of Pasteur's labors. We know that Pasteur himself considered his marvellous discoveries as a mere beginning. "You will see how it will all grow by and by," he often said. "Would that my time were longer!"'*

In conclusion, it may be asked, What was the personal character of this great Frenchman, whose labors have done so much to advance the cause of science? We have it on the authority of those who knew him best that his character was of the simplest. His sole aimHis sole aimwhich indeed should be the aim of every scientific worker-was the advance of scientific knowledge. We cannot too much admire the courage he must have possessed to enable him to face, and successfully overcome, the opposition with which all his researches were met from the moment of their publication. While possessed of a well-nigh boyish enthusiasm, he displayed an admirable caution in publishing any theory. His favorite motto was- N'avancez rien qui ne puisse être prouvé d'une façon simple et décisive ;" and his experiments must forever remain as models for their simplicity and their convincing nature. The fact that he died as a stanch Roman Catholic is perhaps not altogether without its significance in this age of agnosticism. We cannot do better than conclude this humble and very imperfect tribute to the genius of Pas

teur than by quoting the words of our greatest living surgeon :

'His acuteness as an investigator in seizing upon essential points, and his wonderful lucidity of judgment, were only equalled by the patience with which he pursued what he termed la méthode expérimentale;' and his enthusiasm was always tempered by dispassionate caution. In doing battle with the fallacious doctrine of spontaneous generation, he was a keen controversialist, but his utter ances were always characterized by transparent truthfulness. His rare modesty and entire freedom from affectation made intercourse with him easy and delightful. Any one who reads the account he gave in the Comptes Rendus of the case of the little boy on whom he first ventured to employ antirabic injections in the human subject will see clear indications of another feature of his character

loving tenderness of heart. His splendid early work in physics and chemistry proved, indeed, how dearly he loved pure science for its own sake; yet it was undoubtedly the great joy of his later researches that they directly promoted the good of mankind. In Pasteur the world has lost a great personality, as beautiful as it was great. "'*

Note.-It may be of interest to some of our readers to know that a movement is at present on foot, for the purpose of collecting funds for the erection of a monument to Pasteur in Paris from persons in the United Kingdom, India, and the Colonies, interested

in science and the various industries which have been benefited by Pasteur's labors. The Chairman of the Executive Committee organizing this movement is Sir Joseph Lister, P.R.S., and the Honorary Secretary Professor P. F. Franklin, F.R.S.; while subscriptions may be sent to Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Royal Society, Barlington House, London,

-Temple Bar.

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the world-famous Yosemite Valley, which forms such a noble crown to the attractions of the Golden State." "See Naples and die!" says the Italian; See Paris and die!" says the Frenchman; "See Venice and die!" says the Venetian; but the Californian's pride is not in the great Babylon which man has built. We have all known travellers who have been disappointed with Naples, and Paris, and Venice-the reality did not attain to the exaggerated ideal they had conceived-but never was there a pilgrim who did not feel amply repaid by a sight of the grand natural wonders of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Trees.

Running northeast and southwest, the valley itself lies in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains, almost in the centre of the State of California, and was first discovered by white men in the year 1848. It is some six miles long by a mile to a mile and a half wide and, though 4,060 feet above the level of the sea, is just one mile perpendicular below the summits of the surrounding mountains. The namesignifying Big Grizzly Bear"-is derived from a tribe of predatory Indians, now almost extinct, who at one time made this natural stronghold their place of final retreat. Continually harassed by these nomads, the Mariposa settlers finally organized themselves as a military body, and, guided by a friendly redskin, ultimately succeeded in tracking the Indians to their lair. They returned with startling accounts of the wonders they had seen, but it was not till some eight years later that the valley commenced to draw visitors, and even then a further eight years elapsed before the State authorities began to realize the value of the magnificent attraction they had in their midst. However, in 1864 an Act of Congress was obtained granting both the Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees in perpetuity to the State of California, upon the express condition that they should be kept inalienably for public use, resort, and recreation for all time.

Between the months of May and August is the recognized visiting season, but toward the latter end of that

We

time the roads become painfully dusty and the water in the falls frequently too low to secure the best effects. were, therefore, but a small, though cosmopolitan, party when, at four o'clock on a lovely September afternoon, we started from Market Street Wharf, San Francisco, to make the orthodox pilgrimage. The party preceding us had, however, been an unusually large one, and included the present Lord Chief Justice of England, and a number of other leading lights of the British Bar and Parliament-a section of the guests so munificently entertained by the American Bar Association and Mr. Villard of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

At Oakland we joined the train for Madera-185 miles distant, and the railway terminus for Yosemite tourists

and in this manner skirted, for 35 miles, the grand bay of San Francisco

which finds its communication with the sea through the far-famed Golden Gate-obtaining a fleeting view en route of the great grain-shipping depôts of Vallejo, Porta Costa, and Benicia, with their congregations of all sorts and conditions of vessels gathered together from every corner of the globe and waiting to feed the world. But the landscape only became really interesting as we turned inland and, in the waning daylight, meandered quietly along the banks of the Sacramento River. Long before our first stop at Lathrop, however, little of the outside world was visible beyond the stream of fire from the funnel of our snorting engine, and a constellation of fixed stars on the rear platform of the car, where a party of smokers sat in solemu conclave.

At Lathrop we were allowed twenty minutes for supper at a primitive timber-built hotel, close to the railwaytrack-to and from which we groped our way in the darkness, over sundry pitfalls and sinister boulders, with no little difficulty-and at half-past eight were again leisurely pursuing our way toward Madera at the distinctly nonhazardous rate of some fifteen miles an hour.

There was not much sleep for any of us that night, and, indeed, we felt we had only just turned in when the

stentorian tones of the car-porter announcing: "Madera! Madera! Breakfast in half an hour!" thoroughly awakened us from our restless slumbers. It was just half-past five. On looking out, we found ourselves at a standstill in the midst of a flat and uninteresting sandy waste, unbroken by even an attempt at a tree or a shrub. One street of wooden buildings, about 200 yards distant, alone served to break the monotony of the landscape, and these, we were duly informed, composed the city of Madera. The porter's warning did not long remain unheeded. The various bed-curtains went through some curious evolutions, and a sudden rush to either end of the car soon proved that our little world was once again astir. And now an incident occurred which formed a fruitful topic of conversation for some time to come, but which might have had serious results for the unwitting offender. We had been duly apprised, the night before, which end of the car was to be appropriated to the men's toilet, and in the lamplight it all looked clear enough. But one individual-and the shyest man of the party withal-had evidently lost his bearings during the night, and carelessly sauntered, in undress uniform, to the end nearest him when he awoke. Opening the lavatory door, he walked heedlessly in. There was a moment's silence, and then a loud and inharmonious murmur of female voices, the banging of a door, and the sound of hurrying footsteps down the corridor. Red and breathless, the unfortunate man rushed into the men's lavatory, but the consolation he there received was not calculated to restore his equanimity, and he ever afterward asserted that he had that morning experienced one of the severest shocks of a not uneventful life.

At six o'clock the gong at the hotel opposite sounded for breakfast, and at seven we started in a four-horse coach on the seventy-five miles drive to the valley.

For some fifteen miles our course lay across a land of miniature sandhills the route marked out by an interminable wooden watercourse perched, for safety, on stilts-the happy playground of multitudes of hares, ground

squirrels, and other small game. Then, the sand waste gradually gave place to a land peopled as far as the eye could reach with grazing sheep and gambolling lambs, and soon we were rattling on at a good pace through a well-vegetated and pleasantly undulating country. Gayly we thus sped on toward the ever-changing and always seductive prospect ahead until. at one o'clock, a halt was called at Coarse Gold Gulch for luncheon, and a turn to stretch our legs. Here, as everywhere, we were excellently well treated and would fain have lingered at the charmingly situated hotel; but needs must when a circular tour drives, and it was with a sigh of regret that, after an hour's rest, we turned from this hospitable spot to face those possible ills we knew not of. Shortly we found ourselves in the heart of the lovely Foothill country, with its vineyards and far-reaching orchards; its groves of oak and cypress, spruce, and pine, and glossy manzanitas; its hills and its valleys; and its brilliant-hued flowers, heavy with fragrance and rich in beauty. It was, indeed, a romantic land through which we thus pleasantly trundled, threading shady groves, across open spaces soft with verdure of the most delicate shades of green, and past cheery homesteads, out of which everybody ran to see the coach go by. But the ever-ascending road was beginning to tell with increasing severity on our horses at every mile, and as we crossed the threshold of the Sierras our team had finally to be increased to six. Our driver, the "Colonel"there is quite a glut of "colonels" in this market-proved a capital whip, as well as a jovial fellow. His team seemed to recognize every inflection of his voice, and apparently enjoyed the sport fully as much as any of us as he guided it, at a fine turn of speed and with marvellous skill and dexterity, along what soon became tortuous mountain roads, round the sharpest of sharp curves, and by the unprotected edges of frightful precipices.

In this exhilarating manuer we sped on through a country overflowing with romantic possibilities, past yawning ravines and deep cañons, with ever and anon a glimpse of lofty mountains,

ours

trickling streams, and luxuriantly fertile valleys. But it must not be supposed that all these joys were without due penalty, for the overwhelming clouds of dust which we frequently encountered, and the backaches which we had to endure through long periods of jolting and bumping over irregular roads, proved terribly trying at times.

As we left the Foothills and penetrated deeper into the heart of the Sierras the road narrowed down to some eight feet in width, cut in the mountain sides. On the one hand towered steep slopes, thick to the summit with glorious phalanxes of sugar and pitch-pines, oaks, cedars, and firs, looking the very kings of trees as their tall, straight, noble shafts-like Saracenic columns-shot heaven ward for full two hundred feet. On the other, wild and romantic gorges of wonderful beauty and fearful depth, in which innumerable mountain streams found a common bed.

All day and everywhere quail and other small game had literally swarmed around our track, so much so that a good shot could at times have wrought considerable slaughter with an ordinary catapult; but as we reached the higher lands these almost disappeared and gave place to quantities of deer, which came out of the woods on the mountain-sides and gazed wonderingly at us as we rattled by at fairly close quarters. At one time a superb fox kept the road for a considerable distance in front of us, but the one animal for which every eye was strained, and every tongue inquiring, was a grizzly." Despite, however, the keenest possible look-out, our curiosity was destined not to be gratified by the sight of even a distant one, though we crossed numbers of fresh tracks from time to time, and were assured by more than one red-shirted hunter that several were in the vicinity.

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Many times during the day we had stopped to water the horses at one or other of the many fruit farms en route, the inhabitants of which, with a rare generosity, invariably met us with pails of luscious peaches, grapes, and other fruits of abnormal size, and for which they resolutely declined all re

muneration other than old newspapers, and such additional news of the outside world as we were able to give. Old newspapers we found to be a most. invaluable commodity throughout, and none were too old to excite the liveliest gratitude on the part of the recipients. During the latter part of the journey, however, human habitations became few and far between-here a primitive farm and there a log hut, with its solitary occupant, in a forest clearing-so that it was with a feeling almost akin to relief that, at seven o'clock, we drew up at Chincopin Flats, our last halt prior to reaching our final resting-place for the night.

The Flats was not an imposing looking place, even in the friendly gloaming. A few wooden shanties, occupied by roving hunters and some half-dozen employés of the Concord Company, was all it could boast of in the way of civilization-one of those places numbered among the proverbially blessed, for it certainly was ignorant of any history.

"

Darkness was well upon us as we set off on the last lap of our day's journey. The Colonel," however, knew every inch of the road; and it was well for us that he did, for as we passed at times through long stretches of primeval forest our two leaders" were frequently quite out of sight-lost in the blackness surrounding us. About half an hour of this haphazard travelling brought us at last within sight of the welcome lights of Clark's Ranch twinkling below, and at eight o'clock we reached the clearing-still, however, some twenty-two miles from the valley. All hands, of course, turned out to witness the arrival, and sorry-looking objects we were. The white dust lay thick over everything, and had penetrated every crack and crevice. Nothing was sacred from it, so that what with our white clothes and black faces we could scarcely even recognize each other as we made our way through the loitering groups of guides, travellers, red and gray-shirted hunters, servants, and animals, to the largest of the long, low, irregular wooden houses

with windows and doors innumerable all opening on to the characteristic verandas-which served the purposes of an hotel. An air of business

pervaded the place in spite of its position in the heart of a mighty forest, and, although there was no pretence at architectural beauty or luxury about it, cleanliness and comfort were everywhere, and our bruised and shaken frames rejoiced at the sight of the cheery log fires, which added a touch of welcome to the appearance of the spacious and homely rooms-for, although the days were hot enough, the nights up in the mountains were decidedly cool. A refreshing toilette, a dinner than which nothing more appetizing was eaten that night in Paris or New York, some music in the drawingroom, and a cigar out in the moonlight, fanned by the soft pine-laden air, and we felt even then that the discomforts of travel had not been in vain.

Life was astir betimes at Clark's, and at half-past six, after a capital breakfast, we were once more under way. From the ranch the road again took a turn upward, and we continued to ascend until, at an altitude of 6,600 feet, Look-out Point-the highest elevation of the Yosemite trail-was reached. Here one of the grandest views of the trip suddenly burst upon us, and the accommodating "Colonel" willingly stopped sufficiently long to impress our memories with the magnificent panorama of valley and mountain spread out before us. From this point the actual descent into the valley commenced, but it was not until we had proceeded some distance farther that a sudden bend in the road brought us face to face with a kingly tree, bearing the legend" Inspiration Point." And the spot was, indeed, well named, for as we gazed for the first time on the narrow, verdant valley we had come so far to see, guarded by its giant portals, and flanked by lofty and precipitous mountains with castellated granite crests towering heavenward, we found the realm of Fact to be no whit behind the realm of Fancy. Over the mighty walls great bodies of water recklessly plunged, and in the far distance floated, like a bit of purest ether on the gloom of Tenaya Cañon, one of the fairest and most picturesque lakes in the whole of Nature's wide domain. From end to end of the valley, 3,000 feet below, ran

with many windings, like a tiny silver thread, the Merced River, while stately firs and pines, 150 feet high, looked like mere bushes dropped here and there on the level greensward.

The desire of the moment was, essentially, to linger and to gaze. One felt one could never tire, in that exhilarating atmosphere, of the pristine grandeur and freshness, the weird majesty and sylvan beauty of this ancient Indian retreat and Temple of Nature, for there was about it none of that monotony and wearisomeness ofttimes so oppressive in those temples made with hands. But the Colonel" thought we had tarried long enough, and, urging his horses forward, took us on to a closer acquaintance with the beauties and rugged grandeur which had proved so impressive at a distance. Soon we were passing the solid face of El Capitan, the Great Chief of the Valley" as the Indians call it, standing like a sentinel, with its head towering 3,600 feet above us, at the entrance to the valley, and distinctly visible to the naked eye in the vale of San Joaquin sixty miles away.

Beyond El Capitan rise one above. another the pinnacles of the Three Brothers (3,820 feet), for all the world like three frogs sitting on their haunches and gazing in the same direction. Then come Eagle Point, and a curious columnar mass of rock known as Washington Column; while at the extreme end of the valley rises the sparkling granite dome of Cloud's Rest, 6,450 feet above the floor of the valley and 10,510 above the level of the sea. Returning on the other side, the eye perforce rests first on Half or South Dome, a peculiar mass of solid granite, 4,737 feet high, dominating the valley, and in shape, as its name indicates, like a dome riven in half. That side of it looking on to Mirror Lake is, for the greater part, absolutely vertical, and among all the marvels of the region the Half Dome is unmistakably the most unapproachable. Professor Whitney declares that it has but one possible rival in the world-and that the Matterhorn.

The entire valley teems with Indian tradition and romance, but perhaps one of the most pleasing legends is that