114 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



peasants brutally murdered a keeper who was turning 

 the cattle away from the crops. Then at last the 

 administration awoke, arrested the murderers, and 

 twelve men were exiled to Siberia. 



All this caused Metchnikoff the deepest anxiety, 

 the more so that he was absolutely incapable of 

 altering the situation. As soon as it became possible, 

 he sold to the peasants that portion of the land which 

 belonged to us personally ; until then, the property 

 had been common to the whole family, of which the 

 younger members were not yet of age. This, however, 

 was not a general solution, and these moral pre- 

 occupations, as well as the heavy responsibility in- 

 cumbent upon him, kept him from his scientific work. 

 He was therefore very pleased to hand over the 

 management of the property to one of my brothers 

 who had just completed his studies in a Higher 

 Agricultural School, and, in spite of difficult condi- 

 tions, Elie had the satisfaction of giving up every- 

 thing in good order. 



Thanks to my parents' inheritance, he was able 

 to abandon his share of the Panassovka patrimony 

 to the children of his brother and to live henceforth 

 independently. He wished to pursue researches on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean : therefore, in the 

 autumn of the year 1882, we went to Messina with 

 my two sisters and my three young brothers. The 

 children were no trouble to Elie, who loved them ; 

 on the contrary, he enjoyed organising the journey 

 and arranging all sorts of pleasures for them. The 

 children, accustomed to his kindly indulgence, always 

 came to " the Prophet " for everything they wanted. 1 



1 " Elie " is the French form of Elijah, in Russian Ilia, and was ulti- 

 mately adopted by Metchnikoff. 



