Page 69 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

66 BfiCHAMP OR PASTEUR?
without which the formation of moulds would have been
impossible?
At a time when Pasteur was using yeast broth and other
albuminoid matters for his experiments, Bechamp, on the
contrary, gave a clear demonstration that in media devoid
of albuminoid matters moulds would appear, which, when
heated with caustic potash, set free ammonia. By the
same set of experiments, the Professor proved that moulds,
living organisms that play the part of ferments, are
deposited from the air and appear in pure water to which
nothing but sugar, or sugar and certain salts, have been
added. Therefore by this criticism, "to be logical, M.
Bechamp should say that he has proved that moulds arise
in pure sugared water, without nitrogen, without phos-
phates or other mineral elements, for that is an enormity
that can be deduced from his work," M. Pasteur seems
himself to have committed the enormity by thus ap-
parently misunderstanding the facts proved by Bechamp!
The latter had noted that in the glass flasks filled com-
pletely with the solution of sugar and distilled water and
into which no air whatever was allowed to enter, moulds
did not appear and the sugar was not inverted; but in the
flasks in which air had remained, or into which it had been
allowed to penetrate, moulds had formed, despite the
absence of the albuminoid matters included in Pasteur's
experiments: moreover Bechamp had found these moulds
to be more abundant when particular salts, such as
nitrates, phosphates, etc., had been added.
1
The Professor, in his great work Les Microzymas, cannot
resist a sarcastic allusion to Pasteur's extraordinary
—
criticism: "A chemist, au comant with science, ought not
to be surprised that moulds are developed in sweetened
water contained, in contact with air, in glass flasks. It is
the astonishment of M. Pasteur that is astonishing!"
When wordy warfare ensued, Pasteur was no match for
Bechamp and the former quickly saw that his own
interests would be best served by passing over the latter's
1
P. 87.