PASTEUE. 1 

 By George M. Sternberg, M. D., LL. D., 



Surgeon-General, United States Army. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: I am to speak to you of the life and 

 achievements of one who has won imperishable renown by his valuable 

 contributions to human knowledge, and who has recently been buried 

 in the city in which his scientific labors have been prosecuted, with all 

 the honors which it was possible for a grateful j>eople to confer. It is 

 certainly a happy augury for the future when the man of science, whose 

 achievements have been the result of painstaking and laborious work 

 in the laboratory, receives the grateful plaudits of his fellow-men dur- 

 ing his lifetime and the honors which were formerly only paid to civil 

 potentates or military heroes when his body is committed to the tomb. 

 It has been the fortune of few men to contribute so largely to the sum 

 of useful knowledge, and fewer still have lived to receive such ample 

 recognition of the value of their scientific work. 



Pasteur's success has been due to a combination of personal quali- 

 ties which especially fitted him for the pioneer work which he has done 

 in his chosen field of scientific investigation. With that penetrating 

 intellect and versatility of resource which constitutes genius, was com- 

 bined an energy and persistence of purpose, a disregard of accepted 

 theories not supported by evidence, and an appreciation of the value 

 of the experimental method as the only reliable means of arriving at 

 exact truth. No amount of conservative opposition intimidated him 

 when he announced results obtained by his carefully conducted labora- 

 tory experiments, and no false pride seduced him into maintaining a 

 position which he had once taken, if the experimental evidence was 

 against him. This rarely happened. But where is the man of science 

 who is infallible? Working in a new field, by methods largely of his 

 own devising, which were necessarily more or less imperfect at the 

 outset, it is surprising how few mistakes he made. 



With his genius for scientific research, his indomitable perseverance, 

 and the forceful character which enabled him to defend his discoveries 



Memorial address delivered January 14, 1898, under the auspices of the Joint 

 Commission of the Scientific Societies of Washington. Reprinted from Science. 

 New series, Vol. Ill, No. 58, February 7, 1896. 



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