THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GENIUS 151 



pocket, drew out a brand-new crown, and said : 



"Here, my friend, take this also, because you 

 have driven the greatest minister of the Sec- 

 ond Empire!" 



The coachman looked somewhat bewildered, 

 but eminently happy, while the two academi- 

 cians entered the court of the Palais Mazarin, 

 still laughing. 



For Pasteur, one homage succeeded another. 

 The town of Aubenas, saved from ruin by his 

 discoveries in regard to the disease of silk- 

 worms, presented him, in May, 1882, with a 

 work of art in which the microscope was por- 

 trayed as rendering possible the cultivation of 

 healthy silk-worms. Next it was Nimes which 

 awarded him a medal for his vaccine against 

 anthrax ; and next Montpellier, where the Agri- 

 cultural Society organised a solemn meeting for 

 the purpose of thanking him for having van- 

 quished anthrax, and to beg him to cure the rot 

 and the phylloxera. He had become the great 

 magician. 



But he had against him certain "beloved 



