Page 127 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
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dust or organisms. This was left on a shelf in Bechamp's
laboratory until the end of the year 1874. The upper bed
of carbonate of lime was then removed and proved to be
entirely soluble in hydrochloric acid. Some centimeters
further down there were only to be found some fragments
of bone and dry matter. Not the slightest smell was per-
ceptible, nor was the carbonate of lime discoloured. This
artificial chalk was as white as ordinary chalk, and except
for a lack of the microscopic crystals of aragonite found in
precipitated carbonate of lime, indistinguishable from it,
and showed under the microscope brilliant "molecules,"
such as those seen in the chalk of Sens. One part of this
carbonate of lime was then placed in creosoted starch, and
another part in creosoted sweetened water. Fermentation
took place, just as though ordinary chalk had been used,
but more actively. Microzymas were not seen in the upper
stratum of the carbonate of lime, but in that portion where
the kitten's body had rested they swarmed by thousands in
each microscopic field. After filtering the carbonate of
lime through a silken sieve, it was taken up with dilute
hydrochloric acid, and Bechamp thereby succeeded in
separating the microzymas, which had been made visible
by the microscope.
At the end of this experiment, which had continued for
over six and a half years, Bechamp, with "the infinite
patience of genius," repeated it by another, which lasted
seven years.
To meet the possible criticism that the body of the
kitten had been the prey of germs of the air, which might
have been carried in its hair, or admitted into its lungs by
breathing, when alive, or into its intestinal canal, Bechamp
now repeated his experiment with more rigid precautions.
This time, in addition to burying the whole carcass of a
kitten, he also buried, in one case, a kitten's liver, and in
another, the heart, lungs and kidneys. These viscera had
been plunged into carbolic acid the moment they had
been detached from the slaughtered animal. This experi-
ment, commenced in the climate of Montpellier, in the