Veneration of Pasteur.--Pasteur is one of the most conspicuous figures of the nineteenth century. The veneration in which he is held by the French people is shown in the result of a popular vote, taken in 1907, by which he was placed at the head of all their notable men. One of the most widely circulated of the French journals--the _Petit Parisien_--appealed to its readers all over the country to vote upon the relative prominence of great Frenchmen of the last century. Pasteur was the winner of this interesting contest, having received 1,338,425 votes of the fifteen millions cast, and ranking above Victor Hugo, who stood second in popular estimation, by more than one hundred thousand votes. This enviable recognition was won, not by spectacular achievements in arms or in politics, but by indefatigable industry in the quiet pursuit of those scientific researches that have resulted in so much good to the human race. Personal Qualities.--He should be known also from the side of his human qualities. He was devotedly attached to his family, enjoying the close sympathy and assistance of his wife and his daughter in his scientific struggles, a circumstance that aided much in ameliorating the severity of his labors. His labors, indeed, overstrained his powers, so that he was smitten by paralysis in 1868, at the age of forty-six, but with splendid courage he overcame this handicap, and continued his unremitting work until his death in 1895. The portrait of Pasteur with his granddaughter (Fig. 92) gives a touch of personal interest to the investigator and the contestant upon the field of science. His strong face shows dignity of purpose and the grim determination which led to colossal attainments; at the same time it is mellowed by gentle affection, and contrasts finely with the trusting expression of the younger face. Pasteur was born of humble parents in Dôle in the Jura, on December the 27th, 1822. His father was a tanner, but withal, a man of fine character and stern experience, as is "shown by the fact that he had fought in the legions of the First Empire and been decorated on the field of battle by Napoleon." The filial devotion of Pasteur and his justifiable pride in his father's military service are shown in the dedication of his book, _Studies on Fermentation_, published in 1876: "To the memory of my Father, Formerly a soldier under the First Empire, and Knight of the Legion of Honor. The longer I live, the better do I understand the kindness of thy heart and the superiority of thy judgment. The efforts which I have devoted to these studies and to those which have preceded them are the fruits of thy example and of thy counsel. Desiring to honor these precious recollections, I dedicate this book to thy memory."