THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GENIUS 159 



"Gentlemen, I thank you for having permit- 

 ted me to say publicly what has been in my 

 thoughts for sixty years. I thank you for this 

 festival and for your welcome, and I thank the 

 town of Dole, which never loses sight of any of 

 her children, and which has held me in such 

 affectionate memory." 



But the honours paid to his genius, whether 

 of a private or public character, failed to turn 

 him aside from his laborious task. At the be- 

 ginning of the month of 'August, 1883, at which 

 time a formidable epidemic of cholera had 

 broken out in Egypt, he sent out a small band 

 of his pupils, Messrs. Roux, Nocard, Strauss 

 and Thuillier, for the purpose of studying the 

 frightful malady and seeking some means of 

 checking its ravages. Thuillier was destined 

 to die during this scientific expedition, stricken 

 down by the scourge in the fullness of youth 

 and hope; he was only twenty-six years of age. 

 Through the pious cares of the Pasteur Insti- 

 tute his medallion has been placed upon one of 



