Metchnikoff
ELIE, a Russian bacteriologist, born in Kharkov, Russia, 1845. He studied in Germany, then became professor of zoölogy at Odessa in 1870. In 1882 he devoted himself exclusively to private research, especially devoting himself to the digestive functions in animal organisms. Later he settled in Paris and was made chef de service in the Pasteur Institute in 1892. He was especially known for his theory on dieting, to the effect that old age may be retarded by refraining from eating certain foods which tend toward autointoxication. In 1908 he shared with Professor Ehrlich the Nobel prize for medicine. In 1909 he advanced his theory that a certain kind of soured milk contained bacilli, counteracting or retarding autointoxication. He died in Paris in METEMPSYCHOSIS METEMPSYCHOSIS (-si-kō'sis), transmigration; the passage of the soul from one body to another.