78 LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 



asking his sister-in-law to come to Madeira in his 

 place. When she had arrived, he confided the two 

 girls to Mertens and to the care of the devoted Dr. 

 Groldschmidt, and went away conscious of the useless- 

 ness of his efforts and more deeply pessimistic than 

 ever. 



When he reached Odessa, in October 1872, he 

 found there his friengl Setchenofi, whom he had pre- 

 viously proposed for a Physiology Lecturer's chair, 

 and whose affection was a great comfort to him at 

 this sad time. The correspondence between him 

 and his wife during that period is full of an infinite 

 tenderness, as if they felt the supreme separation 

 coming near, and yearned to express their mutual love. 



At the end of January 1873, between two classes, 

 Metchnikoff received a letter from his sister-in-law 

 telling him to come in haste if he wished to find his 

 wife stiU living. He delivered his lecture Kke an auto- 

 maton, then went to obtain his leave and hurried off. 

 He accomplished the whole journey without a break. 

 On arriving at Madeira he found his wife so changed 

 that he scarcely knew her, and it was only through 

 sheer force of will that he kept his alarm from her. 

 She suffered so much that she had to be given morphia 

 constantly and could no longer leave her bed. 



Metchnikoff himself was in very poor health ; his 

 eyes were so sensitive from overwork that he had 

 to remain in the dark, only going into the garden at 

 dusk to observe spiders and snails. Time was pro- 

 gressing slowly and miserably, and bringing nothing 

 but anxiety as to the means to support this sad 

 existence. Metchnikoff had hoped to receive the 

 Baer prize for a zoological work, but did not obtain 

 it : it was refused on the pretext that his memoir 



