LOUIS PASTEUR · LOUIS PASTEUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS, 1861 J. R. PORTER Department of Bacteriology, College of Medicine, State University ofIowa, Iowa City, Iowa Afterconsidering

LOUIS PASTEUR

ACHIEVEMENTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS, 1861

J. R. PORTERDepartment of Bacteriology, College of Medicine, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

After considering various subjects for this occa-sion, I decided, because it is the 100th Anni-versary of some of Louis Pasteur's most impor-tant research and publications, to pay respect tohim and, as Emil Roux stated, "relate whatnobody should be ignorant of in Pasteur's life,and what all who are engaged in scientific workshould know of the achievements of this greatman."

In retrospect, the year 1861 was one of themore eventful years in Pasteur's life. It was filledwith achievement, honor, and joy, but also withaffront, discouragement, and sadness. At thebeginning of 1861, Pasteur had just passed his

1 Pasteur Award Lecture at meeting of Societyof Illinois Bacteriologists, 27 May 1961. ThePasteur Award has been given each year by theSociety of Illinois Bacteriologists to a person inthe Midwest. Past recipients are: I. Forest Hud-dleson (1948), Stewart A. Koser (1949), JacquesJ. Bronfenbrenner (1950), Chester H. Werkman(1951), Salvador E. Luria (1952), Howard J.Shaughnessy (1953), James A. Reyniers (1954),Perry W. Wilson (1955), Joshua and Esther Leder-berg (1956), Gail M. Dack (1957), Carl C. Linde-gren (1958), Lloyd B. Jensen (1959), Halvor OrinHalvorson (1960), and Fred W. Tanner, Sr. (post-humously). The award includes the silver medalshown:

38th birthday, the 27th of December. He wasmarried and the father of four children. He hadheld positions in three universities, and was atthe time Professor, Administrator, and Directorof Scientific Studies at the Superior NormalSchool in Paris. His research was outstanding,and since 1847 he had published 75 memoirs,notes, and papers on such diverse subjects asmolecular asymmetry, lactic fermentation, alco-holic fermentation, and the production of glyceroland succinic acid by yeast. Each report con-tained true Pasteurian discoveries. He had beenawarded three prizes, including the covetedRumford Medal from the Royal Society of Lon-don. His pastel drawings, especially of people,were recognized as outstanding pieces of art. Fewscientists accomplish this much in an entire life-time. But now let us review 1861 chronologically.

In January, the 83-year-old physics professorBiot, the senior member of the Academy ofSciences, the founder of saccharimetry, and Pas-teur's greatest supporter in his studies in crystal-lography, hoped that Pasteur would be awardedthe 1861 Jecker prize and become a member ofthe Academy. At that time the Academy ofSciences consisted of 11 sections, with 6 membersin each and several corresponding members.There were single vacancies in the Geography andNavigation Section and the Botany Section (1).Biot campaigned vigorously for Pasteur's electionto the position in Botany, and stated, on oneoccasion (17):

"I can hear the objection: he is a chemist, aphysicist, not a professional botanist.... Butthat very versatility, ever active and ever success-ful, should be in his favor.... Let us judge ofmen by their works and not by the destinationmore or less wide or narrow that they havemarked out for themselves. Pasteur made hisdebut before the Academy in 1848, with the re-markable treatise which contained by implicationthe resolution of paratartaric acid into its twocomponents, right and left. He was then 26; thesensation produced is not forgotten. Since then,

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during the 12 years, he has submitted to yourappreciation numerous papers, the last 10 relatingto vegetable physiology. All are full of new facts,often very unexpected, several very far reaching,not one of which has been found inaccurate bycompetent judges. If today, by your vote, youintroduce M. Pasteur into the Botanical Sectionas you might safely have done for Theodore deSassure or Ingenhousz, you will have acquired

for the Academy and for that particular sectionan experimentalist of the same order as thosetwo great men."Many scientists, including Professor Balard,

the great French chemist who discovered bro-mine, and Dr. Claude Bernard, the famousphysiologist, supported Biot in this academiccampaign and tried to persuade several membersof the Botanical Section to include Pasteur's

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PASTEUR AWARD LECTURE

name on the list recommended by their sec-tion.The list of candidates, picked by a secret com-

mittee of the Section of Botany, appeared (2) inthe minutes of the meeting of the Academy forMonday, the 14th day of January 1861:

COMITR SECRET.La Section de Botanique presente, par l'organe

de son doyen M. Brongniart, la liste suivante decandidats pour la place vacante par suite du d6cbsde M. Payer:En premiere ligne. M. DUCHARTREEn deuxibme.......... M. TRACULEn troisierne, ex aequo et par fM. CHATIN

ordre alphabetique......... .M. LESTIBOUDOIS

Pasteur knew of his opposition after the secretmeeting, and on January 21, election day, hewrote the following letter (19) to the senior mem-ber of the Section, Professor Adolphe Brongniart(Fig. 1):

"I would be obliged to you if you would bewilling to make known to me the names of the

authors and the titles of the memoirs that youinvoked in your reading to the secret committeeof 14 January of the Academy of Science, whenyou tried to prove that my research of these lastyears was not new. I dare to hope that you willsee no indiscretion in such a request...

Despite the opposition, Pasteur's name ap-peared as a write-in on many ballots that day(Fig. 2). Thirty votes were required for election(3). Pasteur had only 24; Duchartre was electedwith 32 votes. Interestingly, Brongniart carefullyweighed the chances of Pasteur and Duchartrebefore the election, and listed on a sheet of paper(20) the names of possible supporters (Fig. 3).Brongniart also communicated (18) to Pasteuron the 23rd of January the list of the principalarticles that were used by the committee inattempting to disprove the originality of his work.

Pasteur and his colleagues were disappointedabout the election, because it was Pasteur'ssecond defeat for admission to the Academy.Biot died early in 1862 before realizing one of his

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great wishes. The Academy will be mentionedagain frequently, but now I wish to continuewith the next specific event in Pasteur's life.Nearly 200 years before, Leeuwenhoek re-

ported in his 32nd letter (14 June 1680) to theRoyal Society of London that "animalcules"could exist in a highly rarefied atmosphere. This

observation was not extended until anaerobiosisand the true nature of fermentation were dis-covered by Pasteur in 1861.On the 11th of February, Pasteur (14) wrote to

A. J.-B. Dumas asking him to come with M.Balard and M. Bernard "to my laboratory to

verify the exact facts" of the interesting experi-

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PASTEUR AWARD LECTURE 393

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FIG. 4. Page 66 from Pasteur's notebook, 12 February 1861, describing experiments on life without oxygen.

(Courtesy Miss Wrotnowska, Museie Pasteulr.)ments demonstrating life without air. Pasteur Pasteur's laboratory notebook shows some of the

knew that if he could convince his colleagues of original illustrations of one of these experiments,

his discovery, Dumas would gladly introduce the and part of the results.

results to the Academy. A page (Fig. 4) from But, on the 17th of February, a second letter

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(14) was sent to Dumas requesting that he delay the ability to cause fermentation. In two other8 or 15 days reporting the results to the Academy papers that spring, Pasteur (6) presented hisbecause he (Pasteur) wanted to "test the influence theory of fermentation in precise terms:of free oxygen on the infusoria. . and dispel any "In addition to the living forms so far known,objections that my flasks contain traces of free which ... can respire and feed only by assimilat-oxygen sufficient to support life." ing free oxygen, there appears tobe a class ofThe impact of the final presentation 10 days beings capable of living without air by obtaining

later by Dumas before the Academy is indicated oxygen from certain organic substances whichin the following short letter (14) Pasteur wrote undergo a slow and progressive decompositionto his father: during the process of their utilization. This latter

class of organized cells [Vibrion butyrique] con-Paris, le 27 fdvrier 1861 stitutes the ferments, similar in all particulars to

Mon cher papa, those of the former class, assimilating in the... Vois le Constitutionnel de mardi 26 f6vrier.

same manner carbon, nitrogen, and phosphates,Tu y verras que M. Dumas a prdsent6lundidernier oxgnlk.hm btdfeigfo

ma d~scouverte 'a 'Acadmie et qu'elle a fait requiring oxygen likethem, but differing fromsensation. Adieu. Jet'embrasse bien. them in the ability to use the oxygen removed

L. Pasteur from unstable organic combinations instead offree oxygen gas for their respiration." This in

This first report (5) dealt with the butyric brief was the discovery of anaerobiosis.ferment. Pasteur found that when he added a In addition to continuing his studies on fermen-drop of a liquid undergoing butyric-acid fermentation at that time, Pasteur entered the con-tation to a solution containing a salt of lactic troversy over the origin of life. In 1858 and 1859acid, the lactate was transformed to butvrate, Felix Pouchet, Director of the Natural Historywith evolution of the gases CO2 and H2. Simul- Museum at Rouen, presented results in which hetaneously, a microscopic population appeared, claimed to have produced spontaneous generationwhich consisted of short cylindrical rods that at will by admitting air to sterilized putresciblewere motile. Pasteur called these rods "Vibri- matter under carefully chosen conditions. Heones." Because of the prevailing view that mo- regarded his experiments as the final demonstra-tilitv was one of the differential characteristics tion that life could originate anew from inanimatebetween the animal and plant kingdoms, Pasteur solutions. Pouchet's claims revived the greatregarded these Vibriones as minute animals and controversy over the origin of life, and producedgrouped them with the "Infusoria." But for some much excitement in scientific circles. Neverthe-time he was reluctant to believe that they were less, he was severely criticized by many leadingthe real cause of the butyric acid fermentation. French scientists. Pasteur was prepared by hisHe said, "I was far from expecting such a re- studies in fermentation to attack the problem ofsult; ... so far, indeed, that for a long time I spontaneous generation, and was convinced thatthought it my duty to prevent the appearance of the solution of the problem was essential, despitethese little animals for fear they may feed on the discouragement by Biot, Bernard, and othermicroscopic plants which I suspected to be the colleagues from working on this difficult andtrue butyric ferment, and which I was trying to apparently unsolvable problem. Pasteur's experi-discover. ... Finally, I was struck by the inevita- ments on this problem have achieved great andble coincidence between the infusoria and the deserved fame. But even more interesting than

production of this [butyric] acid." their performance is the strategy of his attackOn the 30th of March and the 12th of April, on the subject. He acknowledged that somewhere

Pasteur (6) told the Chemical Society of Paris in our universe life may still be created. But hethat yeasts ferment most efficiently in the absence raised the questions: "What can be done toof air, whereas they grow more abundantly in its evaluate the claims of those who pretend to have

presence. He also stated that, under anaerobic seen life emerge anew, or to have brought aboutconditions, a yeast cell respires with the oxygen conditions under which its spontaneous genera-borrowed from the fermentable substance. These tion is possible?" He set himself to this task andobservations led him to suggest again that there devoted an immense amount of time to reading,is a correlation between life without oxygen and writing, and carefully controlled experiments.

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Pasteur carried on a friendly but sharp corre-spondence with his opponents during this period,as illustrated by two letters (15) addressed toPouchet:

Paris, 3 April 1861Dear Colleague,The difference of our opinions on the famous

question of spontaneous generation does not pre-

vent me from esteeming highly your labor andpraiseworthy efforts.... The sincerity of thesesentiments . . . permits me to have recourse toyour obligingness in full confidence. I read withgreat care everything that you write on the subjectthat occupies both of us. Now, I cannot obtain a

brochure that I understand you have just pub-lished.... I would be happy to have a copy of itbecause I am at present editing the totality of myobservations, where naturally I criticize your

assertions. I hope also to give soon a r6sum6 of mywork in a lecture before the Soci&t6 Chimique.2 ...

L. Pasteur

Paris, 8 April 1861Dear Colleague,

I thank you for the haste with which you sentme the brochure. How many things I have to an-

swer to it! But let us speak . .. only of your ami-able letter.... You say, the yeast of beer formsspontaneously, germinates, and forms fruit ...

all that in a word, you affirm in your recent com-

munication to the Academy of Sciences.Well, my dear colleague, it is shown by me that

there is not one of your assertions on yeast whichhas the slightest exactitude. All that has beenwritten before by you . . . has no more value. Ifyou can show me the yeast of beer giving an Asper-gillus, I will surrender to you.

Please, my dear and learned colleague, readagain my letter of February . .. and you will see

that I never wrote you this sentence: "There are

no more organic germs in the air than there are

germs of sodium sulfate."L. Pasteur

Pasteur presented brief reports of his work on

spontaneous generation before the Academy ofScience in 1860 and 1861, and finally published on

the 19th of May and the 3rd of June, 1861, hisfamous 93-page Memoire sur les corpusculesorganises qui existent dans l'atmosphere. Examende la doctrine de generations spontaneres (7).

Of this research, Tyndall (13) wrote: "Clear-ness, strength, and caution with consummateexperimental skill for their minister were rarely

2 This lecture was given 19 May 1861.

more strikingly -displayed than in this imperish-able essay." This memoir inaugurated a newperiod in bacteriology. It should be studied byall who wish schooling in the art of rigorousexperimentation and the scientific method.

Because of the important nature of this mem-oir, I will review it briefly.

Pasteur began his studies on spontaneousgeneration by attempting to repeat the results ofPouchet and others on the solid particles dis-seminated in air. He said:"The procedure which I followed to collect the

dust suspended in air and examine it with amicroscope is very simple; it consists of filteringa determined volume of air on some guncotton[Fig. 5], soluble in a mixture of alcohol and ether.The fibers of cotton stop the solid particles. Onethen treats the cotton with its solvent. After sometime, the solid particles fall to the bottom of theliquid; one washes them a few times.... Indecanting the liquid it is good to use a siphonformed by a tube of small diameter that can beprimed like a pump by aspiration. The particlesare then put on the stage of the microscopewhere their study becomes easy...."The air examined ... was normally aspirated

in from the direction of Ulm Street or from thedirection of the garden of the school ... and wascollected under diverse atmospheric conditions."The next study designed by Pasteur was con-

cerned with heated air. He described the experi-ment as follows:"The slender neck of the balloon flask com-

municates with the red-hot platinum tube as thefigure [Fig. 6] indicates.

"One boils the liquid for 2-3 minutes, then letsit cool completely. The flask fills with ordinaryair at atmospheric pressure, but all parts of whichhave been heated to redness ... one closes witha lamp the neck of the balloon flask, which thenhas the form indicated [see 11, in Fig. 6]."The flask thus prepared is placed in an incu-

bator at a constant temperature of 30 C ... itcan be kept there indefinitely, without the liquidwhich it encloses experiencing the slightest altera-tion. Its clearness, its odor, its characteristic ofvery feeble acidity ... persist without apprecia-ble change. Its color darkens slightly with time,without doubt under the influence of a directoxidation of the sugared yeast water.

"I affirm with the most perfect sincerity thatI have never had a single experiment, arranged

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as I have just explained, which gave me a doubt-ful result."The third experiment described in the memoir

is a classic, and is partially illustrated by a page(Fig. 7) from Pasteur's original manuscript."Chapter IV. Inoculation of growths, that exist

in suspension in the air, into clear liquids suitablefor the development of lower organisms.

"The results of the experiments of the 2 pre-ceding chapters have taught us:

1) That there are always suspended in ordinaryair some organized corpuscles altogether like thegerms of lower organisms.

2) That yeast-extract beerwort medium (thewater of yeast of sugared beer), a very changeableliquid in .ordinary air, remains intact, clear, andwithout ever giving birth to infusoria or molds

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when it comes in contact only with air which has,been previously heated.

"That established, let us try to find out whatwould happen ... upon inoculating in the me-dium the dust particles which we learned togather (in Chapter II), without introducing any-thing other than these particles.... Here arethe arrangements that I adopted to deposit thedust particles from air in the putrescible orfermentable liquids in the presence of heated air.

"Let us again use our flask containing sugar-yeast water and incinerated air.... I shall sup-pose that the flask has been in the incubator at25 or 30 Cl, for 1 or 2 months, without havingundergone any noticeable alteration, a manifestproof of the inactivity of the heated air withwhich it has been filled....

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FIG. 6. Apparatus used for introducing incinerated air into flasks. From Pasteur, 1861 (7).

"The tip end of the flask still sealed, I fit it,by means of a rubber tube to an apparatus ar-ranged as follows [Fig. 8]:"T is a tube of strong glass from 10-12 mm in

diameter, in which I have placed a piece of glasstubing of small diameter a, open at its ends, freeto slide in the large tube and enclosing a portionof one of those little wads of cotton laden withdust; R is a brass tube in the form of a T, pro-vided with stopcocks, one of these stopcockscommunicates with the pneumatic machine,another with a red-hot platinum tube, and thethird with tube T; cc represents the rubberwhich unites flask B with tube T."When all parts of the apparatus are arranged

and the platinum tube is made red hot by thegas heater shown in G, one makes a vacuum, afterhaving closed the stopcock that leads to theplatinum tube. This stopcock is then opened soas to let the incinerated air enter the apparatuslittle by little. The vacuum and the return of theincinerated air are repeated alternately 10 to 12times. The little tube of cotton thus is filled withthe burned air to the smallest interstices of thecotton, but it has retained its dust particles. Thatdone, I break the point of the flask B, throughthe rubber tube cc, without untying the cords,then I let the little tube with the dust particlesslip into the flask. Finally, I again seal the tipof the flask with a lamp, and return the flask tothe incubator. Now, it constantly happens thatgrowth begins to appear in the flask after 24, 36,or 48 hours at the most."Many experiments were performed using this

technique, and samples of dust from air weretaken on different days under varying atmos-pheric conditions.

Let us now return to Pasteur's memoir andpresent his additional support for the disproof ofspontaneous generation. He wrote:

"I believe I have rigorously established in thepreceding chapters that all the organized produc-tion of infusoria ... has no other origin than thesolid particles which the air always carries andwhich it constantly deposits on all objects. Ifthere remains the slightest doubt with respect tothis in the mind of the reader, it will be removedby the experiments of which I am going to speak.

"I place in a glass flask [Fig. 9] the followingliquids or infusions, all very alterable on contactwith ordinary air: beer-yeast water, sugar-beer-yeast water, urine, beet juice, and pepper water;then with the aid of a lamp, I draw the necks ofthe flasks to give different shapes. I then bringthe liquid to a boil for a few minutes until thewater vapors leave abundantly by the end of thedrawn-out neck.... I then let the flasks cool. Astrange thing happens that will astonish everyoneaccustomed to the delicacy of experiments rela-tive to so-called spontaneous generation; ... theliquid in the flasks remains indefinitely withoutalteration. One can handle flasks without fear,move them from one place to another, let themundergo all the seasonal variations in tempera-ture......"Later on he said, "this procedure is anexcellent Appert method to preserve liquids.....

"If after a stay of one or several months in theincubator, one detaches the neck of a flask ... themolds and infusoria begin to grow in 24, 36, or 48hours in exactly the same way as if the flask hadbeen inoculated with dust particles collected fromthe air."The same experiments can be repeated on

milk, providing one takes a few precautions in

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boiling ... and cooling.... I have been able to Pasteur's explanation of what happens in suchkeep milk prepared in this manner in the incu- flasks is interesting. He wrote:bator at 25 to 30 C for several months without "It seems that ordinary air on entering thealteration. One notices only a slight thickening of flask after boiling ceases is in a crude state. Dur-the cream owing to direct chemical oxidation." ing the first moments the air enters it encounters

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puscules organises qui existent dans l'atmosphere. Examen de la doctrine des generations spontankes. FromAnn. Sci. Naturelles (7).

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lIFIG. 8. Apparatus for introducing guncotton into flasks containing fermentable materials and incinerated

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a liquid near boiling.... When the liquid is cool experiments." These experiments were so care-enough so as no longer to rob germs of their fully designed and controlled that they settledvitality, the air enters so slowly that it abandons the issue of spontaneous generation, although thein the humid curves of the neck all dust particles controversy continued for several years aftercapable of acting on the infusions.... At least I 1861.see no other possible explanation for these curious Pasteur's work on fermentation and spontane-

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ous generation led to studies on the changes inalcoholic liquids during the formation of vinegar.Persoon had previously suspected the livingnature of "mother of vinegar," and gave it thename "Mycoderma" to suggest its plant nature.Also Kutzing had found small organisms in themother of vinegar, which he believed were asso-ciated with acetification. But on 26 July 1861,Pasteur (9) discovered in three species of Myco-derma "a remarkable property that gives thecomplete explanation of acetification of alcoholicliquids." Also he described the manufacturingprocess that was most practical at that time inOrlans.Thus far I have mentioned briefly the failure

of the Academy to recognize Pasteur and hisclassical research reports of 1861. Now I wish toread excerpts from two of the many interestingletters Pasteur wrote (16) during the year. Theyreveal his interests and his problems. Further-more, these letters remind me of Americanscientists in 1961 applying for federal grants.

AU MINISTRE DE L'INSTRUCTIONPUBLIQUE3

Paris, ler aout 1861Monsieur le Ministre,Wine constitutes one of the richest agricultural

products of France. The value of this product ofour soil has grown by the commerce treaty withEngland. Therefore, everywhere in the wine-growing regions people are preoccupied by furtherimprovements in the hope of increasing the num-ber and quality of wines which can be profitablyexported.

Unfortunately, our knowledge about whatconstitutes this precious drink leaves much to bedesired. The studies on its composition are so in-complete that two of its essential principles,glycerol and succinic acid, have been known foronly two years.

Despite the progress of modern chemistry, onecannot point out a work on wine more learned andmore exact than the one by Chaptal which appeared60 years ago.

I have been studying fermentation for 5 years.The alcoholic fermentation on which the entiremanufacture of wine rests has especially occupiedmy time. Now, the very progress of my researchleads me to desire to continue it by an examina-tion ... in the traditional regions of production

3This letter was found in the papers of Pasteurby his grandson, Pasteur Vallery-Radot (15). Inthe margin is a note "This letter has not beensent. L. P."

most esteemed in France. [I wish to study] theprocesses of fermentation and especially themicroscopic plant which is the sole cause of thisgreat and mysterious phenomenon.

I intend to dedicate my next vacation to thiswork. It would be about 6 weeks of travel andstudies, with the aid of a few indispensable piecesof apparatus and chemicals. I estimate the expenseof 2500 francs.The goal of this letter is to submit to Your

Excellency the appreciation of the usefulness ofmy project, as well as the request for a grant whichwould cover my expenses....

I am the first to have no illusions as to the imme-diate consequences of my studies. The applicationsof the results of science to the industrial arts arealways slow to come about. My present preten-tions are very modest. I wish to arrive at a betterknowledge of the plant which alone is the cause ofthe fermentation of grape juice....

L. Pasteur

AU MINISTRE D'ETAT

Paris, le 13 aouit 1861Monsieur le Ministre,The decree of 24 November 1860 . . puts in

your hands the allocations which ... the stateappropriates to encourage the sciences . . I havethe honor of addressing to Your Excellency a re-quest for an allowance of 3000 francs, destined tocover the expenses of experiments which I havebeen pursuing for several years on fermentation,and which are still far from being finished.The Minister of Public Instruction granted me

four years ago money for a private laboratory atthe normal school.... [Routine] expenses havebeen covered to the present by 1) an allowance of2500 francs from the Academy of Science in 1858;2) the prize of experimental physiology which theAcademy awarded me for the year 1859; 3) mypersonal resources.

This year, after submitting several communica-tions on fermentation to the judgment of theAcademy, . . M. Dumas and M. Chevreul pro-posed to grant me 3000 francs from the balance ofthe Montyon prize . . . to continue my work. Thisproposal was immediately welcomed by the Acad-emy, but when the administrative commissioncame to the execution of it, it learned that itsbudget had been completely absorbed, withoutthere being for that purpose any possible balance,and even a deficit.

It is resting on these facts, Mister Minister,which will be to your eyes a testimony of theimportance of the works . . the completion ofwhich I call upon the intervention of your en-lightened solicitude . . and address my request

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to you, with the hope of seeing it favorably wel-comed by Your Excellency ...

I am with profound respect ... the very humbleand the very devoted servant

L. PasteurAdministrator of the SuperiorNormal School

Director of Scientific Studies

During the summer and fall of 1861, Pasteur

: 4:4I)tEIF ¶(. 4~ ~ V V-X-..:..' E f

IS P A. S T E URI -

A oiisPU'18.,:61

gave two heart-touching discourses about hispersonal scientific friends, one (8) during theinauguration at Sens of the statue of Th6nard,the great French chemist who discovered hydro-gen peroxide, and the other (10) at the tomb ofIsidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, in the name of theSociety of Aid to the Friends of the Sciences.The year ended with Pasteur being awarded

the Jecker Prize by the Academy of Science on

FIG. 10. Jecker Medal awarded Pasteur in 1861. (Muske Pasteur, Inventory No. 541.)

FIG. 11. Alhumbert Prize awarded Pasteur for work on disproving spontaneous generation. (Mus~ePasteur, Inventory No. 542.)

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J. R. PORTER

the 23rd of December. The beautiful medal ac-companying this prize is in the Mus6e Pasteur(Fig. 10) (12).The 1861 chapter of Pasteur's life would not

be complete without reporting two great re-wards that resulted subsequently, in part fromhis activities during 1861. In 1862 Pasteur wasunamimously nominated to receive the Alhum-bert prize from the Academy for his work ondisproving spontaneous generation (Fig. 11) (11).At the same session of the Academy, 1 Decem-

ber 1862, the name of Pasteur was presented ona list of four candidates for election to a vacancyin the Section of Mineralogy of the Academy ofScience. The 8th of December the Academy de-cided: "M. Pasteur, having obtained the majorityof votes is proclaimed elected." He obtained 36votes of 60 cast (4).

So 1861 began with a great disappointmentfor Pasteur, but ended with truly remarkableachievements of value to all mankind. And theevents of the year illustrate why one must agreewith the London Spectator and Sir William Osler'sopinion that Pasteur "was the most perfect manwho has ever entered the Kingdom of Science."

LITERATURE CITED

1. Compt. rend. 52(1) :47. S6ance du lundi 7janvier 1861. Comite secret.

2. Compt. rend. 52(1) :76. S6ance du lundi 14janvier 1861. Comit6 secret.

3. Compt. rend. 52(1):91. Seance du lundi 21janvier 1861. Nominations. Mus6e Pasteur.Papier de Brongniart, item 521.

4. Compt. rend. 55(2) :698. Seance du lundi 3novembre 1862, p. 698 (Pasteur wrote theAcademy asking to be considered as a mem-ber to replace M. de Senarmont). S6ance dulundi ler d6cembre 1862. Comit6 secret, p.815. (Pasteur listed as one of four candidatesfor the Academy.) Compt. rend. Seance dulundi 8 decembre 1862. Nominations, p. 821.(Pasteur elected to Academy.)

5. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Sur la fermentation vis-queuse et la fermentation butyrique. Bull.soc. chimique de Paris, 8 f6vrier, p. 30-31.Animalcules infusoires vivant sans gaz oxy-gene libre et determinant des fermentations.Compt. rend. 52:344-347.

6. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Sur les pretendus change-ments de forme et de v6g6tation des cellulesde levuire de biere suivant les conditionsexterieures de leur development. Soc. philo-mathique de Paris, seance du 30 mars, p.47-48. Sur les ferments. Bull. soc. chimique

de Paris, 12 avril, p. 61-63. Experiences etvues nouvelles sur la nature des fermenta-tions. Compt. rend. 52:1260-1264. 17 juin.Influence de oxygene sur le development dela lev-ire et la fermentation alcoolique. Bull.soc. chimique de Paris, 28 juin, p. 79-80.

7. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Sur les corpuscules organis6squi existent dans l'atmosphere. Examen dela doctrine des generations spontanees.(Legon professee a la Societe chimique deParis, le 19 mai). Memoire sur les corpus-cules organises qui existent en suspensiondans l'atmosphere. Examen de la doctrinedes g6nerations spontanees (Extrait).Compt. rend. 52(1):1142-1143, 3 juin. M&moire sur les corpuscules organis6s quiexistent dans l'atmosphere. Examen de ladoctrine des generations spontanees. Ann.sci. naturelles (partie zoologique) (S6r. 4)16:5-98.

8. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Discours [Prononc6, le 20juillet 1861, A l'inauguration de la statue deThenard, a Sens]. Oeuvres de Pasteur R6-unies par Pasteur Vallery-Radot vol. 7,267-268.

9. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Sur la fermentation acti-que. Bull. soc. chimique de Paris, seance du26 juillet 1861, p. 94-96.

10. PASTEUR, L. 1861. Discours [Prononc6 sur latombe de M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilairele 13 novembre 1861, au nom de la Soci6te deSecours des Amis des Sciences.] Oeuvres dePasteur R6unies par Pasteur Vallery-Radotvol. 7, 269-270.

11. Prix Alhumbert 1862. In the hope of encourag-ing experiments that would dissipate theconfusion, the Academy decided in 1860 toaward the Alhumbert prize for carefullyconducted experiments on the "questionof . . . spontaneous generation." On 15June 1862 Pasteur wrote the Secretary ofthe Academy about his memoir on spontane-ous generation (Vallery-Radot, Pasteur,1946. Correspondance de Pasteur, 1857-1877,vol. 2, p. 109). The Academy, on 6 October1862 (Compt. rend. 55(2):569) proceeded. InCompt. rend. 55(2) :977-979, Monday 29December, appeared a report: "Prix Alhum-bert pour l'annee 1862. Rapport sur ce con-cours fait dans le comit6 secret de la s6ancedu 1er decembre." In this report, the prizewas awarded to Pasteur; the medal is: In-ventaire du Mus6e Pasteur, No. 542.

12. Prix Jecker 1861. La lundi 16 d6cembre 1861,l'Acad6mie des sciences rdunie en Comit6Secret decida [Arch. Acad. Sci., Registredes Comites Secrets, annees 1857 A 1869, p.2201: La Section de chimie a 1 'unanimit6

402 [VOL. 25


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d6cerne le prix Jecker, pour l'ann6e 1861, AM. Pasteur. Rapport sur le prix Jecker,ann6e 1861. Compt. rend. 53:1158-1162. M.Pasteur recut dgalement une medaille, con-

serv6e au Musee Pasteur (Inventaire, No.541).

13. TYNDALL, J. 1882. Floating matter of the airin relation to putrefaction and infection.D. Appleton & Co., London. 338 p.

14. VALLERY-RADOT, PASTEUR. 1951. Correspond-ance de Pasteur 1840-1895, vol. 2, 1857-1877.p. 82-84. Flammarion, Pditeur, 4 Rue Rot-rou, Paris VI.

15. VALLERY-RADOT, PASTEUR. 1951. Correspond-ence de Pasteur 1840-1895, vol. 2, 1857-1877.p. 84-86. Flammarion, Rditeur, 4 Rue Rot-rou, Paris VI.

16. VALLERY-RADOT, PASTEUR. 1951. Correspond-ance de Pasteur 1840-1895, vol. 2, 1857-1877.

p. 87-90. Flammarion, Pditeur, 4 Rue Rot-rou, Paris VI.

17. VALLERY-RADOT, RENA. 1926. The life ofPasteur. Doubleday, Page & Co., GardenCity, N. Y. 484 p.

18. WROTNOWSKA, DENISE. 1958. Candidaturesde Pasteur A l'Acad6mie des Sciences. RevueHistoire de la Medicine. Numdro special.Musee Pasteur. Papier de Brongniart, item496.

19. WROTNOWSKA, DENISE. 1958. Candidatures dePasteur A l'Academie des Sciences. RevueHistoire de la M6dicine. Numero sp6cial.Mus6e Pasteur. Papier de Brongniart, item518.

20. WROTNOWSKA, DENISE. 1958. Candidatures dePasteur A l'Acad6mie des Sciences. RevueHistoire de la M6dicine. Num6ro special.Mus6e Pasteur. Papier de Brongniart, item522.

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Documents

LOUIS PASTEUR · LOUIS PASTEUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS, 1861 J. R. PORTER Department of Bacteriology, College of Medicine, State University ofIowa, Iowa City, Iowa Afterconsidering