Élie Metchnikoff

ÉLIE METCHNIKOFF

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov

1845–1916 · Russian-French

role:Pasteur Institute scientist and self-experimenter who adopted his own soured-milk regimen

nationality:Russian-French

connection:Metchnikoff is recorded as a self-experimenter in his own longevity programme: consistent with his published recommendation of daily soured milk from childhood onward, historical accounts describe his self-experimentation with lactic-acid bacteria. He appears here as the receiving subject of the intervention as well as its promoter, the same dual role recorded for Brown-Séquard in this archive. His own course is the most direct outcome datum available: he died in 1916 at age 71, a death the modern reassessment attributes to heart failure (Mackowiak, 2013), well short of the extended lifespan his programme implied. His death is noted in the historical literature as the point at which soured milk's reputation as a life-prolonging measure faded.

confirmed:yes

APPEARS IN CASES

metchnikoff-bulgarian-yogurt-1907-1916 subject

NOTES

Élie Metchnikoff appears in this case as a Person (the receiving subject of the intervention) as well as the Practitioner who promoted it, the same dual encoding used for Brown-Séquard. The self-experimentation is consistent with his published programme of daily soured milk and with historical accounts of his use of lactic-acid bacteria. The relevant outcome is plainly stated in the record: he died in 1916 at age 71, attributed to heart failure by modern reassessment, not the prolonged span his theory projected. The data point is anecdotal (a single subject, no controls) and is presented as such; it is included because it is the clearest illustration that the promoter’s own case did not bear out the life-extension claim.