Dear Minister [Victor Duruy][Letter 5]
Date
2013-04-04
Authors
Pasteur, Louis, 1822-1895.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Letter from Pasteur to the Minister for Public Instruction requesting funding for the annual expense of his laboratory. Written on Ecole normale supérieure (France) letterhead. Includes a typed translation into English and audio of the translation.
Description
Dear Minister,
When I was called into the trust of your predecessor to the post I currently occupy at the Ecole Normale, being no longer an active teacher, I found myself to be deprived of the material resources required to carry out my personal research. However, nothing could have made me give up on it. The liberality of the State Ministry, to some extent that of the Ministry of Public Instruction, and too often my own funds, have contributed to overcome this difficult situation, which for the past seven years has been a constant source of worry to me, and is forcing me into these annual requests for money, which are so disagreeable to the character of any scholar worthy of this title. As long as I was not a member of the institute, the academic prizes I received enabled me to withdraw quite large sums from my personal resources, without causing too much prejudice to my family. I am no longer able to do so. Moreover, the funds with which the State Ministry has encouraged my research have been returned to the department that is currently managed by your Excellency. It is therefore to you that I need to direct my request. The annual expense of my laboratory is of two thousand francs. Such is the amount presently required to cover my experiment expenses in 1864. This is the amount that had been put at my disposal in 1863 by Mr S.E., the Minister of State.
I would hope, dear Minister, that V.E., who has already the evidence of his role in contributing to the progress of science, will be willing to favorably welcome my request.
Please accept, dear Minister, the homage of my respectful devotion.
L. Pasteur
To his Excellency the Minister for Public Instruction
Keywords
Ecole normale supérieure (France), Duruy, Victor, 1811-1894--Correspondence, Minister of Public Instruction (France), Finance