246 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



were leaving Paris in numbers and the Government 

 started for Bordeaux. At night, the sky was swept 

 by the gigantic, luminous sword of the searchlights ; 

 the rumble of cannon could be heard in the dis- 

 tance. . . . 



Metchnikoff, however, had no personal fear what- 

 ever. He very simply decided on his course of 

 action, which was to remain at the Institute if his 

 presence there could be of use ; if not, to retire to some 

 quiet place where he could work. As there was 

 hardly any staff left at the Institute on account of 

 the mobilisation, he did not go away, but, on the 

 contrary, we came to live in Paris, the communica- 

 tion with Sevres being very difficult. 



The day we arrived was that on which the first 

 German aeroplanes appeared, and they dropped bombs 

 near the St. Lazare station just as we were alight- 

 ing from the train. For some time after that, they 

 carried out a raid above Paris every Sunday. 



In spite of the disorganisation of his whole life, 

 Metchnikoff had succeeded in resuming his work to a 

 certain extent. He took advantage of an oppor- 

 tunity to observe an old dog who was suffering from 

 diabetes, and hastened to examine his organs as soon 

 as he died, whilst they were still fresh. He had for 

 some time supposed that diabetes might be an in- 

 fectious disease ; yet he was unable to discover any 

 specific microbe either in the humors or in the organs 

 of the dog. But he succeeded in provoking symp- 

 toms of the disease (traces of sugar in the urine) in a 

 healthy dog, by inoculating him with the pancreatic 

 gland of the diabetic dog. He was much encouraged 

 by this result, and would have liked to continue 

 his researches, but was unable to do so because 



