1683: Ilya Mechnikov on Science, Atheism, Immunity, and Humanist Optimism
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/05/05
“Whatever concerns health is of real public interest.”
“The problem has become open to study by experiment.”
“To solve medical problems, comparative pathology had to be called in.”
“Controlled observations on living organism can not be wrong.”
“There is only one constant element in immunity, whether innate or acquired, and that is phagocytosis.”
“The extension and importance of this factor can no longer be denied.”
“The present phase of the question of immunity constitutes one stage only in the development of biological science.”
“Bacteriology has placed hygiene on a scientific foundation.”
“Science has already justified the hopes which have been placed in it.”
“I have never taken my stand on metaphysical ground.”
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