Immunity in Infective Diseases — Elie Metchnikoff
Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Immunity in infective diseases Author : Elie Metchnikoff Translator : Francis G. Binnie Release date : December 21, 2025 [eBook #77523] Language : English Original publication : Cambridge: University Press, 1905 Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77523 Credits : Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg IMMUNITY IN INFECTIVE DISEASES CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, C. F. CLAY, Manager . London : FETTER LANE, E.C. Glasgow : 50, WELLINGTON STREET. Leipzig : F. A. BROCKHAUS. New York : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Bombay and Calcutta : MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd. [ All Rights reserved. ] IMMUNITY IN INFECTIVE DISEASES BY ÉLIE METCHNIKOFF FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON PROFESSOR AT THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE, PARIS TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY FRANCIS G. BINNIE OF THE PATHOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE With 45 figures in the text CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1905 Cambridge PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. In preparing for the English-reading student this version of M. Metchnikoff’s latest work, wherein he “sums up the labours of twenty-five years,” it has been my aim to give a faithful rendering of the ideas and argument of the original, even at the risk of an occasional crude expression, rather than to attempt to reproduce the brilliancy of the original by any wide verbal departure from the text. The Table of Contents forms an admirable analytical summary of the main subject-matters treated, but an alphabetical Index has been added to the present edition, and, though not at all exhaustive, this may serve as a key to the many authors cited and to the maze of detail discussed in the work. The marginal reference to the pages of the original work will, I hope, commend itself to those readers who may wish to refer to the ipsissima verba of the author. It is, I believe, a novelty in scientific works, though familiar in works in other departments of literature. I am under deep obligations to Professor Woodhead (who has read the whole of the proofs) and to Mr A. E. Shipley, and Mr G. H. F. Nuttall (who have read portions) for much valuable criticism and advice. THE TRANSLATOR. August, 1905. Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg ERRATA. Page 93 , line 2, after itself insert alone; line 3, delete only. Page 98 , line 3 from bottom, for actively read vigorously. Page 386 , line 16, for tortoise read turtle. Page 461 , line 21, after circumstances insert reference figure 1. Page 537 , line 11, for arise read arises. Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg TO MESSIEURS E. DUCLAUX AND E. ROUX. My dear Friends , Permit me to dedicate to you this work, which sums up the labours of twenty-five years; a very great part of it has been carried out by your side, you who have done so much to lighten my task. When, nearly fourteen years ago, you allowed me to share your work alongside the venerated Master who founded the House where we have laboured together, you were anything but partisans of my theories; they seemed to you too vitalistic, and not sufficiently physico-chemical. In course of time you became convinced that my ideas were not without foundation, and since then you have given me warm encouragement to pursue my researches in the field that I had marked out for myself. Working by your side and drawing largely from your vast and varied stores of knowledge, I felt myself safe from those divagations into which a zoologist, who had wandered into the domain of biological chemistry and of medical science, is likely to stray. I thank you with all my heart, and I beg you to accept the homage of this work as a testimony of my deepest gratitude and of my warmest friendship. ÉLIE METCHNIKOFF. Institut Pasteur, 3 October, 1901. Immunity in Infective Diseases | Project Gutenberg PREFACE. When, ten years ago, I was preparing my Lessons on the Comparative Pathology of Inflammation for the press, I hoped that the other sections of the phagocytic theory—Immunity, Atrophies, and Healing—would soon follow this first work. This hope has not been realised, and it has needed prolonged work ere I could publish the volume I have just completed. During this long period I sent out several ballons d’essai under the form of summaries of the question of Immunity, published in the Semaine médicale (1892), the Ergebnisse of Lubarsch and Ostertag (1886), and the Handbuch der Hygiene by Weyl (1897). I there attempted, as far as possible, to give a general picture of the phenomena of Immunity in the infective diseases, and it was my desire to excite criticism and opposition, in order to determine the fate of the theory of phagocytes in its application to the problem of Immunity. The most recent attempt in this direction was made at the International Congress at Paris, in the past year (1900), when I presented my report on Immunity before an audience which included, amongst others, my principal opponents. It was the result of this Congress which at length decided me to bring together my views on Immunity in a volume which I now present to the reader. Convinced that many of the objections raised against the phagocytic theory of Immunity proceeded solely from an insufficient knowledge of the theory, I thought that a work condensed into one volume might render some service to those who are interested in the problem of Immunity. I do not k