70 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



confirm their previsions concerning his marriage. His 

 wife's illness, the impossibility of carrying on scientific 

 work, the lack of friendly sympathy to which he 

 thought himself entitled, all this weighed on him, 

 making him bitter, suspicious, and distrustful ; he 

 thought himself persecuted. The situation became 

 intolerable and, in spite of his pride, he forced him- 

 self to apply for a subsidy to take his wife abroad 

 and to go on with his researches. Having obtained 

 it in 1869, he immediately left Petersburg, which he 

 now hated. 



Youth is elastic : the young couple started full 

 of joy, gay as children, and ready to forget all their 

 trials. Alas, it was not for long : having halted at 

 Vilna in order that the patient should have a rest, 

 she had an attack of haemorrhage of the lungs, to the 

 great alarm of her husband, who nevertheless did his 

 best to reassure her. They continued the journey as 

 soon as her condition allowed it, only to be interrupted 

 by another relapse. At last they reached Spezzia, 

 chosen on account of the climate and the marine fauna. 



Little by little, Ludmilla Metchnikoff's health im- 

 proved and her husband was able to resume work. 

 He studied aquatic animals in view of the genealogy 

 of inferior groups, and, amongst others, studied the 

 Tornaria, which was believed to be the larva of the 

 star-fish. However, to his astonishment, he ascer- 

 tained that, in spite of great similarity, it was not 

 the larva of an Echinoderm, but that of one of the 

 Balanoglossi, of the worm type. This fact estab- 

 lished a link between the Echinodermata and worms, 

 a very important result from the point of view of 

 the continuity of animal types. 



Metchnikoff felt his courage returning and also 



