Book Review - Immunity: How Elie Metchnikoff Changed the Life of Modern Medicine by Luba Vikhanski
Andrews J.
Émile Roux said of Elie Metchnikoff : ‘In Paris as in Petrograd, as in Odessa, you have become a leader of thought, and you have kindled in this Institute a scientific focus that has radiated afar….More even than your science, your kindliness attracts….The Pasteur Institute owes you much: you have brought to it the prestige of your renown, and by your work and that of your pupils, you have greatly contributed to its glory,’ (Cazenave 1991: 24). These words resonate with the appraisal of Metchnikoff by the author of, ‘Immunity: How Elie Metchikoff Changed the Course of Modern Medicine’. Luba Vikhanski’s biography of Elie Metchnikoff chronicles his personal life and remarkable discoveries: his early interest in science, marriages, years at the Pasteur Institute, his theory of immunity and the action of cells he called ‘phagocytes’, his efforts to curb the spread of cholera and other diseases, his controversial theories on ageing and longevity and of course his research on gut microbes and influence on the global interest in yoghurt.