Page 85 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
82
1
because one wishes them to be so." He could well
apprehend this danger, since it was one to which we find he
was subject.
Bechamp's attitude to his work was diametrically
opposite. He gave his imagination no play until he had
interrogated Nature. Not until he had received a direct
reply to a direct demand did he allow his mind to be
carried away by resultant possibilities, and even then
experiments punctuated the course to his conclusions. In
short, he did not direct Nature and decide what he wished
to discover. He allowed Nature to direct him and made
his discoveries follow her revelations.
For fortunate Pasteur, Imperial patronage was no' dead
letter. Four months after his presentation to Napoleon, in
July of the same year, he received direct encouragement
from the latter to turn his attention to the vinous diseases
that were then interfering with the trade in French wines.
Once more Pasteur started on a scientific tour during the
holidays, this time to vineyards, and with the Emperor's
blessing to lighten his pathway.
Meanwhile, his opponents, Messrs. Pouchet, Joly and
Musset, followed his former example and climbed moun-
tains, testing air collected in small glass flasks. They
returned triumphant, for although they had scaled
1,000 metres higher than M. Pasteur, there was alteration
in their phials.
We have no need here to discuss the wagging of tongues
on the subject and M. Flourens' pronouncement in favour
of Pasteur at the Academy of Science. It suffices to men-
tion that the deep problem of spontaneous generation
became so popular that when Pasteur entered the lec ture
room of the Sorbonne on the evening of April 7th, 1864, to
discourse on the subject, every seat available was filled, not
simply by learned professors, but also by literary celebri-
ties, Alexandre Dumas and George Sand among them,
and also Princesse Mathilde and all the well-known
votaries of fashion, the "smart set" of Paris. And happily
1
Comptes Rendus de VAcadimie des Sciences 80, p. 91 (1875).