Palla Ákos szerk.: Az Országos Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közleményei 29. (Budapest, 1963)
Dr. Harangby László: Mecsnyikov munkássága és jelentősége az orvostudományban
view, definitely deadlock; while it is also true that the biochemical and humoral relations of the organical defence would have remained hidden without the activity of Mechnikov's opponents. In our days however, we can see the exceedingly great import oi Mschnikovs lifework even in different realities. Mechnikov % partnerin the Nobel-prize, Ehrlich, had been even then feverously searching for such chemical substance which would be able to destroy within the organism all pathogenic elements, without harming the organism itself. In 1909 this effort brought about a world success, because in searching after so-called ,,therapia sterilisans magna" it led to the discovery of salvarsan. This great result had decided the tendency of the struggle against contagious diseases for a long time. Since investigation after chemical materials was at hand, here the only important factor the search after the reaction of the system was pushed even more in the background than it had been done in the time of Mechnikov s struggles. And there was, before the discovery of antibiotics, but one success similar to the discovery of Salvarsan, namely that of the discovery of Germanin, while the other investigations had failed to bring about similar hitting results. In this time the biological trend of Mechnikov had come to be the basis, on which Aschoff and his collaborators built up one of the most important notions of medical science, i. e. above mentioned retivuloendethilialsystem. And later on, when the question of treating the infectious diseases seemed to have come to a deadlock, Domagk, returning to the researches of phagocytosis made by Mechnikov, produced the sulphamid products of excellent effect. Thus, the scientific statements of Mechnikov have overlived their creator a long time, and to-days we might certainly tell that the said statements had a considerable part, bringing about of the fundamental structure of the immunity theory, but that they belonged even further on the directing powers of modern pathology. Mechnikov's activity was however far from being exhausted by the above mentioned. His extraordinary power of memory and his widespread interests made him a real polyhistor, who knew all about music, literature just as well, as he understood biology and the related branches of sciences. Therefore, if we think about his other wide-ranging works it 3 Orvostörténeti Könyvtár közi. 33
