LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 261 



interrupted by acute pain ; until the very end, his 

 brain never failed him. He often used to say 

 how far he was from any mystic aspirations, and 

 how sure he was of remaining a rationalist 

 until the end. And such was the case. Faithful 

 to himself, not even in the most painful moments 

 did he feel a desire to look for support outside 

 the ideas and principles of his whole life. Yet 

 his soul was sad and full of care ; the war grieved 

 him utterly, every newspaper he read renewed his 

 sorrow. When a severe engagement, Verdun for 

 instance, was going on, he lost the little sleep he had, 

 and his agitation became painful. 



He was deeply disillusioned by the Germans. 

 Having always felt great esteem for their scientific 

 work, he had believed in their high culture, and now 

 he was absolutely disconcerted by the mentality 

 which they manifested during the war. 



Neither could he understand how the war had 

 been allowed to come about. He thought it ought 

 to have been avoided, and considered the authorities 

 guilty for not having done so. He said that nothing 

 could compensate the harm done by this insane 

 butchery. 



The deserted laboratories, the interruption of 

 scientific work, filled his soul with melancholy. For, 

 he said, all the great, all the real questions should 

 have been solved by Science and were kept waiting. . . . 



He also had material worries, the war having 

 brought great perturbation in his affairs. The fate 

 of his mobilised pupils preoccupied him constantly. 

 The least indisposition, however trifling, of those he 

 loved made him unhappy. His sensibility, which had 

 always been very marked, increased still more, and 



