe which he addressed to his 

 adversaries who were disputing his discoveries 

 in relation to the crystals of tartrates at a meet- 

 ing of the Societe Philomatique on the eighth 

 of December, 1862: "If you have ever known 

 anything of the subject, what have you done 

 with your knowledge? And, if you have not 

 known, why do you interfere?" He was a rough 

 antagonist, but he fought only for the triumph 

 of truth, putting all personal considerations 

 aside. 



In the course of his studies of fermentations 

 Pasteur was led to study the phenomenon 

 through which wine was transformed into 

 vinegar. The celebrated chemist, Liebig, had 

 established a theory which did not altogether 

 agree with his own observations, and he pro- 

 ceeded victoriously to advance his own theory 

 in opposition. 



The manufacturers of vinegar in Orleans 



