Page 56 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

BfiCHAMP'S BEACON EXPERIMENT 53

isms for the processes of fermentation was thus shown
clearly.
Bechamp further explained the action of moulds: "They
act after the manner of ferments."
"Whence comes the ferment?"
"In these solutions there existed no albuminoid sub-
stance; they were made with pure cane-sugar, which,
heated with fresh-slaked lime, does not give off ammonia.
It thus appears evident that air-borne germs found the
sugared solution a favourable medium for their develop-
ment, and it must be admitted that the ferment is here
produced by the generation offungi."
Here, in direct contradiction to Pasteur's account of the
spontaneous origin of beer-yeast and other organisms,
Bechamp gave proof positive of Schwann's teaching of air-
borne germs, and further specified yeast to be of the order
of fungi. Remarkable though such a clear pronouncement
was at a date when scientific ideas were in chaotic con-
fusion, the great teacher went much further afield in his
observations.
—
Moreover he stated: "The matter that develops in the
sugared water sometimes presents itself under the form of
little isolated bodies, sometimes under the form of
voluminous colourless membranes, which come out in one
mass from the flasks. These membranes, heated with
caustic potash, give off ammonia in abundance."
Here he noted the diversity of the organisms of these
moulds, an observation that was to result in a deep insight
into cellular life, and his foundation ofa first proper under-
standing of cytology.
He had a further definite explanation to make on the
—
action of moulds, namely: "The Transformation that
Cane-Sugar Undergoes in the Presence of Moulds may be
Compared with that Produced upon Starch by Diastase."
1
This particular conclusion, he tells us, had an enor-
mous bearing on the subject, and was such a novel idea at
that epoch that Pasteur, even later, ignored and denied it.
1
Les Microzymas, par A. Bdchamp, p. 57,