Les métaphores de l'immunologie: guerre et paix

Abstract

Immunology has always relied on metaphorical language. In its early beginnings, it varied between bellicose images and images that stressed the interaction of immunity mechanisms with the organism's physiological functions overall. In the late nineteenth century, white blood globules were not only compared to 'border police' assigned to rebuffing intruders-an army formed to combat the invadersbut were also described as a physiological mechanism for eliminating aged, dead cells, at times exterminators of foreig…