Page 71 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije

CHAPTER VI
The Soluble Ferment

Before we can form any idea of the magnitude of
Bechamp's discoveries, we must thoroughly realise the
obscurity of the scientific views of the period. Not only
were physical and chemical influences believed to be
operative in the spontaneous generation of plant and
animal life, but Dumas' physiological theory of fermenta-
tion had been set aside for the belief that this transforma-
tion aiiteceded the appearance of micro-organisms.
We have already seen that light was thrown upon this
darkness by Bechamp's Beacon Experiment; we have
now to study the teaching he deduced from his observa-
tions.
At the date of the publication of his Memoir, scientists
were so little prepared to admit that moulds could appear
apart from the co-operation of some albuminoid matter
that it was at first insisted that Bechamp must have em-
ployed impure sugar. On the contrary, he had made use
of pure sugar candy, which did not produce ammonia
when heated with soda lime. Yet his critics would not be
satisfied, even by the fact that the quantity of ammonia
set free by the moulds far surpassed any that could have
been furnished by an impurity. Further evidence was
given by the experiments that showed the development of
micro-organisms in mineral media, and these could not be
accused of connection with anything albuminoid.
Bechamp was not, of course, the first to view and notice
the moulds, the micro-organisms. That had been done
before him. What he did was conclusively to demonstrate
their atmospheric origin, and, above all, to explain their
function. Anyone interested in this important subject
cannot do better than study the second Conference, or
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