LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 53 



pact and exchange of ideas was immediately estab- 

 lished between the two, and a sympathy was bom 

 between them which developed into a lifelong friend- 

 ship. Elie expatiated upon his plans for the study of 

 the embryology of inferior animals from the evolution 

 point of view, and received from the older scientist 

 much encouragement, for which he never ceased to 

 be grateful. 



He worked a great deal during this first stay at 

 Naples, in spite of periods of great fatigue. As a 

 relaxation, he plunged into philosophical reading. 

 After Kovalevsky's departure, he joined Bakounine's 

 circle, the members of which took their meals in a 

 restaurant which rejoiced in the sonorous name of 

 Trattoria della Harmonia. In the autumn of the year 

 1865, a cholera epidemic broke out in Naples. Every 

 one was nervous and depressed, and this general 

 depression was increased still more by some of the 

 customs of the country — continuous lugubrious 

 church bells, funeral processions in which penitents 

 took part, carrying smoking torches and wearing 

 hoods over their heads with holes for their eyes, etc. 

 Elie, on whom the epidemic had made a great impres- 

 sion, was even more disturbed by the death of one of 

 the members of their little circle, a popular English- 

 woman, liked by everybody. She had no fear of 

 cholera and was bright and merry. But one day she 

 did not come to the Trattoria della Harmonia ; she had 

 been struck by the scourge and was dead the next day. 



Elie was so struck by her death that his nerves, 

 already very tense, gave way and he left Naples, being, 

 moreover, worn out with overwork. 



He started for Gottingen, for he wanted to begin the 

 study of Vertebrates under the direction of Professor 



