Page 138 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

NATURE'S EXPERIMENTS 135

pulmonary tuberculosis. The effects they saw in their
medical work they proved and tested by laboratory
experiments, and with the intense caution of true scientists,
they carried out almost innumerable tests to substantiate,
for example, their belief in the development of bacteria
from microzymas, and the fact that an invasion from with-
out of those at large in the atmosphere is not required to
explain their appearance in internal organs.
It was, however, one of Nature's direct experiments, a
chance demonstration in the vegetable world, that offered
Professor Bechamp one of his best proofs of inner bacterial
development, apart from atmospheric interference.
As we have said, the climate of Montpellier is almost
sub-tropical for the greater part of the year, and various
sun-lovers among plants may be found growing there,
including eccentric-looking cacti, with their tough sur-
faces and formidable prickles. During the winter of 1867
and 1868, however, severe cold set in, and hard frost took
liberties with the cacti to which they were quite un-
1
accustomed. On one of these cold winter days, Professor
Bechamp's sharp eyes, which never missed anything of
importance, noticed an Echinocactus, one of the largest
and sturdiest of its kind, frozen for two feet of its massive
length. After the thaw set in, the Professor carried off the
plant to examine it. In spite of the frost-bite, its surface
was so thick and hard that it was absolutely unbroken.
The epidermis was as resistant as it had been before the
misadventure, and the great density of the tissues safe-
guarded the interior against any extraneous invasion
apart from the intracellular spaces connected with the
outer air through the stomata. Yet when the Professor
made an incision in the frozen part, he found bacteria
teeming inside, the species that he called bacterium termo
and putridinis predominating.
Bechamp at once realised that Nature was carrying out
remarkable tests of her workings, and when frost set in
again on the 25th January and lasted until the end of the
1
Les Microzymas, par A. Be'champ, p. 141.