262 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



consumed liim ; it surely was one of the causes that 

 had worn his heart out. When already very weak 

 and ill, he constantly thought of giving pleasure to 

 those who were with him ; he read innumerable 

 reviews and periodicals, and would tell each friend 

 what he had found of particular interest to the latter, 

 even when speech was difficult to him. His gentle- 

 ness and cordiality were most touching during the 

 whole of his illness, though he preserved his usual 

 outspokenness. ... It seemed to me that this 

 offended no one ; they all understood Elie now. 



He sought a refuge from his sufferings in his own 

 ivory tower ; these sufferings themselves were to him 

 a source of observations. He studied his body and 

 his soul as he would have studied any subject under 

 experiment. Every day he wrote down his auto- 

 observations, and carefully read the diary which I 

 kept for him. 



During the whole of the winter he had ups and 

 downs. Towards the end of December the cough and 

 respiratory symptoms increased, and at the beginning 

 of January he expectorated clots of blood, due to 

 a passive congestion of the right lung. 



On the 19th January, some liquid appeared in the 

 pleura on the same side. Pleurisy persisted for a 

 whole month and necessitated three punctures. 

 Every time we feared to tell him that the puncture 

 was necessary, but he received the news with com- 

 plete coolness, saying that he had always been in 

 favour of radical measures. 



After the third puncture, which took place on the 

 19th February, a marked relief supervened, and the 

 improvement lasted for some time ; it was the only 

 moment when we saw a ray of hope. 



