Abstract
We are all aware of the terrible struggle with the natural catastrophe that has so unexpectedly befallen us.1 At this time when we all unite to overcome this disaster, it seems particularly interesting to make a thorough study of the organism’s struggle for existence. On the one hand, it is very important to study the conditions that provoke the intense struggle, since only in that way can we find means for its prevention, but, on the other hand, it is of no less interest to analyse the phenomena that occur in the struggling animal itself.
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Notes
Metchnikoff refers here to one of the severe famines which were so frequent in Russia at that time.
On the Origin of Species A facsimile. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1964. Ch.V, p. 137
Metchnikoff’s account of starfish metamorphosis is rather misleading. Phagocytized larval cells are mostly replaced as the growing juvenile migrates through the larval body, and the larval organs are not transformed into those of the juvenile. In one species, Luidia sarsi,the swimming larva and crawling juvenile can co-exist for three months after their separation.
An explanation in terms of larval transfer is that phagocytes of the juvenile frog do not attack healthy frog cells but do attack the alien tadpole cells, originally acquired from another species.
Metchnikoff was to develop an entire medical theory based on the bodily economy of phagocyte function which continuously sought optimal expressions and thereby optimal health (e.g. The Prolongation of Life. Optimistic Studies. London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910) For summary accounts see A.I. Tauber and L. Chernyak. “Metchnikoff and a Theory of Medicine.” J. Roy. Soc. Med. 82:699–701, 1989 and A.I. Tauber, “The Immunological Self: A Centenary Perspective.” Persp. Biol. Med. 35:74–86, 1991. For a review of Metchnikoff s relevance to late twentieth century immunology see A.I. Tauber, “Metchnikoff, the Modern Immunologist”. J. Leuk. Biol. 47:561–67, 1990.
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Gourko, H., Williamson, D.I., Tauber, A.I. (2000). The Struggle for Existence between Parts of the Animal Organism (1892). In: Gourko, H., Williamson, D.I., Tauber, A.I. (eds) The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 212. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9381-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9381-6_8
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