The Pasteur cartoon can be commented in a humoristic way with the help of a French popular poet, Jacques Prévert. In this cartoon, Pasteur recites a nonsensical/humorous series of items. This is also what a French popular poet Jacques Prévert did in his poem Inventaire (Inventory), where at the end of each incongruous list of entities, Prévert adds “un raton laveur”, “a raccoon!” When someone utters a nonsensical list of unrelated items, one may add ironically (and may not be so kindly) “et un raton laveur,” “and a raccoon!” So, I would have added to Pasteur’s (and cartoonist Sidney Harris’s) list: “and a raccoon!” You can hear Prévert at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU2JEC_e-mc — Jean-Marie Lehn, Université de Strasbourg (1987 Nobel Prize)
