Ill-health of his wife and sister-in-law--Journey to Tangiers through
Spain--Villefranche--Baumgarten criticises the phagocyte theory.
In 1884, Metchnikoff's work was interrupted by the ill-health of my
eldest sister and of myself; physicians considered that we had weak
lungs and advised that we should spend the winter in the South. Elie,
full of anxiety, hastened to take us there.
My younger brothers were now old enough to remain at school in our
absence so as to go on with their studies; we therefore started with my
two sisters. As cholera was raging in Italy, we went to Spain, hoping
to find a place with a mild climate and conditions favourable to my
husband's work. But we traversed the whole country without finding
the right combination, and, as we had come too far to go back, we
decided to spend the winter on the African coast, at Tangiers, close to
Gibraltar where we were.
Metchnikoff had not much taste for sight-seeing, but, with his
inquisitive and observing mind, liked to understand what he saw, and
never failed to acquaint himself with the history of the countries
which we traversed and which, with his ever-ready solicitude, he
wanted us to see. We therefore saw every interesting town on our route
through Spain. In the evenings we read together works on the history
and art of the country, and in the day-time we went for long rambles
in order to examine all that there was to see. The history of the
country, full of the sombre fanaticism which is reflected in its art,
the austere aridity of the central plateau of the land, the reserved
temper of the population--none of that found any echo in the vibrating,
sunlight-loving soul of Metchnikoff.
Gentle Italy, her exuberant life and highly-cultured past, charmed him
much more. He was consequently better pleased with Southern Spain,
which is more similar to Italy. He was greatly impressed by the
grandiose site and luminous atmosphere of Granada and the Alhambra and
by the superb gardens of Malaga, with their tropical plants and avenues
of palm trees.
At Gibraltar, he was greatly interested as a zoologist in the only
monkeys (_Macaques_ or Barbary apes) which have remained wild in
Europe; he never tired of watching their habits whilst those amusing
creatures jumped from tree to tree above our heads.
He had ample leisure to do so, for a frightful tempest kept us at
Gibraltar, preventing the crossing of the Straits. As Metchnikoff was
very anxious to set to work, we took the first steamship which ventured
out, but the sea was still running so high that our ship was damaged
and we had to go back. A panic took possession of the passengers,
during which my sisters and I were struck by the calmness of Elie, who
did not seem to realise the danger. After a delay of a few days, we
were at last able to cross.
Our first impression of Tangiers, an Arab port of a thoroughly Oriental
type, was extremely vivid. The city lay before us with its tall
minarets and flat roofs, shining white under the burning sun. The
steamer dropped anchor some distance from the landing stage, and we
were taken ashore on small boats, immediately to be surrounded by a
motley crowd with faces varying from the pale olive of the pure Arab
to the coal-black of the negro. All these people, in brilliant and
picturesque garments, were shouting, gesticulating, fighting for the
possession of passengers and their luggage, dragging them into the
boats or carrying them on their backs, themselves standing up to their
waists in water.
That feverish agitation, noise, and glaring sunlight introduced us
suddenly to new and violent sensations.
Already at Gibraltar, Metchnikoff had made arrangements with a
Spanish-speaking Arab from Tangiers who undertook our installation.
He provided us with a very primitive dwelling, himself serving as our
guide, cook, and general factotum.
We hastened to look for zoological material: alas, the sea was almost
a desert. After a long search we only found a few rare sea-urchins,
and Metchnikoff had to content himself with this meagre fauna during
the whole of the winter. He resigned himself to the study of the
embryology of sea-urchins in order to fill a few lacunæ in his previous
researches. As he could not work much for lack of materials, he
came with us for long excursions, during which he used to improvise
interminable and very amusing tales with which to entertain my little
sister.
At the beginning of our stay we were greatly interested by the life and
customs of the country. The picturesque and varied crowd, the dignified
and biblical types of Arabs, the bronzed Berbers, negroes, fanatical
sects of Aïssawas, snake-charmers, the jousts, and mad races of
cavalry across the sandy beach; opium smokers; mysterious silhouettes
of veiled women; the call to prayer from the tall minarets--all
that strange and exotic life fascinated us. But after a time the
wild customs, continual shouting on the occasion of every ceremony,
vendettas, cruel fanaticism, and also the absolute lack of intellectual
resources, began to tell on our nerves. Inactivity weighed heavily upon
Metchnikoff; nevertheless, he bore his ill-luck with his usual courage
and gaiety, finding great consolation in the excellent influence that
the climate of Tangiers had upon all our healths.
At last, in the spring, we started for Villefranche, where he
immediately set to work with success upon the embryology of jelly-fish;
an important monograph on that subject was published by him in 1886.
In it he gave definite form to his theory of the _phagocytella_ and
the genetic relationships of animals and of their primitive organs, a
theory already mentioned above (p. 110).
From Villefranche we went to Trieste, where Metchnikoff studied
star-fish and filled the lacunæ in his researches on the origin of the
mesoderm.
In a medical review which he read at Trieste, he found the first
account of his phagocyte theory; it was an unfavourable and hostile
criticism by a German scientist of the name of Baumgarten, endeavouring
to prove that Metchnikoff's deductions were inadmissible. This grieved
and pained him very much, but he immediately recovered himself and
strongly determined to study the medical side of the question in order
to prove on that ground that his theory was well-founded.