22 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



sport as much time as he could, greatly to the detri- 

 ment of his pupils' studies, for they were not allowed 

 to accompany him for fear of an accident. Their 

 mother, perhaps on account of her weak heart, was 

 so nervous that they were discouraged from any 

 sporting tastes. The German tutor also neglected 

 the children : his favourite occupation consisted in 

 drinking beer. On one occasion he gave so much to 

 little Ilia that the boy conceived a lifelong distaste 

 for beer. Ilia took advantage of his tutors' indiffer- 

 ence to devote himself to his favourite study of 

 natural history. His vocation was so obvious that it 

 could not be mistaken. It seems a strange thing 

 that a passion for science should have developed in 

 so inappropriate an environment. Evidently the 

 first impulse was given by Hodounof, but, if his 

 influence stimulated this passion, it cannot have 

 created it. This vocation probably had a deeper 

 source, and in order to discover it we should perhaps 

 look back into the antecedents of the Metchnikoff 

 family. 



