140 PASTEUR 



insistence of his friends, as well as the thought 

 that it was a tribute paid to science rather than 

 to him personally, to decide him to offer him- 

 self as a candidate. He was elected on Decem- 

 ber 8th, 1881, to the thirty-first chair, whose 

 previous occupants had been De La Chambre 

 (1635), Desmarais (1670), LaMonnoye (1713), 

 La Riviere (1727), Hardion (1730), Thomas 

 (1766), Guilbert (1786), Fontanes (1803), Ville- 

 main (1821), and Littre (1881). It may well 

 be said that, even though he was not a man 

 of letters, Pasteur's name will remain as the 

 one which has shed the greatest lustre upon 

 that particular chair. 



His reception took place on the 27th of April, 

 1882, and it was the philosopher, Ernest Re- 

 nan, who as master of ceremonies, welcomed 

 the scientist. Their two addresses, each in its 

 respective form and spirit, are admirable monu- 

 ments of the French language and of French 

 thought. That of Pasteur, grave, austere, pro- 

 found, paying homage to the merit of Littre, 

 opening up marvellous glimpses into the 



