Page 25 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

22 BECHAMP OR PASTEUR?
made delightful by his easy eloquence and perfect enuncia-
tion, no less than by the clearness of his reasoning; while
his social manner possessed the grace and courtliness that
are typical of the polished inhabitants of la belle France.
Well above medium height, his clear eye and ruddy com-
plexion gave unstinted proof of the perfect sanity of mind
and body that he was blessed with throughout the whole
course of his long life. His powerful forehead testified to
the strength of his intellect, while his nose was of the large
aquiline type that so usually accompanies creative force
and energy. His hair was brown and his forceful eyebrows
were strongly marked above the large eyes of an idealist, a
dreamer of dreams, which in his case were so often
realised.
To the physiognomist, a comparison of the looks of the
rivals, Bechamp and Pasteur, gives a key to their respective
scientific attitudes. Alert determination is the chief
characteristic of Pasteur's features; intellectual idealism of
Bechamp's. Pasteur approached science from the com-
mercial, that is to say, the utilitarian standpoint, no less
self-advantageous because professedly to benefit the world.
Bechamp had ever the artist's outlook. His thirst was for
knowledge, independent of profit; his longing to penetrate
the unexplored realm of Nature's secrets; the outer world
was forgotten, while, pace by pace, he followed in the
footsteps of truth. It never occurred to him to indite
compliments to influential acquaintances and announce
at the same time the dawning of a new idea. The lessons
he learned in his quests he duly noted and communicated
to the French Academy of Science and at first ignored the
fact that his observations were pirated. When finally his
silence changed to protest, we shall see, as we proceed,
that his patience had been stretched to snapping point.
Himself so exact in his recognition of every crumb of
knowledge owed to another, he could only feel contempt
for pilferers of other men's ideas, while his exuberant
vigour and energy fired him with uncompromising opposi-
tion to those who, not content with reaping where he had