Petersburg--Baer prize--Return home--Friendship with Cienkovsky
--Odessa--Naturalists' Congress at Petersburg--Departure from
Odessa--Zoological Lecturer's Chair at Petersburg--Messina--Enforced
rest--Reggio--Naples--Controversy with Kovalevsky--Visit to the
B. family--Mlle. Fédorovitch--Educational questions--Difficulties
of life in Petersburg.
During his stay abroad, Metchnikoff had successfully carried out
several researches, and this allowed him to apply for a post of
_docent_ at the new University of Odessa, which he had chosen on
account of its proximity with the sea and its marine fauna. Whilst
awaiting the result he went to Petersburg in order to pass his thesis
and to prepare himself to become a professor. He received a pleasant
welcome, for his lively and sociable disposition had made him many
friends. The brothers Kovalevsky, with whom he was already on friendly
terms, offered him hospitality; he also made the acquaintance of
Professor Békétoff, and soon became a member of his family circle.
He was well received everywhere, for his scientific precocity excited
general interest. He was even elected _magister_[10] by the Faculty,
without having to pass an examination, on account of the work he
had done. He and Kovalevsky halved Baer's first prize, and they
were invited and treated with the utmost kindness by Baer himself.
Metchnikoff had certainly entered upon a successful phase; his friends
nicknamed him "the star." As soon as he was made a _magister_, he
received his appointment at the Odessa University, and, the holidays
drawing near, he was at last able to return to his home. Needless to
say how joyfully and lovingly he was received by his family. He spent
two months with them, utilising his leisure in preparing himself to
teach.
[10] A degree preceding that of Doc.Sc.
In his hurry to arrive in Odessa in good time in order to take his
bearings before starting his lectures, he went there much too soon and
found nobody at the University; he then decided to go to the Crimea for
some preliminary studies on the fauna of the Black Sea. Before long,
he made the acquaintance of the celebrated botanist Cienkovsky, who
invited him to stay in his villa. Though the scientist was already 46
years old and Elie only 22, they soon became fast friends. Cienkovsky
was a man of great European culture; passionately fond of science as
he was, his critical mind submitted everything to a close analysis.
He took great interest in young Metchnikoff and showed him a marked
predilection, but that did not prevent him from criticising him
severely. He reproached him with a lack of self-control, and undertook
the paternal task of civilising the impulsive, fiery, sometimes even
violent young man. He preached to him tolerance towards the opinions of
others, a strict self-discipline, and the absolute necessity of bowing
to certain social conventions against which Elie blindly rebelled.
Cienkovsky acquired great prestige in his young friend's eyes; years
later, even, Metchnikoff took pleasure in quoting his axioms and in
trying to conform with them.
He worked with ardour during his stay in the Crimea; though the
heat was great, 50° C. (122° F.) in the sun, he undertook zoological
excursions and surprised every one by his endurance and energy.
At the end of the holidays, he returned to Odessa and began his
professorate with much zeal and success. His lucid, living lectures
stimulated his pupils, third-year students, who were all older than
himself. Friendly relations soon reigned between them and their young
lecturer; he organised practical studies, and his laboratory became a
very active centre of work.
Thus everything was going well, and perhaps he might have remained at
Odessa for a long time if it had not been for the following incident,
due to his passionate and intolerant disposition. A Congress of Russian
naturalists was to take place in Petersburg at the end of the year
1867. Elie eagerly wished to attend it as a delegate and took steps
for that purpose; this brought him into conflict with his chief, who
desired the mission for himself. Knowing that the old Professor had no
real scientific interests, Elie thought himself justified in insisting,
and counted upon Cienkovsky's support, but the latter was of opinion
that the younger man should give way. Elie, becoming more and more
excited, lost all sense of proportion and committed the grave error
of telling his pupils about what he considered a serious injustice.
The latter, out of sympathy for their young lecturer, hooted the old
Professor, which naturally embittered the quarrel. However, all the
agitation ended in both zoologists being sent to the Congress in the
quality of delegates.
When he reached Petersburg, Elie hurried to the house of his friends
B----, who received him with open arms; it was a great joy to him
to find himself in friendly surroundings after the recent strife.
Impulsive and impressionable as he was, the disagreeable incidents
he had traversed made him yearn to leave Odessa, a desire which was
to be promptly realised. His communications had great success at the
Congress; the President even invited him to read a paper at the general
meeting; but, though strongly attracted by this proposal, which would
have allowed the young scientist to expose his ideas on the comparative
development of the embryonic layers, he refused it, considering that
that complicated question was not yet sufficiently matured.
Nevertheless, the Congress had brought him into prominence and was
the cause of his obtaining a Professorship of Zoology at Petersburg.
Moreover, he had the additional good fortune of being given a
scientific mission and went abroad to work until the autumn term.
He went to Naples in the spring of 1868, thinking to find Kovalevsky
there, instead of which he found a letter from his friend awaiting him.
The latter had had to go to Messina for urgent embryological work and
begged Elie to look after his wife and new-born child. Metchnikoff did
so most willingly until he was able to send them off to Messina. He
himself followed soon after, for Kovalevsky wrote him that zoological
specimens and conditions of work were far better at Messina than
Naples. This time, Metchnikoff undertook the study of Sponges and
Echinodermata. The two friends worked unceasingly, but Elie's sight was
too weak for such excessive fatigue; he was again obliged to interrupt
his studies for a while, and during that period of enforced rest he
felt for the first time the need of a sentimental affection in his life.
He dreamed of a helpmeet who would conform with his tastes. At
Petersburg he had become very fond of Professor B.'s young daughters,
the eldest of whom was about thirteen years old, and he wondered if he
could not train one of those little girls to become the realisation of
his ideal. He was too active by nature, however, to linger very long
over reveries or over a prolonged rest; he therefore undertook a short
journey through Reggio and Calabria, on his way towards Naples.
His eyesight being now restored, he began work again as soon as he
arrived. This period, however, was not a pleasant one: to begin
with, he obtained in the study of Ascidia a result which differed
considerably from that obtained by Kovalevsky,[11] and this scientific
controversy grieved and preoccupied them both. Besides, Elie's nerves
suffered from his constant anxiety about his eyes, the tropical heat
and the noisy life of Naples. Incessant serenades used to keep him
awake at night, and, on one occasion, his exasperation reached such a
point that he poured a bucket of water over the head of some persistent
musicians. Tired with all these things, he left Naples for Trieste,
where he carried out successful researches into the transformations of
Echinodermata, from the point of view of Comparative Embryology and
genetic connections between inferior animals.
[11] The latter affirmed that the nervous system of Ascidia
originated from the upper layer, whilst Elie believed that
it was the lower layer which gave birth to it. It was
Kovalevsky who was right, as Elie himself declared later.
Having obtained results which interested him, he returned to Russia and
joined the B. family in the country, near Moscow. Their young friend
Mlle. Fédorovitch, whom he had already met in Petersburg, was staying
with them, and she and Elie became very good friends. His affection for
the B. children led him to ponder over general educational questions.
He was struck for the first time by the lack of harmony in human
nature, which was due, he thought, to the considerable difference
between the organism of the child and that of the adult, a difference
which does not exist in animals to the same degree.[12] As soon as
he returned to Petersburg he tried to study this subject, and made
comparisons between the brain of a man and that of a dog at various
ages, but without result.
[12] He ultimately developed these considerations in a paper
entitled _Education from an Anthropological Point of View_,
of which mention will be made hereafter.
He was not long in realising that the conditions of work in his new
post were extremely unsatisfactory. He had no proper laboratory and
had to work between two specimen cases in a non-heated zoological
museum; there was no room for practical work. All his enthusiasm, all
his aspirations towards scientific activity and rational teaching
struck against indifference, lack of organisation, and lack of means.
He protested with his usual vehemence, but could obtain nothing; being
equally unable to adapt himself to his uncongenial surroundings,
he found himself getting more and more discontented and unnerved.
Moreover, his everyday life was most uncomfortable, for he wished to
do without servants, on principle and in order to economise, and to do
his household work himself; but he soon tired of taking the necessary
care of his rooms, which became a regular chaos. He left off preparing
his own meals and went out for them to an inferior restaurant in the
neighbourhood. Yet, in spite of all his efforts and privations, he
never seemed to make both ends meet. He resigned himself to giving
lessons at the School of Mines in order to increase his resources; the
school was a long way off, he had to walk the distance in the coldest
weather in order to lecture to students who did not interest him. The
work wearied him without giving him any moral compensation. Altogether,
the life in Petersburg, on which he had founded great hopes, brought
him nothing but disappointments and made him become more and more
pessimistic and misanthropical.