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November 7, 1944

Quiet today – And the morale drops, of course – And we are always to have bombing and then quiet!
I have been reading “The Life of Pasteur” by Valery-Radot. How his life developed – one step logically following the other –

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The dys symmetry of the tartaric acid crystals, the work on wine, the fermentation of beer, the work on infectious diseases The discovery of vaccines – As Paul Bert says: his work can be summed up in 3 laws –

1) Fermentation is caused by the development of a special microbe

2) All infectious diseases are caused by the development within an organism of

a special microbe

3) The pathogenic activity of the microbe can be lessened by a process of attenuation – The virus becomes a vaccine.

That last “The virus becomes a vaccine” – These few words represent one of the greatest triumphs of man – greater than the pyramids, greater than all the other wonders of the world –

I admire the reasoning powers of the French – but surely their forte is intuition – A swift penetration to the heart of the question and then reason to trace the process step by step.

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The more I read of research and study and teaching, The more lost and lonely I feel in business – I know I will be successful, but I am not sure I want the success.