250 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



activity. He himself responded to all those mani- 

 festations of sympathy by a spirited speech, in which, 

 a propos of his own particular case, he expounded his 

 ideas on senility and the duration of life in general. 

 This is what he wrote on that same day in his note- 

 book : 



16th May 1915. To-day I have at last accomplished my 

 seventy years ! I have attained the normal limit of life, a 

 limit mentioned by King David and confirmed by the statisti- 

 cal researches of Lexis and Bodio. 1 I am still capable of 

 work and of reflection. But the changes in my psychical 

 state which I had observed a year ago have become sensibly 

 accentuated. The difference in acuteness both of pleasant 

 and painful sensations is becoming more and more marked. 

 Agreeable sensations are becoming weaker ; I am now in- 

 different to many things which I used to appreciate very 

 much. 



It is useless to say that I am indifferent to the quality of 

 my food ; my need of musical impressions has become so 

 much less that I hardly feel the desire to satisfy it. The 

 charm of spring no longer touches me and only provokes 

 sadness in my mind. 



On the other hand, my anxiety for the health and happiness 

 of those I love is getting more and more acute. I find it 

 difficult to understand how I ever could bear it. 



The powerlessness of medicine grieves me more and more, 

 and, as a last straw, the war has interrupted all the work that 

 had been undertaken against disease. In these conditions, it 

 is not astonishing that I should feel a growing satiety with 

 existence. Last year [16th May 1914 to 16th May 1915] I 

 had two attacks of tachycardia, during which I should have 

 been glad to die, but in general my health is satisfactory and 

 that sustains me. What would have become of me if, to 

 crown my misfortunes, I had fallen ill ! I certainly no longer 

 fear death, but I desire to die suddenly during a heart attack 

 and not to go through a long illness. 



1 Annales de I'Institut Pasteur, 1915. 



