Page 38 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

CHAPTER III
Pasteur's Memoirs of 1857

Louis Pasteur, the son of a tanner, was born at Dole in
the year 1822. Intense strength of will, acute worldly
wisdom and unflagging ambition were the prominent
traits of his character. He first came into notice in con-
nection with crystallography by discovering that the
crystalline forms of the tartrates are hemihedral. His son-
in-law has recorded his jubilation over his early achieve-
ment and has told us how he left his experiment to rush out
of the laboratory, fall upon the neck of a Curator, whom
he met accidentally, and then and there drag the aston-
ished man into the Luxembourg garden to explain his
discovery. 1
Work so well advertised did not fail to become a topic of
conversation and eventually reached the ears of M^ Biot.
On hearing of this, Pasteur wrote at once to ask for an
interview with this well-known scientist, with whom he had
no previous acquaintance, but upon whom he now
showered every attention likely to be appreciated by the
rather misanthropical old worker, whose influential
patronage became undoubtedly the first contributory
factor in the triumphal career of the ambitious young
chemist. All the same, M. Biot's persuasions never suc-
ceeded in gaining Pasteur a place in the Academy of
Science. This he only obtained after the former's death,
when nominated by the Mineralogical Section, and then
oddly enough, exception began to be taken at once to his
2
early conclusions on crystallography.
This, however, was not until the end of 1862. Mean-
while, in 1 854, Pasteur was appointed Professor and Dean
1
The Life ofPasteur, by Rene Vallery-Radot, pop. ed. p. 39.
2
The Life of Pasteur, by Rene Vallery-Radot, pp. 101, 102.
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