The life of Pasteur / tr. from the French by Mrs. R.L. Devonshire.

  • René Vallery-Radot
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life of Pasteur / tr. from the French by Mrs. R.L. Devonshire. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    her just as she was. The portrait is full of sincerity and not unlike the work of a conscientious pre-Raphaelite. The power- ful face is illumined by a pair of clear straightforward eyes. Though they did not entertain mere acquaintances, the husband and wife were happy to receive those who seemed to them worthy of affection or esteem by reason of some superiority of the mind or of the heart. In this way they formed a friend- ship with an old army doctor then practising in the Arbois hospital, Dr. Dumont, a man who studied for the sake of learning and who did a great deal of good while avoiding popularity. Anotlier familiar friend was a philosopher named Bousson de Mairet. An indefatigable reader, he never went out with- out a book or pamphlet in his pocket. He spent his life in compiling from isolated facts annals in which the character- istics of the Francs-Comtois, and especially the Arboisians, were reproduced in detail, with labour worthy of a Bénédictine monk. He often came to spend a quiet evening with the Pasteur family, who used to question him and to listen to his interesting records of that strange Arboisian race, diffîcult to understand, presenting as it does a mixture of heroic courage and that slightly ironical good humour which Parisians and Southerners mistake for naïveness. Arboisians never distrust themselves, but are sceptical where others are concerned. They are proud of their local history, and even of their rodomontades. For instance, on August 4, 1830, they sent an address to the Parisians to express their indignation against the “ Ordon- nances ” 1 and to assure them that ail the available population of Arbois was ready to fly to the assistance of Paris. In April, 1834, a lawyer’s clerk, passing one evening through Arbois by the coach, announced to a few gardes nationaux who were stand- ing about that the Republie was proclaimed at Lyons. Arbois immediately rose in arms ; the insurgents armed themselves with guns from the Hôtel de Ville. Louis Pasteur watched the 1 Ordonnances du 26 Juillet, 1830. A royal Decree issued by Charles X under the advice of his minister, Prince de Polignac ; it was based on a misreading of one of the articles of the Charter of 1814, and dissolved the new Chamber of Deputies before it had even assembled ; it sup- pressed the freedom of the Press and created a new électoral system to the advantage of the royalist party. These ordonnances were the cause of the 1830 Révolution, which placed Louis Philippe of Orléans on the Throne. [Trans.]
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