Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 29. (Budapest, 1963)

Dr. Harangby László: Mecsnyikov munkássága és jelentősége az orvostudományban

ing around the lamp, a doubt rose in him, whether individual qualities and prominences are or are not at all important from the point of view of life. Because the moths live all but the spell of an hour and afterwards they perish without any exception and without any regard to the fact of possible differences among individuals influencing in any way their survival. Surely these scruples delayed the complete nervous breakdown of the scientist, because Mechnikov was blessed with an endless love fot life and nature in spite of his extraordinarily changing emotions and hypersensitiveness, which led him to his several attempts of suicide. More than once he gave expression to the thought that human life was only wrong if people made it so. His serene conception of life, which was inherent and was rooted deep in his character was far from having been formed at the time when, on the top of his world success he wrote a bok about optimistic life conception, but it was-though seeming to sound contradictory-the fundamental basis of his character from the start. After his wife's death, from time to time his whole innerself protested against the emergent, sombre thoughts and scepticism, and in the periods of recurrent resignations and calming down there rose in him immidiately the will to prove to the outside world, but, first of all, to himself that fittness and prominence mean nevertheless the right for life. All the factors have therefore to be removed which might hinder the effectivness of the law, and one must stand human knowledge to serve this fight. These feelings might have dominated Mechnikov when he began to work again with all his energy, and from this time on he had been following this aim constantly through his whole scientific career. This aim prevails permanently in the different fields of his research work, because, while examining the organic factors of the fight against epidemic diseases, he was working for Life's sake and defending thereby the success of the best and most eminent- just like, when he was searching for the origin of arterioclerosis and the secret of long span of life. To protect the life of the best and most eminent ones, this is in what Mechnikov saw his only destination, and it was-in this aim-that focused in him, the genius and fanatism of the natural scientist, as well as the spiritual greatness of the deep feeling human being. According to the above mentioned Mechnikov s scientific