LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 55 



with that feeble means succeeded in reproducing com- 

 plicated compositions. Having assiduously attended 

 excellent concerts, he had made himself thoroughly 

 acquainted with classical music, and Beethoven and 

 Mozart always remained his favourite composers. 

 His stay in Germany taught him to appreciate the 

 great capacity for work of the scientists of that 

 country ; he admired the organisation of their labora- 

 tories, allowing every force, great or small, to be 

 utilised and making useful collective work possible 

 in those complicated researches which demand the 

 collaboration of divers specialists. On the other hand, 

 he felt a great aversion for the manners and customs 

 of German students. Their corporations, duels, and 

 long sittings in beer-houses were distasteful to him ; 

 he could not understand how these coarse " Burschen " 

 could become transformed into cultivated intellec- 

 tuals and respectable scientists. People to whom he 

 expressed this wonder merely said, " Youth must 

 have its fling. . . ." Moreover, scientists themselves 

 were not particularly courteous to each other. More 

 than anywhere else personal questions held a fore- 

 most place, and kindliness was rare between colleagues. 

 After staying some time in Munich, Elie returned 

 to Naples, war having broken out between Northern 

 and Southern Germany. This time, in order to spend 

 less on the journey, he took a steamer at Genoa, but 

 with fatal results, for a storm was raging ; he suffered 

 a great deal, and, when he reached Naples, violent fits 

 of giddiness made him incapable of doing any work at 

 all for some time. Cholera reappeared, and the land- 

 lady of the rooms he shared with Kovalevsky died of 

 it. Much depressed, the two started for Ischia, but 

 Elie soon realised with terror that he was not yet well 



