CHAPTER XXXV 



Return to Paris — ^The deserted Institute — ^Memoir on the Founders of 

 Modem Medicine — ^MetchmkofF's Jubilee — ^Last holidays at Norka. 



This was but the beginning of the war ; soon it 

 spread with vertiginous rapidity, and made its cruel 

 destructive force felt. 



On our return from Norka, we found every- 

 thing on a war footing. The very next morning, 

 Metchnikofi hurried to the laboratory. He only 

 reached Paris with some difficulty, all means of 

 communication being encumbered by soldiers. He 

 had left the house nervous and excited but full of 

 courage and energy. I shall never forget his return 

 home. . . . 



I was awaiting him as usual, just outside the 

 station, and, as he got out of the train, I did not 

 recognise him. I saw a stooping old man, bent as 

 under a heavy burden ; his usual vivacity was gone, 

 and had given place to the deepest depression. 



He told me in a broken voice that the Institute 

 was already deserted ; that it was under the orders of 

 the military authorities, and completely disorganised 

 for scientific work. The younger men were mobilised ; 

 the laboratories empty ; the animals used for ex- 

 periments had been killed on account of the departure 

 of the servants, and for fear of a lack of food. Every- 

 thing that had been devoted to the service of science 



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