After the misfortune which had befallen him Metchnikoff placed his only hope in work, and the condition of his eyes was therefore for him a source of great preoccupation. He applied to the Petersburg Geographical Society for an anthropological mission in order to undertake researches less trying to his eyesight than microscopical work.

As he went deeper into anthropology, he was struck by the fact that this science lacked a leading thread and was guided by no general idea but reduced to mere measurements, very precise and detailed, it is true. Metchnikoff wondered whether it would not be advisable to apply to anthropology the methods used in embryology and to establish an analogy between the diverse human races and the different ages of the individual. In order to solve this problem he had thought at first of visiting the Samoyedes as being the most primitive of the aboriginal peoples of Russia. But the project was not realisable and he determined to visit, at his own expense, the Kalmuks of the Astrakhan steppes, also a primitive Mongol race.

Before his departure he went to see his family and that of his late wife. Long afterwards his sister-in-law, Mlle. FÉdorovitch, wrote me the following account of that interview:

The journey was difficult and fatiguing. Metchnikoff did not know the Kalmuk language and had to depend on interpreters. From the very first he was painfully impressed by the brutality of the Russian officials towards the natives. At every halt the Kalmuks declared that they had no horses; the Cossack who convoyed Metchnikoff would then begin to swear and to play with his “nagaika” or leather-thonged whip, and the required horses appeared as by magic. After a while Metchnikoff became used to such scenes and looked upon them as a custom of the country. He found it more difficult to put up with the indescribable dirt, the smell of mutton fat which impregnated the food, and the continual barking of dogs during the night, details which destroyed the charm and poetry of primitive life. In spite of these unfavourable conditions, Metchnikoff worked indefatigably. The physical measurements of the Kalmuks led him to conclude that the development of the Mongol race was arrested in comparison with that of the Caucasian race; he found that all the relative proportions of the diverse parts of the Kalmuk skeleton corresponded with that of youth in the Caucasian race: a large head, a long torso, short legs, absolutely the relative dimensions of our children. This conclusion was further confirmed by the structure of the eyelid in the Kalmuks, of which the fold (epicanthus) in the adult corresponds with that of the fold of the eyelid in our children.

These interesting results somewhat raised Metchnikoff’s moral, the more so that his eyesight began to improve; he returned to Odessa but found that he was still unable to use a microscope. He therefore decided to go back to the steppes in order to proceed with his researches, and, this time, began his journey by the Stavropol province. The steppes there are very fine, with tall, luxuriant grasses and a profusion of flowers filling the pure atmosphere with perfume; the infinite space and absolute calm offer a peculiar and powerful charm. But the population is depressed and apathetic, as is the case with that of the Astrakhan steppes. The reason must be that the Kalmuks consume milk which has undergone alcoholic fermentation, and that provokes a slight but chronic intoxication. Yet a few among them are extremely intelligent and of fairly high culture. Thus, in the course of his ethnographical researches Metchnikoff came across a priest (bakshÂ) who imparted to him such instructive facts on the principles of the Buddhist religion and on the organisation of its clergy that he even planned to go with him to Thibet, where no stranger can penetrate without the help of an adept. This plan, however, was never executed.

After he had collected numerous anthropological data, Metchnikoff went again to the Astrakhan steppes in order to verify and to complete his observations of the preceding year. Whilst traversing some oases where the Russians were making experiments in artificial forestry, he had the pleasant surprise of finding some Myriapoda (Geophilus) bearing a number of eggs. The history of the development of those creatures was still unknown—a notable lacuna in embryology. Delighted at the idea of filling it, Metchnikoff did not hesitate to undertake a long and difficult extra journey and repaired to Astrakhan, taking with him his precious material, in order to fetch the necessary apparatus for his researches. But during the long journey several eggs perished and he had to return to the oasis with a borrowed microscope to study other eggs on the spot. In spite of very difficult conditions and of the persistent weakness of his eyesight, he succeeded in filling the lacuna in the embryology of the Geophilus.

He had at the same time collected very interesting anthropological data. His hypothesis as to the necessity of applying to anthropology the comparative methods of embryology was fully justified, for, thanks to that process, he was able to establish a definite correlation between the Mongol race and the adolescence of the Caucasian race. He presented a report on the subject to the Anthropological Society of Moscow, but, his attention being afterwards turned in other directions, he never came back to this subject.