When in the autumn of 1893 a Russian squadron was in France on a friendly visit, the whole country - from Toulon to Paris and from Brest to Lyons - was greeting Russian envoys while ailing Louis Pasteur was also waiting for them at his institute. Leaning heavily on his cane, he walked out to meet those who had brought him greetings from his Russian colleagues on the banks of the Neva River.
A few days later the St. Petersburg newspaper Novoye Vremya published the great Frenchman's words, which he addressed to his Russian guests:
"I am deeply moved to meet you here, in this house, which you may readily call your Russian home. Memories of your compatriots, who were given medical treatment here and frequent visits of your young doctors who came here for team-work - all of that has turned this place in France into one where Russia has the most friends."
On that morning in October, when people in Russia were reading these deep-felt words pronounced in Paris about the collaboration of French and Russian scientists, recommendations for Louis Pasteur had already been handed in to the Office of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Russian scientists, who had formerly elected the great Frenchman to be an Associate Member of their Academy, now wished to see him as an Honorary Member of one of the greatest centres of science in Russia.
