LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 165 



concrete example of this, for here medical science 

 opposed itself to the cruelty of " natural selection." 

 He wound up his speech by the following words, 

 " Just as, in order to satisfy his sesthetic tastes, 

 Man revolts against the laws of Nature which creates 

 races of sterile and fragile flowers, he does not hesitate 

 to defend the weak against the laws of natural 

 selection. Science has been faithful to her mission 

 and to her generous traditions. Let her, then, progress 

 unhindered." 



Metchnikoff's friend and companion, M. Nocard, 

 wrote to me concerning Metchnikoff's paper : 



Do not believe a word that MetchnikofE tells you. He 

 had tremendous success. The somewhat free form of his 

 paper contributed to its success, as it only made his conviction 

 and enthusiasm more apparent. Thus the Sibyl on her 

 tripod. 



Metchnikoff had at this period a very talented 

 disciple, M. I. Bordet, who opened a new path by 

 a series of researches of the greatest importance. 

 He found, among other things, that " the figured 

 elements " can be destroyed outside the cells, in the 

 humors. Thus, if red blood corpuscles from one animal 

 are injected into an animal of a different kind, these 

 globules are destroyed, not within the phagocytes, 

 but outside them, in the ambient humors. Metchni- 

 koff studied this phenomenon and proved that the ex- 

 planation was the same that he had previously given of 

 Pfeiffer's phenomenon in the case of cholera vibrions. 

 In Bordet's experiments, the leucocytes which were 

 already existing in the humors were also damaged by 

 the experimental shock ; but, if this was carefully 

 avoided, the phagocytes, remaining intact, englobed 



