Page 82 - Ethel D. Hume - Bešam ili Paster: Izgubljeno poglavlje u istoriji biologije
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RIVAL THEORIES AND WORKERS 70
name of fermentation. But, on the contrary, more or less
everyone had heard, so widely had the subject been venti-
lated, of the controversy as to whether life, in its lesser
forms, sprang invariably from antecedent life, or whether
chemical combinations could produce life independently
of parents. The public, too, could follow the account of
M. Pasteur's holiday tour in pursuit of the question. Very
little cudgelling of brains could make anyone understand
the history of the flasks that he unsealed, some by a dusty
roadside, some on an Alpine summit. Since visible dust
could cloud a fluid, it was easy to realise that invisible
aerial germs could also affect the contents of the scientist's
phials. Minute living things afloat in the atmosphere were
not hard to imagine, and Pasteur commenced so enthus-
iastically to discourse of these that it was not remarkable
that an impression was created that he had been the first
to demonstrate them; especially since the obstinacy with
which a number of scientists declined to endorse his views
made him appear a special champion to confound the
Sponteparists whose opinions he had cast off so recently.
All this time, in spite of M. Biot's influential patronage,
Pasteur had remained outside the select circle ofAcademi-
cians. But at the end of 1862, as we have said before, he
was at last nominated by the Mineralogical Section. No
sooner was his candidature commenced than exception
began to be taken to his early conclusions on crystal-
lography. None the less, by 36 out of 60 votes, he secured
his coveted place in the Academy of Science; and, advised
to drop crystallography, he proceeded to experiment further
in connection with his new views on air-borne organisms.
To secure matter free from atmospheric dust, he made
observations upon muscle, milk, blood, etc., taken from
the interior of bodies. From the start, he cannot but have
been handicapped by his lack of medical training. His
view-point was that of the chemist. According to his
conception, as Bechamp points out, 1 the marvellous
animal body was likened to wine in the cask or beer in the
1
Les Microzymas, p. 754.