LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 99 



complex in a harmonious synthesis. His own enthusi- 

 asm established a living bond between him and his 

 audience. 



He was on excellent terms with the students, 

 though he made no bid for popularity. Not only did 

 he give no encouragement to the prevailing tendency 

 of the young men towards politics, but he endeavoured 

 on the contrary to bring them back to their studies ; 

 he tried to prove to them that social problems demand 

 knowledge and a serious practical preparation. Other- 

 wise, said he, social life would be as medicine was 

 before it entered into the path of science, and when 

 any middle-aged woman, any bone-setter, was allowed 

 to practise therapeutics. At the same time, students 

 found in him willing protection in the persecutions 

 directed against them, and earnest help in their work 

 when they showed the least interest in it ; he would 

 eagerly welcome the smallest spark of the " sacred fire." 



Owing to the absolute independence of his ideas 

 and conduct he had great influence on young men, 

 and this caused him to be looked upon in adminis- 

 trative spheres as a " Red " almost an agitator. In 

 reality he was struggling against the inertia and 

 reactionary forces which were shackling the normal 

 development of culture and science in Russia. He 

 called himself a " progressive evolutionist," for he 

 considered that alone a deep and conscious evolution 

 could give stable results and lead to real progress. 

 He thought that Revolution, and especially Terrorism, 

 merely provoked a reaction which might be long- 

 lived, and that, as long as the people were not suffi- 

 ciently educated, a revolution might easily result in 

 the transfer of despotism from one party to another. 

 Socialistic doctrines did not satisfy him ; according 



