Page 32 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

PART ONE
THE MYSTERY OF FERMENTATION

CHAPTER II

A Babel of Theories
Before starting upon any examination of Bechamp's and
Pasteur's contributions to the scientific problems of their
age, it may be well to revert to the utter confusion of ideas
then reigning in the scientific world in regard to the
mysteries of life and death and the phenomenon offermen-
tation. The ensuing chapter can only hope to make clear
the utter absence of clarity in regard to these leading
questions; and though the work of earlier scientists in-
variably led up to subsequent discovery, yet in the days
when Antoine Bechamp and Louis Pasteur commenced
their life-work, the understanding of the subject was, as
we shall see, in a state of confusion worse confounded.
Three paramount problems then faced the scientific
inquirer.
1. What is living matter, this protoplasm, so-called
from Greek words meaning "first" and "formed"? Is it a <
mere chemical compound?
2. How does it come into being? Can it arise spon-
taneously; or is it always derived from pre-existing life?
3. What causes matter to undergo the change known as
"fermentation"?
Among Professor Bechamp's prolific writings quite a
history may be found of the confused babel of theories on
these subjects.
To start with the first query: there was merely the
vague explanation that protoplasm is the living matter
from which all kinds of living beings are formed and to
the properties of which all are ultimately referred. There
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