This will explain the enormous number of characters which
figure in the book. Each character represents one _etat d'ame
psychologique_ of the France of the day. If my work be well done, the
reader will be able to understand what was in men's minds and what was
the bent of men's minds--what they thought and how they thought at that
period."
Le Docteur Pascal.
In this, the concluding novel of the Rougon-Macquart series, Zola
gathers together the threads of the preceding volumes and makes a
vigorous defence of his theories of heredity. The story in the book is
both simple and sad. Doctor Pascal Rougon, a medical man at Plassans and
a distinguished student of heredity, had brought up his niece Clotilde
(daughter of Aristide Rougon alias Saccard) from childhood. Years
afterwards they found that they passionately loved one another, but they
did not marry, as Pascal, who had lost money, thought that by doing so
she would sacrifice her interests. (In this connection it is right to
mention that marriage between an uncle and a niece is legal in France,
and is not uncommon.) With fine self-sacrifice Pascal persuaded Clotilde
to go to Paris to live with her brother who was wealthy and wanted her
to nurse him.
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