Page 102 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

THE "LITTLE BODIES" 99

the discoveries of Professor Bechamp, which he described
as laying the foundation stone of cellular physiology. In
1865 he published in the Messager du Midi an article that
placed in great prominence Bechamp's explanation of
fermentation as an act of cellular nutrition. This concep-
tion made a sensation in Germany, for while, in a sense,
confirming Virchow's cellular doctrine, it showed the
German scientist's view to be only partial.
Bechamp's star was, perhaps, just now at its zenith.
Conscious that his great discovery, as he proceeded with
it, would illumine the processes of life and death as never
before in the course of medical history, he was also happy
in finding a zealous coadjutor, who was to share in his
work with persistence and loyalty, while, at the same time,
a little band of pupils arose full of eagerness to forward
their great Master's researches. Indistinguishable in the
distance loomed the tiny cloud that on gathering was to
darken his horizon. France was in trouble. Her whole
silk industry was threatened by mysterious diseases among
silk-worms. Unsolicited, and unassisted pecuniarily,
Bechamp at once turned his mind to the problem, not
knowing when he did so that it was to bring him into
direct rivalry with the man who had been appointed
officially, and that, while providing the latter with
solutions to the enigma, no gratitude was to be his, but,
instead, the undying hatred and jealousy of Fortune's
favourite, Louis Pasteur!