200 



LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



covered with pines emerged from the sea like ghosts, 

 in the mysterious silvery midnight light ; the im- 

 pression was fairy-like. 



A warm welcome awaited MetchnikofE in Russia. 

 At Petersburg, as in Moscow, he was received with 

 cordial and enthusiastic sympathy not only by scien- 

 tific and medical societies, but by all the intellectual 

 youth of those cities. This warm reception contri- 

 buted to efface the bitterness sometimes aroused in 

 him by distant recollections of the reasons which 

 caused him to leave his native country. 



During our stay in Russia we made the acquaint- 

 ance of our great writer, Leon Tolstoi. We spent a 

 day with him in his estate, lasnaia Paliana, and the 

 day left a lifelong impression upon us. 



It was at dawn that we reached the little railway 

 station where a carriage had come to meet us. It 

 had been raining in the night and now, in the iSrst 

 morning light, everything shone with dew. We were 

 excited by the sight of the Russian country, cool 

 meadows, forest, fields, all that simple landscape that 

 we had not seen for so long, and we were also greatly 

 moved at the idea of meeting Tolstoi. 



The village appeared in the distance and, a little 

 way apart, the wide open entrance gate of the old 

 park of lasnaia Paliana. We entered a long shady 

 avenue leading to the home of Tolstoi. The spring 

 was at its best, flowers and perfumes everywhere. 

 The house and the old park had the poetic charm of 

 the ancient " nests of nobility " in Russia. 



Tolstoi's daughter greeted us on the steps ; her 

 kindly simplicity at once put us at our ease. We 

 had hardly entered the vestibule when we saw Leon 

 Tolstoi himself coming down the stairs with a brisk 



