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The lectures of Claude Bernard at the Collège de France were attended by famous people, including the Emperor of Brazil in 1873. Some of them disturbed the scientist, as he once reported himself: “On my right side was a beautiful, dark haired young woman. She was sitting on an elevated seat in the auditorium and therefore I could see her beautiful foot. She was wearing very nicely decorated shoes. On the left foot, the side of the heart, she was wearing a precious anklet with very expensive jewelry embracing the ankle from above. I must confess that this view was breath-taking.” Completely confused, he mixed up “aorta” and “carotis” and forgot half of his lecture.

In 1869 a young Russian lady, Madame Marie Raffalovich, daughter of wealthy Jewish parents from Odessa, attended one of his lectures at the Collège de France. Some days later this young woman asked for a private meeting and was looking for personal information concerning gynecology. Mrs. Raffalovich was 37 years old when she met the 56-year-old Claude Bernard. At the age of 16 years she had married a rich Russian Banker and lived in Paris. She had a university education and had published about the cultural life and scientific events in Paris in St. Petersburg newspapers. She spoke eight languages fluently and helped Claude Bernard to translate German, Italian, English, and Russian publications. Together, they attended cultural events in Paris and she visited him repeatedly in St. Julien, when Claude Bernard was there for the grape harvesting. Claude Bernard wrote numerous letters from Paris and St. Julien to Madame Raffalovic – 488 of his letters have been preserved and some of them published. Her letters to him were burned as per her request, like Madame von Stein’s hundreds of letters she had addressed to Goethe.