The Washington times., 1923-04-15
PA6TEUR
EUL OGIZED BY
WILLIAM OSLER
The Latter's Introduction to
R. VaIIery-Radot's Biogra.
shy a Scholarly Tribute 10
French Scientist.

A S a scientist it Is not too
AZ much to say that Louis
4 - Pasteur exceIled in a field
where the highest success depend
ed on giving the fullest possible
expression to the deepest and
strongest desire to benefit man.
kind. He represented intellect on
its highest earthly plane.
He avoided eagerness in draw
ing hasty conclusions, learning
first what to believe and afterward
what to ask.
II he did nothing else, his re-
markable researches to neutralize
the micro-organism that causes
the dreaded hydrophobia would
have placed him in the first rank
Of scientific researchers. He
has presented to the world knowl-
edge of the measures by which
either the body may be protected
against disease or the poison neu-
tralized when once within the body.
His researches also included
studies in the true nature of the
processes of fermentation and the
chief lnaladies that have scourged
man and animal.
In 1.-THE Life of Pasteur" (Dou-
bleday, Page & Coz r. Vallery-
Radot has paid a striking tribute
to this remarkable man. The late
Sir William Osler has supplied the
Introduction. It is evident Sir
William studied the scientific liter
ature OF the world to supply food
for his own intellect. Sir William
writes comprehensively scholarly
and sincerely.
It is rather curious that Pasteur
started life as a pure chemist.
Becoming interested in the science
OF crystaIlography. it was not I'M
til his life at Lille, a town with
important brewing industries, that
Pasteur became interested in the
biological side of chemical prob
lens. As a result of this interest
the world received his famous pa
pers on Tactic Acid Fermenta-
ton and Alcoholic Fermenta-
ton" In this latter, paper he con-
cluded that the reduplication of
sugar into alcohol and carbonic
acid is co-relevant to a phenomenon
of life-a conclusion that is sound
today, despite the fact that his
studies were presented to the Lille
Scientific Society in 1857.
Spontaneous generation occupied
the attention Of Pasteur for four
or five years, and he battled Wig
orously with the greatest minds of
the era.
1t was an old warfare, but the
microscope had revealed a new
world, and the experiments on fer
mentation had lent great weight
to the omne vivum ex ovo doc
trine. Heterogeneous became the
burning question: Pouchet in
France, and Bastian in England
leading the opposition to Pasteur.
The many famous experiments
carried conviction to the minds Of
the foremost scientific men and de-
stroyed for all time the belief in
spontaneous generation.
In the field of surgery Pasteur's
researches have been of enormous
value. He demonstrated the infect
ing Of wounds was not due to oxy-
gen or any of it's gaseous constitu-
ents, but to minute particles sus-
pended in it. which are the germs
of various low forms of life, long
since revealed by the microscope,
and regarded as merely accidental
concomitants of putrescence, but
shown by Pasteur to be it's essen
tial cause.
From the origin of the Pasteur
family. which began in 1862. to the
death of Louis Pasteur, which &C.
Cured in September, 1895, r. Val
lery-Radot has traced the achieve
ments Of this superman Of science
in most interesting manner. It
is doubtful if any really new ma
terial has been presented. But no
one will read the book without
realizing that NJ. Vallery- Radot ex-
hibits the keenest sympathy and
interest in the presentation OF his
subject.
The world. as one, will say Of
Pasteur: His was a supreme
genius!
WhY Blame This