64 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



restaurant in the neighbourhood. Yet, in spite of 

 all his efforts and privations, he never seemed to make 

 both ends meet. He resigned himself to giving lessons 

 at the School of Mines in order to increase his resources ; 

 the school was a long way off, he had to walk the 

 distance in the coldest weather in order to lecture 

 to students who did not interest him. The work 

 wearied him without giving him any moral compen- 

 sation. Altogether, the life in Petersburg, on which 

 he had founded great hopes, brought him nothing 

 but disappointments and made him become more 

 and more pessimistic and misanthropical. 



