CHAPTER XXIX 



The Nobel Prize Journey to Sweden and to Russia A day with 

 Leon Tolstoi. 



IN 1908 Metchnikoff received the Nobel Prize, together 

 with Ehrlich, for his researches on immunity. Accord- 

 ing to the statutes of that prize, the laureate is invited 

 to give a lecture in Stockholm. Metchnikoff chose for 

 his theme the " present state of the question of im- 

 munity in infectious diseases," and, in the spring of 

 1909, we went to Sweden and thence to Russia. The 

 whole journey was a series of fetes and receptions in 

 his honour. He was touched and grateful at this 

 welcome, but with his usual humour, declared that 

 it was the Nobel Prize which, like a magic wand, 

 had revealed to the public the value of his researches. 



We only stopped for a short time at Stockholm, 

 where the kindest hospitality was shown to Metch- 

 nikoff. Sweden made an unforgettable impression 

 upon us. Her deep, dark waters, wild rocks, and 

 sombre pines make of it a land of legends. Elie was 

 impressed not only by Nature in Scandinavia but 

 also by Scandinavian Art, which reproduces it admir- 

 ably. He was specially pleased with Lilienfiorse's 

 pictures, representing animals against a background 

 at the same time real and legendary. 



We went to Russia by way of the Baltic. The 

 nights at that time were " white," and rocky islands 



