INDIAN NATIONAL LIFE 83 



which were undistinguished, he resolved to become a teacher. 

 He then entered the training college at Paris and there 

 manifested his first real interest in science. The subject 

 which secured his interest was one that promised no practical 

 fruit whatever. It was a peculiarity regarding a particular 

 crystalline substance, viz. tartaric acid. By a scientific 

 anomaly relating to this substance Pasteur's curiosity was 

 excited, and he made up his mind to explain the anomaly. 

 In that way he first acquired his training as a scientific 

 investigator in what may be called pure research. In time 

 he obtained his post as a teacher, moving from one place 

 to another until he settled down in the industrial centre 

 of Lille, where he was very soon called upon to give his 

 scientific assistance in connexion with an important industry. 

 The industry which he was called to assist was the manu- 

 facturing of alcohol from beetroot sugar. This is conducted 

 by a process of fermentation. A large manufacturer, whose 

 son attended Pasteur's class, found that fermentation had 

 a way of going wrong and producing an alcohol which was 

 unfit for sale. Pasteur was appealed to. He took up readily 

 the examination of the difficulty and he very soon found 

 what was at its root. He gave his prescriptions. These 

 prescriptions being followed, all difficulty disappeared, and 

 in that way Pasteur had his interest aroused in the phenomena 

 of fermentation. The phenomenon of fermentation up to 

 that time was almost completely unexplored. It was after 

 the birth of Pasteur that it was first recognized that the 

 organism which produced fermentation was really an organism 

 at all. It was realized, about 1836, that the yeast which was 

 always found in fermenting liquor was really a living organism, 

 which, if observed under the microscope, was found to grow. 

 What was its relation to the process of fermentation no one 

 knew. All that was supposed was based on little more than 

 speculation. Pasteur resolved to take up this inquiry and 



