---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Harris, Franklin S.
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 21
number: 1
published: 1917-11
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Franklin S. Harris, "The Makers of Science," *Improvement Era* 21, no. 1 (November 1917): 53.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera2101unse
start_page: 53
end_page: 53
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-11)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse
  publication_year: 1917
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Makers of Science

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The Makers of Science
By Dr. Franklin S. Harris, Director Utah Agricultural Experiment Station

                             II.   —Pasteur
     All the people of the world are beneficiaries of the work
of Louis Pasteur. Diseases that have baffled mankind since the
dawn of history have been made to yield as a result of the re-
searches of this scientist. Before his contributions to human
learning were made, physicians treated disease in a helpless
sort of way, and cures were largely a matter of accident.      By
his work the industries have been revolutionized and all the
activities of mankind have been influenced.
     Pasteur was born Dec. 27, 1822, in Dole, of parents who
were in humble circumstances. His father who had received
the Legion of Honor for valor as a soldier, was a tanner by
trade. As is the case with many men who achieve the greatest
success, young Pasteur was reared in humble circumstances.
His love for work and his great industry assisted him in over-
coming all obstacles, and by the time he was thirty-five years old
he was made director of scientific studies at the Ecole Normal in
Paris.   He had previously been professor in Strasburg and in
Lille.
     His       important contribution to science was to prove
           first
in 1857 that fermentation was caused by organic life.  Previous
to this time it was thought to be due to simple chemical action
that took place without the aid of life.
     The theory of the spontaneous origin of life, which had
been held at various times, was in 1859 revived by Pouchet
who held that living organisms came spontaneously without
needing any parent organisms. Experiments which he con-
ducted seemed to prove this theory; but Pasteur, before a bril-
liant audience at Sorbonne, in 1864, repeated the experiments
of Pouchet and showed the source of their error. He at this time
exploded for all time the theory that life originates spontan-
eously by chance.
    His studies of fermentation led him to a consideration of
the causes and prevention of disease. He found that many of
the diseases were caused by small organisms or germs. For a
number of these he developed anti-toxins; but more important,
he opened the way for later workers to find methods of treating
diseases that were previously entirely beyond control. His dis-