LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 143 



evolved in the course of years ; the great moral and 

 physical sensitiveness which had so often made him 

 miserable in his youth had decreased and he had 

 become much less impulsive. Unpleasant sensations 

 no longer caused him so much suffering ; he could 

 bear the mewing of a cat or the barking of a dog ; 

 personal vexations no longer made him take such a 

 horror of life as to wish to be rid of it : he now merely 

 tried to conquer them. 



At first this change operated less upon his ideas 

 than upon his sensations and sentiments. Accustomed 

 as he was to analyse his emotions, he realised the 

 development within himself of a new sense of appre- 

 ciation ; less sensitive now to extreme impressions, 

 he had become more so to ordinary ones. For 

 instance, though less enchanted by music, and less 

 irritated by discordant noises, he enjoyed absolute 

 calm more fully. Now indifferent to rich food, which 

 he formerly used to enjoy, he appreciated simple fare, 

 bread and pure water. He did not seek for picturesque 

 sites but took infinite pleasure in watching the growth 

 of grass or the bursting of a bud. The first halting 

 steps or the smile of an infant charmed and delighted 

 him. 



Demanding less from life, he now appreciated it as 

 it was, and experienced the joy of mere living. The 

 instinct, the sense of life had been born in him. He 

 now saw Life and Nature under a different aspect 

 from that which they had borne for him in his youth, 

 for he had gradually acquired more balance ; he had 

 become adapted. 



In their turn, his ideas evolved towards a more 

 optimistic conception of life. His reflections, freed from 

 the yoke of his juvenile sensitiveness, tended towards 



