International Journal of Epidemiology 2003;32:32-34
© International Epidemiological Association 2003
Reprints and Reflections |
Elie Metschnikoff and his theory of an ‘instinct de la mort’*
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
It cannot, I think, be without importance for the history of science or without interest for psycho-analysts that a distinguished contemporary of Professor Freud’s, Professor E Metschnikoff, should have produced independently somewhat similar ideas in certain directions. The most interesting and most important similarity lies in Metschnikoff’s formulation of the idea of a ‘Todestrieb’. Before dealing with this I may remind the reader of the more important facts concerning Metschnikoff’s life and works, drawing attention at the same time to other points of similarity and dissimilarity. I shall take the liberty of assuming that references to Freud’s works are unnecessary.
Elie Metschnikoff was born in 1845 of Russian Jewish parents. He died in Paris in 1916. He studied natural sciences in Cracow (1862–1864) and then started a life of research, which took him to Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Influenced by Darwin’s Origin of Species, his early work was mainly