LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 141 



bound to life ; he saw one through the other and 

 considered that they should serve each other. 



Apart from scientific researches, he took part in the 

 courses given at the Pasteur Institute. He prepared 

 his lectures with infinite care, and, in spite of his long 

 experience, he never could give them without some 

 nervousness, especially during the last years of his 

 life. He used even to write down the first sentences 

 and to read them out in order to give himself time to 

 recover ; but very soon his self-control would return, 

 and he would proceed with animation and lucidity ; 

 his lectures were living and suggestive. 



I have mentioned above Roux's masterly appreci- 

 ation of his influence at the Pasteur Institute. The 

 following was written to me, a year after MetchnikofFs 

 death, by one of his closest disciples and collaborators, 

 and describes in a vivid manner the deep feelings 

 with which he inspired his pupils : 



" You say that you love to think that he continues to live 

 in others. Could it have been otherwise ? A character as 

 powerful as his is capable of influencing and illuminating the 

 life, not of one individual, but of a whole generation. I look 

 upon it as the greatest good fortune of my life that I was 

 able to spend my best years in his orbit and to impregnate 

 my mind with his spirit, not his scientific spirit, but that 

 which he manifested in facing life and humanity. 



" This bond has become so much part of myself that my first 

 impulse is always to act in the way he would have approved. 

 I even feel the need to share with others what I received from 

 him. I do not know whether it will be given to me to solve 

 certain problems posed by him, but I have the conviction 

 that his spirit, in its purity, will be preserved among us. He 

 will ever live in those who worked by his side, and in those 

 who will come to work in his laboratory. It cannot be 

 otherwise." 



