FOR THE NATIONAL WEALTH 81 



heated and other samples that had not been 

 heated. After ten months of ocean travel the 

 former samples were declared by the commis- 

 sion to be excellent in all respects, while the lat- 

 ter samples had turned sour. The experiment 

 was repeated on board the frigate La Sibylle, 

 and gave the same results. The wine that had 

 been heated preserved all its characteristic 

 qualities and escaped all injury. For that mat- 

 ter the protection of liquids by heating has now 

 become general and we pasteurise milk, beer, 

 etc. 



Napoleon III became interested in Pasteur's 

 study of wines, for it involved the question of 

 safeguarding one of the principal sources of the 

 wealth of France. Accordingly, during one of 

 the sojourns of the court at Compiegne both 

 he and the Empress, Eugenie, were initiated 

 into the details of the experiments. It was in 

 1865 that Pasteur, armed with his microscope 

 and his samples of wine, delivered a lecture on 

 the subject before the emperor and empress, 

 and taught them to distinguish, with their eye 



