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AUTHORISED TRANSLATION FROM THE FRENCH
Dr. METCHNIKOFF IN HIS LABORATORY.
LIFE OF
ELIE METCHNIKOFF
1845-1916
BY
OLGA METCHNIKOFF
WITH A PREFACE BY
Sir RAY LANKESTER K.C.B. F.R.S.
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD.
1921
PREFACE
It has been a great satisfaction to me to carry outthe wish of my dear friend Elie Metchnikoff, and arrangefor the production of an English translation of hisbiography. The account of his life and work writtenby Olga Metchnikoff is a remarkable and beautifulrecord of the development and activities of a greatdiscoverer. It is remarkable because it is seldomthat one who undertakes such a task has had soconstant a share in, and so complete a knowledge andunderstanding of, the life portrayed as in the presentcase: seldom that the intimate thought and mental“adventure” of a discoverer presents so clear andconsistent a history. It is beautiful because it isput before us with perfect candour and simplicityguided by rare intelligence and inspired by deepaffection. Madame Metchnikoff has drawn thepicture of the development of a single-mindedcharacter absolutely and tenaciously devoted to ahigh purpose—the improvement of human life. Itis a story of “struggles and adventures,” but theyare wholly in the field of the investigation of Nature.We read here little or nothing of the quest for personaladvancement, for fortune or official position. Thesethings had no attraction for Metchnikoff. He left[vi]Russia and took an unpaid post in Paris in order tohave a place to work in. He had many devotedfriends in whose company he sought refreshment andrelaxation, but all his immense energy and industrywere concentrated on the development and establishmentof his great biological theory of “Phagocytosis”and its outcome, the philosophy of life called by him“Orthobiosis.” This volume tells truly of a simplelife—a life in which the social incidents which fill solarge a space in most lives were either non-existentor unnoticed because, by the side of the great purposewhich dominated Metchnikoff’s every thought andaction—namely, the advancement of Science—he wasnot touched by them. He was affectionate, kind-hearted,and truly consi