Page 111 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

io8 BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
posterior to the nth April, when Professor Bechamp had
put forward his first explanation of flacherie; neither does
Pasteur in his letter do more than allude to the corpuscular
malady as not being the only torment of sericulture. As
a safeguard to pebrine he put forward his system of taking
seed only from moths free from corpuscles, which, as
1
Bechamp pointed out, was an absurdity, considering the
parasitic nature of the complaint and the fact that the
parasites abounded on mulberry leaves.
The other letter to Dumas, published on the 3rd June,
1867, was dated Alais, the 21st May. Here Pasteur stated
that another trouble was often wrongly confounded with
pebrine, "because in a great number of cases the two
diseases had no connection, or at least not directly."
Considering the complete disparity of the two com-
plaints, as already shown by Bechamp, the vibrant cor-
puscles being often entirely absent in the case offlacherie,
this comment of Pasteur's is noteworthy as showing that
he did not possess his rival's comprehension of the subject.
Bechamp, meanwhile, worked hard and sent to the
Commission on Sericulture a Memoir entitled: "On the
Transformation of the Vibrant Corpuscle of Pebrine and on
the Nature of the Disease called Reste-Petits" This impor-
tant communication, the Academy of Science published
only in abstract on the 10th June, 1867; while on the 1st
July of the same year, the Academy published another
Memoir, also first sent by Bechamp to the Commission
on Sericulture, and entitled: "On the Saccharification of
the Vibrant Corpuscle of Pebrine" Here he gave a full
description of the corpuscle, showing it to lose its oscillat-
ing movement in a solution of caustic potash, but to be
insoluble in this liquid. He found it to be soluble in
sulphuric acid on boiling and proved that glucose
could be produced from it by successive treatment with
sulphuric acid, barium carbonate, alcohol and water,
and came to the conclusion that the vibrant particle
contains cellulose.
1 Les Grands Problemes Midicaux, p. 25.