New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-07-16
Sought Means to ProIong
Human Life-Was II e.
When End Came.
THOUGHT SOUR MILK
AID TO LONGEVITY
Microbes Found In Dogs Also
Advocated as Part Of
Treatment.


is dead. He was seventy-one years old.
Professor Metchnikoff had been in
poor health for several months. II be-
came known in January that he was
seriously i'll with heart disease. His
life was despaired of for a time, but
he rallied. His physicians announced,
few weeks later, however, that the
disease had not yielded to treatment,
and in May they said there was no
hope Of saving the life Of their famous
patient.
Professor Metchnikoff died in an
apartment at the Pasteur Institute.
Nine. Metchnikof, who Nd been con-
stantly at the bedside of her husband
during his illness, was with him at the
end.
Professor Ellie MetchnikofF, born
May Is, is45, was world famous as an
exponent of theories for the prolonga-
ton of human life. He was most
popularity known as the great advocate
of the sour milk cure" for old age,
believing that the principal agent in
senile decay was the continuous auto
intoxcation of the body through the
putrefaction of matter in the large in
testine, and that the bacteria which
caused such putrefsction could be eff
fectively combated by preparations Of
milk soured by cultures Of selected
Tactic acid bacilli. Later Professor
Metchnikoff went so far rs TO declare
that the large intestine was as useless
in the human body as the appendix,
and prophesied that the day would
come when it would be commonplace
operation 10 remove it.
Discovered Glycobacteria.
He was the dscoverer in 1912 Of
new microbe in the intestines of
dog. He called it "glycobacteria, i"
and announced his belief that the
incubation Of the large intestine
in human beings with this germ would
go still further than the sour milk
treatment toward the prevention Of
senile decrepitude. The "glycobac-
terra" IL was explained. were sugar
bacilli, OF which the large intestine
stood in need.
In the course of his studies Profess
sor Metchnikoff experimental upon
himself TO some extent as well as upon
animals, and it is said that he inocu-
lated himself with the new "glycobsc-
terra" His theory as TO the sour milk
treatment may be traced in part to the
environment of his youth. He was a
Russian, born at Kharkoff, May Is,
1645. In that region, and particularly
in neighboring Bulgaria, surprising
ly large portion of the inhabitants live
TO be centenarians, and Metchnikof be-
lieved that their longevity was due
largely to the fact that their diet in
cluded the bacili of sour milk.
Directed Pasteur Institute.
Following his education at KharkoH,
Metchnikoff studied at Giessen and
Munich, and in 1870 he was appointed
professor of zoology at Odessa. He
held this post until 1882, when he re-
signed to devote himself to private re-
searches into the anatomy of inverte-
brates. In 1883 he had attracted the
notice of Louis Pasteur, the founder OF
the famous Pasteur Institute, and was
invited TO become one of Pasteur's as
sociates. In 1895 he succeeded as the
director of the institute.
In his study Of longevity Professor
Metchnikoff came to the belief that IL
should not be uncommon for people to
live to the age Of $50 years. His re-
searches showed that animals which
had no large intestines lived to an ad-
vanced age.
In the case of human beings he found
that even among those whose suffer
ings were terrible there were few who
wanted to be put out of their agony by
death.
death Before Eighty Unnatural"
"This." said Metchnkofr, SHOWS that
death between the ages of sixty and
eighty is not natural. II should not
occur so soon. There is some cause
for it, which should be discovered and
remedied"
He was the author Of a number Of
books. including THE Nature of Man."
Immunity in Infectve Diseases"
"Prolongation Of Human Life and
"Optimistic Essays"
In 1908 the Nobel Prize for medical
research was divided between the late
DR.. Paul Erhlich, of Berlin, and Pro-
fessor Metchnikof.
The $4,000 which he thus received
he devoted entirely to sAe furtherance
of his scientific researches. He was
not wealthy, and throughout his long
life sacrificed all but the plalnest liv-
ing necessities TO the cause of science.