Page 139 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

136 BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
same month, he determined to verify his preceding
observation. The interesting plants in the Botanical
Gardens provided him with fine opportunities, for many
of them became frozen.
He started his observations with a cactus named
Opuntia Vulgaris. This was only frozen in part, and on
scraping the surface with a scalpel, the Professor con-
vinced himself that it was entirely unbroken. In his own
words, not the minutest cleft had been formed by which an
enemy could find access. Yet, all the same, under the
skin and down to the deepest layers of the frozen part
lurked tiny and very active bacteria and also larger
bacteria, equally mobile, of a length of 0.02 mm. to
0.04 mm., though these were less numerous. The normal
microzymas had completely given place to bacteria in the
frozen parts. On the contrary, it was noteworthy that
in the healthy parts, untouched by frost, there were only
perfect cells to be found and normal microzymas.
Bechamp next examined a plant known botanically as
the Calla (Ethiopica. This was frozen down to the ground
and so perished that the slightest touch made it crumble to
powder. Microscopic study showed microzymas in the
course of transformation into excessively small mobile
bacteria; there were also large bacteria to be seen, measur-
ing 0.03 mm. to 0.05 mm. Nature had also provided a
valuable control experiment, for in the centre of the
decayed, frozen plant, a bunch of young leaves was left
green and healthy, and here only normal microzymas
were to be found, in striking contrast to the transformation
scenes taking place in the surrounding parts, which the
frost had shattered so ruthlessly.
A third illustration was provided by a Mexican Agave.
In the unfrozen part only normal microzymas were to be
found, while in the blackened and frozen portion of the
leaf there was a cloud of very mobile microzymas, and
there also swarmed bacteria resembling the bacterium
termo, and in smaller quantities bacteria that measured
from 0.0 1 mm. to 0.03 mm.