LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 219 



sojourn in Russia, he was able to appreciate events 

 wMch modified his ideas to a great extent. He was 

 impressed by the contrast between the progressive 

 aspirations of the " intellectuals " and the inertia or 

 noxious activity of the rulers. The policy of Casso,. 

 the Minister of Public Instruction, who ordered 

 regular raids in the universities, the persecution of 

 Poles and Jews, the encouragement of the " black 

 band " obscurantism, giving plenary powers to 

 creatures of darkness Uke Rasputin and his peers, 

 all these things excited indignation in a man who 

 placed the free development of human culture above 

 everything. 



He thus ceased to count upon the progressive 

 evolution of a Government which was incapable of 

 solving the complicated problems of Russian life, and 

 henceforward thought that those problems would be 

 solved by the " intellectuals " apart from the Govern- 

 ment and in opposition to it. 



