274 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



illumined by gentleness and kindness. He had a look 

 of elevation, grandeur, and beauty which was really 

 divine. It was an apotheosis. His beautiful soul 

 beamed in its full purity ; neither suffering nor any 

 earthly preoccupation had any hold on it. He gave 

 an impression of eternal rest. 



It was his final image, a splendid one, the last . . . 

 for ever. 



The bier was closed and covered with a heavy 

 black pall. On life also a blacker and heavier pall 

 had fallen. The light had gone out. 



Two days later, on the 18th July, he was carried 

 to the cemetery of the Pere Lachaise, to be cremated 

 in all simplicity, as he had wished. Faithful to his 

 ideas, he had wished for a lay funeral, with no speeches, 

 flowers, or invitations. 



His bier disappeared into a large sarcophagus ; on 

 each side black curtains fell to hide what was going 

 on. . . . Then one hour of heavy silence whilst the 

 poor body was being consumed by the flames. . . . 



A death silence. . . . 



And that was all. . . . 



The mercurial, vivacious child, good - hearted, 

 intelligent, and precocious ; the young man, ardent, 

 impetuous, passionate, a lover of science and of all 

 that was exalted ; the mature man, a bold thinker, 

 an indefatigable iQvestigator, eager, generous, tender, 

 and devoted ; the old man, in everything faith- 

 ful to himself, but progressing in serenity, shining 

 with an ever softer light, Hke a mountain peak in the 

 setting sun ; the martyr at last, enduring suffering 

 with patience and resignation, seeing the approach 

 of death without fear, observing it as he had observed 

 life. . . . 



