Page 131 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

128 BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
ory food. And the new compounds that appear are the same
as those produced in the alcoholic, lactic and butyric fermenta-
tions of the laboratory or, during life, alcohol, acetic acid,
;
lactic or sarcolactic acid, etc. . . .
4. "That it is once again proved that the cause of decompo-
sition after death is the same, without the organism, as that
which acts, under other conditions, during life, namely,
microzymas capable of becoming bacteria by evolution.
5. "That the microzymas, after or before their evolution
into bacteria, only attack albuminoid or gelatinous matters
after the destruction of the matters called carbohydrates.
6. "That the microzymas and bacteria, having effected the
transformations before mentioned, do not die in a closed
apparatus in the absence of oxygen; they go into a state of
rest, as does the beer-yeast in an environment of the products
of the decomposition of the sugar, which products it formed.
7. "It is only under certain conditions, particularly in the
presence of oxygen, as in the experiment on the kitten buried in
carbonate of lime, etc., thai the same microzymas or bacteria
effect the definite destruction of vegetable or animal matter,
reducing it into carbonic acid, water, nitrogen, or simple
nitrogenous compounds, or even into nitric acid, or other
nitrates!
8. "That it is in this way that the necessary destruction of
the organic matter of an organism is not left to the chances of
causes foreign to that organism, and that when everything else
has disappeared, bacteria, and, finally, microzymas resulting
from their reversion remain as evidence that there was nothing
ofwhat was primarily living except themselves in the perished
organism. And these microzymas, which appear to us the
remains or residuum of that which has lived, still possess some
activity of the specific kind that they possessed during the life
of the destroyed being. It is thus that the microzymas and
bacteria that remained from the corpse of the kitten were not
absolutely identical with those of the liver or of the heart, of
the lung or of the kidney."
—
The Professor continued: "I do not mean to infer
that in destruction effected in the open air, on the surface
of the ground, other causes do not occur to hasten it. I
have never denied that the so-called germs of the air or
other causes are contributory. I only say that these germs
and these causes have not been expressly created for that
purpose and that the so-called germs in atmospheric