118 PASTEUR 



"It is this admirable combination of theoreti- 

 cal and practical work which the Government 

 proposes that you should honour with a na- 

 tional recompense. Your Committee unani- 

 mously approves this proposition. 



"The recompense specified consists of a life 

 pension of twelve thousand francs; this sum 

 represents very nearly the salary attached to 

 the professorship in the Sorbonne, from which 

 illness has obliged M. Pasteur to resign." 



In this same report Paul Bert paid tribute to 

 the disinterestedness of Pasteur, whose discov- 

 eries had enriched France to the extent of un- 

 numbered millions, without its having occurred 

 to him to acquire any personal benefit from 

 them. The motion was carried by 532 affirma- 

 tive votes against 24 negative ones. It was an 

 overwhelming majority. 



Having once turned his attention to infec- 

 tious diseases, Pasteur assiduously frequented 

 the Academy of Medicine. Becoming con- 

 vinced that the majority of deaths were caused 

 by wounds coming in contact with external 



