LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 153 



the classical picture of inflammation (a heightened 

 temperature, pain, redness, tumefaction) are due to 

 the complexity of the organism ; but the essence, the 

 primum movens of inflammation, with them also, is 

 a digestive action of the phagocytes upon the noxious 

 agent, therefore a salutary reaction of the organism, 

 essentially similar to the normal digestion of inferior 

 beings. Metchnikofl adduced numerous examples 

 giving evidence of the genetic link which exists 

 between inflammation and normal intracellular 

 digestion, and while establishing the evolution of 

 the former on biological and experimental bases, he 

 showed at the same time the close connection which 

 binds normal biology and pathological biology. 



This series of lectures formed a volume which 

 appeared in 1892 under the title of Legons sur la 

 pathologie comparee de V inflammation, a book which 

 contributed to the acceptation of the phagocyte 

 theory and which showed the importance of Natural 

 History applied to Medicine. 



