1889—1895 289 



laboratory, the little flasks which Pasteur had used in his ex- 

 periments on so-called spontaneous generation, which had been 

 religiously preserved ; also rows of little tubes used for studies 

 on wines ; various preparations in various culture media ; 

 microbes and bacilli, so numerous that it was difficult to know 

 which to see first. The bacteria of diphtheria and bubonic 

 plague completed this museum. 



Pasteur was carried into the laboratory about twelve o'clock, 

 and Dr. Roux showed his master the plague bacillus through 

 a microscope. Pasteur, looking at these things, souvenirs of 

 his own work and results of his pupils' researches, thought of 

 those disciples who were continuing his task in various parts 

 of the world. In France, he had just sent Dr. Calmette to 

 Lille, where he soon afterwards created a new and admirable 

 Pasteur Institute. Dr. Yersin was continuing his investiga- 

 tions in China. A Normalien, M. Le Dantec, who had entered 

 the Ecole at sixteen at the head of the list, and who had after- 

 wards become a curator at the laboratory, was in Brazil, study- 

 ing yellow fever, of which he very nearly died. Dr. Adrien 

 Loir, after a protracted mission in Australia, was head of a 

 Pasteur Institute at Tunis. Dr. Nicolle was setting up a 

 laboratory of bacteriology at Constantinople. ' There is still 

 a great deal to do ! " sighed Pasteur as he affectionately pressed 

 Dr. Eoux' hand. 



He was more than ever full of a desire to allay human suffer- 

 ing, of a humanitarian sentiment which made of him a citizen 

 of the world. But his love for France was in no wise diminished, 

 and the permanence of his patriotic feelings was, soon after 

 this, revealed by an incident. The Berlin Academy of Sciences 

 was preparing a list of illustrious contemporary scientists to be 

 submitted to the Kaiser with a view to conferring on them the 

 badge of the Order of Merit. As Pasteur's protest and return 

 of his diploma to the Bonn University had not been forgotten, 

 the Berlin Academy, before placing his name on the list, de- 

 sired to know whether he would accept this distinction at the 

 hands of the German Emperor. Pasteur, while acknowledging 

 with courteous thanks the honour done to him as a scientist, 

 declared that he could not accept it. 



For him, as for Victor Hugo, the question of Alsace-Lor- 

 raine was a question of humanity ; the right of peoples to 

 dispose of themselves was in question. And by a bitter irony 

 of Fate, France, which had proclaimed this principle all over 



