Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology: From Metaphor to TheoryThis 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. |
Contents
2 Metchnikoffs Early Embryology | 25 |
3 Metchnikoffs Embryological Studies after 1872 | 50 |
4 The Problem of Evolution in Metchnikoffs Works | 68 |
5 Metchnikoffs Emerging Concept of Inflammation | 101 |
6 The Phagocytosis Theory and Its Reception | 135 |
7 The Phagocyte Eclipsed | 154 |
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Common terms and phrases
activity amoeboid animals anthrax antibody argued argument bacilli bacteria Baer Baer's basic Baumgarten biological blood cellular Cohnheim comparative embryology concept considered corpuscles Darwin Darwinian defense devel developmental disease disharmony Ehrlich Elie Metchnikoff embryological studies embryonic layers entoderm essay established evolution evolutionary fact formation formulation function gastraea gastraea theory gastrula genealogical Haeckel History of Immunology host humoral idea immunology individual development infection inflammation intellectual intracellular digestion invertebrates Kowalevsky lancelet larvae leukocytes mechanism mesoderm mesodermal cells metaphor metaphysical metazoan Metch Metchni Metchnikoff wrote Metchnikoff's theory morphological Mueller natural selection neutrophil nikoff observed ontogeny opment organism organismic integrity origin parasitism parenchymella Pasteur pathology phago phagocyte phagocytosis hypothesis phagocytosis theory phenomenon phylogeny physiological point of view primary problem protective question recapitulation reconstruction Reprinted in AC result role Russian Saint Petersburg scientific serum similar species sponges structure teleological theoretical tion tissue transformation Ueber vertebrates Virchow
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