M. PASTEUR AND HIS DOGS AT HOME.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1675, 29 September 1887, Page 3

M. PASTEUR AND HIS DOGS AT HOME.

I The " Figaro " publishes the following biographical details of M, Pasteur, whose well-known name is again more frequency thin usual quoted as the " dog- days " of August are drawing near. M Louis Pasteur was born at Dfiledu Jura on Decemb r 22nd, 1822. His father, who had been m the array, had a tanyard at Arbois, nnd his higheat ambition was that one day hie son might become a teac her at the Arboia College. When his son was first admitte : as a pupil to the college, he the smallest of the boyß, was bo proud of being a student, that he arrived burde ed wico a loal of heavy dictionaries of which he had no need at all. At the age of thir teen> however, he often deserted the echo: 1 and wen fishing or sketch ng At the uge of eighteen he became a pupil teacher at the Besangon College, where he began his studios every morning ac four o'clock. In 1843 M. L. Pasteur entered the Normal School, of which he afterwards became a prominent professor. Some of the most eminent French chemists W6re his instructors, and the student's enthusiasm for chemistry grow from day to day. He spent his Sundays with Barrucl, M ,T.B Duma&'s assistant ; anJ th re is yet to be seen at the JS'ormal school a phi^l containing 60 grammes of phosphorus obtained with the help of some bones which Pasteur had bought from a butcher, and, after burning them and 6ubm;tting them to various tests from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m., reduced them to the wei^Lt of: 60 grammes Late at night when he went to bed, he murmured, t( Seven hours to wait before I can return to my laboratory.". After having finished his studies, M. Pasteur became the assistant of M. Ballard, and shortly after receiving a call to the Normal school, he published his famous work on spontaneous regeneration, which made a great sensation m the scientific and philosophic world. SI. Pasteur's laboratory at the Normal School, Hue d'Ulm, Paris, is described by the " Figaro " as folio we :— '■ In one of the anto-rooms several monkeyß are gambolling about and receive the visitrra with friendly grimaces. Through a passage ornamented wi>h the celebrated Gambrinus song m a rich frame, which 13 the gift of the believers of the north, one arrives at the sanctuary, a large well lighted hall. In itß centre the master stands surrounded by alembics, phials, and other vessels, look ng through his enormous budget of letters from all parts of the world. In round latticed cages dogs of different ages are locked up. One is m the last stage of rabies ; his bark Bounds abnormal ; his hoarse cries are not unliko the crow of a I cock. The noise frightens the rest of the I dogs, which ruth into the furthest corner of their cage if one approaches the door. If you knock with your foot againbt the cage the diseased dog runs furiously about and tries to bite the lattice work. The end of an iron bar is held out to him, and ho seizes it at once with his teeth and will not let it go again even if the iron has been heated, The animal refuses to take the food which is regularly offered to it, but it attacks with avidity the hay which serves as its bed, pieces of wood, and other thing?, and dcvi urs >,hem without masticating them. Further on a cock crows triumphantly, hares, pigs, monkeys, submit with varying docility to the m ocusations, and all these cteatures share the tiame fate. With regard to the dogs, M. Pasteur says :- ' These animals are suffering without doubt ; it is a law of nature. It is necessary that a few should have to suffer for the sake of the whole community. If 1 make them suffer, it is m order to save them and to aid human beings. ... 1 would nover have the

courage of killing a bird for the Bake of sport, but when it ii a caBO of making experiments I have no scruples at all."