The Evolutionary Biology Papers of Elie Metchnikoff

238 Pages·2000·7.386 MB·English

by  Helena Gourko, Donald I. Williamson (auth.), Helena Gourko, Donald I. Williamson, Alfred I. Tauber (eds.)

THE EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY PAPERS OF EUE METCHNIKOFF
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Editors
ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University
JURGEN RENN, Max-Planck-Institutefor the History of Science
KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University ofA thens
Editorial Advisory Board
THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University
ADOLF GRUNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh
SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University
JOHN 1. STACHEL, Boston University
MARX W. WARTOFSKY t (Editor 1960-1997)
VOLUME 212
THE EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
PAPERS OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF
Edited by
HELENA GOURKO
Belorussian University & Boston University, U.S.A.
DONALD I. WILLIAMSON
Liverpool University, United Kingdom
and
ALFRED I. TAUBER
Boston University, U.S.A.
A C.I.P Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5356-5 ISBN 978-94-015-9381-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-9381-6
Printed on acidjree paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 2000
No part of this publication may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
Dedicated in admiration and friendship to
Robert S. Cohen and Annie Kuipers
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE IX
INTRODUCTION
I. ON THE DEVELOPMENTAL LIFE-HISTORY OF MYZOSTOMUM (1866) 22
Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte von Myzostomum. - Z. wiss. Zool.,
V.xVI, SS.236-243.
2. ON THE EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT OF LOWER CRUSTACEA (1866) 28
o
pa3BlfTlUi HH3WHX paKoo6pa3HhIX B HHue. - HaTypaJlllCT, T 5,
cTp.65-72.
3. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DARWINISM (1875) 36
Embryologisches uber Geophylis. - Z.wiss. Zoo!., v. XXV,
SS. 313-322.
AHTpOnOJIOflfH H .uapBHHlf3M - BecTH. EBponhI, KH. 1,
CTp. 159-195.
4. ESSAY ON QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES (1876) 60
OqepK Bonpoca 0 npoHcxo)J(.ueHlflf BH.uOB. - BecTH. EBPOllhI,
KH. 3,CTp. 68-134; KH.4,CTp. 715-747; KH. 5,CTp. 117-149;
KH. 7, CTp. 158-197; KH. 8, CTp. 567-606.
5. COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGICAL STUDIES (1881-1885) 92
Vergleichhend-embryologische Studien. 1. Entodermbildung bei
Geryoniden. 2. Ueber einige Stadien der Cunina. - Z. wiss. Zool.,
v. XXXVI, SS. 434-444. 3. Ueber die Gastrula einiger Metazoen.
Z. wiss. Zoo!., - v. XXXVII, SS.286-313. 4. Ueber die Gastrulation
und Mesodermbildung der Ctenophoren. Z. wiss. Zool., XLII,
SS.648-55.5. Ueber die Bildung der Wanderzellen bei Asterien und
Echinidien. - Z. wiss. Zoo!., v. XLII, SS.656-673.
6. EMBRYOLOGICAL STUDIES ON MEDUSAE: ON THE EVOLUTIONARY 144
ORIGINS OF THE PRIMARY TISSUES (1886)
Embryologische Studien an Medusen. Ein Beitrag zur Genealogie
der Primitiv-Organe, Wien, IV.
7. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE BETWEEN PARTS OF THE ANIMAL
ORGANISM (1892) 207
boph6a 3a CYIUeCTBaHHe qaCTeH )J(HBOTHOfO opaHH3Ma.
- «llOMOIUhfOJIo.ualOIUHM. HayqHO-JlllTepaTYPHhIH C60PHHK».
M., CTp. 321-326. [In French: Revue scient, v. L, pp. 321-326].
INDEX OF AUTHORS 217
INDEX OF ORGANISMS 221
vii
PREFACE
We are pleased to offer the English-speaking world the key evolutionary biology
papers of Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916), a work demanded by the rekindled interest
in this key nineteenth century biologist. While hardly a household name today,
Metchnikoff was a celebrated and well-known biologist, whose life has been well
documented. He was a founding father of immunology, and became a popular figure
in France in the first decade of this century through his phagocytosis theory - an
immune theory applied broadly to issues of health and disease. With the Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine co-awarded to him and Paul Ehrlich (1908),
Metchnikoff s prominence was assured. The publication by his wife, Olga, of The
Life of Elie Metchnikoff (1919) shortly after his death has long served as the official
rendition of his career. The account, at one level, is a simple offering with a minimum
of psychological and scientific complexity. Written as a personal retrospective, the
logical development of the research that led to Metchnikoff s immunological theory is
defined, and the thread of its subsequent defense is given with self-righteous zeal. In
this sense, the biography presents an insightful glimpse as how Metchnikoff viewed
himself: a figure whose logical approach, masterful defense, and honest intelligence
attempted to devour, very much like the phagocyte he championed, his scientific
opponents and establish the primacy of his research. As such, the evolutionary
biology in which he was immersed during the two decades preceding his studies in
pathology and host immunity were relatively minimized. But the significance of this
earlier research can hardly be over-emphasized in terms of its importance in
formulating Metchnikoff s better known studies in natural immunity.
With the recent publication of Daniel Todes's account of the historical context of
Metchnikoffs research, Darwin without Malthus, The Struggle for Existence in
Russian Evolutionary Thought (Oxford, 1989), and two intellectual biographies - the
monograph, Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology. From Metaphor to Theory
(Oxford 1991) by Alfred I. Tauber and Leon Chemyak, and the doctoral dissertation,
"The wisdom of cells: The integrity of Elie Metchnikoffs ideas in biology and
pathology" (Notre Dame University, 1991) by Craig Stillwell-students of nineteenth
century Darwinism, developmental biology, immunology, pathology, and "socio
biological" thinking now have ready access to critical introductions to a corpus of
research that clearly articulated the biology of that era and helped formulate its
agenda. Here we offer the most important primary sources in their first English
translation.
This translation project is the synergenic result between a translator/philosopher
(Helena Gourko), a marine biologist (Don Williamson), and a historian/philosopher
of science (Alfred Tauber). In our respective efforts, we have each profitted from the
expertise of the other collaborators, and in framing this book, much has been
appreciated heretofore ignored or unappreciated in Metchnikoffs opus. We can only
hope that the reader also will profit from these diverse perspectives.
Our translation is based on Metchnikoff s Russian edition (Academic Collection of
Works / Akademicheskoe sobranie sochinenii / vols. I-XVII. Moscow, Academy of
ix
x PREFACE
Medical Sciences of the USSR). As listed in the Table of Contents, some of these
papers appear in the German and French literatures.
Two editorial points:
(1) Although Metchnikoffs style is complex -lucid, terse, and literary - the very
density of the problems analyzed, as well as the significant difference between the
expressions of sophisticated scientific and philosophical ideas in English and Russian,
and more, the somewhat "archaic" nineteenth century Russian used by Metchnikoff
make his writings difficult to translate. It is important to note that when Metchnikoff
himself translated his works from Russian into other languages (he made a good many
translations of this sort into German and French), he often transformed and changed
them significantly. These changes did not alter the conceptual or descriptive details,
but were obviously made for linguistic reasons. This immediately raises a major
question concerning the degree of the translator's freedom, which, on the one hand,
should be capable of keeping the content and context true to the original, but, on the
other hand, must bring into consideration the significant inter-linguistic differences,
as well as Metchnikoffs own approach in dealing with the problem. To resolve this
difficulty fully is probably impossible, but it can be diminished by an understanding
of Metchnikoff s major ideas and general orientation, which guided us in adjudicating
any inconsistencies.
(2) Significant difficulties were created by extracting sections from the extended
text of the "Essay on the Question about the Origin of Species" (238 pp. in printed
form). Because of the limited space for this translation, this text has been reduced by a
careful selection of the most relevant passages that emphasize Metchnikoff s
relationship to the Darwinian debate.
Since Metchnikoffs views are not widely known, we have provided a concise
introduction (based on Tauber and Chernyak, 1991), which presents the major ideas
of Metchnikoff s views on evolutionary biology, as well as the results of his studies.
The perspectives offered here concerning the development of Metchnikoff career and
his underlying philosophy are, to be sure, still open to scholarly debate and represent a
summary of a previously presented interpretation.
Finally, without the encouragement of Robert S. Cohen and Annie Kuipers, this
book would, in all likelihood, not have been completed. We thank them for their
steadfast commitment to publish this translation. We, and the community of scholars
at large, are in their debt. In appreciation of their friendship and support, we dedicate
this volume.
Helena Gourko
Donald I. Williamson
Alfred I. Tauber
Boston University and The Isle of Man
June, 1999
INTRODUCTION
Why read Elie Metchnikoffs evolutionary biology papers? First, this research is of
historical importance in its own right, reflecting a highly creative and critical opus of
the latter half of nineteenth-century biology. Any consideration of this topic requires
acquaintance with his thought. Second, although best known for his immunological
theories, not his earlier work in embryology, it was Metchnikoff s foundational
research in the problematics of Darwinian theory that drove his studies in pathology
and natural host defense.
Metchnikoff (1845-1916) was a celebrated scientist, known best as a key founder
of modern immunology, but he played a crucial role during the formative period of
evolutionary biology by first helping to establish comparative embryology as
important support for Darwinism, and then applying his notions of the organism to
the new field of infectious diseases. His ideas concerning development were
extended to adult animals in what he called the "phagocytosis theory," which
became a critical component of a new discipline, immunology. As a system of
defense in the struggle of competing species, Metchnikoffs "phagocytosis theory"
extended the particular clinical concerns with infection to a grand biological
theory. Thus his contributions to zoology, comparative embryology, evolutionary
biology, comparative pathology, medicine, immunology, anthropology, and social
theory should be regarded as of one piece, each aspect of his work contributing to
the expression of a wider philosophical understanding of biology. Therefore,
Metchnikoff can only be understood by integrating his thought, and thus his
immune theories must be appreciated in the context of his broader contributions to
evolutionary biology, which explicitly or implicitly served to frame many critical
areas of twentieth century medicine (Tauber and Chern yak 1989) and biology
(Tauber and Chernyak, 1991; Tauber, 1991).
Metchnikoff s primary scientific reports have remained largely untranslated into
English. Of the many volumes of his published papers (seventeen in a definitive
Russian edition), only a small fraction of these are available to the English-speaking
reader. The best known translated works are his great summary texts, which are
obviously valuable in serving as vehicles for his grand theories of biology and more
general philosophical precepts, but these were primarily written as weapons in his
polemics with other scientists. For instance, Immunity in Infectious Diseases (1901) is
an elaborate argument for the centrality of Metchnikoff s phagocytosis theory against
the competing views of German immunochemists. Such retrospective narratives of
his work are inadequate records of Metchnikoff s research, the basis of his wider
thinking, and the intimacy of revealing how a great nineteenth century zoologist
regarded the major research issues of his time. In this regard, Metchnikoff s primary
research is invaluable.
We have assembled and translated Metchnikoffs key evolutionary biology papers
dating from his earliest writings (1865) to those of his mature period of the 1890s,