December 6, 1895.] 



SGIENOE. 



753 



1847 ; but the two laboratories for cbemistry 

 and physics were ready for occupancy in 

 1846, and Pasteur, who had charge of the 

 Chemical one, began at once the installation, 

 being with Bertin, the physicist, the two 

 first inhabitants of the new JiTormal School 

 mansion. For the time the laboratory was 

 excellent, even luxurious, and from the first 

 day, with the help of a young man named 

 Thomas, who acted as servant, and has 

 since become a very able professional 

 chemist, Pasteur became that extraor- 

 dinary manipulator, unequalled in the his- 

 tory of chemistry for exactness, sharp and 

 delicate observations. 



The first work of Pasteur is on crystal- 

 lography and rotatory polarization ; and to 

 the surprise of Biot and Mitscherlich he 

 created a new chapter of chemical ci-ystal- 

 lography, by his discovery in regard to 

 the tartrate crystals. Then he worked 

 on dimorphism. During the year and 

 a half that Pasteur passed as chemical as- 

 sistant at the Normal School incessant 

 laboratory work took all his time ; often 

 he was at the laboratory at 6 a. m. , and at 

 12 o'clock p. m. he was still studying, in his 

 room, chemical books borrowed from the 

 Library. 



We used then to take our meals together; 

 hardly speaking to one another at break- 

 fast, so fuU we were, both of us, of our 

 work. It was only at dinner time that we 

 exchanged our thoughts; walking after din- 

 ner first to vaj room, rue d'Enfer, 51 ; Pas- 

 teur and I, would get up the four stories, 

 and pass one or two hours talking on scien- 

 tific subjects, travels, etc., often two or three 

 other friends joined us, such as Quintino 

 Sella, the mineralogist and Italian states- 

 man; Bartholomeo Gastaldi, the geologist; 

 A. Pomel, the paleontologist and geologist, 

 and Oscar Fraas, the geologist. Then Pas- 

 teur always pursuing an idea, would take 

 French leave and go to his room in the rue 

 d'Ulm. We never went into society, or to 



theatres, or to 'cafes;' taking now and 

 then a walk, in the Luxembourg Garden ; 

 in fact our lives were hermit lives, entirely 

 devoted to science and friendship. 



It was during those two years, October, 

 1846, to March, 1848, that Pasteur learned 

 to be such an expert in chemical laboratory 

 work ; and he owed a great deal to the 

 private teaching of old Barruel, the chemi- 

 cal assistant at la Sorbonne. But he was 

 also a rare and unique pupil, extremely 

 skillful with his hands, with near-sighted 

 eyes, which scrutinized everything, and let 

 pass nothing without seeing what it was, 

 extremely patient, never tired when at 

 work, and with those great qualities not 

 an absent minded man, always being on 

 the contrary wide-awake. 



In May, 1848, Pasteur, who had taken 

 his degree of doctor of physical and chemi- 

 cal sciences at the end of 1846, was ap- 

 pointed professor of physics and chemistry 

 at the lyceum of Dijon, where he stayed 

 only three months, being called to the fac- 

 ulty of science at Strasburg, first as substi- 

 tute, and three years later as full professor. 



During the five years he passed at Stras- 

 burg, from October, 1848, to August, 1854, 

 Pasteur studied the correlations between 

 dissymetry and the deviation of polarized 

 light in minerals. He proved that the 

 molecular dissymetry is the only sharp 

 demarcation existing between the chemistry 

 of ' la nature morte ' and the chemistry of 

 'la nature vivante.' It was during his 

 stay at Strasburg that Pasteur married 

 Miss Mary Anne Laurent, daughter of the 

 rector of the academy at Strasburg. It is 

 said that he was working so steadily at an 

 experiment in his laboratory, the morning 

 of his his wedding, that some friend was 

 obliged to go there and bring him up to be 

 prepared for the ceremony. ISTever was a 

 better match and a more harmonious couple. 



In October, 1854, Pasteur removed to 

 Lille, where he had been appointed dean of 



