Note 12 — Chapter XII · THE PROFESSOR: AVIGNON (CONTINUED)

The first of these removals took place in 1870. A little earlier, a minister who has left a lasting memory in the university, that fine man Victor Duruy,12 had instituted classes for the secondary education of girls. This was the beginning, as far as was then possible, of the burning question of to-day. I very gladly lent my humble aid to this labour of light. I was put to teach physical and natural science. I had faith, and was not sparing of work, with the result that I rarely faced a more attentive or interested audience. The days on which the lessons fell were red-letter days, especially when the lesson was botany and the table disappeared from view under the treasures of the neighbouring conservatories.