330 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



dent of the Congress, Sir James Paget, with his grave, kindly 

 smile. 



A few moments later, the Prince of Wales entered, accom- 

 panying his brother-in-law, the German Crown Prince. 



In his speech, Sir James Paget said that medical science 

 should aim at three objects : novelty, utility and charity. The 

 only scientist named was Pasteur ; the applause was such that 

 Pasteur, who was sitting behind Sir James Paget, had to rise 

 and bow to the huge assembly. 



11 1 felt very proud," wrote Pasteur to Mme. Pasteur in a 

 letter dated that same day, " I felt inwardly very proud, not 

 for myself you know how little I care for triumph ! but for 

 my country, in seeing that I was specially distinguished among 

 that immense concourse of foreigners, especially of Germans, 

 who are here in much greater numbers than the French , whose 

 total, however, reaches two hundred and fifty. Jean Baptiste 

 and Rene were in the Hall; you can imagine their emotion. 



" After the meeting, we lunched at Sir James Paget 's 

 house ; he had the Prussian Crown Prince on his right and the 

 Prince of Wales on his left. Then there was a gathering of 

 about twenty-five or thirty guests in the drawing-room. Sir 

 James presented me to the Prince of Wales, to whom I bowed, 

 saying that I was happy to salute a friend to France. ' Yes,' 

 he answered, ' a great friend/ Sir James Paget had the good 

 taste not to ask me to be presented to the Prince of Prussia ; 

 though there is of course room for nothing but courtesy under 

 such circumstances, I could not have brought myself to appear 

 to wish to be presented to him. But he himself came up to 

 me and said, ' M. Pasteur, allow me to introduce myself to 

 you, and to tell you that I had great pleasure in applauding 

 you just now,' adding some more pleasant things." 



In the midst of the unexpected meetings brought about by 

 that Congress, it was an interesting thing to see this son of a 

 King and Emperor, the heir to the German crown, thus going 

 towards that Frenchman whose conquests were made over 

 disease and death. Of what glory might one day dream this 

 Prince, who became Frederic III ! 



His tall and commanding stature, the highest position in the 

 Prussian army conferred on him by his father, King William, 

 in a solemn letter dated from Versailles, October, 1870 every- 

 thing seemed to combine in making a warlike man of this 

 powerful-looking prince. And yet was it not said in France 



