As his fees were very moderate, the poorer people remained faithful to him; he earned just enough to live, and lived contentedly, a thousand leagues away from the rest of the country, absorbed in the pure delight of his researches and discoveries.

From time to time he sent a memoir to the Academie des Sciences at Paris.

Plassans did not know that this eccentric character, this gentleman who smelt of death was well-known and highly-esteemed in the world of science.

When people saw him starting on Sundays for an excursion among the Garrigues hills, with a botanist's bag hung round his neck and a geologist's hammer in his hand, they would shrug their shoulders and institute a comparison between him and some other doctor of the town who was noted for his smart cravat, his affability to the ladies, and the delicious odour of violets which his garments always diffused.

Pascal's parents did not understand him any better than other people.