62 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



that period of enforced rest he felt for the first time 

 the need of a sentimental affection in his life. 



He dreamed of a helpmeet who would conform with 

 his tastes. At Petersburg he had become very fond 

 of Professor B.'s young daughters, the eldest of whom 

 was about thirteen years old, and he wondered if he 

 could not train one of those little girls to become the 

 realisation of his ideal. He was too active by nature, 

 however, to linger very long over reveries or over 

 a prolonged rest ; he therefore undertook a short 

 journey through Reggio and Calabria, on his way 

 towards Naples. 



His eyesight being now restored, he began work 

 again as soon as he arrived. This period, however, 

 was not a pleasant one : to begin with, he obtained 

 in the study of Ascidia a result which differed con- 

 siderably from that obtained by Kovalevsky, 1 and 

 this scientific controversy grieved and preoccupied 

 them both. Besides, Elie's nerves suffered from his 

 constant anxiety about his eyes, the tropical heat and 

 the noisy life of Naples. Incessant serenades used to 

 keep him awake at night, and, on one occasion, his 

 exasperation reached such a point that he poured a 

 bucket of water over the head of some persistent 

 musicians. Tired with all these things, he left Naples 

 for Trieste, where he carried out successful researches 

 into the transformations of Echinodermata, from the 

 point of view of Comparative Embryology and genetic 

 connections between inferior animals. 



Having obtained results which interested him, he 

 returned to Russia and joined the B. family in the 



1 The latter affirmed that the nervous system of Ascidia originated from 

 the upper layer, whilst Elie believed that it was the lower layer which gave 

 birth to it. It was Kovalevsky who was right, as Elie himself declared 

 later. 



