Page 101 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

98 BfiGHAMP OR PASTEUR?
confirmed by modern cytology, and to what may be
termed his microzymian doctrine, which we are inclined
to believe has been too much neglected by the modern
school of medicine. Those disposed to ridicule Bechamp
may well ponder the fact that the first word rather than
the last is all that has been said about micro-organisms.
For instance, it is now claimed that in the same manner
that coral is derived from certain minute sea-insects, so
particular micro-organisms not only aid in the decomposi-
tion of rocks and in the formation of chalk and limestone,
1
but play an active part in the forming of iron deposits.
Though, as we have said, derided by some, Bechamp's
work at this time was beginning to attract a great amount
of attention, and mid-way through the sixties of the last
century, it gained for him an enthusiastic co-partner in his
labours. This was Professor Estor, physician and surgeon
in the service of the hospital at Montpellier, and who,
besides being in the full swing ofpractical work, was a man
thoroughly accustomed to research and abundantly
versed in scientific theories. He had been astounded by
1 Attention has been drawn to a remarkable and up-to-date parallel
of Bechamp's discovery of microzymas in chalk. See The Iron and Coal Trades
Review for May 4th, 1923. In this, in an article on Coal Miners' Nystagmus,
Dr. Frederick Robson puts forward a statement by Professor Potter "that
there are in coal bacteria capable of producing gases, and that the gases
isolated are methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, with heating
up to 2 deg. G. (35 deg.~36 deg. F.) . It would appear as ifwood were capable
of containing in its metamorphosed state (coal) the bacteria originally
present in the tree stage of its existence. It is possible, too, that different
kinds of orders of flora would give rise to the presence of different species of
bacteria . . . possibly resident in the woody-fibred coal. . . . This idea
of bacterial invasion of coal suggests that some degree of oxidation may be
due to the great army of aerobic or anaerobic bacteria which may give rise
to oxidation and may be the genesis of coal gases in the pits, i.e., that oxida-
tion is due to living organisms with increase of 2 deg. G. of heat. This has
been disproved, but it is evident that bacteria exist. . . . There is evidence
to show that at 100 deg. G. (212 deg. F.) all bacterial action ceases. If soft
coals and bacterial invasion go hand in hand, in some kind of relationship,
then as the coal measures become harder from east to west, the microbic
invasion or content may diminish with the ratio of gaseous liberation."
Thus more modern corroboration is found of Bechamp's astounding dis-
covery; while it is due to him alone that we may understand the origin of the
so-called bacteria. According to his teaching, these must be the surviving
microzymas, or microsomes, of the cells of pre-historic trees, known to us
now in their fossilized form as coal, but still preserving intact the infinitesi-
mal lives that once built up primeval vegetation.