LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 47 



merce. He afterwards lived in Italy, took an active 

 part in the Garibaldi movement and was wounded. 

 A clever painter, he also had real literary talent ; 

 handsome, witty, agreeable, he was a most attractive 

 personality. Elie had great affection for him. 



He found him surrounded with young men and 

 studying a map. They were discussing the acquisi- 

 tion of a piece of ground in Italy in order to found 

 a socialistic community, and Leo, who knew the 

 country, was to choose the locality. Elie was at once 

 made acquainted with the political questions of the 

 day ; the young scientist was unfavourably impressed, 

 for the whole reduced itself to party questions and 

 dogmatic discussions founded on hollow grounds. 

 Accustomed as he already was to positive scientific 

 methods, vague and arbitrary theories could not 

 satisfy him. 



On the other hand, he was deeply impressed by 

 the personality of the celebrated socialistic Russian 

 writer, Herzen, who resided in Geneva at that time. 

 The young revolutionaries considered him as too 

 literary and too much of a theoretician ; they them- 

 selves yearned for a direct-action policy. Leo Metch- 

 nikoff, however, admired him fervently. Meetings 

 often took place in Herzen's rooms ; he used to read 

 to his guests with wonderful effect his yet unpublished 

 manuscript Passe et pensees. A great and powerful 

 figure, the superiority of his intelligence was almost 

 crushing, while his sparkling wit and the nobility of 

 his whole being endowed him with an incomparable 

 and irresistible personal charm. Metchnikoff often 

 said that no man had left a deeper impression on his 

 life. As a politician, however, he had not the same 

 prestige in his sight. 



