Page 133 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

130 — BfiGHAMP OR PASTEUR?
Bechamp's pupils, numbered among whom was M. Le
Rique de Monchy, who assisted Bechamp with his silk-
1
worm researches. In a paper called "Note on the Molecu-
lar Granulations of Various Origin," this indefatigable
student demonstrated that the vibrating granulations are
organisms having an energetic action, similar to that of
ferments, upon certain of the matters with which they are
in contact in their natural medium.
Meanwhile, his great teacher sent up Memoir after
Memoir to the Academy of Science. It was Bechamp who
initiated the study of micro-organisms—microzymas and
bacteria—in saliva and in the mucus ofthe nasal and other
passages. The very secretions of the body afforded him
proof of his opinions. Thus, in a Memoir "On the Nature
and Function of the Microzymas of the Liver," he and
Estor said: 2 "Matter, whether albuminoid or other,
never spontaneously becomes a zymase or acquires the
properties of zymases; wherever these appear some
organised (living) thing will be found."
What a wonderful conception this gives of the body!
Just as a household or a state cannot prosper without its
different members undertaking their varied functions, so
our bodies, and those of animals and plants, are regulated
by innumerable workers whose failure in action disturbs
the equilibrium of the entire organism. Just as in the State
there are different experts for different forms of labour, so
Bechamp demonstrated the differentiation between the
microzymas of various organs, the microzymas of the
pancreas, the microzymas of the liver, the kidneys, etc.,
etc. And since it may be objected that it is too difficult to
make such distinctions between microscopic minutiae, we
cannot do better than quote the words of the brilliant
experimenter.
"The naturalist," said Bechamp, 3 will not know how to
classify them, but the chemist who studies their functions

1
Comptes Rendus de VAcademie des Sciences 66, p. 550.
2
Comptes Rendus de VAcadimie des Sciences 66, p. 421 (1868).
3
La Thiorie du Microzyma, p. 116.