With his pupils and collaborators, MM. Berthelot and Wollman, he carried out a series of experiments which established the fact that this intoxication is due to poisons of the aromatic group, such as phenols and indols. With these substances, they succeeded in artificially provoking arterio-sclerosis in the organs of animals, and also other modifications similar to those which are observed in senility. Having proved that putrefying microbes provoke the intoxication of the tissues, Metchnikoff set to work to find a means of struggling against those microbes.
It was known that they could only live in an alkaline medium which is precisely that of the intestinal juices. Metchnikoff thought that if means were found to render the intestinal contents acid, without harm being done to the organism, the putrefying microbes might thus be destroyed. It had been known for a long time that sour milk does not suffer putrefaction, that being prevented by the acid fermentation. The lactic microbes of this fermentation must therefore be antagonistic to the putrefying microbes. He drew a conclusion in favour of the utility of sour milk, containing acid-producing microbes; once introduced into the intestine, these should prevent the breeding of the noxious microbes which require an alkaline medium.
His hypothesis seemed confirmed by the fact that populations who feed almost exclusively on curded milk live a very long time. In Bulgaria, for instance, whole villages, thus fed, are known for the longevity of their inhabitants. Starting from these considerations, he made experiments upon himself and systematically introduced into his diet sour milk carefully prepared with pure cultures of certain lactic bacilli. His health was benefited by it, and his friends followed his example. Certain doctors recommended sour milk, the use of which gradually spread as a hygienic food. Metchnikoff considered the result acquired as a first step towards the artificial transformation of the wild intestinal flora into a cultivated and useful flora.
Unfortunately, the study of the intestinal flora is extremely complicated because of the innumerable species of micro-organisms and the extreme difficulty of disentangling the many influences which cross each other. He therefore considered collective researches as indispensable, the life and science of one man being insufficient to solve so vast a problem. Up to a certain point he succeeded in realising this scientific collaboration within his own laboratory.
[CHAPTER XXIX]
The Nobel Prize — Journey to Sweden and to Russia — A day with Léon Tolstoï.
In 1908 Metchnikoff received the Nobel Prize, together with Ehrlich, for his researches on immunity. According to the statutes of that prize, the laureate is invited to give a lecture in Stockholm. Metchnikoff chose for his theme the “present state of the question of immunity in infectious diseases,” and, in the spring of 1909, we went to Sweden and thence to Russia. The whole journey was a series of fêtes and receptions in his honour. He was touched and grateful at this welcome, but with his usual humour, declared that it was the Nobel Prize which, like a magic wand, had revealed to the public the value of his researches.
We only stopped for a short time at Stockholm, where the kindest hospitality was shown to Metchnikoff. Sweden made an unforgettable impression upon us. Her deep, dark waters, wild rocks, and sombre pines make of it a land of legends. Elie was impressed not only by Nature in Scandinavia but also by Scandinavian Art, which reproduces it admirably. He was specially pleased with Lilienfiorse’s pictures, representing animals against a background at the same time real and legendary.