E-Book Overview
This fascinating intellectual history is the first critical study of the work of Elie Metchnikoff, the founding father of modern immunology. Metchnikoff authored and championed the theory that phagocytic cells actively defend the host body against pathogens and diseased cells. His program developed from comparative embryological studies that sought to establish genealogical relations between species at the dawn of the Darwinian revolution. In this scientific biography, Tauber and Chernyak explore ore Metchnikoff's development as an embryologist, showing how it prepared him to propose his theory of host-pathogen interaction. They discuss the profound impact of Darwin's theory of evolution on Metchnikoff's progress, and the influence of 19th century debates on vitalism, teleology, and mechanism. As a case study of scientific discovery, this work offers lucid insight into the process of creative science and its dependence on cultural and philosophic sources. Immunologists and historians of science and medicine will find it an absorbing and accessible account of a remarkable individual.
E-Book Content
Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology
Monographs on the History and Philosophy of Biology RICHARD BURIAN, RICHARD BURKHARDT, JR., RICHARD LEWONTIN, JOHN MAYNARD SMITH EDITORS
The Cuvier-Geoffrey Debate: French Biology in the Decades Before Darwin TOBY A. APPEL
Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology PHILIP J. PAULY
Beyond the Gene: Cytoplasmic Inheritance and the Struggle for Authority in Genetics JAN SAPP
The Heritage of Experimental Embryology: Hans Spemann and the Organizer VIKTOR HAMBURGER
The Evolutionary Dynamics of Complex Systems: A Study in Biosocial Complexity C. DYKE The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil, and Russia Edited by MARK B. ADAMS
Darwin without Malthus: The Struggle for Existence in Russian Evolutionary Thought DANIEL P. TODES Theory Change in Science: Strategies from Mendelian Genetics LINDLEY DARDEN
Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology: From Metaphor to Theory ALFRED I. TAUBER AND LEON CHERNYAK
Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology From Metaphor to Theory
ALFRED I. TAUBER LEON CHERNYAK Boston University School of Medicine
New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1991
Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1991 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tauber, Alfred I. MetchnikofTand the origins of immunology: from metaphor to theory / Alfred I. Tauber, Leon Chernyak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN0-19-506447-X 1. Metchnikoff, Elie, 1845-1916. 2. Immunologists—Ukraine—Biography. 3. Immunologists—France—Biography. 4. Immunology—History. I. Chernyak, Leon. II. Title. QR180.72.M48T38 1991 591.2'9'092—dc20 [B] 90-26245
987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Foreword
Thank goodness someone has written a new biography of Elie Metchnikoff! Rather, it took two people: MetchnikofFs scientific career was so incredible and his personal life so interesting that you can'