The prolongation of life : optimistic studies / by Élie Metchnikoff ; English translation edited by P. Chalmers Mitchell.

  • Élie Metchnikoff
Date:
1907
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prolongation of life : optimistic studies / by Élie Metchnikoff ; English translation edited by P. Chalmers Mitchell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION Élie Metchnikoff has carried on the high purpose of the Pasteur Institute by devoting his genius for biological inquiry to the service of man. Some years ago, in a sériés of Essays which were intended to be provocative and educational, rather than expository, he described the direc- tion towards which he was pressing. I had the privilège of introducing these Essays to English readers under the title The Nature of Man, a Study in Optimistic Philosophy. In that volume, Professer Metchnikoff recounted how sentient man, regarding his lot in the world, had found it evil. Philosophy and literature, religion and folk-lore, in ancient and modem times hâve been deeply tinged with pessimism. The source of these gloomy views lies in the nature of man itself. Man has inherited a constitution from remote animal ancestors, and every part of his struc- ture, physical, mental and emotional, is a complex legacy of diverse éléments. Possibly at one time each quality had its purpose as an adaptation to environment, but, as man, in the course of his évolution, and the environment itself hâve changed, the old harmonious intercourse between quality and circumstances has been dislocated in many cases. And so there bave corne into existence many instances of what the Professor calls “ disharmony,” per- sistences of structures, or habits, or desires that are no
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