Louis Pasteur, his Life and Labours

Abstract

THE name of M. Pasteur, owing to his many brilliant and eminently practical discoveries, has been for some years so prominently before the general public that a popular and connected account of his life and labours cannot fail to be interesting and instructive reading to every educated member of the community. In this respect the present volume must be considered a signal success and a valuable addition to popular scientific ! literature. But the importance of the book reaches a step further, for it gives to the scientific world an authentic account of the development and progress of M. Pasteur's discoveries, since it is written by one who has been and is still living with M. Pasteur in the bonds of intimate friend ship, and who has received his information directly from M. Pasteur himself. While to the general reader the achievement of a discovery is the only and great point of interest, to the scientific reader it is only one of many, the history of a discovery being one of them, and not the least important one, for it reveals methods and manner, and it gives us a true insight into the working of the mind, more so than the contemplation of the actual results. Looking at the book in this sense, we must con sider it of inestimable value to every worker in the same field of research.

Louis Pasteur, his Life and Labours.

By his Son-in-Law. Translated from the French by Lady Claud Hamilton. (London: Longmans, Green, &Co., 1885.)