Page 149 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

146 BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
fat, in short, that it was a mere emulsion which did not
contain any living bodies capable of causing any change
in its composition. For years Bechamp studied milk, and
it was not till a much later date that he finally satisfied
himself as to all its scientific complexities.
We find that just as in 1857 Pasteur's sponteparist views
were entirely opposed to Bechamp's, so, through the sixties
of the nineteenth century, Pasteur completely ignored
Bechamp's teaching in regard to the microzymas, or
microsomes, of the cells and the fermentative changes due
to these inherent living elements. Having realised the
germs of the air, he seemed blind to the germs of the body
and ignored Bechamp's prodigious work when the latter
differentiated by experiment the varying degrees of heat
required to destroy the microzymas of milk, chalk, etc.
Finally, it seems as though Pasteur must have been con-
vinced against his will by Bechamp's conclusions in regard
to the diseases of silk-worms, and his disparagement of the
latter was no doubt provoked by his consciousness of a
dangerous rivalry. At the end of 1868, laid low on a bed
of sickness, who can tell what thoughts passed through his
mind in regard to the views of the man who had so en-
lightened him on the subject of air-borne organisms and
their part in fermentation; the man who had so in-
contestably proved the causes of the diseases of silk-worms
that his own scientific reputation had been seriously
threatened; the man, in short, who would never be his
disciple?
Anyway, when Pasteur rose from his sick bed, semi-
paralysed, dragging one leg, the Prussian hordes for a
time interrupted the even tenor of French life and
national distress annihilated minor controversies. Who
shall say if he thought these catastrophic events likely to
have a lethal effect on the memories of his contemporaries?
Be that as it may, in the year 1872, Pasteur suddenly
sprang a surprise upon the Academy of Science.
For a moment, we must recapitulate. It will be remem-
bered that as early as 1862, Bechamp took up the study of