558 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



which was to meet at Geneva, interrupted these peaceful 

 holidays by inviting Pasteur to read a paper on attenuated 

 virus. As a special compliment, the whole of one meeting, 

 that of Tuesday, September 5, was to be reserved for his 

 paper only. Pasteur immediately returned to work ; he only 

 consented under the greatest pressure to go for a short walk 

 on the Besangon road at five o'clock every afternoon. After 

 spending the whole morning and the whole afternoon sitting at 

 his writing table over laboratory registers, he came away 

 grumbling at being disturbed in his work. If any member of 

 his family ventured a question on the proposed paper, he hastily 

 cut them short, declaring that he must be let alone. It was 

 only when Mme. Pasteur had copied out in her clear hand- 

 writing all the little sheets covered with footnotes, that the con- 

 tents of the paper became known. 



When Pasteur entered the Congress Hall, great applause 

 greeted him on every side. The seats were occupied, not only 

 by the physicians and professors who form the usual audience 

 of a congress, but also by tourists, who take an interest in 

 scientific things when they happen to be the fashion. 



Pasteur spoke of the invitation he had received. " I hastened 

 to accept it," he said, "and I am pleased to find myself the 

 guest of a country which has been a friend to France in good 

 as in evil days. Moreover, I hoped to meet here some of the 

 contradictors of my work of the last few years. If a congress 

 is a ground for conciliation, it is in the same degree a ground 

 for courteous discussion. We all are actuated by a supreme 

 passion, that of progress and of truth." 



Almost always, at the opening of a congress, great politeness 

 reigns in a confusion of languages. Men are seen offering each 

 other pamphlets, exchanging visiting cards, and only lending 

 an inattentive ear to the solemn speeches going on. This 

 time, the first scene of the first act suspended all private con- 

 versation. Pasteur stood above the assembly in his full 

 strength and glory. Though he was almost sixty, his hair had 

 remained black, his beard alone was turning grey. His face 

 reflected indomitable energy ; if he had not been slightly lame, 

 and if his left hand had not been a little stiff, no one could 

 have supposed that he had been struck with paralysis fourteen 

 years before. The feeling of the place France should hold in 

 an International Congress gave him a proud look and an impos- 

 ing accent of authority. He was visibly ready to meet hie 



