Bechampor or Pasteur - E, Douglas Hume

B E C HA M P OR P A ST E U R
A L o st C hapte r i n the
H i sto r y of Biolog y
By
E . DO U G L A S H U M E
F ounded up on MS .
by
MONTAGUE R L EVE R S O N,
. M D (B altimore)
.
,
Ph . D
.
With a F or e wor d by
s .
JUDD L E WIS ,
B se . .
,
F I C
. . .
”
Truth will come to lig ht
L O ND O N : TH E C W D AN I E L C O M PANY
. .
F orty - s i x Be rn ard S tre et W C I , . .

NOTE TO S E C OND E DIT ION
SINC E the fi r st e di ti o n o f this book was sold out , two o f its

'
best friends , on c in this country and one in A merica , have

'
p assed into the Great B eyond Yet t heir influence stirs

. in
this new edition, whi ch has found other good friends to
whom , fo r their help and encouragement , I tender
grateful thanks .
E vidence of growing attention to B é ch am p reaches us

from all p arts In 19 2 7, an account o f him , writte n by
.
Fr Gu e r m on p r e z , was p ublished in P aris by A m ed ee

.
L egrand , 9 3 , Boulevard S aint Germain In the same year, -

.
on the 18th Se ptember, a bust o f the great French

scientist was unveiled at B assing, his birthplace , before a
distinguished gathering , when his genius and discov eries
were lou dl y eulogised News comes from New Z ealand
'
o f success ful medical work on the lines o f B echam s

’
p
teaching In the U n ited S tates o f A merica, a text book on
.
-
Bacteriolog y is being written by Dr We i an t , in collabora .
tion with Dr J Robinson Verner , in whi ch reference

. .
is to be made to B échamp or P asteur and B echamp s

? ’
labours are to be recognised From far away M exico , a .
request comes from Dr H ernan Alpuch e S olis to be .
allowed to undertake a S p anish translation o f B échamp or

P asteur in order as he p uts it
? “ to p ublish the truth
, ,
throughout the world .
Denials of the claims made fo r B echamp s discoveries ’
have been imp ossible ; fo r as Fr Gue r m o n p r e z writes on

“
.
, ,
p age 1 8 o f hi s B écha m p: E tudes et S ouve nirs : — T o get a

r ight idea o f questions o f riority the works o f P asteur
p , ,
Duclaux or their pupils are not the ones to study ; but

, , ,
inst ead the imp artial records of the learned S ocieties

, ,
p articularly those o f the A cademy o f S ciences o f the

”
Institute o f France T here in the cold typ e of the
.
,
5
6 NOTE T O S E C O N D E DI T I O N
p inted
r word the p recedence
, o f B echam p s p ronounce ’
ments to Pasteur s stands secure fo r good and all Never

’
.
t h e le ss this p ersonal side o f the subject in s p ite of its

, ,
imp ortance from the p oint of view of historical justice is ,
o f less consequence than the results of building medical
p ractice u p on the insecure theoretical foundation de

scribed by Si r A lm r o th Wright as the Pasteurian
Decalogue ”
Of these commandments he states as
“
.
, ,
rep orted in The Times of November 2 7th 1 9 3 1 very fe w , ,

”
remain intact O n the other hand there are increasing
.
,
indications of modern medical views converging towards

the microzymian doctrine For instance in Health .
, ,
Disease and In teg ration by H P Newsholme M A M D ,

. .
,
. .
,
. .
,
B Sc a book p ublished in 19 2 9 on
“
. .
, ,
p age 6 4 we,
find the idea o f a p ossible autonomous ( sel f
p roduced ) living enzyme or virus cap able o f g iving rise to
disease and cap able of multip lication by reason o f its
”
living quality The science o f bio che mi stry which
.
-
,
occu pies so wide a field to day is in no small measure an -

,
expansion of the teaching o f Béch am p ; while the remark

able results o f X R adiation lend su pp ort to his contention
-
that in the m icr o z ym as (o f the chromatinic threads )

lies the secret of heredity R eference may be made to the .
first o f two articles by C P H askins in the General E lectric

. .
Review o f July 193 2 ,

.
Of B écham p a sto r y is related o f how when a tiny child

, , ,
he was once caught telling a lie His mother on hearing o f .

,
t hi s on her return home in the evening then and there ,
turned her small son out of bed and whi le whipping him ,
soundly imp ressed up on him her horror of falsehood

,
.
B é ch am p it is said attributed his p assionate regard fo r

, ,
ex actitude to this early lesson whi ch he never forgot ,

.
T o all others known and unknown to whom Truth is

, ,
recious I am roud to dedicate the new edition o f this

p , p
book .
E DOUGL A S H UME . .
Woodford Wells .
October, 193 2 .
F OR E WORD
Th e p rogress o f natural science , lik e all other de p art
ments o f knowledge , is associated with the p ersonalities of
its work ers , and it often happ ens that the study o f a man s’
life is the surest guide not only to the history o f the science ,
but also to the discovery o f neglected records made in days

gone by I t is always a matter o f absorbing interest to
.
know how and by whom the foundations o f natural truth ,
up on which we build our own more modern structures ,
were laid We have long been accustomed to build on

.
stones p laced in p osition by the world famed Pasteur but

-
,
it is not commonly recogniz ed that many o f these stones

rest u p on the deep er foundations laid by Pasteur s con ’
temp orary A ntoine Bécham p It is fittin g that one should

,
.
hesitate to disturb stones set by those already gone from

us but when a substructure has once been revealed there
, ,
can be no question as to the liberty o f extending the in

v e stig at i on P robably no reader of this book will at first be
.
p pre ared to acce p t much that is said in criticism o f P asteur

and i n worshi p o f B é ch am p but as the perusal p roceeds
, ,
hi s eyes will be op ened to many references fo r which the

author is in no way resp onsible excep t fo r their collation .
I t is greatly to be desired that the fundamental work o f

B é ch a m p should be fa r more widely recognized and a ,
debt is due to the author fo r throwing the limelight on his

work .
3 J UDD L E WI S
. .
PRE FA C E
Many years ago in New York Dr Montague R L ever
, ,
. .
son chanced to come up on the writings o f Pierre Jacques

Antoine B é ch a m p So greatly did he become imbued with
.
the views o f the French P rofessor that he seized the fi rst ,
opp ortunity to travel to P aris fo r the p urp ose o f making

the latter s acquaintance He was fortunate enough to
’
.
a rrive some months before the death o f the great scientist
and to receive from him in p erson an account o f his dis

c ov e r i e s and his criticisms of science ancient and modern ,
.
Henceforward it became the dearest wish o f Dr L ever .
son to place the case of Professor B écham p esp ecially in ,
regard to his relations with P asteur before the scientific ,
world Unable owing to his great age to carry out this

.
, ,
p roject the
, p resent writer author o f a short treatise on ,
B é cha m p L ife s P rimal Architects which originally ap

’ ‘
, ,
p e ar e d in T he F orum was p ressed to undertake,

the wor k .
I t s aim is to arouse the interest o f those more qualified to

do justice to the memory o f a genius whose disadvantage ,
it was to have lived far ahead o f the scientific thought o f

his own day For all deficiency in this p resentment o f his
.
teachings it is begged that the writer may be blamed and

,
not the doctrines o f the great teacher to whose original ,
works it is strongly urged that the reader should turn .
I t onl y remains to mention those whose help has been o f

the greatest service It is deep ly to be regretted that the
.
late Mr R A S t r e atfe ild o f the Dep artment o f Printed

. . .
,
Books in the British Museum is no longer here to receive ,
the thank s so justly his due These are most cordially .
rendered to M r L H E Taylor of the same Dep artment

. . . .
, ,
and to all the o fficials o f the North L ibrary fo r constant

kindness and courtesy and fo r the facili ties so generously
afforded for research work T o M E douard G asser the . .
,
son in law of Professor B écham p great indebtedness must

- -
,
9
xc PREFACE
be ex p ressed fo r p articulars of the scientist s life and family’
.
N0 words can adequately ackn owledge th e gratitude

owed to Miss L ily L oat for unfail ing assistance in regard to
any p oint at issue as well as fo r hours sp ent in p roof
,
reading and in helping towards the p rep aration of the

Index .The business arrangements in A merica and the
acquirement of U S A copyright could never have been
. . .
accomp lished without the very kind help o f Mrs L ittle .
and Mr R B Pearson o f Chicago to whom warm thanks

. . .
,
are extended L ast but fa r from least acknowledgment is

.
, ,
gratefully made to the anonymous philanthropist whose

generosity has brought about the p ublication of this book .
j l
’
u y, 19 22 . E . D O UG L AS H UM E .
C ONT E NT S
C H AP TE R P A GE
INTR O D UC T O RY
If
Anto ine B é cham p
PART ONE
TH E MYS T E RY O F F E RM E NTA T I O N
A B abe l o f The o rie s
P asteur s M e m o i rs o f 1857
’
B echam p s B e aco n E xp e ri m e nt
’
C laim s a n d C o ntradicti o ns
T he S o luble F erm e nt
PA RT TWO
T HE M I C R O ZYMAS
”
T he L ittl e B o di e s
Di se a se s o f S i lk-Wo rm s
L abo rato ry E xp e ri m en ts
Nature s E xp e ri m e n ts
’
A Plag iari sm Frustrate d

h/Ii cr o z ym as i n G e n e ral
M o dern C o n fi r m a ti o n s o f Bé cham p
PA RT T H R EE
TH E C UL T O F T H E M IC ROB E
T h e O rig i n o
“ e M e di c i n e
f Pr v ti v
e en
T he I n te rn a ti o n a l Me dical C o ng re ss and
so m e P a ste urian Fias co s
Hydro pho bia

A F e w E xam ple s o f the C ult in Theo ry and
i n P ractice
X IX S o m e L esso n s o f the G re at War
T he Writing o n the Wall .
VAL E D I C T O RY
Pasteur and B é cham p
IND EX
B E C H A M P O R PA ST E UR ?
A L ost Chapter in the History f

o B iolog y
INT R ODUC T O RY
C HA PT ER I
ANT OINE BE CHA MP

AT Villeneuve l E t an g not fa r from Paris on the 2 8th
’
, ,
S e p tember 1 895 the death too k p lace o f a Frenchman

, ,
who has been acclaimed as a rare luminary o f science a ,
sup reme benefactor o f humanity World wide mourning .

-
,
national honours p omp ous funeral obsequies lengthy

, ,
newsp ap er articles tributes public and p rivate attend ed

, ,
the p assing of L ouis P asteur His life has been fully .
recorded ; statues p reserve his lik eness ; his name has been
given to a system and Institutes that follow his methods
,
have s p rung into being all over the world Never has .
Dame Fortune been more p rodigal with bounties than in

the case o f thi s chemist who without ever being a doctor , ,
dared nothing less than to p rofess to revolutionise medi

cine A ccording to his own dictum the testimony of
.
,
subsequent centuries delivers the true verdict u p on a

scientist and adopting P asteur s o pinion as well as in all
,
’
,
humil ity hi s audacity we dare to tak e it up on ourselv es to

, ,
search that testimony .
What do we find?
Nothing less than a lost chapter in the history of biology ,
a chap ter which it seems essential should be rediscovered

and assigned to its p rop er place For k nowledge of it .
mi ght tend firstly to alter the whole trend o f modern

, ,
medicine and secondly to p rove the outstanding French

, , ,
genius o f the nineteenth century to have been actually

another than L ouis Pasteur '
14 B E CHAMP OR PASTEUR?
For indeed this a sto n i
belief that Pasteu r was
w
fe r m e n t a t l on the cause
'
his th e o r l e s o I n uc ro o r g am sm s al fie r e d In b asm essentials -
from those of the observer who seems to have been the real
originator of the discoveries to which P asteur has always
laid claim An d so since Truth is our object we venture
w “
.
, ,
fo ask for p atient ah d imp artial consideration o f the facts

"
that we bring forward in regard to the life work o f two -
French scientists one of whom is barely known to the ,
p resent generation though much o f its k nowledge ,

has
been derived from him while the name o f the other has ,
become a household word .
Twelve and a half years after the death o f Pasteur on ,
the 15th A p ril 1 9 08 there p assed away in a modest

, ,
dwelling in the student quarter o f P aris an old man in his

ninety second year Hi s funeral was att ended by a p latoon
-
.
o f soldiers fo r the nonogenarian P rofessor Pierre Jacques

, , "
A ntoine B é ch a m p had a right to t E 1s Honour as he had

m
, ,
—
,
h em ! C H onour O therwise .
’
the quiet obsequies were attended only by the dead man s
two daughters in law several of his grandsons a fe w o f his
- -
, ,
old friends and an A merican admirer 1

No p omp and .
circumstance in the last ceremonies indicated the p assing

o f a great scientist but after all it was fa r from the first , , ,
time that a man s contemp oraries had neglected his ’
worth Rather more. ther
scant
~" w
p ubli c nh t l ce was a1 In its ast resting place the body

,
-
o f p erhap s an even greater scientist than the great

L avoisier since thi s other A ntoine whose surname was
, ,
BE Ehamp seems of
,
no
discovery in the realm of the immeasurably small .
1
Dr Mon t ag
. ue R L e v e r son
. .
ANTOINE B E CHAMP 15
In the year in which he died eight p ages o f the M oniteur,
Scien tifique were required to set forth a list o f his scienti fi c

works The mere mention o f his titles may suggest an
.
idea o f the stup endous labours o f his long and arduous

career They were as follows :
.
M aster o f Pharmacy .
Do cto r o f S cience .
Do cto r o f Me d icine .
P ro fe ss o r o f M e di cal C hemi stry and Pharmacy at the

F aculty o f M edici n e at Mo ntp ellier .
F e llo w and P ro fe sso r o f Physi c s a n d o f T o xi co lo g y at the

H ig he r S cho o l o f Pharm acy at S trasb o urg a n d P ro fe ss o r o f
Che m i stry o f the sam e town .
C o rre sp o n di n g Me m ber o f the Imperial A cade m y o f Medi

ci n e o f F ra n c e a n d o f th e S o cie ty o f Pharm acy o f P ari s .
Me m b e r o f the A g ricultural S o ciety o f H erault a n d o f the

L inn ae an S o ci e ty o f the De p artme n t o f M ai n e e t L o i re .
G o ld M e dalli st o f t he I n dustri al S o ci e ty o f M ulho us e fo r

t he di sco ve r y o f a che ap p ro ce ss fo r the m an ufacture o f aniline
and o f man y co lours de rived from this substan ce .
S ilver Me dalli st o f the C o mm ittee o f H isto ric Wo rks and o f

L earn ed S o cieties fo r wo rks up on the p ro ducti on o f wine .
P ro fe ss o r o f Bi o l o g ical C hem istr y and Dean o f the F aculty

o f Medicine o f L ille .
Honorary Ti tles
O ffi cer Public I nstructio n
of .
Chevalier o f the L eg i on o f H onour .
C ommander o f the R o se o f Brazil .
L ong though his life was considerably outstretching the

,
rather arbitrary limit of the Psalmist it can only seem i n ,
credibly short when comp ared with a list Of discoveries

p henomenal fo r the life s an o f one man
p A
-
n d as the .
history o f the foundations o f biolo g y as well as the work o f ,
L ouis P asteur are both intricately connected with this

,
extended career of usefulness we will try to sketch a faint ,
outline o f the life story of Pierre Jacques A ntoine Bé ch a m p

-
.
He was born during the ep och that had just witnessed

the finish o f the Nap oleonic wars fo r it was on the l 6t h ,
O ctober 1 8 16 that he first saw light at B assing I n L o r

, ,
raine where his father owned a flour mill The boy was
, .
16 B E CHAMP OR PASTE UR?
onl y eleven when a change in his life occurred His
, .
mother s brother who held the p ost o f French Consul at

’
,
Bucharest p aid the B echamp s a visit and was struck by

,
the intelligence and ap titude of young A ntoine He grew .
anxious to give him better opp ortunities than he would be

lik ely to meet with In his quiet country home We have .
not heard much o f A ntoine s mother but when we find ’
that hi s p arents un se lfishly allowed him fo r his own good , ,
to be taken away from them at the early age of eleven we ,
may be fairly certain that she was a clever far seeing ,

-
woman who might p erhap s su pport S chopenhauer s

,
’
theory that a man s mother is of more imp ortance to him

’
than his father in the transmission of brains ! Be that as it

may when the uncle s Visit ended the small nephew went
,
’
with him and the two undertook together the long and ,
in those days very wearisome coach journey from Nancy

,
to Bucharest .
I t thus came about that A ntoine saw much of the world

and gained a thorough knowledge o f a fresh language ,
advantages that strengthened and develop ed his alert

intellect Unfortunately his kind relative died after a fe w
.
,
years and the bo y was left to face the battle o f life alone .
Friends came to his help and placed him as assistant to a

chemist who allowed him to attend classes at the Uni
,
‘
versity where his brilliant genius m ad e all learning easy

,
and in 183 3 without any diffi culty he obtained a diploma

, ,
in p harmacy In his youthful p roficiency he p resents a

.
contrast to Pasteur who in his school days was pr o

, , ,
n o un c e d to be only an average p u pil and later by an , ,
examiner to be mediocre in chemistry

,
.
A ntoine was still under twenty when he returned to his

native land and after Visiting his p arents started work at a
, ,
C hemist s in S trasbourg which city at that time with the

’
, ,
rest o f Al sace and L orraine formed p art o f France His ,

.
extraordinary p owers of work were soon made manifest .
Much o f his s p are time was devoted to the study of his own
language in which he acquired the p olish of style that was
,
t o stand him in good stead in his future lectures and

ANTO INE B E OH A M P 17
literary labours A ll the while he continued his University

.
,
course at the A cademy of S trasbourg until he became

qualified as a chemist On obtaining his degree he set up .
,
indep endently at Benfeld in Alsace where he met and ,
married Mlle C lem e n tin e Me r ti an the daughter o f a

.
,
retired tob acco and beet sugar merchant who made him -
,
’
a cap able wife S cience claimed so much of her husband s
.
time that the training o f their four children and the whole
management of the household were left almost entirely to
Mm e B é cham p
. .
S oon after the marriage A ntoine returned to S trasbourg ,
to set up as a chemist ; but this work did not nearly satisfy

his vigorous energy and he now p rep ared himself to oc c u
a ro fessor s Chair H soon realised his aim I n a
’
py P e . .
short time he acqui red the diplomas o f Bachelor of

S cience and L etters and o f Doctor o f Medicine and was
nominated Professor at the S chool of Pharmacy in the
Faculty o f S cience where fo r a time he took the place o f
,
his colleague P asteur ,

.
These notable rivals both work ed in the full flush o f early

enthusiasm in the cap ital o f Al sace But a di fference al .
ready mark ed their methods P asteur seems never to have .
left an effort of hi s unrecorded ; every idea as to the tartaric

and racemic acids about which he was then busied , ,
appears to have been confided to others ; letters detailed

his endeavours ; his inv aluable p atron the scientist Biot , , ,
was esp ecially tak en into his confidence while his a p ,
r o a c hin honour and glory were never allowed to absent

p g
themselves from his friends minds H e wrote to Chapp uis ’
“
.
that on account o f his hard work he was often scolded

, ,
by Mm e P asteur but I console her by telling her that I

.
,
”1
shall lead her to fame .
From the start A ntoine B éch a m p was utterly i ndifferent

,
to e r son a l ambition Never o f a p ushing tem p erament

p .
,
he mad a m e ffort to seek out influential acquaintances

and advertise hi s successes to them S elf oblivious he was .
-
,
entirely concentrated u pon n ature and its mysteries never ,
1
The Life f
o P asteur, by R e n e Valle ry -Ra do t , p 58 ( Po p . .
B
18 B E C HA MP OR PASTEUR?
resting till something o f these should be revealed S elf .
g l o r i fic a ti o n never occurred to him and while the doings
o f P asteur were being made ublic ro erty Bé h m

p p p c a
p ,
shut i n his quiet laboratory was immersed in discoveries , ,
which were s imply p ublished later in scientifi c records

without being heralded by self advertisement -
.
Th e work that he accomplished at S trasbourg was p r o

li fic in benefits fo r France in p articular and fo r the world
at large I t was there that his studies led him to the dis
.
c ov e r
y o f a new and cheap method o f p roducing aniline ,
which up to 1 854 had been so costly as to be useless fo r

commercial p urp oses Th e G erman chemist A ug u
. st ,
Wilhelm von H ofmann who fo r many years carried on ,
work in E ngland after investigating the results o f earlier

,
discoveries p roduced aniline by subjecting a mixture o f

,
nitro benzene and alcohol to the reducing action o f

-
hydrochloric acid and zinc B é ch a m p in 1852 showed .

, ,
that the use o f alcohol was unnecessary and that zinc

could be replaced by iron filings also that either acetic or ,
hydrochloric acid may be used By thus simplifying and

1
.
cheap ening the p rocess he conferred an enormous benefi t ,
on chemical industry fo r the cost o f aniline fell at once to

,
2 0 francs and later to 1 5 francs a kilogramme ; wh il e ,
moreover his invention has continued in use to the

,
p resent day : it is still the foundation o f the modern method

o f manu facture I n the great aniline dye industry which ,
has been all too much app rop riated by Germany Th e .
Maison Renard o f Lyons hearing of B é cham p s discove r y

, ,
’
,
applied to him and with his help succeeded in a cheap

p roduction o f fuchsin otherwise magenta and
,
its ,
varieties The only return made to B é ch am p however

.
, ,
was the award ten years or so later of a gold medal from

, ,
the I ndustrial S ociety o f Mulhouse Neither does any .
recognition seem to have been made to him fo r his dis

c o v e r y o f a com ound o f arsenic acid and ani line which
p , ,
under the name o f atoxyl is used in the treatment of skin ,
diseases and of sleeping sickness .
1
C fi m d m R i ht 8 O g anic Chemi try a d m Th rp 8 Di tionary of
on r e c er
’
r s n o e
’
c
Appli d Ch mistry
e e
These conclusions may not all yet h e adop ted , but as so /
many of B echamp s other teachin gs have come , by t he

’
indep endent work o f some and the plagiarisms of others ,

to be generally accep ted it would seem to say the least
, ,
o f it ossible that his ama z ing revelation f nature s ’

,p o
biological p rocesses may become public p rop erty and we

wish to ensure the recog nition o f its legitimate p arentage .
He showed that the cell must no longer be regarded in

accordance with Virchow s view as the unit o f life since it
’
,
is built up by the cell granules within it H e it was it

-
.
,
seems who first drew attention to the union o f these same

,
cell granu les which he called

-
, an d to the
rod lik e group ings that result which now go by the name
-
,
o f chromosomes He laid g reat stress u pon the im

.
measurable minuteness of his m l cro z ym a s and from his

teachin g we can well infer hi s agreement in the belief that
myriads must be ultra microscop ic although he had far
-
too exact a mind to descant in modern airy fashion u p on

,
matters that are p urely conj ectural Where he ex hibited .
his p ractical genius was that instead o f drawing fancy ,
p ictures o f p rime v al develo p ments o f ch romatin he traced .

,
by rigid exp eriment the actual bu ilding up of cells from

“
the molecular granulations that i s microsomes or
.
, , ,
m i cro z ymas It was never hi s method to draw conclusi ons

.
ex cep t from a sure ex p eriment al basis .
It was while Bé ch am p was undertaking his researches

up on fermentation at the very time that he was engaged
,
u p on what will p rove to be p art of what he named his

“ Bea con E xp erimen t that he was called from S trasbourg
”
,
to Montp ellier to occupy the Chair of Medical Chemistry

and Pharmacy at that famous University .
Th e p eriod that followed seems lik ely to have been the

happiest of his life Filling an imp ortant p osition he
.
,
carried out his duties with the utmost distinction his ,
demonstrations before students gaining great renown He .
had already made and was further developing e x t r ao rd in

a ry discoveries which were arresting attention both In and
,
beyond France These gained him the devoted frie n dshi1p

.
ANTO INE B E CHAMP 21
Of hi s admi rer and future collaborator Professor E stor a , ,
p hysiologist and histologist ,who combined the duties O f

p hysic i an and surgeon at the M ont p ellier Hos p ital .
Bé cham p also ha d the advantage o f medical traini ng and

, , ,
though he never p ractised as a doctor his p athological ,
studies were continuous and he was daily in touch with the

work o f p hysicians and surgeons such as Courty besides , ,
E stor and himself took full advantage o f the exp erience to

,
be obtained in hosp ital wards His and E sto r s more .

’
theoretical studies were checked and enlarged by their

intimacy with t he vast exp eriments that Nature carries out
in disease Both were men accustomed to the strictness o f
.
the exp erimental methods o f L avoisier and their clinical

and laboratory work moved side by side the one con fir m ,
in g and establishing the other .
Without ever neglecting his p rofessorial duties ,
suffici e n tly/ ar d uo us to absorb the whole time o f an ordin
ary mortal B éch am p yet laboured incessantly both by

, ,
himself and with Professor E stor at the p roblems that his ,
researches were develop ing A little band o f p up ils.
gathered about them help ing them while fa r into the , ,
night constantly work ed the two en thusiasts often as , ,
Bé ch am p tells us quite awest ruck by the wonderful con

1
,
fir m atio n of their ideas and verification of t heir theories .
S uch toil could only be continued by one p ossessed o f

Professor B echamp s exuberant health and vitality and it
’
,
p ossibly t old u p on P ro fess or E stor whose early death was ,
attributed p artly to his disap p ointment that the p opular

germ theory of disease in all its crudity should have
-
,
‘
seiz ed p ublic at tention instead o f the great micro zymian

d octrine o f the building up o f all organised matter from
“
the mi cr o z ym a s or molecular granulations o f cells ”
, .
H i s incessant work which k ep t him much ap art from

,
his family was the o nl y hindrance to B echamp s enjoy

,
’
'
ment of a happy domestic life An excellent husband and .
father he was always thoughtful fo r others and in all his

, ,
dealings wa s as kind as he was firm ; His lectures Were

1
L Thé i d M i zym p A B é h mp p 2 3
a or e a cro a, ar . c a ,
. 1 .
made delightfu l by his easy eloquence and p erfect enuncia
tion no less than by the clearness o f his reasoning ; while
,
his social manner p ossessed the grace and courtliness that

are typ ical o f the p olished inhabitants o f la belle F rance .
Well above medium height his clear eye and ruddy com ,
p lexion gave unstinted p roo f o f the p erfect sanity o f mind

and body that he was blessed with throughout the whole
course o f his long life H is p owerful forehead testified to .
the strength o f his intellect while his nose was o f the large ,
aquiline typ e that so usually accomp anies creative force

and energy H is hair was brown and his forceful eyebrows
.
were strongly mark ed above the large eyes of an idealist a ,
dreamer o f dreams which in his case were so often ,
realised .
T o the p hysiognomist a comp arison o f the looks o f the ,
rivals B é ch am p and P asteur gives a key to their resp ective

, ,
scientific attitudes A lert determination is the chief

.
characteristic o f Pasteur s fe at ur fi ip jpl le c tu al idealism

“ “
of
’
e m
s yn
B echamp s P asteur a roached science from the co in

’
.
“
m e r“ci al“ that I sT

W W W
Osay the u fffitaii an st an d pom t no ess
, m w f m e
,m w l m
flfl art W
‘
‘
m w
,
elf yatag p j
‘ '
s ad n g u s b e c a g se
é ‘ g u n
Bécham p had ever the artist s outlook His thirst was for ’
.
knowledge indep endent o f p rofit; his longing to p enetrate

,
the unexplored realm of Nature s secrets ; the outer world ’
was forgotten while p ace by p ace he followed in the

, , ,
footstep s o f truth It never occurred to him to indite

.
compliments to influential acquaintances and announce

at the same tl m e the dawning o f a new idea The lessons .
he learned in his quests b e duly noted and commu ni cated

to the French A cademy of Science and at first ignored the
fact that his observations were p irated When finally his .
silence changed to p rotest we shall see as we p roceed , , ,
that his p atience had been stretched to snapping p oint .
H imself so ex act in his recognition o f every crumb o f

knowledge owed to another he could only feel contemp t , ,
fo r p il ferers o f other men s ideas w hile his ex uberant

’
vigour and energy fired him with uncomp romising Opp osi
tion to those who not c ontent with reaping wh e re he had
,
ANTO INE B E CHAMP 23
sown tramp led with their distortions up on a harvest that

,
might h ave been so abundant in results .
I t was d ur i n g t he years s p ent at Montp ellier that his o p en

rup ture came with Pasteur on account as we shall see , ,
—
far ther e n ; o f the latter s ap p ro p riation o f B echamp s
’ ’
«
explanation o f the causes o f the two diseases that were then

devastating silk worms and ruining the French silk
-
industry Though there was no escap ing the fact that

.
P asteur s Opinions on the subject had been erroneous until

’
B é ch a m p had p rovided the p ro p er solution no voices were ,
raised in condemnation o f the former s methods H e had ’

.
already gained the ear of the p ublic and acquired I mp erial

p atronage I n all ages the man o f influence is a hard one
.
,
to cross swords with as B é ch am p was to find , .
But at Montp ellier he had not y e t d rained the cup of

life s bitterness Hop e still swelled high fo r the future
’
.
,
es p ecially when as time p assed a new assistant rose up

, , ,
and B echamp s elder son Joseph became a Sharer in his

’
, ,
work This young man whose lovable character made him

.
,
a general favourite took at an early age his degree in ,
science including chemistry besides qualifying as a

, ,
doctor of medicine I t seemed certain that he would some

.
day succeed his father at the University .
But for France a sad d ay was dawning and fo r Bé cham p

a disastrous change in his career 1870 came with the .
descent o f the Prussians and the humiliation of the fair

land of France Those districts o f A lsace and L orraine the
.
,
home o f B echamp s young boyhood and early manhood ’
were torn away their p op ulace left lamenting

,
“ Though -
,
”
our s p eech may be German our hearts are French ! ,
France stricken was far from crushed A longing stirred

, , .
‘
to show that though des poiled o f territory she could yet

, ,
dominate in the world of thought S o it came about that .

,
as an intellectual stimulus Universities were founded in ,
di fferent places under ecclesiastical p atronage It was .
hop ed that the Church o f Rome might hold sway over

mental activities L ille was one o f such centres and about
.
,
the year 1 874 Bé cham p was imp ortuned to tak e the post
,
‘
24 B E C HAMP OR PASTE U R ?
there of Dean o f the Free Faculty of Medicine S ome .
wise friends advi sed him not to leave Montp ellier ; but o n ,
the other side he was bombarded with entreaties to tak e

,
u p work at L ille Finally and entirely from p atriotic

.
,
f m o ti v e s he allowed himsel f to be p ers

,
uaded to le ave his
d ear University o f Montp ellier teeming with happy ,
m emories o f successful work His altruistic wish to benefit .
at one and the same time France and science brought

about his acquiescen ce in the change He moved to the .
North with his son Joseph the latte r h av in g been ap ,

/
ointed P ro fessor o f T ox icology at L ille

p s
All might have gone well had it n o t been fo r the clerical

Directors o f the house o f learnin g whose want o f faith was ,
well advertis e d by their intell ectual timidity L ik e all who .
f m
fence in belie with dog a and religious p riesthoods ar e
—
‘
by no means the only builders of such enclosur es — the
anx ious ecclesiast ics were determined to set boundaries to
science and k eep thought within barriers The in evitable .
result was c o n tin ual f ri c tio nbetween the clerical Directors

and the lay Professor s of the University .
Unfortunately Bé ch am p entered this unp ropitious

,
atmosp here just at t he moment when he was p utting the

fini shing touches to his e xp osition o f the m icr o z ym as that ,
is
,
the infin itesimal cellular granules now known as ,
n fi c r o so m es
,
which he con sidered to be the formative ,
ag ents of the cells which comp ose all animal and vegetable
fo r m S e This stup endous concep tion o f the p rocesses o f
Creation a t once raised a note o f p rotest from the narrow
I
m n d e d clerics Here
. was a m an who dared to
p ro fess to
describe Nature s methods inste ad o f complacently
’
resigni ng them to mystery .
Pasteur seems never to have fallen foul O f the e ccle si

asti cs ; p art ly p erhap s because he d id n o t e o m e int o the
~
- ~ ~
sa m e c lo se co n t ac t g but m ore p robably because with his

'
vl
z
,
worldly wisdom he was content to p rofess leadership in

,
science and discipleship in religion ; besides had he n o t ,

‘ '
’
also gained the p atronage of the great? B echamp s de ep
insight had taught him the connection betwee n scienc e
A N TO I N E E OH A M P
‘
E 25
and religion the one a search after truth and the other
, , , ,
the effort to live dp to individual belief His faith had .
widened to a breadth incomp rehensible to dogmatic big ots ,
so that even the app ointment o f a Commission was sug

gested to recommend the p lacing on the Roman Index o f
his book Les Microzy mas which culminates in the acclama
,
tio n o f GOD as the Su p reme S ource B echamp s teachings .

’
‘
are in direct opp osition to materialistic view s B ut t ho se
”
p riests ha d not the insight to see that the Gr e at e r is best
demonstrated by the marv els of Creation or app reciate ,
the truth taught by A nanias A z arias and Misael in calling

,
up on the L ord to be p raised through His Work s !

I mp atient o f p etty bick erings lik e most men o f large
‘
intellect Bé cham p found himself more and more at a dis

,
advantage i n surr oundings where he was misinterp reted

and mi sunderstood Neither w e r e t he se his only worries
. .
He was su ffering from the jealousy he had inspired in

P asteur and was smarting from the latter s p ublic attack
’
,
up on him at t he International Medical Congress in

L ondon which they had both attended in the y ear 188 1
, '
.
Such behaviour on the p art of a comp atriot before a

foreign audience had sc ar e d the sensitive s pirit of Béch am p
and decided him to reply to Pasteur s p lagiarisms A s he ’
“
.
writes in the Preface to Les Microzy mas 1

The hour t o
”
s p eak has come !
A nother hour was soon to strik e fo r hi m After enduring .
for about e leven years the p rejudices and p ersecu ti ons o f

the Bishops and Rectors of L ille he felt unabl e to continue ,
to sub mi t to the restraints placed u p on his work N0 c ause .
o f co
mp laint coul d be u p held ag ainst him ; the cha rg e o f
materialism in his views could not be supp orted ; but rather
than have hi s life work continually hamp ered t he Pr o
-
,
fe sso r regretfully decided to send i n his resignation and ,
hi s son Josep h fo r his father s sake fe lt imp elled to do the

’
, ,
.
same Thus father and son the shining lights o f L ille s

.
,
’
educational circle found their official careers cut short

,
and exp erienced that bitterness of sp irit understood only

by thos e whose chief lod e sta r has b een th ei r Work;
“ -
1
p 8
. .
Th e younger B écha m p during his stay at L ille had
married a Mlle Josephine L ang from H avre and owing
.
, ,
to this new connection the B é ch am p family moved to the ,
seaboard town and set u p in business as chemists A .
scientifi c laboratory enabled the two strenuous workers to

undertak e medical analyses and continue their research .
But again the hand o f Fate dealt heavily with A ntoine

, ,
B é ch a m p H i s son Josep h well k nown as a clever chemist

.
, ,
was constantly emp loyed in making chemical assays ,
which work occasionally took him out to sea O n one of .
these exp editions he caught a severe chill : double

p neumonia set in and in a fe w days ended ,
his com
a r a t iv e l short and most romising li fe f forty four
p y p o -
years .
I t was A ntoine B echamp s sad lot to outlive his wife and

’
his four children Q uite against his wish his younger

.
,
daughter had been p ersuaded into taking th e v e il and ,
conventual severities brought about her death at an early

age H is elder daughter had married at M ontp ellier I n
.
1 8 72 M E douard Gasser who owned vineyards at

,
.
,
Remigny and left fiv e children one daughter and four

, ,
sons one Of whom was at an early age carried o ff by

,
typhus while the other three lived to do service fo r

,
France 1n the Great wa r .
Josep h Bé cham p left six children four daughters and ,
two sons one o f whom died young The other had no

,
.
‘
taste fo r science and disp osed o f his father s pharmacy and ’
laboratory H e died a bachelor in 19 15

. .
A ntoine B echamp s younger son Donat who died in

’
, ,
1 9 0 2 married a M lle M arguerite De la r ue and left three

,
.
,
sons the two younger o f whom were destined to lay down

,
their lives in the Great War Th e eldest then a doctor in .

,
the Russian A rmy narrowly escap ed death by drownin g

“
through the sinking o f the hospital ship P ortugal by a
,
”
G erman submarine S ole living male re p resentative o f his .
grandfather he is said to inherit the same genius Without

,
.
the least e ffort he has taken diplomas in medicine

, ,
chemistry and micros cop y an d wi th the sam e facility has ,

28
u p on the val ue o f the results o f Work and not up on

p ecuniary p ro fi t which as o ften as not
,
falls to the share o f
p lagiarists at the exp ense,
o f men o f real worth .
An d so in 19 08 came the Ap ril day when worn out by

, , ,
labour A ntoine B é cham p could no more rise from the

,
bed in his room where on the walls four cr ucifix e s testi , ,
fi e d to self sacr ifi ce as the ladder by which manki nd scales

-
u pwards His belief was p roved to quote his o wn words 1

'
“
.
, ,
in H im whom the founders o f science the gre atest

, ,
geniuses that are honoured by humanity from Moses to our

own day have amed by the name GOD!
n ,
— ”
was one o f his last whisp ered utterances as ,
away and o f faith he was well qualified to s peak he who

, ,
had delved so deeply into nature s marvels and the mys ’
t e r i e s o f the invisible world ! Calm and confi dent to the

end his trust was 1m m ov able Well does the Moniteur
, .
Scientifique p rophesy that time will do justice to his dis

"
c o v e r i e s and that the living act or s once p assed from the

'
stage and imp artial judgment brought into play ,

’
B echamp s genius will b e revealed to the world .
He taught that which was marvellous and comp lex lik e ,
a ll nature s wo rkings and p ublic ignorance eagerly

’
snatched instead at wha t Wa s simple and crude But error .

,
having the canker bf destruction within itself falls to ,

‘
p ieces b y degrees A lread y the need arises

. for a saner
solution of disease than the mere onslaughts of venomous
mi crobes and a fuller exp lanation o f the p rocesses o f
-
biological up building and dis rup tion o f life and death ,

.
A n d to who mcould the World go better than as We shall ,
see to the I nspirer o f what Wa s correct in P asteur s teach

,
’
ing the true revealer o f the mystery o f fermentation the

, ,
exp onent o f the r Ole o f invisible organisms the chemist ,
naturalist biologist and physician Professor Pierre

,
‘
, ,
Jacques A ntoine Bé cham p?

1
Les M icrozymas par A , . B échamp, p 9 2 6
. .
PAR T O NE
TH E MYS T ERY O F F ERME NTA T I ON
C HA P T ER I I
A BA B E L OF T H E OR IE S
BE E ORE startin g up on an y examination of B echamp s and ’
Pasteur s contributions to
’
the scientific p roblems o f their
age it may be well to revert to the utter c on fusmn o f ideas
,
then reigning in the scientific world in regard to the

mysteries o f life and death and the phenomenon of fe r m e n
t ati on. Th e ensuing chap ter can only ho p e to mak e clear
the utter absence o f clarity in regard to these leading
questions ; and though the work o f earli er scientists in
variably led up to subsequen t discovery yet in the days
when A ntoine Bé cham p and L ouis P asteur comm
,
enced
their life work the understanding of the subject was as
-
, ,
we shall see in a state o f confusion worse confounded

,
.
Three p aramount problems then faced the scienti fi c

I nqui rer .
What is living matter , thi s p rotop lasm so called

“
1
“
-
.
,
” ”
from Greek words meaning first and formed ? I s it a
mere chem ical comp ound?
2
. How does it come into being? Can it arise s pon
t an e o usly ; or is it always derived from p r e ex isting life? -
3 What causes matter to undergo the change known as

.
fermentatio n ?
”
A mong Professor B echamp s p rolific writings quite a

’
hi story may be found o f the confused babel o f theories on

these subjects .
To start with the first query : there was merely the

vague ex planation that p rotoplasm is the living matte r
from whi ch all kinds o f and to
These
30 B E OH A M P OR PASTEUR?
was belief in a substance called albumen best rep resented ,
by white o f egg which was said to mix with certain

,
mineral and other matters without changing its nature

“
.
”
J. B . Dumas demonstrated that such albuminoids com
p rise not one s p eci fi c thing but many di fferent bodies
, ; but
the contrary opinion p revailed and fo r such substances
“roto lasm ” was ado ted as a convenient term It was ,
p p p .
”
the physical basis of life according to H ux ley ; but this
,
hardly illumined the di ffi culty fo r thus to p ronounce ,
p roto p lasm to be matter living per se was not to e x p lain ,
the mystery o f how it was so or its origin and comp osition ,

.
True H ux ley further declared all living matter more or

,
less to resemble albumen or white o f egg ; but this latter,
was also not understood either by biologists or chemists .
Charles Robin regarded it as being o f the typ e o f the

mucoids that is to say as resembling mucus which latter
, , ,
was so shrouded in mystery that Oken called it Urschleim

(p rimordial slime ) and the ,
botanist Hugo M ohl , ,
identified it with p rotoplasm thus dignifying mucus as the ,
p hysical basis o f all things living !

Claude Bernard tried to determine the relation o f
p roto p lasm to organisation and li fe and combated the
general idea that every living body must be morp ho
logically constituted that is to say have some structural
, ,
formation He argued that p rotop lasm gave the lie to this

.
belief by its own structural in d e fin ite n e ss Charles Robin

“
.
”
followed the same view and gave the name o f B lasteme ,
from a Greek word meaning to sp rout to the su pp osed

, ,
p rimordial source o f living forms .
This was nothing but the old idea o f living matter ,

‘
whether called p rotoplasm or blasteme A cell a fibre a .
, ,
tissue any anatomical element was regarded as living

,
simply because of its formation by this p rimordial sub

stance O rganisation was said to be its most excellent
.
“
”
modification In short formless matter was su pp osed to
.
,
be the source of all organised living fo rms In a kind o f .
desp air o f any exp erimental demonstration of organisation

and life a name was invented fo r a hyp othetical substance
,
A BABEL OF THEORIES 31
magically alive although structurally deficient I magina

,
.
tion p layed more p art in such a theory than deduction

from tangible evidence Thus we find that the p hysician
. ,
Bichat who made a name fo r himself in science before he

,
died in 1802 at the early age of 3 1 could not accep t such

, ,
an explanation and declared the living p arts o f a living

being to be the organs formed o f the tissues .
A great step was gained when Virchow thought he saw

the cell in the p rocess o f being built up that is structured , , ,
and thus jump ed to the conclusion that it is self existent -
and the unit o f life from which p roceed all organised

,
forms o f develop ed beings .
But here a difficulty arose fo r the cell p roved as transi

,
tory as any other anato mi cal element Thus many .
scientists returned to the belief in p rimordial structureless

matter and opinion oscillated between the views held by
,
c e llular i st s and p r o t Op la sm i st s as the o pp osing factions

,
were designated Utter confusion reigned among the

confl
.
i cting theories which struggled to exp lain how a

p urely chemical com p o und or mi x ture o f
,
such com
p ounds could
,
be regarded as living and all sorts o f p owers ,
o f modification and trans formation were ascribed to it ,
with which we need not concern ourselves .
I nstead let us consider the second p roblem that faced

,
Bé ch am p and P asteur when they started w ork namely

m
, ,
Wh ether this mysteriou slfi ifig

m
o
many n am m re
g
exim is always resp onsible I t is hard to realise .
,
M a w that raged in the p ast

aroun d thi s p erp lexing mystery Th e Opp osing c a mp s o f .
thought were mainly divided into the followers o f two

eighteenth century p riests Needham who claimed that
-
, ,
heat was su fficient to p roduce animalculae from p ut r e s

cible matter and Sp allanzani who denied their ap p ear
, ,
ance in hermetically sealed vessels The fi rst were named .
Sp o n t e p a r i st s from their belief that organised life is in a

constant state of emergence from chemical sources while ,
the second were named P ansp ermists from their theory of

32 B E OH A MP O R . PASTEUR?
a general di ffusion o f germs of life originally brought into ,
being at some p rimeval ep och .
For the latter vi ew the teaching o f Bonnet following , ,
up on that o f Bu ffon was chiefly res ponsible ; while Buffon s

,
’
ideas are reminiscent of the ancient system ascribed to

Anax agoras A ccording to this last the universe was b e
.
,
li e v e d to be formed of various elements as numerous as its ,
different substances Gold was supp osed to be formed o f.
p articles o f gold a muscle ,

a bone a heart to be formed o
,
f , ,
p articles o f muscle o f bone o f heart,

Bu ffon taught that a ,
.
grain o f sea salt is a cube comp osed o f an infinite number

-
o f other cubes and that there can be no doubt that the

,
p rimary constituent p arts o f this salt are also cubes which ,
are beyond the p owers of our eyes and even of our “
imagination .
This was an exp erimental fact says Bé ch a m p and was 1

, ,
the basis o f the system o f crystallography o f H auy

“
.
Bu ffon argued in the same strain that in lik e manner

that we see a cube o fse a salt to be comp osed o f other cubes -
,
so we see that an elm is but a comp osite of other little

”
elms .
Bonnet s ideas were somewhat similar ; the central

’ 2
theme o f his teaching being the universal diffusion o f

“
living germs cap able of develop ment only when they
meet with suitable matrices or bodies o f the same s p ecies
fitted to hold them to cherish them and mak e them s p rout
,
— i t is the dissemination or ans ermy that in sowing

p p ,
germs on all sides makes o f the air the water the earth
, , , ,
and all solid bodies vast and numerous magaz ines w here,
”
Nature has dep osited her chief riches H e maintained
“
.
that the p r o d ig o us smallness o f the germs p revents them

from being attac k ed by the causes that bring about the
dissolution o f the mix tures They enter into the interior of .
p lants and o f animals they even become com p onent

, p arts
o f them and when these comp osites undergo the law o f
,
1
L es Microzymas p 3 0
, . .
S e e Ire paitie ; Oeuvres d H istoire Naturelle de B onnet; V pp 83 -86 Ne u

2 ’
. . .
ch ate l, 1 779 .
A BABEL OF THEORIES 33
dissolution they issue from them unchanged to float in the

,
”
air or in water or to enter into other organised bodies
, ,
.
S uch was the imaginative teaching with which Bonnet

combat ed the doctrine o f s p ontaneous generation When .
it came to p ractical ex perimental p roof one p arty p r o ,
fessed to demonstrate the origin o f living organisms from

p utrescible matter in sealed vessels ; the other p arty denied
any such p ossibility if air were rigorously excluded ; while a
p astry-
coo k named
,
A pp ert p u t this latter belie
,
f to a very
p ractical use and started to p reserve fruits and other
edibles by this method .
An d here we are led to the third conundrum What —
causes matter to undergo the change known as fermenta

tion?
I t is a p u zz le that must have been brought home to
many a housewife ignorant o f scientifi c p roblems Why .
should the mil k left in the larder at night have turned sour
by the mornin g? S uch changes including the p utrefaction ,
that tak es place after the death o f an organism were so ,
much of a mystery that the causes were considered occult

fo r a long time Newton had discoursed of the e ffect being
.
due to an origin o f the same order as catalysis a p rocess in

—
whi ch a substance called a catalytic agent assists in a

, ,
chemical reaction but is itself unchanged The myriads of .
minute organisms revealed later on by the microscop e in

, ,
fermenting and p utrefying matters were at first believed ,
to be mere results of the general p rocess o f p utrefaction

and fermentation .
A new idea was introduced by C ag n i a r d de L atour who ,
maintained that fermentation is an effect accomp anying

the growth o f the ferment That is to say he looked u p on
.
,
the ferment as something living and organised by which ,
fermentation is rendered a vital act I t was the m i c ro sc 0pi c

.
study o f beer yeast undertaken about the year 183 6

-
, ,
which brought him to the op inion that the oval cells he

observed were really alive during the p roduction of beer ,
d ecomp osing sugar in to carbonic acid and alcohol .
Turp in the botani st interp reted this as meaning that the

, ,
globule of yeast decomp oses sugar in the act of nourishing
itself J B Dumas maintained the necessity fo r nitro
. . .
n ise d albuminoid matter as well as sugar for food fo r

g e , ,
yeast cells S chwann the German went furthest of all by

.
, ,
declaring that all fermentation is induced by living

organisms and undertook exp eriments to p rove these to be
air borne But in s p ite o f other exp eriments confi rming
-
.
,
S chwann s work fo r a time this teac hi ng was set aside fo r

’
the view that vegetable and animal matters are able to

alter o f themselves For instance the theory was held that .
,
by dissolving cane sugar in water it changes of its elf l nto

grap e sugar or glucose or using technical terms cane
, , , ,
sugar undergoes inversion sp ontaneously 1

.
S uch roughly sp eak ing were scientific ideas at the

, ,
middle o f the nineteenth century when Antoine B é ch am p ,
and L ouis P asteur app eared on the scene with details o f

their resp ective exp eriments A s Pasteur is renowned as .
the fi rst to have made clear the phenomenon of fermenta

tion besides being app raised as the one who overthrew
,
the theory of sp ontaneous generation let us instead o f , ,
taking this on trust turn to the Old French scientifi c ,
documents and see fo r ourselves what he had to say in the

year 1857 .
1
T h u u l p du t f t h i hy d ly i
e s a r i r i
ro f sug
c r i i to s ro s s, o n v e s on o c an e - a ,
s nv er
s ug b ut
ar , thi w f m ly d
,
ib d g p ug t h t p i i
as s as or er e scr e as ra e -s ar , a ex r e ss o n s
u u lly
s a t i d h re a n e e re .
of the new Faculty o f S cience at L ille In 1856 a request .
,
fo r advice from a local manu facturer o f beetroot alcohol

made him W W W
tion which was then exercising t he minds of the learned
, .
His observations were int errup ted by a journey to P aris

to canvass fo r votes fo r his election to the A cademy o f
S cience O btaini ng only six teen and completely failing in
.
his attemp t to enter the select circle o f A cademicians ,
P asteur returned to L ille to his study o f fermentations .
In s p ite o f the work done by C ag n i ar d de L atour ,
S chwa nn and others the idea was p revalent that animal ,
and vegetabl e matters are able to alter sp ontaneously ,
while the authority o f the famous German chemist ,
L iebig carried weight when he asserted that yeast induces

,
fermentation by Virtue o f p rogressive alteration in water

in contact with air A nother German named L ii d e r s
1
.
,
dorff so we learn from B écha m p had undertaken e x p e r i

,
2
,
ments to p rove that yeast ferments sugar because i t is

living and organised An account had been published in .
the Fourth Volume of the Traité de Chimie Org anique which ,
ap p eared in 1856 .
Now let us ex amine Pasteur s contribution towards this ’
subject the following year since at that date p op ular ,
teaching assigns to him a thorough explanation of

fermentation .
During 1857 Pasteur left L ille to work at the E cole

Normale in P aris ; but we are not here concerned with his
movements but simply with what he had to reveal on the
,
mysterious subject o f fermentation .
His son ln law tells a s that it was in A ugust 1857 that

- 3 -
, , ,
after exp erimenting in p articular with sour milk P asteur

“
first made a Communi cation on L actic Fermentation to
’ ”
,
the S cientific S ociety o f L ille Be this as it may we fin d his .

,
extract from a M emoir on the subject in the Comptes Rendus

o f the French A cademy o f S cience Nov 3 0 T h e ,
.
,
T i té de Chimie O g
1 ra iqu t duitp Ch G ha dt I t ductio p 2 7 1840
r an e , ra ar . er r , n ro n, . . .
1
L G es d P bl ém M édi ux p A B é hamp p 6 2
ran s ro es ca , ar . c ,
. .
The L ife of P asteur, p 83 . .
M émoire sur la fermentation appelee lactz que

'
Comptes Rendus 45, p 9 13
0
1 .
. .
PASTEUR S MEMO IRS ’
OF 1 857 37
entire Memoir was p rinted in Ap ril 1858 in the Ann ales de , ,
Chimie et de Physique and from this latter we gain full

1
details .
Th e exp eriment consisted the sub

stance develop ed in o r d in a r yf fe r m e n t a tion nourished by /
/
l
,
!
r
sugar chalk casein or

, , ( an organic
matter occurring in cereals ) and p lacing it in yeast broth
( a com p le x solution o f albu m inoid and mineral matters ) ,
in whi ch he had dissolv ed some sugar and added some chalk .
There was nothing new in the p rocedure so B é cha m p ,
p oints o u t z
; it was only the same ex p eriment that L iebig
had undertak en some six teen or seventeen years p reviously .
Unlik e L iebig he did not ignore microscopic ex amination

,
and so made observations that had been missed by the

German chemist Thus P asteur is able to tell us that a .
lactic ferment is obtained which under the microscop e , , ,
has the app earance of little globule s which he named

“ lactic yeast no doubt fro m ihg h r e se m blan ce to y east
-
” '
,
, ,
although in this case the little globules are much smaller .
I n short he saw the minute organism known today to be

,
the cause of lactic acid fermentation -

.
Now let us go on to his remark able exp lanation of the

p henomenon H tells us that it is not necessary to intro
“
e .
duce the lactic ferment in order to p rep are it as it takes ,
birth spon taneously as easily as beer yeast every time that the -
”3
conditions are favourable This assertion surely demon .
strates P asteur s belief in the s p ontaneous generation both

’
of beer east and f that which he called “lactic yeast

y o
-
“
-
.
I t remains to be seen what the favourable conditions

are according to hi s teaching He tells us before long
“ , . .
These globules of lactic yeast tak e birth s p ontaneously in -
the body of the albuminoid liquid furnished by the soluble

”4
p art o f the ( beer ) yeast T here is certainly nothing
. in
1
A d Ch t d P h 3
. e . é i 52 p 4 4
e e .
, c s r e, , . 0 .
L Gr d P blém M di u p 56 t ui
2 '
3 “ll p d i
es an s ro
t ém t
t es e ca x ,
t d f i li té q u l l i d
. e s van .
e e ren
p ut
na ssance s on an en e avec a an e ac e a evz re
b
‘
i ere t ut l f ois q ue l
o es es di tio s tf r bl A d Ch t de P h 3
es con ns ‘ion avo a es .
”
. e . e . c ser e,
52 “
: P 4 3o 1
4
L g l b
esules pr nnent
o is
‘ po t ném nt
e u i d l iq
na ui d
sance slb um i i d n a e a se n a e a no
fou m p l p ti lubl de l l
r ar a ar e so A d Ch t d P h 3 sé i 52 p 4 5
e a evi tre
”
. . e . e e . e r e, , . 1 .
38 B E OH A MP OR P A S TE UR ?
this to overthrow the general belief in sp ontaneous genera
tion But in fairness we must not overlo ok a note that he
.
, ,
added to the full edition of his Memoir as we find it in t he ,
Annales de Chimie et de P hy sique 1

Before this account ap .
p e ar e d in A p ril 1 858 P ro fessor Bé ch a m,p as we shall

, ,
find had p rovided the French A cademy of S cience with

,
an illuminating exp lanation of the origin of ferments In .
face o f B echamp s irrefutable views P asteu r may have

’
thought it only wise to add a p roviso to a M emoir that

from start to finish has no solution whatever to o ffer as to
the app earance of moulds ex cep t a sp ontaneous origin
“
.
Therefore by the sentence it (lactic yeast ) tak es birth

,
-
”
s p ontaneously as easily as beer yeast we se e a star and -
,
looking below find a foot note in which he says he uses

“ “
-
,
” ”
the word sp ontaneously as the exp ression o f a fact ,
but reserves the question of sp ontaneous generation 2

.
Certainly any denial o f it is completely excluded from this

M emoir with its assertion o f the s p ontaneous app earance
o f beer yeast and -
“ lactic yeast ”
Where Pasteur differed -
.
from other Sp on te p ar i st s was in omitting to attemp t any

explanation of such a marvel .
His followers ignoring the confusion o f his views have

, ,
seized up on the concluding statement in this same memoir

as a triump hant vindication of the correctness of his teach
ing since he said — “F e r m e n t at io n shows itself to be cor
,
relative o f life o f the organisation o f globules not o f the

, ,
death and putrefaction of these globules still more that it ,

”3
does not app ear as a p henomenon o f contact But this .
was o nl y what others had said and had gone some w ay to

rove years be fore him S o devoid was he o f p roof that he
p .
had to mak e the following admission in regard to his

“
hyp othesis that the new yeast is organised that it is a
con e us10n s am going beyond facts ,

I reply that this is
1
A de Ch de P h 3 c sér e , 52 , p 4 13
et i
“
. . . . .
2
j e me sers de c e m ot comme express on da f a t, i i en r éserva nt completement Ia
q i
uest on de la g en era t on spontan ee
”
i ’
.
i bid
3
.
p 4 18
. .
PASTEUR S MEMO IR S ’
OF 1 857 39
true in the sense that I frankly associate mysel f with an

,
order of ideas that to sp eak correctly cannot be

1
, ,
”
irrefutably demonstrated .
We hav e therefore in Pasteur s own words his con , ,

’
,
fe ssi on of non comp rehension o f a roblem that

m
—p
-
-M “ M M f - ‘v-v,
'iF D ”P -b
W W
ent sg fa n other n afhg r PLQfSSE Q L§é 9 h ém p had

fi st r
m
a a
. a
already as we shall shortly see solved by an irrefutable

, ,
d e mo str a tl on The reason why P asteu r sh ould g e t the

-ufl
v
‘ “M ’ M
fi
.
credit fo r demonstrating that which he owned he could not

demonstrate is as much of a p uz z le to the lover o f historical
accuracy as was the phenomenon o f fermentation to
P asteur .
H owever let us not deny ourselves a thorough ex amina

,
tion o f his work and now consider his M emoir upon Alcoholic ,
F ermen tation o f which his son i n law M Vallery R a do t

“
- - -
.
, , ,
tells us that P asteur said Th e results o f these labours (on

2
lactic and alcoholic fermentation ) should be pu t on the

same lines fo r they exp lain and comp lete each other
,
.
We find the author s ex tract from this latter M emoir ’
among the Rep orts o f the French A cademy of S cien ce o f

the 2 1st Dec . .
,
P asteur s p rocedure in this exp eriment was as follows

’
H e took two equal quantities o f fresh y east washed in ,
water On e was left to ferment with p ure sugared water

.
,
and after having extracted from the other all its soluble
p art by boiling it with p lenty o f water and fi ltering it to
get rid of the globules he added to the limp id liquor as ,
much sugar as he used in the fi rst fermentation and then

a trace o f fresh yeast .
He exp ressed his conclusions as follows : I am just

establishing that in beer yeast it is not the globules that -
p lay the p rincip al p art but the conversion into globules o f ,
their soluble p art ; because I p rove that one can su pp ress

the globules that are formed and the total e ffect on the
sugar remains sensibly the same Thus certainly it .
, ,
1
A de Ch
. de P h 3 e ser e, 52 , p 4 1 7
. et .
’
i . .
2
The Life of P asteur, p 85 . .
3
Comptes Rendus , 45, p 103 2 . .
40 B E OH A M P OR PASTEUR ?
matters little if one su pp resses them by means o f filtration
with the sep aration o f their soluble p art or if one kills them ,
°
by a temp erature o f 100 and leaves them mixed with this
”1
soluble p art .
In view o f the fact that he was su pp osed to be reasoning

on the hyp othesis that yeast is organised and living there ,
was so much that was extraordinary in this that he

p auses to re p ly to inevitable criticism
“
.
But how it will be ask ed can the fermentation of sugar

, ,
tak e p lace when yeast is used that is heated to if it is

due to t he organisation o f the soluble p art o f the globules
and t h ese have been p aralysed by a temp erature o f
Fermentation then takes place as it does in a natural
sugared liquid juice o f the grap e o f sugar cane etc that
, ,
-
,
.
,
is to say spon taneously , .
H ere is seen the p revalent idea o f s p ontaneous alteration

though P asteur goes on to state that in all cases even “ ,
those most liable in appearance to drive us from belief in the

influence o f organisation in the p henomena o f fermenta
tion the chemical act that characterises them is always
,
”
correlative to a formation o f globules .
H is final conclusions are held u p fo r admiration : Th e

s plitting o f sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid is an act
correlative o f a vital p henomenon o f an organisation o f ,
globules an organisation in which sugar plays a direct

,
art by fur ni shing a ortion f the elements o f the sub

p p o
”
stance o f these globules But fa r from understanding this .
p rocess we fi n d that P asteur owns three years later in
1 86 0 :
“ ,
Now in what does this chemical act o f decomp osi

,
tion o f the alteration o f sugar consist? What is its cause?

,
”
I confess that I am entirely ignorant o f it .
In any case the critical mind inquires at once How,

-
can fermentation be explained as a vital act by the o p era

C mpt R du 45 p 03 4 ] i d t b‘li q u d l l i d bie
1
o es en s, , . 1 . e v ens
’ ’
e a r e ans a ev z re e re ,
cc ne son tp i t l g l b ulo nq j
u i u est l p i i
p
o l ol esm i l m i o en g l bule d r nc a r e a s a se en o es e
l u p ti lubl ; i m l l b l f m é’
e r ar e so
j p u q u
e lcar p ‘ pp
u t u e ro veg u e t
on e s r er es o es or s, e
ZWt tot l u l u ibl m t l mem O u ém t i i i mp t p u

’
a t
s r e s cre es sens e en e e . r , ass r en ,
or e e
q u l upp im d f it p u filt ti
’
on es s r e e aep ti ar d l u p tie lubl u
ne ra on avec s ara on e e r ar so e o
q u
’
l ontu p resu tem pee tua d e 00
ne d g e en les la is
rasa t m é
re lés a c t
1t p ti e r s n e e ar e
soluble
PASTEUR S MEMO IRS ’
OF 1 857 41
tion o f a dead organism or by the conversion into globules

o f its soluble p art whatever that may mean ; or by s p on ,
t an e o u s alteration ? No wonder that B é c h a m p com

1 “
ments : P asteur s exp eriments were so haphazard that ’
he who acknowledged with C a g n i ar d de L atour the fact

,
o f the organisation and life o f yeast boiled this living being ,

”
to study its soluble p art ! I ndeed B echamp s account o f ,
’
L i e bi g s and P asteur s closely allied work is well worth

’ ’
‘
erusal from 6 to 6 f L G d P roblemes Medicaux
’
p p 5 p 5 o es r an s . . .
The chief p oint to be noted is that as P asteur made use

fo r these exp eriments o f substances with life in them such ,
as yeast broth etc they could not in any case furnish

,
.
, , ,
evidence as to the foremost question at stake namely , ,
whether life could ever arise in a p urely chemical medium .
That p roblem was never so much as touched u p on by

P asteur in 1 857 If we had only his explanation o f .
fermentation made during that y ear we should indeed

, ,
believe
in the sp ontaneous generation o f alcoholic lactic and other ,
ferments We should be p uzzled to understand how fe r

.
mentation could be a vital act and yet be e ffected by dead

organisms Of the air borne origin of ferments we should
.
-
not have an inkli ng tha t is so far as P asteur was con , ,
cerned fo r either he was ignorant o f or else he ignored

, , , , ,
the truth already p rop ounded by others p articularly by ,
S chwann the German P asteur p assed over with slight

allusion the contacts w 1thm
, .
' m
e i fi liféd ifi h is
” w
“
”
” w
—M
5 O
0
n .
flm ‘A
experiments b ecause l s a l m w a to d i s rove

D -l m w \ w m w ”M u M ! w
'
l éb g 5
Q
i
v q s
’
vs
,s p “
“ “ ‘
“
theory th at the alteration O

- O
-fl
f yeast broth was due to an

m u m . =A A . h ..
u 0 N V
A -1 4 m ‘s ‘
“ “
oxidation by air and he seems to h ave had no id eaof the

W W W
imp ortant p art that air might pl

different r
Clearly in ,
however sheddin g light up on the controversy The house

, .
wife p uzzled by the souring o f milk could only have

, ,
learned from him that living globules had put in a

s p ontaneous app earance which explanation had held ,
1
Les Grands P roblémes M édicaux , p 6 0
. .
‘
good many years earlier to account fo r the maggots found
in bad meat until it had occurred to the I talian Francesco
, ,
Redi to keep flies from contact

,
.
Here the reader may interp olate that P asteur s vision ’

,
although still obscured was gradually piercing the fogs of

,
the myste r y But as it happ ened those fogs were by this

.
,
”
time disp ersed : a beacon exp eriment was shedding light
on the diffi culty In 1855 and in 1 857 there had been
.
p resented to the French A cademy o f S

”
cience M emoirs
that were to p rove the lode star of future science and it
-
,
seems high time that now more than half a century after
,
wards credit should be given where credit is due in regard

,
to them A n d here let us turn to the outcome of work

.
undertaken in a quiet laboratory by one who p erhap s u n ,

f
fortunately fo r the world was no adep t in the ar t of a d v e r

,
t i se m e n t and was too much immersed in his discoveries

to be at that time concerned abo ut hi s p roprietar y right
to them L e t us again op en the old French documents
.
and see fo r ourselves what P rofessor A ntoine B é cham p

had to say on the subject o f the vexed question of fe r m e n
t a ti o n .
44 B E OH A M P OR PA STE UR B
macy in S trasbourg Th e exp eriment was concluded on

.
the 3 r d February 1 855 ,

.
In this exp eriment p erfectly p ure cane sugar was dis -
solved ln distilled water in a glass bottle with an air tight -
sto pp er but containing a little air This was left on the

,
.
laboratory table at ordinary temp erature and in diffused

light.
A t the same time control exp eriments were p re p ared

,
.
These consisted o f solutions o f similar distilled water and

cane sugar to one o f which was added a little zinc
-
,
chloride and to the others a little calcium chloride ; in

,
each one a small amount o f air was left just as in the bottle ,
containing the first or test solution These bottles were

, ,
.
stop p ered in the same way as the first and all were left ,
alongside each other in the laboratory .
In the course o f some months the cane sugar in the ,

-
distilled water was p artially transformed into grap e sugar -

,
and the p olarimeter showed that alteration had taken

p lac e in the medium since there was a change in the angle
,
o f rotation I n short an alteration had taken p lace but

.
, ,
p ossibly not s p ontaneous ly fo r on the 1 th o f June moulds

5 ,
had p ut in an app earance and from that date alteration

p rogressed much more ra p idly .
T h e following table I on p age 4 5 is a brief summary

o f the res ults o f B echamp s exp eriments
’
.
BE CH A MP ’
S BEACON EXP ERIMENT 45
TABL E I 1
B ech mp c E p im t ’
B a s e a on x er en .
B é ch m p p p
a d l ti fC S g 16 3 6 5 g m i
re ar e 100 c bi c c tim
so u on s o an e u ar ra s n u en e tr e s of
v i lv t d p l i d ch f th l ti v l tim t v yi g i vl
.
ar o us s o e n s an o ar s e ea o e se so u on s s e e ra es a ar n n te r a s
obt i g c t i v i ti i t h gl f t ti
a ni n er a n ar a on s n e an e o ro a on .
g r m . of Can e Ro ta Ro t a Ro ta Ro t a Ro t a Ro t a
S u ar g d lv d i ss o e in t i on t i on tl on t oni i t on t i on
100 c c f ch o ea of May May Ma y J un e A ugu t s F eb
f ll wi g
. . .
th e o o n 16 t h 17 t h 2 ot h 15t h 2 0th 3 rd Re m ark s

1854 1854 1854 1854 1854 1855
1 . Dis tille d Wate r !

Mo u l d s a p
p e ar e d b ut
di d n ot g r e at ly
i c
n r e as e .
2 2 5% l i
s o ut o n of ” Th e S o ut l i on
h l id i c bg
.
C or e of Z n e an to g et
c l udy
o L at e r
h
.
t e r e w a 8
f d ligh t
o un a s
d p it f O y
e os o x
Ch l id f o r e o
Z c in .
3 A l i f
s o ut o n o N m ld
O p ou s a
C l cium Chl i d
.
a or e p e ar e d
c t i i g
.
o n a n n an
am u t o f C l ci
n o a
u m C hl id q ui or e e
vl ta en t th o e,
Ch l d f Zi c
o ri e o n .
4 2 5% lu t i f so on o No m o ul d s ap
C lc ium Chl i d
.
a or e .
p e ar e d .
1
L es M icrozy mas p 48
“
. .
,
2
Th e is o or ig i n al S luti
on de chlorure de calc um e u valente aupo ds da chlorure i ’
qi i
de z nc
”
i
F r o m t hi s i t i s nfe rr e d t hat t h e co n ce n t r a t o n of C aC l2 w a s
. i i
m ole cular ly e q u v ale n t , i e i . .
2 5% x
m ole cular w e g ht of C aC lz i .
m ole cu lar w e g h t of Z n C lz
’
i
25 % X
46 B E CHAMP O R PASTEUR?
P rofessor B é ch am p took p articular note o f the moulds ,
and found it signifi cant that none had app eared in the
solutions to which he had added zinc chloride and calcium
chloride moreover that the change in rotation in these
, ,
had been so slight as to be almost negligible or as he p uts , ,
it : Th e plane of p olarisation underwent no change other

”1
than accidental v ariations .
Bé ch a m p p ublished this exp eriment in the Rep ort o f the

‘
French A cademy o f Science o n the l g th Feh ruar y; 1 85 .
r
H e mentioned the moulds without attemp ting to explain ,
their ap p earance H e reserved their further consideration

.
fo r future exp eriments ; feeling it imp ortant to fin d the

exp lanation as a p robable clue to the cause of what had ,
up to that time been regarded as evidence o f s p ontaneous

,
generation H e was also anx ious to discover what was the

.
chemical m e éhan ism of the alteration o f sugar and why a ,
change had not been e ffected in the solutions to which the

chlorides had been added .
M eanwhile another observer M Maum e n é was also

, ,
.
,
exp erimenting and though B é ch am p disagreed with his

,
con clusions he was much struck by the observations that

,
were p resented to the Academy of S cience on the 7t h

A p ril 1 856 and p ublished in the Annales de Chimie et de
, ,
P hy si que in S ep tember ,
M M aum e n é s exp eriments were also concerned with

.
’
olarimetric measurements T h e following table I I on

p .
p age 47 gives a brie f r e su me o f his p ri n cip al results z
1
L es M icrozy mas par A
B échamp, p 4 8
,
. . .
2
Comptes Rendus 40, p 4 3 6 . .
3
A de Ch et de P h 3 c ser e, 4 8, p 2 3
. . .
’
i . .
BE CHAMP ’
S BEACON EXPERIMENT 47
TABL E
1
II
E x p im t b y M
er en . Maum e n é .
V i ty
ar e of su g ar 16 3 5 Ro ta t i
on theat
cc h
,
g r In 100 o f s o lu t l on e n d o f 9 m on t s Re m ar ks
b
. .
i n 2 00 m m t u e
ld
S l l g h t m ou
d
.
I em
ld li l l g
.
Mo u a tt e ar er .
Sligh d
t m o ul .
here saw his own observations borne out On

B é ch am p .
p ages 5 0 and 5 1 o f L es M icrozy mas he tells us the two

questions that had arisen in his mind through his own and
M Maum e n é s exp eriments
.
’
”
A r e moulds endowed wi th chemical activity?
What is the origin of the moulds that app ear in the
”
sugared water?
With a view to finding an answer to these questions he ,
commenced at S trasbourg on the 2 5th June 1 856 a fresh ,
series o f exp eriments that were completed at Montp ellier

on the 5th December 1 857 Thus it was during the course , .
o f this work that he left S trasbourg to start his ha y

pp
successful career at the famous S outhern Uni versity .
Th e following table I II on p age 4 8 shows his n ew
observations
48 B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR?
1
TA B L E III
c
B e h am p ’
s c
B ea on E x p im
er en t .
g r m o f Can e
g i l l i ti
.
s u ar d i s so lv e d in Ro tat on s o f the P an e o f Po ar s a on .
100 cc
o f w ate r
ih h b v ti
. .
e t er Wi t or O se r a on s
ih
w t o ut t h e a ddi J un e
i
t on of e r ta n c i 2 5th
ch e m a ic l
s ub 1856
s ta n c es .
P ur e wat e r
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Me r curi c chlorid e L qui id te

v y li ttl
er e m am s t r an s
p ar e n t .
P ur e wa t e r , r e o c Id em
d p
.
so t e d , o n e ro
Su lph t a e of z n i c I d em
S lp h t
u a e o f al u
m i i um n
N1tr at e o f P o tas
i
s um
i
N tr at e of z n i c
P h phos ate of
so di m u
C ar b o n at e of
p o t as smm
Oxa at e l of p o tas Re d m ou ld s
i
.
s um
1
L es M icrozy mas , p 52
. .
B E CHAMP ’
S BE A C ON E XPE RI ME NT 49
Th e results clearly demonstrated the varying e ffects o f

di fferent s alts up on the medium which B é ch a m p himsel f ,
has p ointed out in the second chap ter o f his work L es

Microzy mas A s also shown by the earlier exp eriment z inc
.
,
chloride and calcium chloride p revented the alteration o f

cane sugar and a very small quantity of creosote or o f
-
, ,
mercuric chloride had the same p reventive influence

,
.
This was not the case with arsenious acid when p resent in
very small p roportion or with certain other salts which , ,
did not hamp er the app earing o f moulds and the altera
tion of the cane sugar I ndeed some o f the salts seemed to
-
.
,
stimulate the advent o f moulds ; while on the contrary , ,
creosote which has only since the date o f these e x pe r i

,
ments been distinguished from carbolic acid was p a r ticu ,
lar ly effective in the p revention o f moulds and of alteration

of the sugar .
With his characteristic p recision P rofessor B écha m p de ,
t e r m in e d to investigate thoroughly the r ole o f creosote and ,
with this aim in View started on the 2 7th M arch 1857 , ,
another series o f ex p eriments which he also continued up ,
to the 5th December of the same year .
Hi s own account o f his p rocedure is as follows : 1

He
p rep ared several sugared solutions according to the
technique o f the anti he te r og e n ist s that is to say the
-
, ,
water used was boiled and cooled in such a manner that

air could enter only after p assing through tubes containing
sulphuric acid T his water dissolved the sugar very
.
rapidly and several jars were comp letely filled with the
,
carefully filtered solution so as to leave no air in them ,

.
A nother p art o f the solution having creosote added to it , ,
was p oured into jars in contact with a considerable

quantity o f common air without an y other care than that ,
o f cleanliness O n e o f the jars contained also some

.
a rseni ous acid On e jar of the creosoted solution and one

.
without c r e so te were set ap art not to be op ened through

”
out the whole course of the exp eriment .
1
Les Microzy mas, par A . B échamp, p 53 . .
D
T he following table IV gives a summary of the observa
tions :
TAB LE
1
IV
Be ch m p
a
’
s B ea c on E x p im
er en t.
Ro t ati on s of the P l an e of Po l i ti
ar s a on
b v ti
.
O se r a on s
1857
Mar 2 7
. A p il 3 0
r May 30 J un e 30 De c . 5
S o lut i on n o t + 24
°
+ 24
°
W hi tis h fl
oc
c r e oso t e d (N o. 1) cl c p
u a ar et
ed th e bot
tom of t he
flas k s
Id ( No 2)
°
. .
+ 24
°
+ 24
has himself exp lained the results

B é ch a m p .
Flask s I and 2 lost a little liquid during manipulation

and thu s were not completely filled A ir in consequence .
cam e into éo n t ac t with the solutions they held and in ,
these moulds app eared and alteration in the medium

,
ensu ed , the dates differing in the two cases and the

‘
v a ri at i o n p r o v i n g more rap id in the flas k where the moulds

’
were the more abundant .
On the contrary the sugared water quite secured from ,
air during the eight months of observation unde r went no

ch ange although kep t in the warm clim
,
ate of Montpellier
1
Les Microzy mas , p 54. .
52 BE CHA MP OR PASTE UR?
A cademy of
S cience , which p ublished an ex tract o f it
among its Rep orts o f the 4 th January, Th e full
p ublication o f this all im p ortant document was actually ,
-
fo r some unknown reason , deferred fo r eight months ,

when it app eared in S ep tember, 1858, in the Annales de
Chimie et de P hy siq ue .
2
Th e title of the Memoir was : On the influence that

Water , e ither P ure or Charged with Various S alts ,
”
E xercises in the Cold u p on Cane -S ugar
“
.
Bé ch a m p thus comments u p on this :3

By its title the
Memoir was a work o f p ure chemistry , which had at fi rst
no other object than to determine whether or no p ure cold ,
water could invert cane sugar and if further the salts had -
, , ,
an
y influence on the inversion ; but soon the question as I ,
had foreseen became complicated ; it became at once

,
p hysiological and de p endent u p on the p henomena o f

fermentation and the question o f sp ontaneous generation
— thus from the stud f a sim le chemical fact I was led
, y o
p ,
to investigate in my turn the causes o f fermentation the ,

”
nature and origin o f ferments .
Th e main sweep ing result o f all the exp eriments went to

r o ve that “ Cold Water modifies Cane S ugar only in -
p
P rop ortion to the develop ment o f Moulds these E lemen ,
”4
tary Vegetations then acting as Ferments .
Here at one stroke was felled the theory o f alteration

through the action o f water the change k nown as fe r m e n ,
t a ti on being declared to be due to the growth o f living

o r g a m sm s .
Furthermore it was p roved that Moulds do not

,
Develop when there is no Contact with Ai r and that no

”
Change then tak es Place in the Rotary Power ; also that
“Th e S olutions that had Come in Contact with A i r
Varied in Prop ortion to the Develop ment of M oulds ”
.
Th e necessity o f the p resence of these living organ
1 Comptes Rendus 46 , p .
A de Ch de Ph 3 e sén e, 54 , p 2 8
’
2
. . et . . .
3
L es M ierozy mas , par A B échamp, p 55 . . .
Comptes Rendus, 46 , p 44 . .
B E CHAMP ’
S BE A CON E XPE R I M E NT 53
isms for the p r ocesses of fermentation was thus shown

clearly .
Bé ch am p 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 p ure cane sugar which -
, ,
heated with fresh slaked lime does not give o ff ammonia

-
,
.
I t thus a pp ears evident that air borne g erms found the -
sugared solution a favourable medium fo r their develop

ment and it must be admitted that the ferment is here
,
”
p ro duced l
zy the g enerat i on off g
u n i .
Here in direct contradiction to Pasteur s account o f the

,
’
s pontaneous origin of beer yeast and other organisms -

,
B é cham p gave p roof p ositive of S chwann s teaching o f air

’
borne germs and further s p ecified yeast to be of the order

,
o f fungi Remark able though such a clear p ronouncement

.
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 Th e matter that develop s in the

sugared water sometimes p resents 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 p otash give o ff ammonia in abundance
, .
Here he noted the diversity of the organisms o f these

moulds an observation that was to result in a de ep insight
,
into cellular life and his foundation o f a first p rop er under

,
standing o f cytology .
He had a further definite ex planation to mak e on the

action o f moulds n a m l
e yz
,
— “ The T ransformation that
Cane Sugar Undergoes in the Presence of Moulds may be
-
”
Comp ared with that Produced up on S tarch by Diastase .
This p articular conclusion WW W !“had an enor ,
mous bearing on the subject and was such a novel idea at ,
that ep och that Pasteur even later ignored an d d e nie d it, , .
1
Les Mierozymas, par A B échamp, p 57 . . .
54 B E CHAMP OR PAS TE UR?
H e further explained that Cold water does not act
u p on cane sugar excep t when moulds are able to develo p
-
in it ; in other words the transformation I S due to a true ,
fermentation and to the develop ment o f an acid that I S

”
conse cutive to the app earanc e of the ferment .
I t was by the acids engendered by the moulds that he

explained the p rocess o f fermentation .
H e had many more conclusions to pu t forward as to the

efl e c t o f various salts u p on the solutions Had L ord L ister .
only followed B echamp s teaching in regard to creosote ’
instead Of Pasteur s the former might have been spared

’
his subsequent honest recantation of his invention the ,
carbolic s p ray which p roved fatal to many p atients

“ , .
Bé ch am p taught th at Creosote in Preventing the

Develop ment Of Moulds also Check s the Transformation o f
Cane S ugar
-
.
H e also taught that Creosote wi th or without p r o ,
longed contact with air p revents at one and the same tim e ,
the formation o f moulds and the transformation o f cane

sugar But from Observation it app ears that when the
.
,
moulds are once formed creosote does not p revent their ,

”
action .
He drew many more conclusions from the e ffects o f

different salts and thus g en eralise d z — “The influence o f
saline solutions is variable n o t o nl y according to the sort ,
or kind o f s alt but moreover according to the deg ree of

,
saturation and Of neutrality of the se salts The salts that .
revent the trans formation —

o f cane sugar into glucose
p
gra
( p e sugar )-
are generally t h e salts re p uted to be anti
sep tic In all cases a certai n minimum temp erature is
.
,
”
ne cessary fo r t he transformation to tak e p lace .
T hus we sE e t h at a t that early da te 1857 when fe r

,
~
, ,
mentation was Such a comp lete mystery that Pasteur ,
op erating with albuminoid matters including dead yeast , ,
look ed up on this yeast and other organis ms as p roducts o f

sp ontaneous generation Bé cham p sent out an all comp re -
hending searchlight which illu m

,
ined the darkness Of the

subject fo r all time .
B E CHAMP ’
S BE A CON E XPE RI ME NT 55
To recapitulate In a short summary he taught that , ,
cane sugar was a p roxi mate p rinciple unalterable by

-
solution in water He taught that the air had in itself no

.
e ffect u p on it but that owi ng to its imp ortation o f living

,
organisms the app arent e ffect o f air was all imp ortant
,
-
.
He showed that these organisms insoluble themselves , ,
brought about the p rocess Of fermentation by means o f the

acids they generated which acids were regarded as !he ,
soluble ferments He taught that the way to p revent the

.
invasion of organisms in the sugared solution was by fi rst

slightly creosoting the medium ; but if the organi sms had
app eared b efore creosote was added he showed that its ,
subsequent addition would have no p ower to arrest their

develop ment and the consequent inversion o f the sugar .
For further revelations W e cannot do better than quote ,
two or three p aragrap hs from B echamp s own summary o f ’
his discovery in the Preface to his last work Le Sang The

B lood .
1
There he writes It resulted that the soluble ferment

(
was allied to the insoluble by the reac tion of p roduct to

p roducer ; the soluble ferment being unable to exist with
out the organised ferment which is necessarily insoluble
“ , .
Further as the soluble ferment and the albuminoid

,
matter being ni trogenous could only be formed by o b

, ,
taining the ni trogen from the limited volume Of air left in

the flasks i t was at the same time demonstrated that the
,
free nitrogen Of the air could help directly in the synthesis

Of the nitrogenous s u b stance o f p lants ; which up to that
time had been a disp uted question 2
“
.
Thus it became evident that since the material forming

the structure o f moulds and yeasts was elaborated within
the organi sm it must also be true that the soluble ferments
,
an d p roducts o f fermentation are also secreted there as .
was the case with the soluble ferment that inverted the
cane sugar Hence I became assured that that which is
-
.
1
p 16
. .
1
I t i s n ow con s d e r e d t h a t i i
a tm o sphe r c n i t r og e n c an onl
y be ut il i
z e d by a
few spe ci al plan t s ( at ur al N o rd e r— L ug um in o saz ) an d t he n un d e r spe c a l i
ii
con d t on s .
56 B E OH A M P OR PASTE UR?
called fermentation i s in reality the phenomenon of , ,
nutrition assimilation disassimil ation and excretion o f

, ,
”1
the p roducts disassimilated .
T hus we see how clear and comp lete was B echamp s

’
explanation Of fermentation so long ago as the year 1 857 .
H e showed it to be due to the life p rocesses o f living

organi sms so minute as to require a microsco p e to render
them visible and in the case Of his sugared solutions he
p roved them to be air borne Not only was he i n -
.
contestably the fi rst to solve the p roblem but his initial ,
discovery was to lead him a great deal fu rther un for tun ,
ately fa r beyond the understandin g of those who devoid ,
o f his insight o f genius became merely Obsessed by the ,
idea o f atmospheric organisms But before we p roceed .
to delve deep er in B echamp s teaching let us p ause and ’
return to P asteur and see how his work was a ffected by the
great beacon wherewith his rival had illumined scien c e .
I m d
1
n ph l g y th
o e rn
p r k w ut i t i
r a se o o t u e se r o ce sse s a e no n as n r on , con s r e
tive m t b li m d t u t i
e a o m t b li m
s ,d th ti
es r f th w t
c ve e a o s an e e x cr e on o e as e
p r o d u c t s o f t he last na m e d p r o ce ss .
Who Proved Ferm entation in a Chemical Med ium to be d ue to

Ai r bo rne L iving O rg ani sms -
B E C HAM P or PAS TE UR
B E C HAM P PA ST E UR
1857
‘
and 1857
1 855
9 3
E xp eriments up o n p erfectly LA C TIC F E RME NTA TION

p ure cane su g ar in d i still
-
e d E xpe rime nt with ferm ent
water with o r witho ut the
,
Obt ained fro m a m edium o f
additi o n o f di fferen t salts air ,
sug ar chalk caseine or fibrin
, ,
in s ome c as es excluded in ,
and g luten and sown in yeast
o thers admitted . bro th (a c om p lex soluti o n o f
album ino id and m ineral mat
ters) in which sug ar had be en
( 2 ) Comptes Rendus de l Academie des
’ ’
dissolved with the additi on of
i
S c ences 4 0 . P 4 3 6 .
chalk .
(3 ) C R .
44 S e e al so '
. Annales .
'
i i
de Ch m e et de P hy s que , 3 e ser e, 54 , i i ( 4) Comptes Rendus de l Aeademie des
’
p 28
. . i
Sc ences 4 5, p 9 13 . .
B E CHAMP ’
S BE ACO N E XPE RI ME NT 57
B E C HA M P PA S TE UR
L
C ON C USI ONS : LUSIONS
C ON C
That the i n ve rsi o n o f can e A lactic fe rm e n t takes birth

sug ar is due t o m o uld s w hi ch spon tane ously as e a sily a s b e e r
,
,
a re livi n g o rg an i sm s i m ,
ye ast i n the bo dy o f th e albu
,
o rt e d by the air and who se m i n o i d li q ui d furn i sh e d by

p
infl
,
uence up o n can e sug ar - t he s o lubl e p art Of the ye ast .
m ay be c o m p are d with that T he lactic fe rm e n t is a livi n g

e xe rcis e d up o n starch by di a s b e in g thoug h this co n clusi o n
,
tase That creo so te p re ve n ts

.
i s am o n g an o rd e r Of thing s
t he i n vasio n o f m o ulds tho ug h,
that cannot be irref utably de mons
it d oe s n o t check the ir de
v e lo pm e n t when once e stab
li she d .
LC OH OLIC F E RME NTA TION
A
1
E xp eri m e nt with tw o eq ual

q uantities o f fre sh yea st
washe d in water O n e was .
le ft to ferment wi th p ure
sug ared water and after ,
extracti n g from the othe r all

i t s s o luble p art by b oili n g it
with ple nty o f wate r a n d
filte ri n g it t o g e t rid Of the
g l o b u l e s as m u
, ch s u g ar was
a dde d t o the li m p id li q uo r a s
was added in the first fe r

m e ntati o n and then a trace ,
o f fre sh yeast .
C ON C LUSI ONS
That in beer ye ast it is n o t -
the g lobules that p lay t he
p rin c i p al p art but the c on ,
v e rsi o n into g lo bules o f the ir
so luble p art since the g lo bule s ,
m ay be ki lle d by a te m p e ra
ture o f 1 00 when fe rm enta °
tion take s place spo nt ane ously .
Th e sp litti n g o f sug ar into

alcoho l an d into c arbo nic
acid is an act co rrelative o f a
v ital p heno meno n .
( I ) Comptes Rendus 45, p 1 03 2

, . .
Se e a l so Annales i i
de C h m e et de P hy
sique , i
3 c sér e, 52 , p .A o4 .
B E C HA M P PA S T E UR
C OR O LLA RY LLA RY
C OR O
T hat here was the fi rst cle ar T he album inoid substance s ,
exp lan a ti o n a n d p ro o f o f the use d i n the se exp e rim en ts in ,
m yste ry Of fe rm e n tati o n a n d them selves nullifi ed the a t

the basic fo un dati o n Of the te m p s t o p ro be the mystery o f
knowledg e o f anti sep tics . chan g e s I n a purely che mical
medium The o ri g in o f the
.
ferme n ts was said to be spo n

t a n e o u s a n d while fe rm e n ta
,
ti o n was de clare d to be a vital

act aeaa ye ast was m ade
,
’ ’
p rinci p al use Of a n d
,
the
co n clusio n s in g en eral were
p ro no u n c e d t o be beyo nd the
ower o f p ro o f
p .
way rep udiates B echamp s claim to p riority in clearly ’
explaining fermentation ; indeed it seems to have been ,
inspired by the P rofessor s Observations fo r we find that ’
P asteur here omitted to use yeast broth as his medium and ,
ascribed the origin o f lactic yeast to the atmosp heric air .
A ccording to his own details 1

he mixed with p ure ,
sugared water a small quantity o f salt o f ammonia ,
p hos p hates and p reci p itated carbonate o f lime and ,
actually exp ressed surp rise that animal and vegetable

matter Should have app eared in such an environment .
There could hardly be a greater contrast to B echamp s

’
rigorous deductions while an ex traordinary ambiguity

“ ,
follows in the conclusions We read — As to the origin o f .
the lactic y east in these exp eriments it is solely due to the ,
atmospheric air : we fall bac k here up on facts of sp ontan

”
e o us generation After asserting that by supp ressing all
.
contact with ordinary air or by boiling the solution the , ,
formation o f organisms and fermentation are quite

revented he winds u
“ O this oint the question o f
p p n p
-
,
”
sp ontaneous generation h as made p rogress If he here .
meant that the question had p rogressed towards the den ial
o f the belief why was it that he did not say so ?
,
In a subsequent Memoir p ublished in the Annales de

Chimie et de P hysique in Ap ril 1 860 he constantly refers to
2
, ,
the sp ontaneous p roduction of yeasts and fermentations .
An yone really aware of the atmos p heric origin of micro

organisms o f the nature o f yeast would undoubtedly have , ,
steered clear o f p hraseolog y that at that p articular ep och , ,
conveyed such a diametrically opp osite signification .
The many exp eriments detailed in this latter Memoir

were only commenced on the r oth December 1858 , ,
whereas B é ch am p first p resented his Beacon E xp eriment

to the A cademy of S cience in December 1857 and its full , ,
p ublication a pp eared in S ep tember 1 858 three months , ,
before P asteur started his fresh obse r vations He was un .

,
doubtedly inspired by Bé ch am p in this new work fo r

,
1
Comptes Rendus 48 , p 337
. .
1
3 e série, 8
57 5 p
-
, p 3 2 3 t o 4 2
. 6 in clu s v e , i e sp . fr om pp . 2 83 t o 3 92 .
CLAIMS A ND CONTRADICTIONS 61
which he made claim that it illumined with a new day

”
the phenomena o f fermentation .
B ec hamp s criticism o f it may be found in the Pre face to

’
his book Le §ang There he exp lains that the formation o f

,
.
l
lactic acid following up on the original alcoholic fermenta

,
tion was due to an invasion by atmosp heric germs in this

i
, ,
case lactic yeast their subsequent increase resulting in the

,
starvation o f the beer yeast which had been included at -

,
the start of the exp eriment H e maintains that — P“a st e uris . ,
‘
flflb fld ” A m m -n fi b fi w v m -v M M . ”m
F M
'fi
e d uc t i o n sp r o v e “
his l f
a ck p“ r ea l com h e n si g g fi h
d l
'
o t
p} :m m . a n ” n ew
e m ww u mx-v 'N
17 : a r r-W
m
W h
g understanding
e tc” o f the
a lS
living organism and ho wifMo uld at last rep roduce itself

if all conditions dep endent up on nutrition are ful
”1
fille d .
Ov er and above B echamp s scientifi c criticism of this ’
Memoir any critic must be struc k by the inexactitude o f

,
the detailed descriptions For example if we turn to the .

’
third section we fin d that fo r these observations P asteur s

, ,
’
medium included the ashes o f yeast and that he mak es ,
mention of the addition of fresh yeast Yet as a heading to .
one such exp eriment he gives the following misleading

“
descrip tion : Production of yeast in a medium formed o f
,
”2
sugar of a salt of ammonia and of phOSph a te S
,
All .
reference to the original inclusion o f yeast admitted on ,
8 is omitted in this heading and in his final sum

p 3 3
“
.
,
m ar y z— All these results Of a most rigorous exactitude ,
though the majority were obtained by acting up on very

small quantities establish the p roduction of alcoholic and
,
lactic yeast and o f s p ecial fermentations corresp onding to

them in a medium f ormed only of sugar a salt of ammonia
, ,
”3
and o f mi neral elements T he actual medium detailed .
onl y a coup le o f p ages back consisted of: ,
1
Le Sang , par A B échamp, r eface , p 4 1
. P . .
1
i
Annales de Ch mie ci de P hy siq ue , 3 c sén e, 57-58, p 3 8 1
'
. .
3
i ‘
bid 3 c ser e, 57-58, p 3 9 2
. i . .
62 B PA STE UR?
E CHAMP OR
10 g ramme s o f sug ar .
1 00 cu bic ce n ti m etres o f water .
0 1 00 g r m o f amm o n ium tartrate

. . .
T he a sh fro m I g ramm e o f beer ye a st -

.
T races Off reshy east the size o f a p in s head

’
.
,
A ltogether it is clear that even by 1 860 P asteur had no

, ,
such clear teaching to p u t forward as that contained in

B echamp s ep och making obs ervations
’
-
A n d here we .
have an illuminating view o f the characters of the two

men B é ch a m p could not but be aware that his knowledge
.
exceeded that o f P asteur ; yet all the same in his lectures , ,
before students we fin d nothing but courteous allusions to

,
his rivals We need only refer to the P rofessor s Lessons on

.
’
Vinous F ermen tation a work p ublished in 1 86 3 before his

, ,
actual demonstration in explanation of the p henomenon .
I n this boo k we learn B echamp s views which he was S O

’
, ,
careful always to carry into p ractice on the subject o f ,
giving honour where honour is due in scientific revelations

“ 2 “
.
”
On e can only have he says inspired ideas or com
, ,
m un i c a t e d ideas and it is by working up on one and the

,
other that new ones are conceived T hat is why a seek er .
after truth should give the ideas o f those who p receded

him in his work because those great or small had to mak e
, , ,
their e ffort and herei n lies their merit to bring their share
, ,
o f truth to the world I cannot conceive o f a sup erior

.
title than this o f p rop rietary right because it is this that ,
constitutes our p ersonality and Often genius if it be true ,
that this sublim e p rerogative this rare p rivilege is nothing , ,
but a long p atience or to be more correct a work o f , , ,
p erseverance fecundated
,
by the s p ar k God has set in us .
Thi s right must be resp ected all the more in that it is o f ,
the nature o f the only riches the only p rop erty that we , ,
can lavish without imp overishing ourselves ; what say I ,
1
A l d Chimie t d P hy iqu p 3 9 0
nna es
“ e
10 g rammes
do sucre
e e s e, . .
1 00 cen t metres cubes d eau

’
i
Og r 1 00 de tartrate dro t d ammoniaq ue
.
’
i
Cenares etc I g ramme de leoii re
’
‘ ’
Traces de levzi re f raiche (de la g rosseur d une t e te d ép ng le)
’
i
1
i
Le cons sur la F ermentat on Vineuse et sur la F abr cat on da Vin, par A i i .
B échamp, pp 6 , 7
. .
CL AIMS A ND C ONTRAD ICTIONS 63
it is in thus sp endin g it that we enrich ourselves more and

”
more .
Unfortunately we find a great contrast in Pasteur who

, , ,
it cannot be gainsaid from the start according to the old

, ,
records rep eatedly arrogated to himself the discoveries o f

,
B é cham p beginning with those o f 1 857

,
.
The Beacon E x p eriment had flashed illumination into

the darkness of spon te p a r i st views just at a time when the
controversy on sp ontaneous generation was destined to
flame out anew A t the end o f December 1858 M
.
, ,
.
P ouche t Director o f the Natural History Museum o f

,
Rouen sent up to the A cademy o f S cience a Note on “

,
Vegetable and A nimal Proto O rganisms Sp ontaneously -
”
Generated in A rtificial Ai r and in Oxygen Gas The -
.
subject again gripp ed p ublic interest P rofessor Bé cha m p .

,
seizing every sp are moment fo r continued research was ,
too much occupied working to tak e much p art in talking .
Pasteur on the contrary k ep t everyone well acquainted

, ,
with the exp eriments he p urp osed to undertak e T here .
were said to be living organisms germs in the atmo , ,
sphere ; so he decided microscopically to investigate air .
Th e method o f doing so by filterin g it into glass flas k s had

, ,
already been inaugurated by two Germans S chroeder and ,
Dusch E xp erimenting in the same way P asteur made

.
,
comp arisons between the different contents of p hials ,
which according to him varied with the admission o f

, ,
atmospheric dust and remained unaltered in ex amp les

where thi s was ex cluded But he was not content with.
laboratory and cellar exp eriments and p lanned to mak e

observations that would be more striking and picturesque .
Keeping everyone well notified of his p roceedings in ,
Sep tember 1 860 he started on a tour armed with 73

, , ,
hi
p als which he Op ened and then summarily sealed at
,
di fferent places and at v a r ym g altitudes Th e last 2 0 he .
'
reserved fo r the Mer ae Glace above Chamonix with the ,
result that in only one o f the twenty were the contents

found to be altered From this time the autumn o f 1 860
.
, ,
Pasteur the former Sp o n te p arist veered round to a com

, ,
64 B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR ?
p le t e ly opp osite standp oint and ascribed almost all ,
p henomena to the influence o f atmos p heric germs .
H i s immediate opp onent meanwhile exp erimented on , ,
air on mountains on p lains on the sea and as everybody

, , , ,
knows Pasteur never succeeded in convincing M Po u

, .
chet .
Of these P asteurian exp eriments Bécham p writes : 1

,
From hi s microscop ic analysis he comes to conclusions , ,
lik e F ouchet W ithout p recision (sans rien préciser) ; there are

,
organis ed corpuscles in the collected dust only he cannot

“ ”
say th is is an egg that is a sp ore but he a ffi rms that
,
, ,
there are a su ffi cient number to exp lain all the cases of the
generation of infusoria P asteur thus took up the p osition .
o f exp laining by germs o f the air all that he had ex lained

p
before by sp ontaneous generation .
He was naturally entitled to hold any op inions that he

chose whether they were su p erficial or otherwise and also
, ,
to change his op inions but we think all will agree that ,
what he was not entitled to do was to claim fo r himself ’
discoveries initiated by another work er Yet in a dis .

,
c u ssi on on s p ontaneous generation whi ch took p lace at ,
the S orbonne during a M eeting on the 2 2 n d Nov 186 1

, ,
.
, ,
o f the S ocietes S avan tes Pasteur actually in the p resence of

’
, ,
Professor B é ch a m p took to himself the credit o f the p roof

,
o f the a p p earance o f living organisms in a medium devoid
of albuminoid matter Th e P ro fessor with that distaste fo r

.
,
self advertisement which so Often accomp anies the highest

-
,
intellectuality listened in amazed Silence until his own

, ,
turn came when instead o f p utting forward the legitimate

, ,
seniority of his work he merely gave an account of the ,
exp eriments described in his great Memoir and the con

c lusi o n s that had resulted from them On returning to his .
seat which hap p ened to be next to Pasteur s he asked the

,
’
,
latter to be SO kind as to admit his knowledge of the work

that had just been under descrip tion The Rep ort of the .
Meeting tells us of Pasteur s method of comp liance ? ’
‘
1
Les Grands P roble mes M '
edicaux, p
ar A B échamp, p
. . 13 .
1
Revues des Soci étes Savantes I, p 8 1 .
CLAIMS A ND CONTRADICTIONS 65
M Bécham p quoted some ex p eriments (those o f the

“
.
Memoir of 1857) wherein the transformation of cane

sugar into grap e sugar e ffected under the influence of the
-
air is always accomp anied by moulds These ex periments

,
.
agree with the results obtained by M Pasteur w h o .

,
hastened to acknowledge that the fact put forward by

M B écham p is one o f the most rig id exactness
.
”
.
We cannot help thinking that P asteur might also have

added an admission that his associate had been in the
field before him A further p oint to be noticed is P asteur s
’
.
later contradiction o f his own words fo r B echamp s work ,

’
,
here described by him as rigidly exact was later to be

“
accused by him as guilty o f an enormity ”
,
‘ 1 “
.
We turn to the E tudes sur la B i ere : I must repudiate

a claim o f p riority raised by M B é cham p I t is known . .
that I was the first to demonstrate that living ferments can

be entirely constituted from their germs dep osited in p ure
water into which sugar ammonia and p hosp hates have ,
been introduced and p rotected from light and green

matter M Bé cham p relyin g on the old fact that moulds
. .
,
arise in sugared water and according to him invert the , ,
sugar p retends to have p roved that organized living

,
ferments can arise in media dep rived o f albuminoid

matters To be logical M B é cham p should say that he
’
. .
,
has p roved that moulds arise in p ure sugared water with

out nitrogen without phosp hates o r other mineral ele
,
ments for that is an enormity that can be deduced from his

,
work in which there is not even the exp ression o f the least
,
astoni shment that moulds have been able to grow in p ure

water with p ure sugar without other mineral or organ i c
p rinci p les .
How was it then that the p resent traducer of B echamp s ’
work should as we have already shown have earlier des

,
”
c r ibe d that sel f same work as ossessing rigid
-
exactness ?
p
Can it be that it is only when it is lik ely to eclip se Pasteur s ’
“ ”
that it turns into an enormity ? An d how did Pasteur
come to o mi t all reference to the admittance of air ,
1
p 3 10
.
(n ote ) .
3
66 B E CHAMP O R PASTE UR?
without which the formation of moulds would have been
imp ossible?
A t a time when P asteur was using yeast broth and other
albuminoid matters fo r his exp eriments Bé cham p on the , ,
contrary gave a clear demonstration that in media devoid

,
o f albuminoid matters moulds would a ear w hi ch when

pp , ,
heated with caustic p otash set free ammonia By the , .
same set of exp eriments the Professor p roved that moulds

, ,
living organisms that p lay the p art o f ferments are ,
dep osited from the air and app ear in p ure water to which
nothing but sugar or sugar and certain salts have been
,
added Therefore by this criticism to be logical M

.
“ ,
.
, ,
B é ch am p should say that he has p roved that moulds arise

in p ure sugared water without nitrogen w ithout p hos
, ,
p h a t e s or other mineral elements fo r that is an enormity ,
that can be deduced from his work M Pasteur seems”

,
.
himself to have committed the enormity by thus ap

a r e n tl misunderstanding the facts roved by B é h m !
p y p c a
p
Th e latter had noted tha t in the glass flasks filled com
p l e t el
y with the solution o f sugar and distilled water and
into which no air whatever was allowed to enter moulds ,
did not app ear and the sugar was not inverted ; but in the
flasks in which air had remained or into which it had been ,
allowed to p enetrate moulds had formed des pite the

, ,
absence o f the albuminoid matters included in Pasteur s ’
exp eriments : moreover B é cham p had found these moulds

to be more abundant when p articular salts such as ,
ni trates p hos p hates etc had been added

, ,
.
,
.
Th e P rofessor in his great work L es M icrozy mas cannot

,
1
,
resist a sarcastic allusion to Pasteur s extraordinary ’
criticism “ A chemist au couran t with science ought not ,

,
to be surp rised that moulds are develop ed in sweetened

water contained in contact with air in glass flasks It is
, ,
.
the astonishment of M P asteur that is astonishing !

.
”
When wordy warfare ensued P asteur was no match fo r ,
B é ch a m p and the former quick ly saw that his own

’
interests would be best served by p assing over the latter s
1
p 87
. .
C H AP TE R VI
TH E S OLUB LE FE RME NT
B E F OR E we can form any idea of the magnitude o f
B echamp s discoveries we must thoroughly realise the
’
obscurity of the scientific v iews of the p eriod Not only .
were physical and chemical influences believ ed to be

op erative in the sp ontaneous generation of plant and
animal life but Dumas p hysiological theory of fermenta
,
’
tion had been set aside fo r the belief that this transforma
tion anteceded the app earance o f micro organisms -
.
We have already seen that light was thrown up on this

darkness by B echamp s Beacon E xp eriment ; we have
’
now to study the teaching he deduced from his observa

tions.
At the date of the p ublication o f his M emoir scientists ,
were so little p rep ared to admit that moulds could app ear
ap art from the c o op eration o f some albuminoid matter
-
that it was at first insisted that Bé cham p must have em

lo
p y ed imp ure sugar O n the contrar
.
y he had made use ,
o f p ure sugar candy which did not p roduce 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 fa r surp assed any that could have
been furnished by an imp urity Further evidence w as .
given by the exp eriments that showed the develop ment o f

mi cro organisms in mineral media and these could not be
-
,
accused of connection with anything albu mi noid .
Bé ch am p was not o f course the first to view and notic e

, ,
the moulds the micro organi sms That had been done
,
-
.
before him What he did was conclusively to demonstrate

.
their atmospheric origin and above all to explain their, , ,
function .A nyone interested in this imp ortant subject

cannot do better than study the second Conference o r ,
68
THE S OL U BL E FE R ME NT 69
chapter o f his great work L es M icrozy mas where the matter

, ,
is explained fully Here we can only briefly summari z e

.
some of its teachin g .
The outstanding evidence that faced the P ro fessor in his

observations was the fact that the moulds which app eared ,
in sweetened water exp osed to air set free ammonia when ,
heated with caustic p otash This was evidence that a .
nitrogeniz ed organic substance p robably albuminoid had , ,
been p roduced and had served to constitute one o f the

materials necessary fo r the develop ment o f an organised
being Whence had it arisen? The P rofessor finds his
.
’
answer by a study o f Nature He describes how the s e ed

nt w
.
o f a flowering p l a ill germinate and the plant that

app ears will grow and develop always weighin g more ,
than the seed sown originally Whence were the chemical .
compounds derived that were wanting in the seed The ?
answer he says is elementary and he goes on to exp lain

, , ,
how the organs of the young plant are the che mi cal
app aratus in which the surrounding media (i e the water . .
in the soil in which it strikes its roots supplying ni trogenous

, ,
salts and the atmosp here p roviding its leaves with

,
carbonic acid and oxygen ) are enabled to react and p r o

duce according to chemical laws the comp ounds whereby
the p lant is nourished and wherewith it builds up its cells
and hence all its organs In the same way behaves the
.
sp ore of the m ucor in a whi ch the air carried to the

,
sweetened solution I t develop s and in the body of the

.
, ,
microscopic p lant the air with its nutrient contents the

, , ,
water and the dissolved materials in the sweetened

solution react and the necessary organic matter is elabor
ated and comp ounds are p roduced which were non
existent in the original medium He goes on to exp lain .
that it is because the m uc o r in a is a p lant with the faculty ,
o f roducin g organic matter that it is able to develo in a

’
p , p
medium that contains nothing organi z ed For this p r o .
duction o f organic matter the help of certain minerals I S

,
indisp ensable B é ch am p here reverts to L a voisier s ’

.
explanation of the way i n which water attacks glass and

70 B E CHAMP OR P A S TE UR?
dissolves a p ortion o f it and himself shows how the moulds
,
are thus supp lied with the earthy and alk aline materials
they need Th e amount thus furnished is very small so
.
,
that the harvest o f moulds is corresp ondingly limited If .

,
however certain salts such as aluminium sulphate

, , ,
p otassium nitrate or sodium p hos p hate were added to the

sweetened water large moulds resulted and the inversion ,
o f the sugar was p rop ortionately rap id .
”
Th e meaning o f this says B é cha m p is that each of
, ,
these salts introduced a sp ecially favourable condition and

p erha p s hel p ed in attac king the glass which thus yielded ,
”1
a greater quantity o f its own substance .
But even still the mystery o ffermentation was not quite

, ,
clear without an exp lanation o f the actual way in which

the change in the sugar was brought about that is to say , ,
cane sugar transformed into grap e sugar

- -
.
Here again as we have already seen B écham p solved

, ,
the difficulty by a comp arison and likened the influence o f

moulds to the effects ex ercised up on starch by diastase ,
which in solution p ossesses the p rop erty o f causing starch

, ,
to break up at a high temp erature transforming it first ,
into dextrin and then into sugar .
Bé ch a m p p roved his comp arison to be correct by

rigorous exp eriments By crushing the moulds which .
ap p eared in his solutions he found that the cells that ,
comp osed them secreted a soluble ferment and that the

latter was the direct agent in transforming the sugar and ,
he made a very clear demonstration o f this also in regard

to beer yeast For instance just in the same way the
-
.
, ,
stomach does not work directly u p on food but only in ,
directly through a secretion called gastric juice which ,
contains p ep sin a substance more or less analogous to

,
diastase and which is the direct agent o f the chemi cal

,
changes that take place in the digestive organ Thus it is .

,
by a soluble p roduct that beer yeast and certain other -
moulds bring about the chemical change that alters the

typ e o f sugar Just as the stomach could not transform food
.
1
Les M icrozymas , p 84
. .
THE S OL UBLE FE R M E NT 71
without the juice it secretes SO yeast could not change ,
sugar without a soluble ferment secreted by its cells .
On p 70 o f L es M icrozy mas P rofessor B é cham p com

.
,
m e n c e s an account o f some o f the ex p eriments he under

took in this connection H ere may be found the descrip tion
.
o f an exp eriment with thoroughly washed and dried beer
yeast which was mix ed with a little more than its weight
,
of cane sugar and the mixture carefully creosoted

-
the ,
whole becoming soft and by degrees completely fluid .
Bé ch a m p p rovides a full explanation Of the action He .
shows that the yeast cell is like a closed vesicle or a con ,
t a in e r enclosing a content and that it is limited in s p ace by

,
a membranous envelop e In the dried state in which he

.
,
made use o f it fo r his exp eriment it yet contained more ,
water no more p ercep tible to touch

"
,
than the amount On an average 8g p 9 5 g ent of the body

, (
weight contained in the human body H e explains how

, .
the living yeast in its natural state on contact with water

, , ,
allows nothing of its content to escap e ex cep t excretory

"
p roducts but ,
in ,
contact w ith the sugar it is as it were , , ,
irritated and the enveloping membrane p ermits the escap e

o f water with certain other materials held in solution and ,
it is this fluid that li q ue fie s the mix ture o f yeast and sugar .
Th e escap e of the fluid B é ch am p shows to be due to the

physical p rocess osmosis by which a solution p asses through
,
a p e fme able fi t fi t fi ife Thus having obtained his liquid

' ‘
p roduct he diluted it with water and le ft it to filter .
Meanwhile B éch a m p p erformed another exp eriment ;

,
namely he dissolved a small piece o f cane sugar in water

,
-
and found that no change was p roduced when this was

heated with alkaline cop p er tartrate He then took .
another small piece of sugar and heated it to boiling p oint

with very dilute hydrochloric acid ; he neutralised the
acid with caustic p otash and made the solution alk aline ,
he then added his copp er reagent and heated it where ,
upon reduction took p lace a p recip itate being p roduced

,
which was at first yellow and then red By means o f the .
acid the sugar had been inverted that is to say tran s , ,

72 B E C HAMP OR PASTE UR?
formed into a mix ture o f glucose and levulose ( a con
st it u e n t o f fruit sugar ) which reduced the cup ric cop p er
,
o f the blue reagent to cu rous co er which was i i

p pp p r e c p
t at e d as the red ox ide .
Bé ch am p then returned to the liquid that had been

filtering and found that when he barely heated it with the
,
alkaline copp er tartrate reagent the change in the sugar

was e ffected This p roved to him that something besides
.
water had escap ed fro m the yeast something that even in , ,
the cold had the p ower o f rapidly inverting the sugar

, .
P rofessor B é ch a m p here p oints out two facts that must

1
be clearly demonstrated First that without the escaping .

, ,
element yeast in itself is inop erative fo r when steep ed in

, ,
water with t he alk alin e copp er tartrate reagent added

, ,
reduction is not e ffected S econdly that heat destroys the .

,
activ ity o f the escap ing element fo r yeast brought to the ,
boil with a little wate r to which sugar is added does not , ,
even after time has been allowed fo r it to tak e e ffect ,
p roduce the inversion the al k aline co pp er,

tartrate reagent
is not reduced In short he discovered that heat destroys
.
,
the activity of the ferment secreted by yeast and moulds o f

all sorts just as heat destroys the activity of s p routed
,
barley o f diastase and of other soluble ferments that is

, , ,
ferments cap able of being dissolved in a fluid .
B é cha m p further discovered sodium acetate to be

another agent esp ecially e ffi cient in p romoting the
p assage o f the soluble con t ents through the cell walls T o .
dried yeast he added some crystals o f that salt e x pe ri

, ,
m e n tin g on a su fficiently large quantity The mixture .
became liquid and was thrown up on a filter On e p art .
sodium acetate to ten or more of yeast he found su ffi cient ,
to e ffect the liquefaction H e then took the fil tered liquid .
and added alcohol to it and a white p recip itate app eared .
H e collected this in a filter and washed it with alcohol to

free it from the sodium acetate The alcohol being .
drained o ff the p recip itate was dried between folds of

,
filter p ap ers and then it was taken up with water The r e .
1
L es Microzymas , pp 7 1, 72
. .
T H E S OL UBLE FE R ME NT 73
resulted a solution and an insoluble residue This last was .
coagulated albumen which came from the yeast in ,
solution but was rendered insoluble by the coagulating

,
action of the alcohol

“
.
A s to that p ortion of the p recipitate which has been

”
dissolved alcohol can p recipitate it again says Bé cha m p
,
1
,
.
This new p recipitate is to beer yeast what diastase is to -
s p routed barley or syn ap tase to almonds ; it is the p rincip le

that in the yeast effects the inversion of the cane sugar If -
.
some o f it is dissolved in water cane sugar added and ,

-
the solution k ep t fo r several minutes in the water bath at

the alk aline copp er tartrate p roves that the sugar has
been inverted Th e action is also very rap id at the
.
ordinary temp erature but Slower in p rop ortion to a lesser ,
amount of the activ e p roduct ; which exp lains the slow

ness o f the reactions obtained with certain moulds that I
could only utilise in small quantity A ll this p roves that .
the cause of the inversion o f the sugar is p r e formed in the -
moulds and in the yeast and as the active matter when , ,
isolated acts in the absence o f acid this shows that I was

, ,
”
right i n allying it to diastase .
It was after P rofessor B é ch am p had established these

facts that he gave a name to this active matter H e called .
it zy mase from the Greek ( i nn ferment The word

, , , .
,
app lied by him at first to the active matter of yeast and o f

moulds has become a generic term L ater on he sp ecially
, .
,
designated the zymases of yeast and o f moulds by the

name of zy thozy mase .
B echamp s first p ublic employment o f the name

’
zymase fo r soluble ferments was in a Memoir on F er

”
men tation by Org an ised F erments which he read before the ,
A cademy o f S cience on the 4 th Of A p ril 1 864 ? ,
The following year he resumed the subject and showed

3
,
that there were zymases in m i c ro z o ai r e s and micro phytes ,
which he isolated as P ayen and Pe r so z isolated the diastase

,
1
L es M icrozymas , p 72. .
2
Comptes Rendus 58 , p 60 1
. .
3
C R 59 p 4 96
. .
, . .
74 B E C HA MP O R PASTE UR?
from s p routed barley These zymases he found p ossessed .
, ,
generally the p rop erty o f rapidly transforming cane sugar -
into glucose or grap e sugar H e discovered the anthrozy ma

,
-
.
in flowers the morozy ma in the white mulberry and the

,
nephroz ma in the kidney o f animals Fi n ally the following

y .
,
year 1 86 6 he gave the name microzy ma to his crowning

, ,
1
, ,
discovery which to him was the basic exp lanation o f the

,
whole question and which had not yet been made ap

p arent to him when he immortalised his early ex p eriments
in his M emoir o f 1 857; but this we must leave fo r future
consideration We have here given these dates to Show
.
how long ago Professor B é ch a m p made a complete

discovery o f the nitrogenous substance formed in the yeast
cell to which he gave the name o f zy mase .
A p art from the justice o f giving credit where credit is

due fo r the mere sak e o f historical accuracy it is desirable
, .
that his o wn discovery Should be p ublicly accredited to

him Instead in the E ncyclope dia B ritannica we fin d in the
?
“
.
, ,
”
article on Fermentation by Julian L evett Baker
“
that it is stated that In 189 7 B ijchn e r submitted yeast to
,
great p ressure and isolated a nitrogenous substance ,

”
enzymic in character which he termed zymase A gain ,
.
,
we tak e u p A Manual of B acteriolog y by R T anner H e w

3
,
.
lett M D DP H and we
“
. . . . .
, ,
read Until 1 89 7 no enzyme had been Obtained which

—
would carry out this change (alcoholic fermentation ) ; it

only occurred when the living yeast cells were p resent -
,
but in that ye a r B uchner by grinding up the living yeast ,
cells Obtained a juice which decom posed dextrose with

,
‘
the formation o f alcohol and carbonic acid This zymase .
’
”
B achner claimed to be the alcoholic enzyme o f yeast .
Yet once more P ro fessor and Mr s Frankland in their ,

.
,
‘
book P asteur while ap ologising fo r certain of the latter s
1 ’
erroneous views write as o o wsz

f ll —
“
,
In the p resent year

,
1
Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences ’ '
, 6 3 , p 4 51 . .
2
E le v e n t h E d t ii on .
3
S ix th Ed tii on , p 36
. .
Se e C h a p te r IX .
C HAPTE R VII
R I VA L TH E OR I E S A ND WOR KE R S
U NDOUB TE DLY one of the chief factors of P asteur s success
,
’
was the quickness with which he p ushed into the forefront

o f any scientifi c question thus focusing p ublic attention ,
u p on himself B echamp s illuminating explanations o f

.
’
ancient p roblems were conveniently to hand just at a

moment when M Fouchet brought the controversy on
.
s p ontaneous generation again into the limelight o f general

interest P asteur seizing the o pp ortunity entered the
.
, ,
lists and as B é cha m p comments M F ouchet s observa

, , ,
.
’
tions being as wanting in p recision as P asteur s it was not ’

,
hard fo r the latter to emerge as victor genuinely ,
imp ressing the world o f scientists .
T hus he who had taught the s p ontaneous origin o f

yeast and o f micro organisms of all sorts now discoursed
-
,
with almost childish enthusiasm up on the germs o f the air ,
and began to make life synonymous with atmospheric

organisms Not only according to his new views was
.
, ,
fermentation caused by p r e existing germs o f air borne - -
origin but each germ induced its own definite s p ecific

,
form o f fermentation Here he fell foul o f Bé ch a m p fo r

.
,
’
according to the latter s physiological explanation each ,
micro organi sm may vary its fermentative effect in con

-
formity with the medium in which it fi nds itself; may even

change in shap e as modern workers are finding out
,
.
P asteur however p roceeded to label each with a definite

, ,
and unalterable function In 1 86 1 claiming to discover .

,
a s p ecial butyric vibrio which he thought could live only ,
without air he divided living beings into two classifi cations

, ,
the ae robic and the anae robic or those that require air and ,
those that flourish without it Fermentation he defined as .
life without ox ygen T he verdict of time to which he

.
,
himself has relegated all scientists fo r final judgment is ,
76
R IVA L THE OR IE S AN D WO R KE RS 77
scarcely in his favour To quote fo r instance from one o f

“ , ,
.
”
his eulogists in the article on Fermentation by Julian ,
L evett Baker in the E ncyclope dia B ritannica we

1
r e ad z—
“ ,
A ccording to P asteur
‘
fermentation is life
,
without air or life without oxygen T his theory o f fe r

,
.
’
mentation was materially modifi ed in 189 2 and 1 894 by

A J Brown who described ex p eriments which were i n
. .
” ’
disagreement with P asteur s dictum .
P asteur himself in controversies both with M Tr é cul

,
.
and with the Turin Commission which investigated his ,
ro
p p hyla xis fo r anthrax was forced to admit that an ,
ae robics could gradually be induced to live with air with
out becoming ferments and that aerobics could become

ferments T hus he himself destroyed his own classifi cation
. .
Yet this untenable descrip tion was P asteur s chief su pport ’
fo r hi s later equally untenable claim that he had been the

first to regard fermentation as a p henomenon of nutrition
and Of assimilation In a statement of his made in 1872 .
and rep eated in his E tudes sur la B idre we find quite ,
contrary t e achin g z z
“ That which sep arates the chemical phenomenon o f

fermentation from a crowd o f other acts and especially f rom
the acts of ordinary life is the fact o f the decomp osition o f a
weight o f fermentative matter much sup erior to the weight
”
of the ferment .
What more inevitable act o f ordinary life could there

be than that o f nutrition and digestion from which the
famous chemist thus sep arated the p henomenon o f fe r
mentation? P asteur was here only app rop riating the same
Singular idea o f hysiology that had already been voiced
p
in 186 5 by a follower of his M Duclaux
3“
.
,
When in our alcoholic fermentation we see a certain

weight o f sugar transformed into alcohol by a weight o f
yeast one hundred nay a thousand times smaller it is , , ,
very di ffi cult to believe that this sugar made at any time

1
E l e t h E d it i
ev n on .
1
C mpt R du d l A démi d S i
o es en s e
’
75 p 785 ca e es c ences , .
3
Annales S cienti ques de l ’
E cole Normale, 2, p . 2 49
78 B E CHAMP O R PA STE UR?
a p art o f the materials o f the yeast and that it ( the alcohol ) ,
”
is somethi ng like a p roduct o f excretion .
It seems strange that scientists should have required the

following simp le p hysiological exp lanation from P rofessor
B é ch am p :
1“
S u pp ose an adult man to have lived a century to ,
weigh on an average 60 kilogrammes ; he will have con

sumed in that time besides other foods the equivalent of
, ,
kilogrammes o f flesh and p roduced about 800

kilogrammes o f urea S hall it be said that it is imp ossible
.
to admit that this mass o f flesh and o f urea could at any

moment of his life form p art o f his being? Just as a man
consumes all that food only by rep eating the same act a
great many times the yeast cell consumes the great mass o f
,
sugar only by constantly assimilating and disassimilating

it bit by bit Now that which only one man will consume
.
,
in a century a su ffi cient number o f men would absorb and

,
form in a day It is the same with the yeast ; the sugar that
.
a small number of cells would only consume in a year a ,
greater number would destroy in a day ; in both cases the ,
more numerous the individuals the more rapid the con ,

”
s um ption .
By the need of such an ex planation evidence is given

that P asteur had failed to understand fermentation to be
due to p hysiological p rocesses o f absorp tion and excretion .
I t would take too long to follow the varying ex amp les that
substantiate this criticism and naturally di ffi cult , , ,
S cientifi c intricacies were beyond the com rehension o f

p
the general p ublic a great p art of whom having no idea
, ,
o f the p rocesses required fo r the food they p u t into their
own bodies were still far less likely even dimly to fathom
,
the nutritive functions of organisms invisible excep t

through the microsco p e ! It was nothing to them that ,
among the learned Rep orts o f the A cademy o f S cience ,
treaties were to be found by a P rofessor working at ,
M ont p ellier that clearly explained the why and the

,
wherefore of the intricate chemical changes that go by the

1
C mpt R ndu d l A démi d Sci
o es e s e
’
75 p 52 3 ca e es ences . 1 .
R IVA L T H E O R IE S AN D WO R KE RS 79
name of fermentation But on the contrary more or less

.
, ,
everyone had heard so widely had the subject been venti

,
lated o f the controversy as to whether life in its lesser

, ,
forms s p rang invariably from antecedent life or whether

, ,
chemical combinations could p roduce life indep endently

o f p arent s T h e p ublic too could follow the account o f
.
, ,
M P asteur s holiday tour in p ursuit o f the question Very

.
’
.
little cudgelling o f brains could make anyone understand

the history o f the flasks that he unsealed some by a dusty ,
roadside some on an A lp ine summit S ince visible dust

,
.
could cloud a fluid it was easy to realise that invisible

,
aerial germs could also a ffect the contents o f the scientist s ’
p hials .M inute living things afloat in the atmos p here were

not hard to imagine and P asteur commenced so e n t hu s
,
i ast i c ally to discourse o f these that it was not remarkable

that an imp ression was created that he had been the first
to demonstrate them ; es p ecially Since the obstinacy with
which a number o f scientists declined to endorse his views
made him app ear a s p ecial champ ion to confound the
Sp on t e p a r i st s whose op inions he had cast Off so recently .
All this time in s p ite o f M Biot s influential p atronage

’
.
, ,
P asteur had remained outside the select circle o f A c a d e m i

c i an s. B u t at the end o f 1 86 2 as we have said before he , ,
was at last nominated by the Mineralogical S ection No .
sooner was his candidature commenced than ex cep tion

began to be taken to his early conclusions on crystal
lo g r ap hy None the less by 3 6 out o f 6 0 votes he secured
.
, ,
hi s coveted p lace in the A cademy o f S cience ; and advised ,
to drop crystallograp hy he p roceeded to exp eriment further

,
in connection with his new views on air borne organisms -

.
T o secure matter free from atmos p heric dust he made ,
observations u p on muscle milk blood etc taken from , , ,

.
,
the interior o f bodies From the start he cannot but have

.
,
been handicapp ed by his lack of medical training H i s .
view p oint was that o f the chemist A ccording to his

-
.
conception as B é ch am p p oints out the marvellous

,
1
,
ani mal body was likened to wine in the cask or beer in the
1
Les M icrozymas , p 754
. .
80 B E CRAM P OR PASTE UR?
barrel He look ed u pon muscle milk blood and so forth
.
, ,
as mere mixtures o f chemical p rox imate p rinciples He .
did it is true draw some distinction between the interior

, ,
o f an organism and that o f a barrel o f beer or a cas k o f
wine fo r we fin d that he said that the first is endowed

,
1 “ ,
with p owers o f transformation that boiling destroys

“ d m i li
( f l b l i h
’
ver tus e tr ans or at on q ue é u t on B é c a m p
’
here shows how P asteur s mind reverted to the old
fashioned belief in Sp ontaneous alteration Recognising .
nothing inherently alive in the composition of animal and

vegetable bodies it was his aim to Show that meat milk
, , ,
blood etc would remain unchanged if comp letely

,
.
,
secured from invasion by aerial organisms An d when .

,
later on he co p ied an exp eriment that B é cham p had

,
undertaken on meat and found in his own observation , , ,
that in sp ite of p recautions against germs of the air the

, ,
muscular masses of the meat yet became tainted he was ,
driven to fall back fo r an ex planation up on vague occult

“owers of transformation ” ,
p .
In the same w ay fo r the wonderful evolution of an egg

,
i n to a bird he had no solution excep t these same mysterious

,
t r an sfo r m a t o r y p owers How can it be said that he had .
destroyed belief in sp ontaneous generation when he ,
could only ascribe to a s p ontaneous change the ama z ing

develop ment of fo r instance the cells of an egg to a
, ,
circulatory ap p aratus bony and nervous systems glands , , ,
organs and finally a bird covered with feathers? For a

,
s pontaneous change there must be if the substance of an

egg is only a chemical mixture o f the same order as wine or
“
beer What are P asteur s powers o f transformation if ” ’
“
.
,
” ’
not the same as Bonnet s excellent modification which ,
roduces the organisation o f matter or if not the same as

p
“ ”
the nisus f ormatious or p roductive forces vegetable and
,
,
p lastic w ith ,
which Needham and later F ouchet the , , ,
beli evers in s p ontaneous generation were satisfied to ,
exp lain the p henomenon? P asteur ap p ears merely to have

p rovided fresh words in p lace o f other words .
1
L es M icrozymas , p 3 99
. .
RIVAL THE OR IE S AN D WORKE RS 81
B ut , here again such intricacies were beyond the com

,
rehension of the general p ublic T h e M an in the S treet

p .
delved no deep er than the surface test that alterable sub

stances could be p reserved by excluding air and that as ,
the atmosphere was said to be filled with living germs ,
there was no need to cudgel his brains as to the p ossible

modern emergence o f life from mere chemical sources .
Th e religious felt duly grateful fo r views that app eared to

controvert the materialistic tendencies o f the nineteenth
century and were blandly innocent of the su p erficial
,
character of the contradiction M eanwhile the talk o f the.

,
controversy and the exploits of M Pasteur reached the .
ears of the E mp eror who lik e most rulers felt it in c um

, , ,
bent up on him to p atronise contemp orary science S oon .
after his election to the A cademy Of S cience M P asteur ,

.
,
in the month of March 1 863 had the honour of being

, ,
p resented to Na p oleon III at the T uileries .
A s usual his numerous corres p ondents seem to have been

notified at once of the interview fo r his son in law tells
“
- -
,
1
us : — P asteur wrote the next day ( to whom he does not
say) I assured the E mperor that all my ambition was to
,
arrive at the knowledge of the causes o f p utrid and

”
contagious diseases .
H ere we have an interesting illustration o f the contrast

between the methods of P asteur and B é ch am p A s we .
have seen right up to 1 860 P asteur s M emoirs contained

, ,
’
spo n t e ar ist O inions I t was now only 86 H had but

p p . 1 3 e .
recently changed his standp oint Yet it is clear that al .
ready before any p roofs could have been brought into

,
bearing on the subject Pasteur in his mind was con

, , ,
n e c t in the ferments o f the air with a former idea voiced

g ,
by earlier workers L inn é Raspail and others that s p ecific

, , ,
organisms might be the cause of s p ecific diseases Th e best .
and the worst o f us invariably p reach against our own

individual weaknesses ; and therefore P asteur rightly
quoted a great writer as having declared that The “
greatest derangement of the mind is to believe t hi ngs
1
The L ife f
o P asteur, by Re n é Valler y -Rado t , 1 04
p . .
F
”l
because one wishes them to be so He could well .
app rehend this danger Since it was one to which we find he ,
was subject .
B echamp s attitude to his work was diametrically

’
o p posite H e gave his imagination no play until he had

.
interrogated Nature Not unt il he had received a direct

.
reply to a direct demand did he allow his mind to be

carried away by resultant possibilities and even then ,
exp eriments p unctuated the course to his conclusions In .
Short he did not direct Nature and decide what he wished

,
’
to discover He allowed Nature to direc t him and made

.
x
his discoveries follow her revelations

‘
.
For fortunate P asteur I mp erial p atronage was n d d‘e ad ,
letter Four months after his p resentation to Nap oleon in

.
,
July o f the same year he received direct encouragement ,
from the latter to turn his attention to the vinous diseases

that were then interfering with the trade in French wines .
O nce more P asteur started on a scientifi c tour during the

holidays this time to vineyards and with the E mp eror s
, ,
’
blessing to lighten his p athway .
Meanwhile his o pp onents Messrs Fouchet Joly and

, ,
.
,
Musset followed his former example and climbed moun

,
tains testing air collected in small glass flasks They

,
.
returned triumphant fo r although they had scaled ,
metres higher than M P asteur there was alteration .

,
in their phials .
We have no need here to discuss the wagging of tongues

on the subject and M Flourens p ronouncement in favour .
’
o f P asteur at the A cademy o f S cience I t su ffi ces to men .
tion that the deep p roblem o f s p ontaneous generation

became so p o pular that when P asteur entered the lec ture
room o f the S orbonne on the evening o f A p ril 7t h 1 864 to , ,
discourse on the subject every seat available was filled not , ,
simply by learned p rofessors but also by literary celebri ,
ties A lexandre Dumas and George S and among them

, ,
and also Princesse M athilde and all the well known

“
-
”
votaries of fashion the smart set o f P aris An d happily
,
.
1
Comptes Rendus de l Académie des Sciences 80
’
, p 91.
84 B E C HA MP OR PASTE UR ?
origin the source of his atmospheric germs he p rovided
, ,
no ex planation neither has any Since been found by his

,
innumerable followers fo r whom the descrip tion L ife is a“

germ and a germ is L ife was soon to evolve into Disease
” “ ,
”
is a germ and a germ is a disease an infinitely more ,
lugubrious ax iom .
Was P asteur correct even in his denial o f alteration

ap art from air borne organi sms? In his own exp eriment
-
u p on meat he had to admit that the latter became tainted

, .
To assume that this was caused by some faultiness in

o p e ra t l o n 18 not to exp lain the a
pp earance o f
organisms in cases where no aI r borne germs could p ossibly -
account fo r their origin Thus it is that P asteur s boast in ’
“
.
”
his lecture at having struck a mortal blow at the
doctrine o f s p ontaneous generation has not met with real
fulfilment Not only was his contemp orary Po uche t
.
, ,
never satisfied but the later work of M Gustave le Bon

, .
and of Dr Charlton Bastian a ffected to demonstrate

.
,
acco rding to their view the p roduction o f organi sed beings ,
from inorganic matter

“
.
Professor Bastian asserts — 1

L iving matter may have
been c on tim i o usly coming into being all over the surface
o f the earth ever since the time o f man s fi rst ap p earance
’
u p on it ; and yet the fact that no member of the human

race has ever seen (or is ever likely to see ) such a birth
throws no doubt u pon the p robability o f its occurrence .
P rofessor Bastian based this belief u pon such observa

“
tions as hi s experiment with the cyclops quadricornis one o f ,
”2
the E ntomostraca so commonly to be found in p onds
“
.
”
If we tak e one o f these little creatures he writes put , ,
it in a drop o f distilled water on a glass slip with a frag ,
ment of a No 2 cover glass on each side o f it and p lace

.
-
,
over all a cover glass it will be found that the animal is

-
,
soon killed by the weight o f the latter though the frag ,
ments of glass p revent rupture of the body We may then .
The E luti
1
f L
voi
f by H C h
on olt B t i M A M D
e, F L S . ar on as an , . . . . . . .
p 31
. .
2
The Nature and Orig in of L iving Matter, by H C har lt on B ast i an , . MA . .
,
MD . .
, R P A e d p 1 10 (Watt s an d
. . . . . .
R IVAL THE O R IE S AN D WO RKE R S 85
p lace the microsco p e Sli p in a P etri dish containing a thin

stratum of water ( so as to p revent evaporation from
beneath the cover glass ) and fixing u pon one o f the tail
-
setae ( these being larger than those o f the abdominal feet ) ,
we may examine it from time to time What may be Ob .
served is this After an interval Of two or three days (the

.
duration dep ending up on the temp erature of the air at the

time) we may see under a high p ower o f our microscop e
, ,
scarcely visible motionless sp ecks gradually app ear in

increasing numbers in the midst of the structureless p roto
lasm and still later we may see some o f these Sp ecks
p , , ,
growing into bacteria A t last the whole interior o f

.
the spine becomes filled with distinct bacteria L ater .
still all the bacteria p reviously motionless begin to

, , ,
Show active swarming movement In such a case it is clear

.
we have to do with no p rocess of infection from without ,
but with a de novo origin o f bacteria from the p rotoplasmic

contents of the spines or setae The fact that they app ear .
in these Situations as mere sep arate motionless sp ecks and ,
gradually take on the forms of bacteria (also motionless at

first) is as I have p reviously indicated just what we might
, ,
exp ect if they had actually taken origin in the places where
they app ear O n the other hand such a mode of app ear
.
,
ance is totally Opposed to what might be exp ected if the

micro organisms had obtained an entry from without
-
,
through the tough chitinous envelop e of the spines .
P rofessor Bastian gives numerous examp les of the

finding o f bacteria in internal animal organs and in fruit
and vegetables where he demonstrates the impossibility
,
o f an invasion Can the followers o f P asteur p rovide any

.
solution o f the mystery? If they cannot it must be con

“ ”
ceded that no mortal blow a t the doctrine of s p on
,
t a n e o us generation was struck by P asteur as he roudl

p y ,
boasted The dealer o f the blow or at any rate the p r o

.
, , ,
vider of an explanation ap art from heterogenesis was not , ,
the French chemist dilating to a fashionable audience

“ ”
,
which included all Paris but a hard working French -

,
Professor and physician , w ho wa s also a Che mist a n d a

86 B E C H A M P OR PASTE UR?
naturalist and who was taking little p art in all the talk
,
because he was so hard at work wresting fresh secrets from

Nature .
E ven admitting that he demonstrated before P asteur ,
and fa r more thoroughly the r Ole o f air borne organisms ,

-
,
it may yet be asked how B echamp s observations e n ’
lightened any better the deep er depths of the heterogenetic

mystery .
T h e answer to this is that in his M emoir of 1 857 the , ,
P rofessor did not include certain o f his observations His .
reason fo r the omission was that the results he obtained

seemed too contradictory to be accurate Believing that
, .
he had made some mistake he set aside these p articular ,
exp eriments fo r the time being In the end as the follow .

,
ing p ages ho p e to set forth his app arent failure was to ,
rove the solution o f the p roblem and was to give so he at

p ,
least believed the basic explanation o f the develop ment o f

,
organised life from the minutest commencements I t was .

,
in fact according to him to be the nearest elucidation ever

, ,
given of animal and vegetable u p building o f the p rocesses ,
o f health disease and fi nal disru p tion

,
In short it was to .
,
wrest from Nature the stu p endous truth which in the , ,
great M aster s own words rings out like a clarion

’
,
”
Rien la proie de la mort; tout la proie de la vie ! 1
’
n est est
1 “
N thi i s th e p r e y of de ath ; i
e v e r yt h n i s the pre y of i
l fe !
”
o ng
g
PA RT TWO
TH E M I C R O ZYMA S
CHAPTE R V II I
TH E
“
L ITTL E B ODIE S
JUST as certain musicians seem born with a natural facility
fo r a p articular instrument so in the world o f science
, ,
from time to time men aris e who ap p ear s p ecially gifted

,
in the use o f technical in t r um e n t s I t was no doubt

.
, ,
Professor B echamp s extraordinary p ro ficiency as a

’
microscopist as well as the insight o f genius that enabled

, ,
him from the start o f his work to observe so much that

other workers ignored when employing the m 1c r o sc0p e ;
while his inventive br aIn led to an ap plication o f the
p olarimeter which greatly assisted him H i s p owers com
.
bin e d in a remark able degree the p ractical and theoretical .
Instead o f failing lik e many men o f big brain cap acity

, ,
when manual dexterity was needed the P rofessor s deft ,

’
fingers and keen sighted eyes were ever the agile assistants
-
o f his mighty intellect .
From the time o f his earliest observations he was quick ,
to notice minute microscopic objects much smaller in ,
Size than the cells of the organisms he examined He was .
by no means the fi rst to Observe these ; others had done so

before him ; but although they a pplied to them such
“
names as scintillating corpuscles ” “
molecular granula
,
”
tions and so forth no one was much the wiser as to their
,
status and function Most o f what had been said about

.
them was summed u p in Charles R obin s definition in the ’
Dictionary of Medicine and S urg ery in which he

“
described the minuteness of very small granulati ons
formed o f organised substance found in the tissues cells , ,
37
88 B E CHAMP OR PASTE UR ?
fibres and other anatomical elements of the body and in ,
great abundance in tuberculous substances and other

disease matters .
B é cham p always so careful to avoid unsubstantiated

,
conclusions did not allow his imagination to run away in

,
regard to them H e at fi rst merely noted them and

“
.
bestowed u p on them the noncommittal name of little

”
bodies . H e had no further enli ghtenment in regard to
them at the time when his new duties took him to Mont
e lli e r and he there brought to a close the observations
p
that he had commenced at S trasbourg and which he
recounted and explained in his M emoir o f 1857 .
I t wil l be remembered that fo r many o f these e Xp e r i

ments the Professor employed various salts including
, ,
p otassium carbonate in the p resence o f,

which the inversion
o f cane sugar did not take place in Sp ite o f the absence o f
-
,
creosote A nother ex p eriment that he made was to sub

.
st it u t e fo r p otassium carbonate calcium carbonate in t he ,
form o f chalk Great was his surp rise to find that in sp ite
.
o f the addition o f creosote to p revent the intrusion o f

,
atmos pheric germs cane sugar none the less underwent

,
-
inversion or change o f some sort In regard to creosote

,
.
,
B é cham p had already p roved that though it was a p r e

v e n t iv e against the invasion o f extraneous organisms it ,
had no e ffect in hamp ering the dev elop ment of moulds

that w ere already established in the medium The e x pe r i .
ments in which he had included chalk seemed however , ,
to contradict this conclusion fo r in these cases creosote , ,
roved inca able o f p reventing the inversion o f sugar He

p p .
could only believe that the contradiction arose from some

faultiness o f p rocedure ; so he determined to p robe further
into the mystery and meanwhile to omit from his Memoir
any reference to the experiments in which chalk had
p roved a disturbing factor .
Th e work that Pro fessor B é ch am p undertook in this

connection is an object lesson in p ainstaking research To .
begin with he had fi rst chalk and afterwards a block of

, , , , ,
limestone conveyed to his laboratory with great pr e cau

T H E
“
L ITTL E B O DIE S
”
89
tions against any air coming into contact To continue he .

,
p ro v ed by innumerable ex p eriments that when all access

o f air was entirely Shut away no change took p lace in a ,
sugar solution even when chemically pure calcium car

,
bonate C a C O 3 was added but directly ordinary chalk

, , , ,
even from his Sp ecially conserved block was introduced ,
fermentation took p lace although the entry o f atmos ,
h e r i c germs had been guarded against com pletely No

p .
addition o f creosote even in increased doses could then

, ,
revent the inversion o f the sugar

p .
B é ch am p was naturally extremely sur p rised to fin d

, ,
that a mineral a rock could thus p lay the p art of a fe r

, ,
ment It was clear to him that chalk must contain some

.
thing over and above calcium carbonate H e therefore .

, ,
called to his help his good ally the microscop e Working ,

.
with the highest p ower obtainable he undertook a minute ,
investigation both o f p ure calcium carbonate and o f the

chalk he had used fo r his experiments Great was his
“
.
”
amazement to fi n d in the latter little bodies similar to ,
those he had noted in oth er Observations while nothing of ,
the sort was to be seen in the former A lso while in the .

,
microscopic p rep aration o f the calcium carbonate every

thing was Op aque and motionless in that of the chalk the
“ ”
little bodies were agitated by a movement Similar to
,
“ ”
that known as Brownian after the naturalist Robert , ,
Brown but which B é ch am p differentiated from i t 1

.
”
These li ttle bodies were distinguishable by the way in
which they refracted light from their op aque surroundings .
They were smaller than any o f the micro p hytes seen u p to

that time in fermentations ; but were more p owerful as
ferments than any known and it was because o f their
fermentative activity that he regarded them as living .
To form any correct estimate o f the magnitude o f the

di scovery u pon the brink o f which Bé cham hovered we ,
must remind ourselves o f “the scientific “

Opim o n s o f the
W M hu m -m w
é fici él ff Th e PfO féSsOf s ob Se r v at io n s were madq a t ia date

‘ ''
’
’
w
wh en most b cmev VIr CHOws view of the cell as the

,
La The ie d Mic zy ma p A B é hamp p 1 15

'
1
or a ro , ar . c , . .
unit oflife in all forms vegetable and an imal and , ,
sp o n t e p ar i st Op inions were held by a large body of

exp erimenter
midst o f this
two axioms —Firstly that no ,
la c e w ithout a v o c a t l v e cause S eco ndly h fi hfl

W Q A
V A A A A
p r o t
p a ffi
fi
fl
.
,
no spont ane ouS g e n e r at IOn of any liy ing Or g an i Sm

“
.
M eanwhile he c onc entrate d hiS mind Ii p ofi th e little

"
,
”
bodies .
He realised at the start that if those he had discovered

, ,
in chalk were really organised beings with a sep arate

}
,
indep endent life o f their own he ought to be able to isolate ,
them p rove them to be insoluble in water and fin d them

, ,
comp osed of organic matter H e succeeded in isolating .
them and p roved carbon hydrogen etc to be their , ,

.
,
com ponent p arts and demonstrated their insolubility If .
they were living beings it followed that it must be p ossible ,
to kill them H ere again he found the truth o f his con

.
, ,
tention fo r when he heated chalk together with a little

, ,
° °
water to 3 00 C ( 572 F he afterwards p roved it to
,
.
have become devoid o f its former fermentative p ower

“
.
”
Th e little bodies were now quite devoid o f the move
ment that before had characterised them A mong other .
p o ints he
,
discovered that i f during the p rocess o f fe r ,
mentation by these minute organisms all foreign in ,
v a si o n s were guarded against by rigid p recautions the ,
little bodies increased and multiplied This Observation .
was to stand him in good stead in his subsequent 1
researches .
B é ch a m p observed that the chalk he had used seemed to

be formed mostly o f the mineral remains o f a m ic r o scOpi c
world long since vanished which fossil remains according
, ,
-
,
to E hrenberg belong to two Sp ecies called P olythalamis and

, ,
Nautilae and which are so minute that more than two

millions would be found in a piece o f chalk weighing one
hundred g rammes But over and above these remains o f
.
,
extinct beings the Professor saw that the white chalk con
,
La The ie d Microzyma par A B échamp pp 1 13 1 14

1 or a , .
, .
, .
structured and to be the builders o f cells ; and Bé champ
saw that if this were true Virchow s theory o f the cell as ,
’
the unit o f life would be Shattered comp letely The g r an u

“
.
la t io n s the
, little bodies would be the anatomical ,
elements and those found in the limestone and chalk he

,
believed might even be the living remains o f animal and

vegetable forms o f p ast ages These must be the up .
builders o f plant and animal bodies and these might sur

vive when such corp orate bodies have long since under
gone disru p tion .
A t this p oint we may draw attention to the cautiousness

o f B echam A
’
s
p p roceedings lthough his investigations
. o f
chalk were commenced at the time of the p ublication o f
his Beacon M emoir he continued to work at the subject
,
fo r nearly ten years before giving p ublicity to his new

observations Meanwhile the p roverb about the ill wind
.
,
was exemplified in his case fo r diseases a ffecting vines ,
were becoming the scourge of France and led him to ,
undertake some exp eriments that were helpful in widening

the new views that he was gradually formulating .
We have already seen how in 1863 M Pasteur had been .
des p atched with the E mp eror s blessing to investigate the ’
troubles o f French wi ne growers There was no o fficial -

.
request fo r P rofessor B echamp s assistance but none the ’

, ,
less with his unfailing interest in all scientifi c p roblems

, ,
he started to p robe into the matter and in 1862 a year , ,
before Paste ur b e g a n his researches in the vineyard

,
’
He exposed to contact with air at the same time and ,
p lace ( )
1 gra p e must d e colourised
-
by animal
,
charcoal ,
( )
2 gra p e must S-
im p ly fi ltered
,
and (3 ) gra p e must not ,
-
,
filtered . Th e three p rep arations fermented but to a ,
degree in an inverse order from the above enumeration .
Further the moulds or ferments that develop ed were not

, , ,
identical in the three experiments

“
.
Th e question thus arose : Why the chemical medium ,
being the same in the three cases did it not act in the ,
”
same manner u pon the three musts?
To solve the riddle the Professor instituted more e x pe r i
,
THE
“
L ITTL E B O DIE S
”
93
m ents Whole healthy grap es with their stalks attached

.
, ,
were introduced direct from the vine into boiled sweetened

water cooled in a current o f carbonic acid gas while the
, ,
gas still bubbled into the liquid Fermentation took place .
and was completed in this medium p reserved during the ,
whole p rocess from the influence of air Th e same e x p e r i .
ment succeeded when the grap es were introduced into

must filtered heated and creosoted
, ,
.
From these researches it was evident that neither oxygen

nor air borne organisms were the cause o f the fermenta
-
tion but that the grap e carried with it the p rov ocative
,
agents .
P rofessor B é c ha m p communicated the results o f his

ex periments to the A cademy of S cience in 1 864 and ,
among its R ep orts the subject may be found exhaustively

treated He had come to the conclusion that the agent
1
.
that causes the must to ferment is a mould that comes

from the outside o f the grap e and that the stalks o f grap es ,
and the leaves of vines bear organisms cap able o f causing

both sugar and must to ferment ; moreover that the fe r ,
ments borne on the leaves and stalks are sometimes o f a

kind to injure the vintage .
Th e year 1 864 when B é ch am p p resented this M emoir

, ,
marks an era in the history of biological research fo r on , ,
the 4t h Ap ril o f that self same year he read before the

,
-
,
A cademy o f S cience his exp lanation o f the p henomena o f

,
fermentation H e Showed the latter to be d ue to the p r o

.
cesses of nutrition o f living organisms that absorp tion ,
takes p lace followed by assimilation and ex cretion and

,
fo r the fi rst time used the word zy mase to designate a

soluble ferment .
I t was the following year that M Du claux a p u pil o f .

,
P asteur s tried to cast scorn u p on B echam p s illuminating

’ ’
,
exp lanation thus supp lying documentary p roof that his

,
master had no right to lay claim to having been a pioneer

o f thi s teaching .
Bé ch am p who in 1 857 had so conclusively p rov ed air

, , ,
1
. .
94 BE C HA M P OR PA STE UR?
borne organisms to be agents of fermentation now in , ,
1 864 equally clearly set forth the manner in which the

,
p henomenon is induced A ll the while he was at work on .
Nature s further mysteries undertaking exp eriments u p on

’
milk in addition to many others and in December of the ,
same year informed M Dumas o f his discovery o f living .
organisms in chalk L ater on the 2 6t h S eptember 186 5 .

, , ,
he wrote to M Dumas on the subject and by the latter s

.
,
’
request his letter was p ublished the next month in the

,
Annales de Chimie et de P hy sique 1
“
.
Here he stated — Chalk and milk contain living beings

already develo p ed which fact observed by itself is p roved , , ,
by this other fact that creosote employed in a non ,
coagulating dose does not p revent milk from finally ,
turning nor chalk without extraneous help from con

, , ,
verting both sugar and starch into alcohol and then into
”
acetic acid tartaric a n d and butyric acid
,
.
T hus we clearly see the meaning in every single e x p e r i

ment o f B echam p s and the relation that each bore to the ’
other .H i s rigid exp eriments with creosote made it

p ossible fo r him to establish further conclusions S ince .
creosote p revented the invasion o f extraneous life living ,
organisms must be p r e ex istent in ch alk and milk before -
the addition of creosote These living organisms were the

“
.
”
little bodies that he had seen associated in cells and
singly in the tissues and fi bres o f p lants and animals To o .
minute to differentiate through the microsco p e B é cham p

tells u s that
2 “The naturalist w ill not be able to dis
-
,
t in g ui sh them by a descrip tion ; but the chemist and also

”
the p hysiologist will characterise them by their function .
H e was thus not checked in his investigations by the

minuten ess of his objects o f research so infinitesimal as , ,
in many cases no doubt to be ultra microsco pic Neither

, ,
-
.
was he disturbed by the ridicule with which many o f his

contemp oraries received his account o f the little bodies in
chalk and milk Being a doctor he was much help ed in .
,
4e e i 6 p 2 4 8
'
1
s r e, ,
. .
'
L The i d M i zy ma par A Bé hamp p 12 4
2
a or e a cro , . c , . .
THE
“
L ITTL E BO D IE S
”
95
his research work by his medical studies In the year 1 86 5 .
he found in fermented urine that besides other minute ,
organisms there were little bodies so infinitesimal as to

,
be only visible by a very high p ower o f the microsco p e ,
Obj 7 0 0 I Na c h e t
.
,
.
,
He soon after found these same little
.
bodies in normal urine .
Th e following year 1 866 he sent u p to the A cademy o f

S cience a M emoir entitled
“,
O n the R i fl
,
e o f Chalk in
B utyric and L actic F e r m e n t a t ion s and the L iving
”1
O rganisms Contained in It .
H ere he detailed exp eriments and p rop osed fo r the

”
little bodies the name o f microzy ma from Greek words
“
that mean small and ferment ” “ ”
This very descrip tive
.
,
nomenclature p ortrayed them as ferments o f the minutest

p erce p tible order .
To the Sp ecial little bodies found in chalk he gave the ,
name o f microzy ma creta .
Without loss of time he continued his investigations on

,
the relation o f the m ic r o z ym a s o f chalk to the molecular

granulations o f animal and vegetable cells and tissues and ,
also made numerous further geological examinations The .
results of the latter were p artly incorp orated in a M emoir

“ O n Geological Mi c r o z y m a s o f Various O rigin
”
an ,
extract o f whi ch was p ublished among the R e ports of the

A cademy o f S cience .
In this he ask s : What is now the geological sig n ifi

”
f
cance o these m c r o z ym a s and what is their origin
i ? He
an sw e r s z—
“ I believe that they are the organised and yet
living remains o f beings that lived in long p ast ages I fin d .
p roo f o f this both in th ese researches and in those that I

have carried out by myself and in collaboration with M .
E stor on the mi c r o z ym a s Of actual living beings T hese .
m i c r o z
y m a s are mor p hologically identical and even , ,
though there may be some Slight d iffe r e rice s in their

activity as ferments all the comp onents that are formed
,
under their influence are nevertheless o f the same order, ,

.
1
Comptes Rendus 6 3 , p 4 51
. . L es Microzymas, par A B échamp, p 94 0
. . .
2
. . L es M icrozy mas par
,
A B échamp, p 9 44
. . .
P erhap s one day geology chemistry and p hysiology will
,
j oin in a ffirming that the great analogies that there are

stated to be between geological fauna and flora and living
fauna and flora from the p oint o f view o f form exist also
, ,
from the p oint o f view o f histology and p hysiology I .
have already set forth some differences between geological

m i c r o z y m a s o f various origin : thus while bacteria may ,
a pp ear with the limestone o f A rmissan and that o f

Barbentane these are never develo p ed in the case of chalk
,
or o f Oolit hic limestone under the same circumstances .
A nalogous differences may be met with among the

m i c r o z ym a s o f living beings It is remarkable that
.
the m icr o z ym as of limestones that I have examined are

almost without action at low temp eratures and that their ,
activity only develo p s between 3 5 and 40 degrees A .
glacial temp erature comp arable to that o f the valley o f

,
”
O bi would completely arrest this activity
,
.
T hough many ridiculed such new and startlingly

original ideas and though many nowadays may continue
to do so we have to remember that the mysteries of chalk
,
may well bear much more investigation M odern .
geologists seem ready to admit that chalk p ossesses some

remarkable qualities that under certain conditions it
,
p roduces movements that might evidence life and induce

something like fermentation Professor Bastian though .
his inferen ces differ comp letely from B é cham p s again ,
confirms t he latter s researches We read in The Orig in of

’
“
.
L if e as follows
1 — We may therefore well recognise that
, ,
the lower the forms of life the nearer they are to their
—
source the greater is likely to have been the Similarity

—
among those that have been p roduced in different ages ,
just as the lowest forms are now p ractically simil ar in all

regions o f the earth H ow otherwise consistently with
.
, ,
the doctrine o f evolution are we to account fo r the fact

,
that different kinds of bacilli and micrococci have been

found in animal and vegetable remains in the Triassic and
1
i in of L ife
The Or g , by H . C harlt on B a st ia
n, M . A .
, MD . .
,
F L S
. . .
pp 6 7, 6 8
. .
THE
“
L ITTL E B O DIE S
”
97
Permian strata in Carboniferous limestone and even as

,
low as the Upper Devonian strata (S e e Ann des Sciences

? .
Nat (B ot ) 189 5 II pp 2 75
.
, ,
I s it conceivable that
,
.
with mere lineal descent such variable living things could

retain the same p rimitive forms through all these changing
ages? IS it not far simpler and more p robable to su p p ose ,
es pecially in the light o f the exp erimental evidence now

adduced that instead of having to do with unbro ken
,
descent from ancestors through these aeons o f time as ,
Darwin taught and is commonly believed we have to do

, , ,
in the case o f B acteria and their allies with successive new ,
births of such organisms throughout these ages as p rim

ordial forms of life comp elled by their different but ,
constantly recurring molecular constitutions to take such

and such recurring forms and p ro p erties just as would be ,
the case with successive new births of d ifl e r e n t kinds o f

”
crystals ?
We have introduced this quotation merely to Show the

confirmation by Bastian of B echamp s discovery of living ’
elements in chalk a nd limestone and must leave to g e olo ,
gists to determine whether infiltration or other extraneous

sources do or do not account fo r the phenomena If they .
do not we might be driven to believe in P rofessor Bastian s

,
’
explanation o f successively recurring new births o f

chemical origin were it not fo r P rofessor B echamp s
,
’
elucidation of all organised beings taking their rise from

the m icr o z ym as which we may identify with what are now
,
known as microsomes when found in cells whether

animal or vegetable Thus we see that B é cha m p s teaching
.
can explain a pp earances which without it can only be , ,
accounted fo r by spontaneous generation as shown by ,
Professor B astian Whether B é ch a m p were correct in his

.
belief that the m i cr o z ym a s in chalk are the living remains

o f dead beings o f long ast ages is not a oint that we care
p p
to elaborate We wish to leave the subject o f chalk to
.
those qualified to deal with it and have only touched on

it here because these initial observations o f P rofessor
B echamp s were what led to his views of the cell since
’
,
G
98 B E CHAMP OR PA ST E UR ?
confirmed by modern cytology and to what may be ,
termed his micro z ymian doctrine which we are inclined ,
to believe has been too much neglected by the modern

school of medicine Those dis p osed to ridicule B é ch am p .
may well p onder the fact that the fi rst word rather than
the last is all that has been said about micro organisms -
.
For instance it is now claimed that in the same manner

,
that coral is derived from certain minute sea insects so -

,
p articular micro organisms not only aid in the decom p

-
osi
tion o f rocks and in the formation of chalk and limestone ,
bu f p lay an active p art in the forming o f iron dep osits 1

.
T hough as we have said derided by some B echamp s

’
, , ,
work at this time was beginning to attract a great amount

o f attention and mid way through the sixties o f the last
,
-
century it gained fo r him an enthusiastic c o p artner in his

,
-
labours This was P rofessor E sto r physician and surgeon

.
,
in the service of the hos pital at Mont p ellier and who , ,
besides being in the full swing of p ractical work was a man ,
thoroughly accustomed to research and abundantly

versed in scientifi c theories H e had been astounded by .
1
i
A tte n t o n h a s b e e n d r awn t o a r e m ar ka le a n d up - t o -d a te p ar alle l b
’
i
Of B ec h a m p s d sc o v e r y o f m i c r o z ym a s i n c h a lk S e e The Iron and Coa l Trades .
i
Rev ew fo r M ay 4 t h , 1 9 2 3 In t h s, i n an a r t cle o n Coal M ners Nystag mus ,
. i
’
i i “
i b
Dr F r e d e r ck R o so n pu t s fo r wa r d a st at e m e n t by Pr o fe ssor P o t te r that
.
t he r e a r e i n c o al b i b
a c t e r a c a p a le o f p r o d u c n g g a se s , a n d t h a t t h e g ase s i
i b
so l a t e d a r e m e t h an e , c ar o n d ox d e an d c ar o n m o n o x d e , w t h h e a t n g i i b i i i
up t o 2 d e g C ( 3 5 d e g -3 6 d e g F I t w o u ld a pp e a r as Ifw oo d w e r e cap a le
. . . . . b
o f c o n t ai n n g i
i n i t s m e t am o r p ho se d st a t e ( co a l) t h e a c t e r a o r g n ally b i i i
p r e se n t i n t h e t r e e st ag e o f i t s e x ste n c e i
I t 15 p o ss le , t o o , t h a t d ffe r e n t ib i
fl
.
i
ki n d s o f o r d e r s of or a w o u ld g v e r se t o t h e p r e se n ce o f d ffe r e n t sp e c e s o f i i i
b ac t e r a i p o ss ly r e s d e n t ib
i n t h e w o o d -
i
y fi br e d c o al T hi s d e a . i
of b i i i
a c t e r al n v a s o n o f c o a l sug g e st s t h a t so m e d e g r e e o f o x d a t o n m a y b e i i
bi
d ue t o t h e g r e a t ar m y o f aer o c or a n ae r o c a c t e r a w h ch m ay g v e r se bi b i i i i
i i
t o o x d a t o n a n d m ay b e t h e g e n e s s o f co al g a se s i n t h e p t s, e , t h a t o x d a i i i . . i
i i i
t o n i s d u e t o l v n g o r g a n sm s w t h n cr e a se Of 2 d e g i i
C o f h e at Th s h as i . . . i
b i
e e n d sp r o v e d , b u t i t i s e v d e n t t h a t a c t e r a e x st i T h e r e i s e v d e n ce b i i . i
t o S h o w t h a t a t 1 00 d e g C (2 12 d e g F ) a ll ac t e r a l a c t o n ce a se s If soft
. . . . b i i .
c oa l s a n d b i i i
ac t e r al n v a s o n g o h an d i n h a n d , i n s o m e k n d o f r e la t o n sh p , i i i
t h e n a s t he c o a l m e a su r e s b
e c o m e h a r d e r fr o m e a st t o w e st , t h e m cr o c i bi
i i i i i
n v a s o n o r co n t e n t m ay d m n sh w t h t h e r a t o o f g a se o u s l i e r at o n
”
i ib i .
b i
Th u s m o r e m o d e rn c o r r o o r a t on i s fo un d o f B ech am p s a st o u n d n g d i s
’
i
i
c o v e ry ; w h le i t i s d u e t o h i m a lo n e t h a t w e m ay u n d e r st a n d t h e o r g n o f t h e i i
so - c alle d b
a c te r a i i
A c c or d n g t o h i s t e ach n g , t h e se m u st b e t h e sur v v n
. i i i g
i
m icr o z ym a s , o r m cr o som e s, of t h e c e ll s o f p re -h st or c t r e e s, kn own t o u s i i
i ii
n ow i n t he r fo ss l z e d fo r m a s c o a l , bu t st ll p r e se rv n g n t ac t t he i n fin ite si i i i
i i
m al l v e s t h at o n c e bu lt u p p r m e v al v e g e t at on i i .
CHA P TE R IX
D I S E A SE S OF SI LK -
W OR M S
AT the commencement o f the year 186 5 the epide mic ,
"
a mong Silk worms had become so acute that the seri

/
-
cultural industry o f France was seriously threatened .
E ggs worms chrysalides and moths were all liable to be

, ,
affected The trouble was characterised by the p resence

“
.
”
o f a microsco pic object called the v ibrant corp uscle or
“ Corp uscle o f C o r n alia ”
after the scientist who first,
,
observed it ; while the malady became p op ularly known as

“e'brine from the atois word ebre' e er ’
p , p p p pp ,
.
I t ap p ears to have been through the advocacy o f M

I
Dumas that M P asteur was ap pointed by the Minister o f

.
A griculture to investigate the matter and no one c a n ,
have attended a p op ular lect ure on the subject without

having been informed that P asteur s Work redeemed fo r ’
his country more money than the war indemnity wrung

from France by the G ermans after 1 8 70 What really .
hap p ened was that P asteur s luck stood him in extra ’
ordinarily good stead Had Professor Bé cham p not p r o

.
v i d e d him with the elucidation o f the silk worm mystery -

,
a very different story might have been told .
Nothing better illustrates the remarkable acuteness o f

B echamp s intellect than the ra pidity with which he solved
’
'
the cause o f pebrine and suggested a p r e v e n tl v e Although .
he was entirely unassisted and obliged to defray any e n

tailed exp enses out o f his own p ocket already in the year ,
1 86 5 he was able to state before the A gricultural S ociet y

,
o f H erault that pe brine was a p arasitical disease and that

’
creosote could be used to p revent the attack o f the p arasite .
M eantime however M P asteur had been intrusted by

, ,
.
the Government with an investigation and no one who ,
understands anything o f dep artme ntal red tap e will

wonder that instead of at once accepting B echamp s
,
’
I OO
DISE ASE S OF S IL K-WOR MS 10 1
verdict ,
A gricultural S ocieties waited to hea r the p r o
n o u n c e m e n t o f the o i c i a l re p resentative Plenty o f fl .
p atience had to be exercised .
M P asteur arrived on his mission at Alais in June 1 86 5

.
, ,
having as he stated before long in his Note to the A cademy

1 “
,
”
o f S cience no serious title to his fresh emp loyment
,
“
owing to his ignorance o f the subject I have never even .
,
touched a silk worm he had written p reviously to M

”
-
,
.
Dumas and the p erusal o f an essay on the history o f th e

,
worm by Q uatrefages comp rised his study u p to June ,
1 86 5 .
Yet as some statement was expected from him he

, ,
managed to address a Communication to the A cademy o f

S cience on the 2 5th S e p tember o f the same year in which
he gave vent to the following extraordinary descrip tion 2
The corpuscles are neither animal nor vegetable but ,
bodies more or less analogous to cancerous cells or those o f

p ulmonary tuberculosis From the p oint o f view o f a .
methodic classifi cation they should rather be ranged ,
beside globules of pu s or globules o f blood or better still , , , ,
granules o f starch than beside infusoria or moulds They .
do not appear to me to be free as many authors think in , ,
the body o f the animal but well contained in the cells , .
It is the chrysalide rather than the worm that one , ,

”
Should try to submit to ro er remedies
p p .
On e may well imagine that such a descri p tion evoked

ridicule from Professor Bé ch am p who scorn fully wrote ?
“ Thus this chemist who is occu p ying himself with fe r
,
mentation has not begun to decide whether or no he is

,
”
dealing with a ferment .
W at Pasteur had done however was to give a detailed

h
, ,
description that was wrong in every p articular There fo r .
a considerable time he left the matter while the deaths o f ,
his father and two o f his daughters intervened an d he ,

w
re ce i ved me tron o ur o f be ing in v it e d a s a g u est to s pend

- “ “ -
"
w
1
Comptes Rendus 6 1 , p 506
. .
2
C R 6 1 p 506
. .
, . .
3
Les Grands P roblémes M édicaux par A , . B échamp, p 7 . .
1 02 B E CHAMP OR PA S T E UR?
a week with the E mp eror and E mp ress at t he P a lace o f —
Compi egne .
Nap oleon I I I was we are told deeply interested in , ,
S cience A t any rate he and the E m p ress listened with

.
,
condescending deference to P asteur s discourses Th e

’
.
latter was not only brought into close contact with

eminent diplomatists and the Shining lights of art and
literature but was singled out from among these celebrities
,
for s p ecial I m p erial favours Hi s silk worm p erplexities .

-
were confi ded to E ugenie and that gracious l ady e m ,
c o ur a g e d him to fresh endeavours L imelight is invariably .
thrown u p on those smiled up on by I mp erial p ersonages ,
and it is easy to understand the increasing deference that

began to be shown to P asteur by most o f his comp eers A s .
regards the silk worm disease instead o f being watchful

-
,
fo r the correct verdict the world at large merely waited to ,
hear what M Pasteur had to say on the subject

. .
In February 1 866 the latter again started fo r that p ar t

, ,
o f France then su ffering from the trouble and this time ,
fortifi ed himself with the com p any o f scientific assistants .
G overnment again gave all the help p ossible and the ,
Minister o f Public Instruction granted s pecial leave of

absence to M Ge r n e z a Professor at the College L ouis lo
.
,
Grand so that he might be free to help P asteur Yet in

,
.
,
spite of all this assistance and notwithstanding extra early ,
rising his biographer has to admit that the results P asteur

,
“
arrived at were being much criticised ”1
His actual p ro .
n o un c e m e n t s his son in law has wisely p assed over and - -
instead has introduced various topics to divert the atten

tion of the reader who p ersists in asking —
“What was
”
P asteur s solution o f the silk worm mystery ?
’
-
Fortunately lovers o f truth can fin d the exact answers in

,
the R ep orts o f the French A cademy of S cience The fi rst .
one to turn to however is a Note not by M P asteur but , ,

.
,
by P rofessor B é ch a m p which comes under the date o f the ,
1 8t h June 1 ,
1
Th L if of P t u by R é V ll y R ad t p
e e as e r , 33 en a er -
o , . 1 .
2
Comptes Rendus 6 2 , p . 13 4 1 .
1 04 B E CHAMP OR PASTE UR ?
better make clear my o pinion o f Silk worm disease than by -
comp aring it to the e ffects o f p ulmonary p hthisis M y .
observations o f this year have fortifi ed me in the o pinion

that these little organisms are neither animalcules nor
cryptogamic p lants I t app ears to me that it is chiefly the
.
cellular tissue o f all the organs that is transformed into

”
corp uscles or p roduces them Not a Single p roo f did he.
bring forward o f a fact that would if true have been , ,
marvellous : not a single suggestion did he give o f any

exp eriment to determine the asserted absence o f life in the
corp uscles or their relation to the disease Finally he went .
out o f his way to contradict B é ch am p and in so doing set a

definite seal on his blunder “O n e would be tem p ted to
.
believe esp ecially from the resemblance of the corp uscles

,
to the s pores o f m uc o r in a that a p arasite had invaded the

,
nurseries That would be an error

. .
T his intentional dig at another worker was singularly

unlucky for it p rovides p roof p ositive of the lie direct given
,
by P asteur to a correct solution to which he afterwards laid

claim Here was the man who had so utterly renounced
.
his former sp on te p a r i st views as to ascribe all fermentative

effects all vital phenomena to air borne causes now
, ,
-
,
denying the extraneous origin o f a disease that was p roved

by B é ch am p to be undoubtedly p arasitic .
The latter at once fortifi ed his conclusions by an account

o f the exp eriments u p on which he had based them On .
the 1 3 t h A ugust 1866 he p resented a Note to the

“ ,
A cademy o f S cience : R esearches on the Nature o f the

,
”1
A ctual Disease o f S ilk Worms In this he described a
-
.
rocess o f washing the seeds and worms which gave p roo f

p ,
that those a ffected had been invaded by a p arasite In .
answer to M Pasteur he declared that the vibrant cor

“ ,
.
u le I S not a p athological p roduction something

p sc ,
analogous to a globule o f pu s or a cancer cell or to p ul , ,
m o n ar y tubercles but is distinctly a cell o f a vegetable

,
nature .
A gain on the 2 7th August another Note to the

, ,
1 Comptes Rendus 63 , p 3 11
. .
DISE ASE S O F S IL K - WORM S 105
A cademy described exp eriments that p roved the vibrant

1
corpuscle to be an organised ferment .
L ater on the 4t h February o f the following year 1 86 7 a

, , ,
fresh M emoir sent to the A cademy detailed m o re e x p e r i

,
2
,
ments that not only showed the corpuscle to be a ferment ,
but also that after the inversion o f sugar fermentation ,
went on p roducing alcohol acetic acid and another

, , ,
non volatile acid

-
.
In January 1 86 7 P asteur who had been away returned

, , , ,
to A lais app arently at last enlightened by P rofessor

,
B echamp s explanations I n a letter to M Duruy the

’
. .
,
Minister o f P ublic Instruction he seems to have started ,
to take to himself credit fo r solving the mystery o f the Silk

worm trouble This would account fo r the almost
.
p athetic p lea p u t forward by B é c h am

p fo r a recognition
o f his outstanding riority in roviding a correct scientific

p p
ex planation .
The latter now on the 2 9 th A p ril 1 86 7 p rovided the

, , ,
A cademy o f S cience with an even fuller account in which

3
,
he stated his Opinion that the vibrant cor puscle was a

Sp ore and demonstrated that it multi plied in an infusion
,
o f dead worms chrysalides and moths and that creosote

, ,
diminished this multiplication H e added to this Note a .
late o f designs o f the m i c r o sc 0 i c examination o f this

p
“ p
”
reproduction of c o r puscle s Thus he said is comp leted “ .
, ,
the p arasitic theory of pebrine fo r the triump h o f which I ’
have struggled fo r nearly two years I venture to hop e that .
the p riority of the idea and o f the exp eriments that have
”
demonstrated it will not be dis p uted H e showed that up .
to the p revious A ugust he had been alone in holding his

Opinion with the exce tion o f M L e Ri c u e de Monchy
, p q .
,
to whom he exp ressed gratitude fo r his encouragement

and able assistance .
A las fo r B é ch am p ! P asteur was unhapp ily devoid o f a

Similar habit o f rendering due honour Convinced against .
1
Comptes Rendus 6 3 , p 39 1 . .
2
C R 64 p 2 3 1
. .
,
. .
3
C R 64 p 873
. .
, . .
1 06 B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR?
hi s W ill by the Professor s irrefutable p roofs there was ’
nothing fo r him bu t to turn a complete voltef ace as he had ,
done before when Bé ch am p incontestably p roved the

erroneousness of belief in sp ontaneous generation .
On the self same 2 9 t h A p ril 1 86 7 we fi n d among the

-
, ,
R ep orts o f the A cademy o f S cience a letter from P asteur

1
to Dumas dated Alais 2 4th Ap ril In this P asteur feebly

, , .
excused his mistak e on the score that he had held his

«
erroneous view in good comp any with many p ersons o f

”
great rep ute and he a lSo pleaded the imp ossibility of
,
recognising the mode of rep roduction o f the corp uscles .
Instead o f any acknowledgement to Professor B é ch am p fo r

his full illuminating revelations P asteur coolly exp ressed ,
a h Op e that he himself would soon be able to p resent an

almost complete study o f the disease His omission to do so .
then and there seems a noteworthy p roof o f a continued

want o f clear understanding .
We fin d among the Rep orts o f the 2 oth M ay 186 7 a

2
, ,
letter addressed to the P resident of the A cademy of S cience

by B é cha m p dated the l g t h May on the subject o f
, ,
Pasteur 8 Communication o f the p revious Ap ril He

’
.
ointed out the error f P asteur s former views and vindi ’
p o
c a t e d his own p riority in discovering the true nature o f the
cor p uscles and their mode of rep roduction

3— “
.
On the same date he brought forward New Facts to

,
H el p the H istory o f the A ctual Disease o f Silk Worms and -
”
the Nature o f the Vibrant Corpuscle Here he claimed .
that the corpuscles were air borne and to be found on -
mulberry leaves the greatest care therefore being , , ,
necessitated in the p rep aration o f leaves destined fo r the

food o f the worms But the most noteworthy fact o f this.
M emoir concerns the p art in which B é ch am p distinguished

another silk w o r m d i se a se from that o f pebrine O bserva
'
’
-
.
tions had already been made by the naturalist M N Joly ,

. .
,
u pon the p resence of vibrios in the intestinal canal of

1
. .
C R 6 4 p 1042
. .
, . .
3
C R p 1043
. .
,
. .
1 08 B E CHAMP OR PASTE UR?
p osterior to the 1 1 th A p ril when P ro fessor Bé c h a m p had
fl
,
p u t f orward his fi rst ex p lanation o f a cher ie ; neither does

P asteur in his letter do more than allude to the cor p uscular
malady as not being the only torment o f sericulture A s .
a safeguard to pebrine he p u t forward his system o f taking

’
seed only from moths free from corpuscles whi ch as , ,
Bé ch a m p p ointed out was an absurdity considering the

1
, ,
p arasitic nature o f the com p laint and the fact that the
p arasites abounded on mulberry leaves .
The other letter to Dumas p ublished on the 3 r d June , ,
1 86 7 was dated A lais the 2 1st M a H ere P asteur stated

, y
, .
that another trouble was Often wrongly confounded with

’
brine
“because in a great number f cases the two
p e , o
diseases had no connection or at least not directly ,

.
Considering the complete disp arity of the two com

laints as already S hown by Bé h am the vibrant cor
p c p
fl
, ,
p u sc le s being o ften entirely absent in the case Of acher ie ,
this comment o f P asteur s is noteworthy as showing that ’
he did not p ossess his rival s com p rehension o f the subject ’

.
B é c h a m p meanwhile worked hard and sent to the

,
Commission on S ericulture a M emoir entitled : On the

,
“
T ransformation o f the Vibrant Corp uscle o f P ebrine and on
’
the Nature o f the Disease called Resté P etits This im p or -

.
tant communication the A cademy o f S cience p ublished

,
only in abstract on the 1 0th June 1 86 7; while on the I st ,
July o f the same year the A cademy p ublished another ,
Memoir also fi rst sent by B é cham p to the Commission

,
“
on S ericulture and entitled : O n the S a c char i fic a t io n o f
,
the Vibrant Corpuscle of P e brine Here he gave a full ’
descrip tion o f the corpuscle Showing it to lose its o scilla t ,
ing movement in a solution o f caustic potash but to be ,
insoluble in this liquid He found it to be soluble in .
sulphuric acid on boiling and p roved that glucose

could be p roduced from it by successive treatment with
sul phuric acid barium carbonate alcohol and water
, , ,
and came to the co n clusIOn that the vibran t p article

contains cellulose .
1
Les Grands P roblemes M édicaux, p . 2 5.
DISE A SE S OF S IL K - WORMS 109
4
From P asteur the o ffi cial inquirer into the diseases o f

,
Silk worms the R e ports o f the A cademy o f S cience p rovide

-
,
no further communication on the subject fo r almost a

twelvemonth .
From B é ch am p on the contrary a series o f Memoirs , ,
Show the way in which his detailed p ersevering work on ,
micro organisms led to his final comp rehension o f the

-
Silk worm disease called

-
acherie fl .
He had already on the 2 n d Ap ril 186 7 sent up a note to

“
the A cademy on M icrosco pic O rganisms in S aliva
,
”
, ,
Th e matter was so new and unexpected that only a résumé

was given ?
O n the 2 4t h February 1 86 8 he sent u p a Note on The , ,
Molecular Granulations (m icro z ym a s) o f Ferments and o f

”2
A nimal Tissues Here he drew attention to the micro
.
organi sms to be found in vaccine virus a p lagiarised con ,
fi r m a t ion o f whi ch was given by M Chauveau

“
. .
On the 2 n d M arch 1 868 a Note on The M olecular , ,

”3
Granulations (m icr o z ym a s) o f the Cells o f the L iver .
On the 4t h M ay 1 86 8 O n the O rigin and Develo p , ,

”4
ment o f B acteria T his was a general demonstration o f
.
bacterial develop ment from the anatomically elemental

m i c r o z ym a s .
It
was on the 8t h June 1 868 that he app lied all the p r e
“
fl
, ,
ceding facts to the disease o f acherie in a Note On the

Microzymian Disease o f Silk Worms ”5
Here he stated -
.
flache r i e to be hereditary owing to the abnormal develo p

ment o f the inherent elemental m i c ro z ym a s o f the Silk
worm H e showed that the m i cr o z ym a s might be seen
.
singly or associated in chap lets or in the form o f very small ,
bacteria To see them a very high p ower o f the microsco p e

.
,
was needed nothi ng less than obj 7 0 c I Nache t H e

, .
,
.
,
.
stated that the microsco p es su pplied to workers by the

1
. .
1
C R 6 6 p 3 66
. .
, . .
3
C R 66 p 4 2 1
. .
, . .
C R 66 p 859
. .
, . .
5
C R 6 6 p 1 16 0
. .
, . .
1 10 B E CHAMP OR PA S TE UR?
Government were not strong enough H e showed that .
m i cro z ym a s and bacteria might exist in the same worm ,
but it appeared worthy o f attention that the number o f

m i c r o z ym a s was in an inverse ratio to that o f the bacteria .
It was useless to take seed from moths with the comp laint ,
which was distinguishable by an examination o f the con

tents o f the abdomen He pointed out that to isolate the .
m i cr o z ym a s they Should be treated with a p rep aration o f

,
caustic p otash which dissolving everything else would

, , ,
leave the elemental micro organi sms -

.
T hus as he had at first fully explained the cause and the

,
mode o f p revention of pebrine so now P rofessor B é ch am p

’
made an equally clear and complete explanation of the

second s ilk worm disease flacherie H e showed that unlike
-
,
.
,
p éb rin e it was not caused by an extraneous

, p arasitic i n
v a sio n but was due to an abnormal unhealthy develo p

,
ment o f the m i cr o z ym a s in the body cells of the Silk -
worms The sericultural trouble had given him a chance

.
to demonstrate his full understanding o f disease conditions .
He was able to p rovide a clear exp osition of on the one ,
hand a p arasitic complaint an d on the other o f one due

, , , ,
not to a foreign agent but to a diseased status of anatomical ,
elements .
P asteur was well acquainted with all the Notes p ublished

by B é ch a m p but regrettably to say had not the generosity
, , ,
to Sp are p raise fo r his rival s great scientific triumph It is ’

.
undeniable that his thought was o f himself and how he

could best vindicate his own p retensions
fl
.
B echamp s explanation of acherie app eared as we have

’
,
Shown among the Re p orts o f the A cademy of S cience on

,
the 8th June 1 868 On the 2 9th June the Re ports

,
.
,
include a letter to M Dumas from M P asteur dated 2 4t h

1
. .
June, 1868 P aille r ols Commune de Mée s Basses Al p es

, , ,
-
.
Here it is extraordinary to find that he actually dared to

claim that he had been the first to draw attention to this
second Silk worm disease and distinguish it from pebrine
’
“
-
.
H e wrote to M Dumas — You know that I was the

.
1
1 12 BE C HA M P OR PASTE UR?
far back as the 4 t h July 186 7 a member o f the silk worm , ,
-
industry M R aib aud l A n g e had written to ask to be

,
.
’
allowed to visit him at M ont p ellier to study the disease .
Pasteur resp onded by calling M R aib au d l A n g e to his

’
.
hel p only fo r the latter to confess that he had visited M ont

,
e lli e r fo r the desired object Yet such was the fear f

p o .
,
Offending the Government re p resentative the man ,
honoured by I mp erial p atronage that M Raiba ud l A n g e ,

.
’
,
all the same championed P asteur with flattery and

,
ridiculed the m i c r o z ym a s ?
B é ch am p rep lied to M R aib au d l An g e on the 1 7th

’
.
A ugust 1 86 8 reminding him o f the table o f designs that

, ,
had accomp anied his note of the 8th June 186 7 ?

,
No one re p lied .
A s B é ch am p afterwards said 3
the A cademy might ,
submit to the plagiarism but no one could deny it ,

.
No doubt it was the total inability to set aside

,
B echam p s just claims that made Pasteur SO hate his bril

’
liant rival from this time henceforward B echam p s extra .

’
ordinary success i n dealing with the silk worm diseases -
was all the more remarkable because he had no help ,
p ecuniary or otherwise f rom the Gover n ment and no ,
time to exp end on the p roblem excep t what he could snatch

from a p rofessorial career that was filled with work quite
ap art from any o f his scientific researches .
Pasteur on the other hand had governmental help at

, ,
his instant dis p osal every expense defrayed and scientifi c ,
assistants M oreover he was given complete leisure to

.
,
carry out his researches T hat another should have so .
S ignally succeeded where he had failed must have been a
source o f bitterness to him and his jealousy led him into ,
a veritable p ersecution o f Bé cham p He was sure o f his .
own p osition which had the highest influence to back it

, ,
and we may be certain that he did not allow himself to

ass f rom the memory o f his I m erial atrons He co m
p p p .
1
Comptes Rendus 6 7 , p . 0
3 .1
2
C R 6 7, p 44 3
. . .
‘
3
L es Grands P roble mes M édicaux, p . 29 .
DISE ASE S OF S IL K - WORMS 1 13
m e n ce d his book on vinous fermentation with a foreword

to the E mperor while a dedicatory letter to the E m p ress
,
in the same way p refaced his book on the disease o f Silk

worms We may search in vain through this fo r any
.
generous reference to the fi rst great elucidator o f these

troubles Instead he takes all the credit to himself and
.
,
1
’
even goes out of his way to deride B echam p s arguments
?
in favour o f creosote as a p reventive
But there is truth in the Yankee dictum that you may
fool all the p eople p art of the time and p art o f the p eo p le
all o f the time but never all of the p eop le all o f the time
, ,
and so Pasteur s selfish claims must comp letely fall to the

’
ground in face of the scientifi c rep orts to which we have ,
given reference and which are available to anyone fo r

, ,
instance in the L ibrary o f the B ritish Museum These in

,
.
contestably p rove that the man who made such gains fo r

France in regard to aniline dyes was also the man who
rovided his country with the corre ct diagnosis o f the silk
p
worm diseases and suggested methods of p revention .
Unfortunately p ractical measures were left to P asteur

, ,
and the best commentary u p on these are facts in regard to

the sericultural industry p u t forward by Dr L utaud at 3
.
,
one time E ditor o f the journal de Médecine de P aris .
A t the commencement of the silk worm trouble about -

,
1 8 50 we are told that France roduced annually about

, p
kilogrammes o f cocoons In 1866 6 7 the p r o .
-
,
duction had sunk to kilogrammes After the

“
.
”
introduction o f P asteur s p reventive method p roduc ’
,
tion diminished from kilogrammes in 1 873 to

even so low a figure as kilogrammes o f cocoons
in certain subsequent years
“
.
”
That is the way says Dr L utaud in which P asteur
, .
,
saved sericulture ! Th e reputation which he still p reserves ,
in this res p ect among ignoramuses and Short Sighted -
savants has been brought into being by himsel by

, ( )
I f , ,
‘
1
E tud ur l M l di d V
es s a S i p L P tu p 1
a a e es ers-ci - o e, ar . as e r . 1 .
2
ibid p 4 7
. . .
3
E tudes sur la Rag e, par le Dr Lutaud, pp 4 2 7, 4 2 8
. . .
H
means o f inaccurate assertions ( 2 ) by the sellers of micro
,
sco pic seeds on the Pasteur system who have realised big
,
benefits at the exp ense o f the cultivators ( 3 ) by the ,
comp licity of the A c ad e m ics and P ublic Bodies which , ,
without any investigation reply to the complaints of the

,
‘
cultivators— But sericulture is saved ! M ake use of
P asteur s system ! H owever everybody is not dis p osed to
’ ’
,
employ a system that consists in enriching oneself by the

”
ruination of other s .
P erhap s the greatest harm occasioned by P asteur s

’
j ealousy was the hindrance he set up to notice being taken

o f B é ch am p s work p articularly in regard to his cell doc
’
,
trine and microzymian theories S o much did Pasteur

.
mak e it his e ffort to flout these ideas that actually , ,
M embers o f the A cademy influenced by frien dl y motives

, ,
begged P rofessor B é cham p to drop the very use of the

”
word micro z yma ! T hus the misfortune came about
that instead Of being encouraged science was held back
, , ,
and at every turn the P rofessor of M ont p ellier found him

self ham p ered in the work that so he believed would lay
, ,
the foundations o f cytology and p hysiology and elucidate

the p rocesses o f the an ato m I c al elements in birth and life ,
in health and disease in death and in disru ption

,
.
1 16 B E CH A M P OR PASTE UR?
B E C HA MP PAST E UR
i
F b u i
4 e r ar y
S tatement t o A cademy o f
S cience on further research
in connectio n with P ébrine
as an (org anised) ferment .
A p r ilf 29
11 A p ril C onfession o f error in having
Publication o f a p amp hlet i n believed, in co m p any with
which attenti o n was called to m any p erso n s o f g reat repute ,
an other silk wo rm di sease
-
that the vibran t co rpuscles
that o f the morts fl
, ,
'
ats or reste -
, P ebrine were analo g o us t o
,
peti ts,
commo n l y known as g lobules o f blood p u s or , ,
starch !
2 9 A p ril ? un i
3J
1
c
S tatement to the A cademy o f A letter to Dumas communi
S cience on the vibrant co r ca te d to the A cademy o f
l P b i d m S cience S afeg uard ag ain st
’
p u sc e ,
e r ne ,
e o n st r a t .
i n g it to be a sp ore , and sup disease is to take seed only

p lyin g a p late Of desi g ns H o p e . from moths free f rom c o r
exp ressed that the p riority o f p u sc le s ( a statement that
his co rrect diag nosis will not p roves the p ara sitical nature
be disputed o f P ebr ine to have been still

’
unco mp rehended by Paste l r

20 M ay 3
A n allusion to the co r p usc la u
S tatement to the A cademy o f m alady as not the only tor
“ ”
S cience on Ne w F acts , and ment o f sericulture .
the other silk worm disease -

,
6
Another letter to Dum as
F lache rie clearly disting uished
,
communi cated to the A cad
'
from P ebrine . emy o f S cience stati ng a n
other trouble often to be con
'
June founded with P ebrine but that
“
10 ,
A cademy o f S cience p ublished in a g reat number o f cases

an extract from a C om muni the two diseases had no con
”
cati on on the tw o di s e ases n e ct i o n or at least not directly !
p revi o usly sent to the C om (A s they had n o connectio n
mission o n S e riculture . at all the uncertai nty o f hi s
,
ideas is apparent ) .
4
p . 2 3 1.
DISE A S E S O F S IL K -
WO R M S ”7
BE C HA M P PA S T E UR
A series o f publications , wind

i n g up with
i
8 Jun e s !
2 9 June )
A c o m m un i cati o n to the A letter to Dumas com muni

A c ade m y o f S ci e n ce On ca t e d to the A cad em y o f
the Mic ro zym ian Di se a s e o f S ci e n ce clai m ing to have be e n
”
S i lk-Wo rm s , m o re fatal than the fi rst to draw attenti on t o
P ebrine, si n ce cre o so te co uld
’
the di sease o f morts flats and -
be a p re ve n tive o f the latte r, deman di n g the p ubli cati o n o f

whi le the fo rm er i s co n sti tu a C o m m u n ication to the A g ri
ti o n a l a n d he reditary T he . cultural S o ciety o fA lai s o n the
mi cr o z ym a s are t o be s e en I st Of t he current month .
si n g ly o r asso ciated in chap T he latter fo llows — R efer

lets o r i n the fo rm o f ve ry ence t o the o rg an isms asso ci
s m all bacte ria NO s e e d sho uld
. ated with F lacherie wi tho ut ,
be take n from m o ths that have a n y ackn ow e d m e n t o f the

l g
the c o m plai n t di sce rn i ble by p ri o r o bservati o n s o f J o ly a n d
an exam in atio n o f the co n B é c ha m p . C o n si d e rs the
ten ts o f the abdo m e n un de r a o rg an ism s t o be
p ro bably the
ve ry hig h p owe r o f the m icro s ne ce ssary result o f dig estive

co pe a t the ve ry least the
, trouble .
com bin ation obj 7 0c I .

, .
,
Nache t .
C OROLLARY
I n vie w o f the ab ove Pasteur s claim o f
’
,
p ri o rity in a co rrect diag n o sis o f the two

silk wo rm di se a se s re e a t e d on
-
o f his
p , p 1 1 .
E tudes la M aladie des Ve rs- d S oie— I S

sur -
E NT IR E LY WITH O UT F O UNDA TI O N .
1
Conwtes Rendus 66 p . 1 16 0 , 2
CHAPTE R X
L A B OR AT ORY E XP E R IME NTS
WE have alr e ady see n t h at at the time when B éch am p and ,
P asteur t urn § d their attention to the Sm

_ _
fe r m e n t a
m H — w f
M m _
tion the vaguest conce p tions were held in regard to living

,
matter Grand names were given such as p rotoplasm and

.
,
‘
blasteme but so little was known that the albuminoids were
,
believed to be always identical Virchow had tried to .
Sim plify matters
while H enle had advanced considerably fa r the rl py g atip g

that On—
,
he by
m mUIS B t o m s the molecular granulations just distin
, ,
g u i sh able within them S

W d also taught
atmosphere is filled with infinitesimal living organisms
that
. the
.
T hen Bé ch am p and P asteur ap p eared on the scene the ,
latter first of all a ffi rming the s pontaneous origin o f fe r

, ,
ments while at the same time Bé ch am p irrefutably

, , ,
demonstrated that yeast and other organisms are air

borne . Finally P asteur converted by B echamp s
, ,
’
illuminating Vi ews became enthusiastic over atmospheric

,
germs and as we have seen before a fashionable assembly

, , ,
took to himself the whole credit o f their elucidation Yet .
so little was he really enlightened that we find him soon

afterwards denying the p arasitic origin of a comp laint ,
p éb r ine which
,
was genuinely p rovoked by a p arasite ,
while in the o pp osite direction his concep tion o f living

, ,
matter was no further advanced from the old fashioned -
view that held the living body to be nothing more than a

kind o f chemical ap paratus For him in the body there w a s .
nothing actually alive ; its wonderful workings never sug

gested to him living autonomous agents .
Of course in excuse it may well be said that there was

, ,
1 18
freedom from dogma and the encouragement of orig inal
opinions Minds in a mass move at a snail s crawl and the
.
’
,
greatest imp ediment no doubt to B echamp s micro , ,

’
z
y m i a n doctrine was the fact that it so utterly outstri
pp ed
the scientifi c conce ptions of that p eriod .
What he did first and foremost was to lay the fo un d a

, ,
tions of what even to day is a new science that o f

, ,
-
, ,
cytology .
Having IM HW Q minute
organisms ag ents ,
in chalk B echamp s ,
’
‘
HC
M W
a n u lat l on s
”
o f cells
M
with which he
M
connected
E O
the
IM
“
M
little
g r
”
bodi es o f chalk and limestone Up to this date Henle s .
,
’
vague views regarding the granulations had been ignored

and they were generally considered to be mere formless ,
meaningless p articles Calling the microscop e and p ola .
r i m e t e r to his aid and undertaking innumerable chemical
experiments P rofessor B é cham p making use at fi r St

, ,
p rinci p yall o f such organisms as yeast found the granula ,
tions which the y c on t ain to be agents p rovocative of

r n
fermentations and then bestowed on them the exp lanatory

,
name of micro z yma T hese same .
He
ble
in healthy tissues and in diseased tissues he found them
,
associated with various kinds of bacteria O n e ax iom he .
laid down was that though every micro zyma is a m o le c u

1
lar granulation not every molecular granulation is a

,
microzyma Those that are m ic r o z ym as he found to be

.
p ower ful in inducing fermentation and to be p ossessed o f

some structure In short it was made clear to him that
.
,
they not the cell are the p rimary anatomical elements

, ,
.
fi n was never his p ractice to let his imagination outstrip

hi s experiments Invariably he p ro pounded his q ue stion
.
1
Les Microzymas par A , . B échamp, p . 133 .
LAB ORAT OR Y E XPE RI M E NTS 12 1
and waited fo r facts to make answer Working with Pr o .
fe ssor E stor observations showed that not only are the

,
molecular granulations the m ic r o z ym a s anatomical ele , ,
ments autonomously living with organization and life

, ,
inseparably united in their minute selves but that it is due ,
to these myriad lives that cells and tissues are constituted

living ; in fact that all organisms whether the one celled ,
-
am oeba in its p ristine simplicity or man in his varied

, , ,
complexity are associations o f these minute living entities

,
.
A modern text book well sums u p B echamp s p rimary

’
1
“
-
”
i
t e a ch n g z — T heir behaviour ( that o
“
f the molecular
granulations here named microsomes ) is in some cases
,
such as to have led to the hyp othesis long Since suggested

by H enle ( 184 1 ) and at a later p eriod develo p ed by
Bé ch am p and E stor and es p ecially by Al tmann that ,
microsomes are actually units or bioblasts cap able o f ,
assimilation growth and division and hence to be r e

, ,
garded as elementary units o f structure standing between ,

”
the cell and the ultimate molecules of living matter .
Only some such disc overy could clea r away the con
fusion on the subject o f s p ontaneous generation S u p er .
fici al observers amon whom we are forced to include

Past eu r continued to maintain that fe r m e n t at l o n w S
,
an ; induced by germs rom t e ai r ; ut at the same time

W i t that meat p rotected from atmos
i e x e r im
,
h r i c contact I n none the less

’
p e
— '
a r p , _ __ , ,
be E afric t ain ted O ther exp erimenters insisted u p on

.
cl fi n g efi aki n g p lace fo r which atmos p heric organisms

could not be held resp onsible .
make clear the fermentative r Ole of
iv in g
e of p roducing ferments and that in fact , , ,
those found in the air he believed to be simply the same

released from p lant and animal forms which they have ,
1
The Cell in Development and i
Inher tance , by E dm un d B . Wilson , Ph . D .
,
p 2 90
. .
12 2 BE C H A M P O R PASTE UR?
first built up but from which they are afterwards freed
,
by that disru p tion we call death The two P rofessors of .
M ont p ell ier working together began to trace and follow

, ,
life in its marvellous p rocesses .
A t the risk o f being wearisome by rep etition we must ,
remind ourselves of the order in which B é cham p achieved

his early discoveries First he demonstrated that the
.
atmosphere is filled with

any suitabl e medium
which they chance to light u p on and that the chemical ,
change in the medium is e ffected by a ferment engendered

by them which ferment may well be comp ared to the
,
gastric juice o f the stomach S econdly he found in ordin .

,
ary chalk and afterwards in limestone minute organisms

, ,
cap able o f p roducing fermentative changes and showed ,
these to bear relation to the infinitesimal granulations he

had observed in the cells and tissues o f plants and animals .
He p roved these granulations which he named micro ,
z ym as ,
to have indep endent individuality and life and ,
claimed that they are the antecedents of cells the u p ,
builders of bodily forms the real anatomical incorru p tible

, ,
elements Thi rdly he set forth that the organisms in the

.
,
air the so called atmos pheric germs are Simply either

,
-
,
m i c r o z ym a s or their evolutionary forms set free by dis

,
ru ption from their former vegetable or animal habitat

“ ”
and that the little bodies in the limestone and chalk are
,
the survivors o f the living forms o f p ast ages Fourthly he .

,
‘
Claimed that at this p resent t im e m ic r o z ym a s constantly
, ,
develo p into the low typ e o f living organisms that go by

the name of bacteria .
We have already su p erficially studied the rigid e x p e r i

ments that established B echamp s views on the fermenta ’
tive r Ole o f air borne organisms and of those found in

-
chalk ; let us now follow a very fe w of the innumerable

exp eriments he carried out in the establishment o f his
other conclusions Hi s work was so incessant his observa
.
,
tions so p rolific that only their fringe can be touched and

,
no attemp t can be made to tra ce the e x act chronolog ical

12 4 B E C HAMP OR PA STE UR ?
dust or organisms This was left on a shelf in B echamp s
.
’
laboratory until the end o f the year 1874 The u pp er bed .
o f carbonate o f lime was then removed and roved to be

p
entirely soluble in hydrochloric acid S ome centimeters .
further down there were only to be found some fragments

o f bone and dry matter Not the slightest smell was pe r
.
c e p t ible nor was the carbonate of lime discoloured

, This .
artifi cial chalk was as white as ordinary chalk and excep t ,
fo r a lack o f the microsco pic crystals of aragonite found in

p reci p itated carbonate o f lime indistinguishable from it
and Showed under the microsco p e brilliant molecules “ ,
such as those seen in the chalk o f S ens On e p art of this .
carbonate o f lime was then placed in creosoted starch and ,
another p art in creosoted sweetened water Fermentation .
took place just as though ordinary chalk had been used

, ,
but more actively Micr o z ym as were not seen in the u pp er

.
stratum o f the carbonate of lime but in that p ortion where ,

’
the kitten s body had rested they swarmed by thousands in
each microscopic fi eld A fter filtering the carbonate o f.
lime through a silken sieve it was taken up with dilute ,
hydrochloric acid and Bé cham p thereby succeeded in

,
sep arating the m ic r oz ym as which had been made visible ,
by the microsco p e .
A t the end o f this exp eriment which had continued fo r

over six and a half years B é ch am p with the infinite“ ,
, ,
”
p atience o f genius re p eated it by ,
another which lasted ,
seven years .
T o meet the p ossible criticism that the body of the

kitten had been the p rey of germs of the air which might ,
have been carried in its hair or ad mi tted into its lungs by ,
breathing when alive or into its intestinal canal Bé cham p

, , ,
now rep eated his exp eriment with more rigid precautions .
This time in addition to burying the whole carcass o f a

,
’
kitten he also buried in one case a kitten s liver and in
, , , ,
another the heart lungs and kidneys These viscera had

, ,
.
been p lunged into carbolic acid the moment they had

been detached from the slaughtered animal This e x pe ri .
ment commenced in the climate of Montpellier in the

, ,
LABORATOR Y E XPE R I ME NTS 12 5
month of June ,
1 8 75, had to be trans p orted to L ille at the
end o f August ,
18 6
7 , and was terminated there in A ugus t ,
1 882 .
Owing to the temp erate climate o f L ille very different ,
from that o f M ontp ellier which fo r a great p art o f the , ,
year is almost sub tro pical the destruction o f the body

,
-
,
was much less advanced in this later exp eriment than it

had been in the p revious one A ll the same in the beds o f .
,
carbonate o f lime near the remains in one case of the , ,
whole kitten and in the other o f the viscera m icr o z ym as

, , , ,
swarmed and there were also well formed bacteria -

.
Moreover the chalk was impregnated with organic matter

, ,
which coloured it a yellowish brown but the whole was ,
odourless .
From these two exp eriments Bécha m p found great con ,
fir m at io n of views that had been already suggested to him

by many other Observations To begin with they sup
“ ,
.
”
p orted his belie f that the little bodies the m i c ro z
y m a s , ,
o f natural chalk are the living remains o f the p lant and
animal forms of which in p ast ages they were the con

structive cellular elements It was shown that after the .
,
death o f an organ its cells disapp ear but in their place

, ,
remain myriads of mol ecular granulations otherwise ,
m icr o z ym as H ere was remarkable p roof o f the imp erish

.
ability of these builders o f living forms Neither is the fact .
o f their own inde endent life denied by a longevity under

p
conditions that would debar them from nutrition through
out immense p eriods Since we find p rolonged abstention
,
from food to be p ossible even in the animal world among

hibernating creatures while the naturalist can detail ,
many more cases among minute organisms fo r instance , ,
pond dwellers which fast fo r indefi nite intervals when

-
,
deprived of water their natural habitat and fern s p ores

, ,
-
,
which also are known to retain a vitality that may lie

dormant fo r many years Thus whether confined within .
,
some a ni mal or vegetable body or freed by the disrupti on ,
of
plant and animal forms the mi cr o z ym as according to , ,
Bécham p were p roved cap able o f p reserving vitality in a

,
12 6 BE C HA MP OR PASTE UR?
dormant state even though the p eriod surp assed men s
,
’
records It would still be p ossible fo r different m icr o z y m as

.
to p ossess varying degrees o f vitality fo r as we Shall see , , ,
B é cha m p found differences between the m icr o z y m as of

various Species and organs .
But over and above finding that the elements o f the cells
,
can live on indefinitely after the disrup tion o f the p lant or

animal bodies that they originally built up he considered ,
that he had obtained convincing evidence o f their

cap ability of develop ing into the low typ es o f life known as
bacteria If not where did these come from in the case o f
.
,
the buried viscera? E ven if air borne germs were not -
completely excluded in the case o f the kitten s body the ’

,
utmost p recautions had been tak en to exclude them in the

case of the burial of the inner organs Yet Bé ch am p found .
that the mi c r o z ym a s of the viscera as well as those of the ,
whole kitten had evolved into associated m icr o z ym as ,
chaplets o f m ic ro z ym a s and finally into fine bacteria , ,
among which the bacterium capitatum app eared in the

centre of a great p iece of flesh .
H ere B é ch am p saw how wrong fi rst the great natural , ,
ist Cuvier and after him P asteur had been in assumi ng

“ , , ,
That any p art whatever being sep arated from the mass
,
,
,
of an animal is by that fact transferred into the order o f

,
”
dead substances and is thereby essentially changed By .
B echamp s researches it was seen that sep arate p arts of a

’
body maintain some degree o f indep endent life a belief ,
held by certain modern experimenters who however , , ,
unlike Bé cham p fail to p rovide an exp lanation

,
His experiment showed the P rofessor how it is that

bacteria may be found in earth where corp ses have been
buried and also in manured lands and among surroundings
o f decaying vegetation A ccording to him bacteria are
.
,
not sp ecially created organisms mysteriously app earing ,
in the atmos phere but they are the evolutionary forms of

,
m ic r o z ym a s which build up the cells o f p lants and

,
animals After the death of these latter the bacteria by

.
, ,
their nutritive p rocesses brin g about the disruption or in

, ,
12 8 B E CHAMP PASTE UR? OR
ory food A n d the new co mp oun ds that app ear ar e the same
.
as those pro duced in the alco ho lic lactic a n d buty ric fermenta ,
tions o f the labo rato ry or during li fe alco ho l acetic acid , , , ,
lactic or sarcolacti c acid etc

“T hat it i o
.
ce ag ain p ro ved that the cau se o f d e co m p o

,
4 . s n
si t i o n afte r death I s the same witho ut the o r an i sm as that , g ,
which acts under other c o n di tio ns duri ng li fe namely

, , , ,
m i cr o z ym as cap able o f bec o mi n g bacteria by evo luti o n

“T hat the m i m a f t r or be f re the i r ev lution
.
5 . c r o z y as e ,
o o
i nto bacte ria o n ly attack albumi n o id o r g elati no us m atters

,
after the destructi o n o f the matte rs calle d carb ohydrates

6 .
“That the m i cr o z y m as a n d bacte ria havi n g e ffe cted the
.
transfo rmati o ns befo re menti o ned d o not die in a clo sed ,
ap p aratus in the absence o f oxyg en ; they g o i n to a state o f

rest as do es the beer yeast i n an en vironm en t o f the p ro ducts
,
-
o f the dec o m o s i tion o f the su ar which ro ducts it fo rm ed

“I t is
p
only under certain
g
c ndit i s
p
articularly
,
in the
.
7 . o o n
p ,
p resence o f oxy g en as ,
in the ex p eri m e n t o n the kitten buried in
carbonate o f lime etc that the same m i cro z ym a s o r bacteria
,
.
,
e ffect the definite destructi o n o f veg etable or an im al matter ,
reduci n g it i n to carbo n ic acid water ni tro g en or Simple , , ,
ni tro genous comp o unds or even into nitric acid or other

, ,
n itrate s !
8
.
“T hat it is in this way that the nece s sary destructi o n o f
the org an ic matter o f an org an i sm i s n o t l e ft to the chan ce s o f
causes foreig n to that org an i sm a n d that when eve rythin g else ,
has di sap p eared bacte ria a n d fi n ally m i cr o z ym as resultin g

, , , ,
fro m their reversi o n rem ai n as evide n ce that there w a s no thi n g

o f what was p rimarily livi n g exce t them selves in the p erished
p
o rg a n ism . A n d these m i cr o z ym as whi ch ap p ear to us the ,
remains or residuum o f that which has lived still p o ssess s om e ,
activi ty o f the sp ecifi c ki n d that they p o ssessed durin g the life

o f the destroyed b e i n g I t is thu s that the m i cr o z ym a s and
.
bacteria that remain ed from the co rp se o f the kitten were n o t

abso lutely identical with those o f the liver or o f the heart o f ,
”
the lung or o f the kidney .
The P rofessor continued I do not mean to infer

that in destruction e ffected in the o p en air on the surface ,
o f the ground other causes do not occur to hasten it

,
I .
have never denied that the so called germs o f the air or -
o ther causes are contributory I only say that these germs .
and these causes have not been exp ressly created fo r that
ur
p p ose and that the so called germs in atmos p heric -
L ABORAT OR Y E XPE RI ME NTS 12 9
dusts are nothing else than the m icro z ym as from orga

n i sm s destroy ed by the mechanism I have just ex plained
and whose destructive influence is added to that o f the

mi cr o z y m as belonging to the being in p rocess o f d e str uc
tion B ut in the atmos pheric dusts there are not only the
.
mi cro z y m as; the Sp ores o f the entire microsco pic flora may
intrude as well as all the moulds that may be born o f these
,
”
sp ores .
It must not be su pposed that B é cha m p founded such

manifold v 1e ws u pon any mere two series o f obser vations .
From the date o f his Beacon E x p eriment he never ceased ,
from arduous work in connection with micro organisms -

.
Together with P ro fessor E stor he instituted many e x p e r i

,
ments u p on inner organs subtracted from foe tuses acci ,
dentally p rovided fo r them by abortions H ere again .
they had overwhelming p roof o f bacterial evolution from

normal inherent p articles fo r while they would fi n d
, ,
bacteria in the interiors the surrounding liquids s p ecially

, ,
re
p p ared as acce p ted culture media would be a b,
so
lute ly free from such organisms T hey s p ared themselves

.
no trouble Sp ace does not allow o f more than a trifling

.
reference to a very fe w o f their continual and varied

exp eriments such fo r instance as those up on eggs in
, , , ,
which not contenting them selves with hen s they p r o

,
’
,
cured ostrich eggs with their hard tenacious shells and

, ,
subjected these to innumerable tests From the latter they .
received evidence of the gradual evolution in the fe c un ,
dated egg o f the united m ic r o z ym a s of the male s p erm and

,
female germ cells into the organs and tissues o f the

resultant feathered creature They were also shown the
.
arrest of this develop ment in eggs that were Shaken and

disturbed and the internal substitution in the rotting egg
of cha lets f associated m i m and swarming
p o c r o z
y a s
bacteria .
In the course of their work the Professors applied every

,
possible test to their exp eriments sometimes admitting air

,
and sometimes rigorously excluding it T heir observations .
began to be enthusiastically taken up by some of Professor

13 0 B E C HAMP OR PA STE UR?
B echa mp s pu pils numbered among whom w as M L e
’
, .
Rique de Monchy who assisted Bé ch am p with his silk

1 “
,
worm researches In a p ap er called Note on the Mo le c u

.
lar Granulations o f Various O rigin this indefatigable ,
student demonstrated that the vibrating granulations a re

organ isms having an energetic action Similar to that of ,
ferments u p on certain of the matters with which they a re

,
in contact in their natural medium .
M eanwhile his great teacher sent up Memoir after

,
M emoir to the A cademy of S cience It was B é cham p who .
—
initiated the study o f micro organisms m ic ro z ym a s a n d
.
-
bacteria in saliva and in the mucus of the nasal and other

—
assages T h e very secretions o f the body a fford ed him

p
“
.
p ro o f o f his Op inions T hus in a M .emoir O n the Nature

,
and Function o f the Micr o z ym a s of the L iver he a n d ”
2“
,
E stor said : Matter whether albuminoid or other

-
, ,
never sp ontaneously becomes a z ymase or acqui res the

ro
p p erties o f z ymases ; wherever these a pp ear s om e
”
organised (living ) thing will be found .
What a wonderful concep tion this gives of the body !

Just as a household or a state cannot p rosper without its
different members undertaking their varied functions so ,
our bodies and those of animals and p lants are regulated

, ,
by innumerable workers whose failure in action disturbs

the equilibrium o f the entire organi sm Just as in the State .
there are different ex p erts fo r different forms of labour so ,
B é ch am p demonstrated the differentiation between the

m i c r o z ym a s of various organs the m i c ro z ym a s o f the ,
p ancreas the
,
m i c roz
y m a s o f the liver the k idneys etc , ,
.
,
etc A n d since it may be objected that it is too di ffi cult to

.
make such distinctions between m ic r o sco pIc m m ut m we ,
cannot do better than quote the words of the brilliant

exp erimenter .
The naturalist said Bé cham p will not know how to

,
3
,
classify them but the chemist who studies their functions

,
1
Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences 66
’ ’
, p 550
. .
2
Comptes Rendus de l Academie des Sciences 66
’ '
, p 42 1
.
3
La Théor ie da Microzyma, p . 1 16 .
wise learned that the full meaning no doubt barely went , ,
home and they had small idea o f the genius of the great
man devoid o f sel f p raise who had lectured so un
,
-
,
ostentatiously to them .
What wonderful times those were fo r the great teacher

when his views develop ed with such rapidity and con ,
t in uo usly by day and often hal f through the night he

, ,
worked at the unravelling of Nature s mysteries ; while ’
with him fo r a series of years toiled his devoted colleague

, , ,
Professor E stor
“
.
Ah ! how moving wrote Bé cham p ,

were the in ,
numerable s eances at which we assisted amaz ed by the

’
confi rmation of ideas the verification of facts and the, ,

”
develop ment o f the theory A n d with that large hearted .
-
generosity as natural to him as it was alas ! foreign to

,
P asteur he added :
,
During the p eriod from 186 8 to
1 876 all that concerns the m i cr o z ym a s o f animal organs
was common to both of us and I do not k now how to ,

”
disting ui sh between what is mine and what is E sto r s ’
.
We can faintly realise the emotion of the discoverers as

they found themselves p enetrating closer to the secrets o f
life than any man had succeeded in doing before them ; ‘
exemp lifying and p roving that which the great L avoisier

had felt after in an earlier ep och A n d since they were .
,
both doctors their labours were not narrowed to the more

,
or less artificial exp eriments they undertook in the labora

tory T heir clinical work brought them constant ex
.
e r i e n c e and their surest observations were those a c co m

p ,
p li f
sh e d by the greatest o all exp erimenters — Nature !
1 L
The i d M i zy m p 1 2 3
’
a or e a cro a, . .
C HAPTE R X I
N A T UR E ’
S E XP E R IME NT S
WE have taken a cursory p eep at B echamp s arduous toil ’
in his laboratory ; but he himself would have been the first

to insist up on the greater importance he attached to
exp eriments directly undertaken by Nature To these he .
gave incessant study Whenever p ossible he would visit

.
,
the hosp ital wards and make a close examination of the

cases H e carefully followed the medical work of P rofessor
.
E stor and o f the many other doctors with whom he was

associated at Mont p ellier .
A cyst which required to be excised from a liver p r o

, ,
v id e d a wonderful demonstration o f the doctrine o f

bacterial evolution fo r there were found in it m ic r oz ym a s
,
in all stages o f develop ment isolated associated , , ,
elongated ; in short true bacteria Dr L ionville one o f

,
.
,
B echamp s medical p up ils had his interest greatly aroused

’
, ,
and demonstrated that the contents o f a blister include

m i c ro z ym a s and that these evolve into bacteria .
With extraordinary p atience and industry P rofessor ,
B é ch am p and his colleagues continued their medical

researches finding the mi cr o z ym a s in all healthy tissues
, ,
and m ic r oz ym as and many forms of bacteria in various

p hases o f develo p ment in diseased tissues P unctuating .
hi s clinical study by laboratory tests the P rofessor ,
instituted many exp eriments which Sp ace forbids our ,
enumerating to p rove that the bacterial app earances

,
were not due to external invasions .
1
On e day an accident p rovided an interesting c on t r ibu
tion to the observations A p atient was brought to the.
hosp ital of the M edical University of Montp ellier su ffering

from the e ffects o f an ex cessively violent blow u p on the
1
Les Microzymas par A , . B échamp, p . 18 1 .
13 3
13 4 B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR ?
elbow There was a compound comminuted fracture o f
.
the articular joints of the forep art o f the arm ; the elbow
was largely o p en A mp utation was imp erative and was
.
p er formed between seven and eight hours a fter the acci

dent Immediately the amp ut ated arm was carried to
.
Dr E sto r s laboratory where he and Dr Bé cham p

.
’
, .
examined it The forearm p resented a dry black surface

. .
Comp lete insensibility had set in before the Op eration .
Al l the symp toms o f gangrene were p resent Under a .
high p ower of the microscop e m ic r o z ym as were seen ,
associated and in chap lets but no actual bacteria These ,

.
were merely in p rocess of formation The changes brought .
about by the injury had p rogressed too rap idly to give

them time to develop This evidence against bacteria as .
the origin of the m o r tific ation was so convincing that

“
Professor E stor at once exclaimed : Bacteria canno t be
”
the cause of gangrene ; they are the effects o f it .
H ere was the outstanding difference between the micro

z
y m i an theory and its microbian version which P asteur ,
and his followers were to be instrumental in p romulgating .
P asteur seems to have lack ed an understanding o f the

basic elements o f living matter In life he comp ared the .
b o dy to a barrel of beer or a cask o f wine To hi m it only

?
,
app eared an inert coll e ction of chemical comp ounds ; and ,
therefore naturally after death he recognised nothing

, , ,
living in it Consequently when life incontrovertibly

.
,
ap p eared he could only account fo r it by the invasion

,
from without of those minute air borne organisms whose -

,
reality B é ch am p had taught him to understand But the .
explanation o f their origin from the cells and tissues o f

p lant and animal forms took him considerably longer to
fathom though as we S hall see he eventually actually
, , ,
made an unsuccessful attemp t to plagiarise B echamp s ’
oint o f view
p .
B é ch a m p and E stor meanwhile steadily p ersevered , ,
with their clinical observations and made a sp ecial study ,
fo r instance o f microzymian develop ment in cases o f

,
1
S e e p p 79 , 80 . .
same month he determined to verify his p receding
,
observation T h e interesting p lants in the B otanical

.
Gardens p rovided him with fine o pportunities fo r many ,
o f them became fro z en .
He started his observations with a cactus named

Opun tia Vulg aris This was only frozen in p art and on
.
,
scra ping the Surface with a scalp el the Professor con ,
v i n c e d h i mself that it was entirely unbrok en In his own .
words not the minutest cleft had been formed by which an

,
enemy could fin d access Yet all the same under the .

, ,
skin and down to the deep est layers of the frozen p art
lurked tiny and very active bacteria and also larger
bacteria equally mobile of a length o f
,
mm to ,
.
0 04 mm
. though these were less numerous The normal
.
,
.
m i c r o z ym as had comp letely given p lace to bacteria in the

fro z en p arts On the contrary it was noteworthy that
.
,
in the healthy p arts untouched by frost there were only , ,
p er fect cells to be found and normal m i cr o z

ym as .
B é ch a m p next ex amined a p lant k nown botanically as

the Calla Gi thiopica This was fro z en down to the ground
.
and so p erished that the slightest touch made it crumble to

p owder .M i c r o sc O i c study showed m i c r o z
p y m a s in the
course o f transformation into excessively small mobile

bacteria ; there were also large bacteria to be seen m e a sur ,
ing mm to mm Nature had also p rov ided a

. .
valuable control experiment fo r in the centre of the ,
decayed frozen p lant a bunch of young leaves was left

, ,
green and healthy and here only normal m i c r o z ym a s

,
were to be found in striking contrast to the transformation

,
scenes taking p lace in the surrounding p arts which the ,
frost had Shattered so ruthlessly .
A third illustration wa s p rovided by a Mexican Ag ave .
In the unfrozen p art only normal m i c r o z ym a s were to be

found while in the blackened and frozen p ortion of the
,
leaf there was a cloud o f very mobile m i c r o z ym a s and ,
there also swarmed bacteria resembling the bacterium

termo and in smaller quantities bacteria that measured
,
from mm to mm . .
NAT URE ’
S E XPE R I M E NTS 13 7
In another Mexican Ag ave the blackened and frozen p art ,
o f the leaf did not contain any m i c r o z y m a s but only small ,
bacteria and some longer varieties measuring from

mm to mm In the healthy p arts the micro
. .
,
z ym a s were normal but in p rop ortion as the frozen p arts

,
were app roached the m ic ro z ym a s were seen to be

,
modified in Shap e and size .
A fifth illustration was a Datura Suaveolens in which the ,
ends o f the branches were frozen Under the ep idermis as .

,
well as deep below were clouds o f bacterium termo some

, ,
rare bacterium volutans and some large bacteria measuring

from mm to mm There were also long crystal
. .
line needles terminating in sp indles o f mm to .
mm which were motionless and not to be found in

.
,
the healthy p arts Th e froz en and w ithered p ortions had

.
,
all the same remained green ,

.
Through these and many other observations Bé ch am p ,
became convinced that the m icr o z ym a s of the p lant

world have great ap titude fo r developing into bacteria .
But as he never jump ed to conclusions he took the utmost ,
care to mak e p erfectly sure that no inoculation o f e X

t r a n e ou s organisms could in any way be res p onsible .
A year later an E chinocactus Rucarinus su p p lied hi m with

,
1
an interesting example of the absence o f bacteria when

their entry from without app eared likely to be facilitated ,
and thus he seemed to be afforded more p roof of his theory

that nutritive trouble or a change of environment lik e ,
that brought about by frost may occasion a natural ,
develop ment of internal inherent m i c r o z ym a s .
H e hap p ened to enter a conservatory in the Montp ellier

Botanical Gardens where he noticed an E chinocactus , ,
which in so many ways reminded him o f the one he had

examined a year before that it seemed as though thi s one
must also have been frost bitten H e questioned the -
.
gardener who explained that the roots had rotted owing

,
to the plant having been over watered H ere again was a -

.
subject fo r the p ersevering student of Nature We may be .
1
L es M icrozy mas , p . 144 .
13 8 B E CHAMP , OR PA STE UR?
sure that P rofessor Bé cham p did not miss the opportunity .
T h e hard thic k surface seemed to him to be intact but ,
moulds had been formed by large cells of fungi which had ,
already develop ed mycelium Yet on cutting through t hi s .
su rface only m i c r o z ym a s and not any bacteria were to be

,
found within the cut though everything was favourable ,
fo r an invasion fo r there were moulds on the surface and

,
the roots o f the p lant were rotten .
I t is very certain that the P rofessor in all the cases we ,
have touched up on did not content himself with merely a

,
microscop ic examination In each instance he ap p lied .

,
chemical tests and discovered that roughly sp eaking the , ,
cell sap of the normal cactus had an acid reaction whereas ,
that of the frozen p arts was found to be slightly alk aline .
There were changes however which varied with each , ,
p lant examined and in a M emoir,

on the subject 1
in ,
which these are described he stated the coincidence of the ,
develop ment of the bacteria and the alk alinity of t he

medium H e a d de d z
.
“ Although the contrary has been—
believed bacteria can develop in an acid medium whi ch

, ,
may r emain acid or become alkaline as well as they can ,

”
develop in an absolutely neutral medium H e believed .
that if it be true that some sp ecies o f m ic ro z ym a s evo lve

into bacteria only in neutral or Slightly alkaline media ,
others none the less develop in media normally acid

, ,
.
Bé cha m p as we must remember had been the first to

, ,
demon strate with p recision the develop ment and multi

p lication o f air borne organisms in a suitable medium
-
.
Understanding so well the imp ortant r Ole o f the micro

org anisms of the air he was naturally curious to note the,
e ffect o f their deliberate introduction into surroundings

where they would encounter the m i c r o z ym a s which he ,
considered to be the living formative builders o f p lant and

anim al bodies He therefore inoculated plants with
.
, ,
bacteria and attentively studied the results of this foreign

1 Comptes Rendus d e
’ '
l Academie des S c ences 6 8, p 4 6 6 i .
( 2 2'n d Fe br uar y 186 9 )
,
L es M icrozy mas des i

Org an smes S uper eures , M ontpell er
’
i i M edicale 2 4 p 3 2 L es
, . .
M icrozy mas , p 14 5 . .
to follow his restricted ideas o f micro organisms and -
, ,
during the s ixties one of them M Dav ain e more or less

, ,
.
,
inaugurated what is now known as the germ theory of -
disease .
I t came about in this way A comp laint called charbon or .
s p lenic fever and later more commonly known as

, , ,
anthrax made occasional ravages among the herds of

,
cattle and flocks o f Sheep in France and other p arts of

E uro p e In 1 83 8 a Frenchman named De lafo n d drew
.
,
attention to ap p earances like little rods in the blood o f

affected animals and these were afterwards recognised
,
by Dav ain e and others A theory had already been put fo r .
ward in the p ast by Kircher L inné Ra sp ail and others , ,
that sp ec ial organisms might induce disease and Dav ain e , ,
becoming acquainted with P asteur s idea that each kind of ’
fermentation is p roduced by a s p ecifi c germ o f the air ,
now suggested that the little rod like organisms which he -

,
called ba ct e r idi a might be p arasitic invaders of animal

,
bodies and the cause o f s plenic fever otherwise anthrax ,

.
He and others who tried to investigate the subject met

, ,
with contradi ctory results in their exp eriments It was .
later in 1 8 78 that the German doctor Robert Koch

, , , ,
came to their rescue by cultivating the b a c t e r idi a and dis

covering a formation of s pores among them ; while P asteur
fi nally took the matter up and with his fondness fo r dog
‘
m at i sin g declared 1
A nthrax is therefore the disease of
°
, ,
the ba c te r idium as trichinosis is the disease of the

,
trichina as itch is the disease o f its s p ecial acarus

,
.
Generalisations are always dangerous in a world o f con

t r a di c t io n s ; but as it has been truly said
“ there is no ,
doctrine so false that it does not contain some p article of

”
truth T his wise saying has been quoted by B é c h a m p 2
“ ,
.
who goes on It is thus with microbian doctrines

-
.
Indeed i f in the eyes of a certain number o f savan ts

, ,
doctors and surgeons the system o f p r e ex isting morbid ,

-
germs were denuded of every app earance of truth and did

1
The L ife of P as teur , by R e n e Valle r y R ad o t , p -
. 2 60 .
2
La Théor ie da M icrozy ma, p 3 7 . .
NAT URE ’
S E XPE R I M E NTS 14 1
not seem established on any exp erimental reality its ,
recep tion by these savan ts who seem to me to have ado p ted

,
it without going su ffi ciently dee ply into it would have been ,
absolutely incomp rehensible Incontestable facts how .

,
ever seem to supp ort it T hus it is certain that there truly

,
.
,
exist microscop ic living beings o f the most exquisite

minuteness which undoubtedly can commu ni cate the
, , ,
s p ecifi c diseased condition that is in them The cause both .
o f the virulence and the p ower o f in fection in certain p r o
ducts of the sick organism or of bodies in a state of p utre ,
faction after death resides in reality in beings o f this order

,
.
I t is true that p eo ple have certainly discovered such beings

during the develop ment o f certain complaints virulent , ,
”
infectious contagious or otherwise
,
.
I t is thus seen that it was B echam p s belief that it is

’
this p article of truth in the germ theory that has blinded so -
many to its errors H e explains that the want o f a fuller

.
understanding is brought about by lack o f su ffi cient

knowledge
1“
.
In my eyes it is because doctors have p erceived no

,
relation no connecting link between certain histological

, ,
elements of the animal an d vegetable organi sm and

bacteria that they have so lightly abandoned the laws o f
the great science to adop t after Dav ain e and with P asteur , ,
Kircher s system o f p r e existing disease germs Thus it

’
- -
.
comes about that not understanding the real and essential

correlation existing between bacteria and the normal
histological elements o f our organi sation like Dav ain e or , ,
denying it like P asteur they have come newly again to

, ,
believe in the system o f P Kircher L ong before Dav ain e . .
made his observations and considered the inside o f the

organism to be a medium fo r develop ment of inoculated
‘
bacteria , R a sp a il said — T h e orga n i sm does not engender
disease : it receives it from without Disease is an .
effect of whi ch the active cause is external to the organism .

’
In s pite o f thi s the great p hysicians a ffi rm in Pi d o ux

, ,
’
‘
happ y words — Disease is born o f us and in us But M .
’
.
1
L The ie d M i zy m p 3 8
a or a cro a, . .
14 2 B E C HA M P OR PA ST E UR ?
P asteur , following the opinion o f Ra sp ail a n d t rying to , ,
v erify the hypothesis ex perimentally maintains that ,
p hysicians are in error : the active cause o f our maladies

resides in disease germs created at the origin of all things
-
,
which having gained an invisible entry into us there

, ,
develop into p arasites For M P asteur as fo r R a sp ail . .

, ,
there is no s p ontaneous disease ; without microbes there

would be no sicknesses n o matte r what we do desp ite our , ,
imp rudences miseries or vices ! The system neither new

, ,
nor original is ingenious very Simp le in it s Subtlety an d

, , , ,
in consequence ea sy to understan d and to p r op a g ate

, .
The most illiterate o f human beings to whom one has

Shown the c o nnection between the acarus and the itch
understands that the itch is the disease o f the acarus Thus .
it comes about that it has seduced many people who give ,
an u n thinking triump h to it A bove all m e n of the world .

,
are carried away by a s p ecious e asy doctrin e , all the more

app li cable to generalities and vag ue explanations in that
it is badly based up on p roved and tried s cientific
”
demonstrations .
Yes unfortunately fo r the gr e at teacher o f Mont pellier

, ,
deep er knowledge an understanding of that science , ,
cytology so neglected as P rofessor Min chin has com

, ,
p lained 1
even now ,
in the twentieth century was and still , ,
seem s to be required to comp rehend the p rofounder

, ,
more mystic and comp licated workings of p athology .
Nature was p erforming ex p eriments which were op en to ,
all to read with the help o f the microscop e But fe w were .
su ffi ciently Skilled to p robe deep enough under what m ay

often be misleading supe r fici alitie s Few p osse sse d enough .
knowledge to understand the complexities r evealed to

B é ch am p Yet from the start he wa r ned t he world
.
, ,
against being misled by too facile judgments AS e arly as

2 “
.
1 86 9 he wrote :
,
In typ hoid fe ver in g angren e in a n , ,
thrax the existence has been p roved of bacteria in the

,
tis sues and in the blood and one was very much disposed ,
1
i i ii
P r e s de n t al A d dr e ss —B r t sh A sso c at o n , S e p t e m b e r , i i 19 15 .
2
Comptes Rendus de l Academie des S c ences 75, p 152 5
’ ’
i . .
CHA PTE R X I I
A P LA G IA R I SM F RU STRA TE D
A MA R KE D contrast between Bé cham p and Pasteur lay in
the fact that the former demanded a log ipal sequence
between his ideas while the latter was cont ent to p ut for ,
ward views that were seemingly contradictory one to

another For instance according to him the body is
.
,
nothi ng more than an inert mass a mere chemical com ,
p l e x which
,
while in a state o f health
,
he maintained to be ,
immune against the invasion o f foreign organi sms ?

He
seems never to have realised that this belief contradicts the
germ theory of di sease originally p ut forward by Kircher
-
and Ra sp ail which he and Dav ain e had been so quick in

,
adop ting How can foreign organisms originate disease in

.
a body when according to P asteur they cannot fin d , ,
entry into the self same body until cy ter disease has set in?
f -
A nyone with a sense o f humour would have noticed an

amusing discrep ancy in such a contention but though ,
Pasteur s admirers have acclaimed him as a wit a sense of

’
the ludicrous is seldom a strong p oint wi th anyone who

tak es himself as seriously as Pasteur did or as seriously as
hi s followers tak e their admiration o f him .
O n the 2 9 t h June 1 86 3 he read a M emoir on the subject , ,
o f p utrefaction before the A cademy o f S cience

2
“
.
In this he said 3 — L e t a p iece of meat be wrapp ed up

°
”
comp letely in a linen cloth soak ed in alcohol (here he
cop ied Bé cham p in an earlier exp eriment ) and placed in“
a closed recep tacle (with or without air matters not ) in
order to obstruct the evap oration of the alcohol There .
will be no p utrefaction neither in the interior because no , ,
1 “ Le c ps d a imau t fermé d ns l cas ordinai s a l intr du tion des

’
or es n x es a es re o c
g m de ét
er es
‘
i fé i u
s res n
‘
C mpt R dus d l A d mi d Scienc 56 p 1 9 3
r e rs
”
. o es
,
en e
’
ca e e es
,
es , . 1 .
2
ibid pp 89 9 4
. . 11 -11
.
3
i bid p 1 94
. . 1 .
A P L AG I AR I S M F R US T R A T E D 14 5
vi brios are the re n or on the o utside bec ause the vap o urs
, ,
of the al coh ol p re ven t the develop me n t of g e rms o n the ,
surface ; but I obs e rved t hat t h e m e at became tainted in a
p ron ou n c e d degr e e i f small i,n quan tity and g ang ren ous if , ,
the meat were in con s iderable mas s .
Pas te ur s Objec t was to show that the re we re no inherent

’
liv in g ele men ts in me at th at if extern al life t he germs of

, ,
the ai r we re quite exclude d the r e woul d be n o bacteri al

, ,
dev elopmen t from In n e r organism s These were the days .
in which hav in g e nthusias tical ly a dop ted Bé ch amp s

’
ideas of t he imp or tant p arts p layed by the atmos pheric

ho sts he de n ied equally v oc iferou sly any inherent living
, J
e le me n ts i n anim al an d v e getable bo dies .
Bé champ kn owing how his o wn Skill with the mi cro

,
sc op e outst ripp e d that of all hi s c ontem p oraries e xcu sed

Pasteur fo r not hav ing b e en able to detect the min ute
org anis ms in the dep th of the fle shy sub stan ce But he .
main tain ed that Pas teur s o wn ackn owle dgme n t of t he

’
tain te d or gangre nous state of the meat Sho uld have been
suffici en t t o hav e convi n ce d him o f t he re ali ty o f a
chemi cal Chan ge an d i ts correl ativ e ne cessity — a c au ativ e
i
agen t Bécham p cl aime d tha t Pasteur s o w n e xp erimen ts
’
.
,
Whfi e attempting to deny on the con t rary p roved the , ,
t ruth of the microzymi an conten tions .
Fo r in s tance again in an exp eriment on boiled milk

, , ,
Pasteur observe d a smell re se mbling tallow an d n oted the

se p arati on of t he fatty matter in t he form of clots If the re .
were nothing livi ng in the milk how could he acco un t for ,
the chan ge in its o dour and ex plain t he cause of the clo tting?
Thu s it is i mp os sible to se t aside t he marked cont rast
be tw een Bé champ an d Pasteur in regard to their at ten tion
to an y p he n omen on Since by the former nothi n g was e ve r
,
ign o red while t he latter const antly passe d over most

,
contradictory evidence In Spite fo r example o f all the

.
, ,
marked ch an ges in milk Pasteur was content t o de scribe

,
it as unalte rable excep t through acce ss o f germ s o f the ai r

, ,
and n othin g else th an a s l ut ion of miner al salt s of milk

o ,
sug ar an d of case in i n whic h we re sus ended articles f

p p o
K
146 BE C HAMP OR PASTE UR?
fat , in short that it was a mere emul sion whi ch did not
,
contain any living bodies cap able of causing an y change

in its composition For years Bécham p studied mil k and
.
,
it was not till a much later date that he fi nally satisfied

him self as to all its scientific complex ities .
We fin d that just as in 1 857 P asteur s spon te p arist views ’
were entirely Opp osed to B echamp s so through the s ix ties ’

, ,
of the n i neteenth century P asteur comp letely ignored

,
B echamp s teaching in regard to the m ic ro z ym as or

’
microsomes of the cells and the fermentative changes due

,
to these inherent living elements H aving realised the .
germs o f the air he seemed blind to the germs o f the body

,
and ignored B echamp s p rodigious work when the latter

’
di ffer entiated by experiment the varyi ng degrees of heat

required to destroy the m i cr o z ym a s of milk chalk etc , ,
.
Finally it seems as though P asteur must have been con

,
v i n c e d against his will by B echam p s conclusions in regard

’
to the diseases of silk worms and his dis paragement of the

-
,
latter was no doubt p rovoked by his consciousness of a

dangerous rivalry A t the end of 186 8 laid low on a bed
.
,
o f sickness who can tell what thoughts p assed through his

,
mind in regard to the views of the man who had so e n

lightened him o u the subject of air bo m e organi sms and -
their p art in fermentation ; the man who had so i n

contestably p roved the causes of the diseases of silk worms -
that his own scientific rep utation had been seriously

threatened ; the man in short who would never be his
, ,
disciple?
A nyway when Pasteur rose from hi s sick bed semi
, ,
p aralysed ,
dragging one leg the P russian hordes for a,
time interrup ted the even tenor of French life and

national distress annihilated minor controversies Who .
shall say if he thought these catastro phic e vents likely to

have a lethal effect on the memories of his contemporaries?
Be that as it may in the year 1872 P asteur suddenly
, ,
s prang a surp rise upon the A cademy of S cience .
For a moment we must recapitulate It wi ll be remem

,
.
bered that as early as 186 2 B écham p took up the study of

,
14 8 BE CHA MP OR PASTE UR ?
Pa ste u r, as we h ave alre ady s aid , sp ran g a surp ris e u p on

t he A cademy i n a year memorable fo r the in ce ssant
work und e r tak en by t he S chool of Mont p elli er .
To tak e merely the end of the ye ar , we find on the 7th

O ctobe r , 1872 , an ex tract read before the A cade my from
a Note of Bech amp s, en title d , Upon the Action of Bo rax
’
”1
in the Ph en omena of Fe rm en tation This was of con .
sid e r able interest at tha t t irn e an d answe r ed cer tain
que stion s raised by M Dumas . .
On the 2 1st October, 1872 , Profe sso r Béch amp an d

“
Pr ofe sso r E stor p res e n ted a j oin t Mem oir On the Fu n c
tion of the micr oz ym as during E mbryonic Develop m ent ”2
.
This wa s on e of the m an y highly important tre atises u po n

stri kin g discove ries an d the ex p eriments that subst an tiated
them .
On th e e 8th read a Me moir

Octob e r, 18 72 , Bé cham p
“
entitled Re searche s u pon the Physiological Theory of
”3
Alc oholi c Fe rme n tation by Beer Yea st -
.
On the I 1 th November of the sam e ye ar he re ad a

“
Me m oir o n Re searche s upon the Function an d Trans
,
form ati on o f Moulds

”4
.
S o me ide a of his in ce ssan t toil may be gl e aned from the

m e r e title s of th e se reco rds of his untiring energy We c an .
,
the refore picture his ast on ishm e n t an d n atural chagrin

,
when he was ro use d fro m hi s a rduo us re se arche s by

Pas te ur s app r opr iation of views that he had put forward
’
ye ars p r e v i o usly .
Fir s t of all on the 7th Octob e r 1872 Pas teur de scribed

“ ,
to th e Acade my S ome New E xp e riment s Sh owin g th at

, ,
the Ye ast Ge rm that Pr oduce s Win e Come s fro m Out side

-
”5
the Grap e .
Here was B echamp s discovery published in I 854 ! ’

,
Thi s was t o o much even for the subs e rvien t Membe rs o f

the A cade my ! M Fremy inte rr upted wi th t he obj e ct of
.
,
ex p osing t he insuffici en cy of Pas te u r s con cl usion s ’

.
1
Comptes Rendus de l Académie des Sciences 75 pp 83 7 83 9
’
, .
-
.
C R 75 pp 9 6 2 96 6
. .
,
.
- 3
C R 75 pp 103 6
. . .
, .
- 10
40 .
C R 75, p
. . . 1 19 9 . C R 75, p 78 1
. .
, .
A PLA GIARIS M F R USTRATE D 149
On inv it ation of M Du m as Pasteu r renewed his

t he
“
.
,
A ddress to the A c ademy u n der the title o f New Facts t o ,
Assis t to a Knowledge o f the Theo ry o f F c r m e n t atio n s ,

”1
p pro erl y so c alled - .
Here Pasteur made the s tate ment in w hich he claimed

to separate the chemic al p henomena o f fermentation s
from a crowd of others an d p artic ularly from the acts of
ordinary life in which of course nutrition an d dige stio n
, , ,
must be paramount Here we clearly se e that as late as.
1872 while th e orising u pon fer m ent ation he had no real

, ,
conception of the process no cl e ar understanding of it as a ,
functio n of nourishment and eli m ination on the p art o f

living organis m s H ow little found ation is shown fo r the
“
.
statement mad e late r by his disciple M Ro ux The ,

.
,
medic al work of Pasteur co mm e nce s with the st udy of

”
ferm e nt ation .
Proceeding with his addre ss P as teur claimed to have ,
shown that fermentation is a necessary consequence of the

manifestation of life wh e n that life i s accomplished o utside
o f direct combustion d ue to free ortyg e n Then he con
“
.
i
t ue d z
n — On e pe rceiv e s as a consequence o f this th e ory
t hat e very being ev ery organ ev e ry cell that lives or
, ,
contin ues its life without the help of the oxyge n of the air ,
or uses it in an ins uffi cient degre e fo r the whole of the

p h e nome n a o f its ro
p p e r nutrition must p os sess the ,
characte r of a ferment fo r the m atter that serv e s as a

sou rce of h e at wholly or in p art T his m atter seems
,
.
nece ss arily to contain c arbon and ox ygen since as I have , ,
shown it serves as food to the ferment

,
I now bring .
to thi s new th e ory which I have al re ady seve ral time s

,
p pro osed although

,
timidl y since the y e ar 18 6 1 the, su p ,
p ort o f n e w facts which I ho p e, will this time c om p el

”
conviction After a description o f e xp eriments mere
.
copies of those undertaken by others he wound up ,
t riumph an tly z I already foresee by the results o f my

efforts that a n e w path will be ope ned to physiolog y an d
”
medical p athology .
1
Comptes Rendus 75, p 784 . .
x50 B E CHAMP OR PASTE UR?
Th e only t irn idity apparent is the wariness with whi ch
“
P asteur put forward a conviction that every being every ,
”
organ every cell must p ossess the character of a ferment
, .
S uch teaching was entirely Opp osed to the theories he had

formulated since 1 86 1 and really seems to have been
nothing less than a cautious attemp t to p lagiarise
B echamp s microzymian doctrine
’
A s we have seen .
,
B é ch am p though maintaining that the grap e lik e other

, ,
living things contains within itself minute organisms

, ,
m i cr o z ym a s cap able o f p roducing fermentation ye t

, ,
ascribed that p articular fermentation known as vinous to a

more p owerful force than these namely organi sms found , ,
on the surface o f the grap e p ossibly originally air borne ,

-
.
Therefore if P asteur were accused o f p lagiarising

,
B echamp s microzymian ideas he had on ly to deny the

’
,
accusation by p ointing out that the p rovocative cause o f

vinous fermentation came from outside the grap e ; though ,
here again he was only following Bé ch a m p Th e Re ports

,
.
o f the A cademy o f S cience show us how well the clever
diplomatist made use of these safeguards .
M Fremy was quick to return to the contest In a Note

“
.
u p on the Generation of F e r m e n t s he said

1 — I find in ,
thi s Communication o f M Pasteur a fact that s eems to me .
a striking confirmation o f the theory that I maintain and

'
which entirely overturns that of m y learned conf rere .
M P asteur wishing to show that certain organisms such

.
, ,
as the alcoholic ferment can develop and live without ,
oxygen asserts that the grape p laced in p ure carboni c

, ,
acid can after a certain time ferment and p roduc e

, , ,
alcohol and carboni c acid How can thi s observation agree .
with the theory of M Pasteur according to which ferments .
are p roduced only by germs exi sting in the ai r ? I s it not

clear that if a fruit ferments in carbonic acid c o n se ,
quently under conditions in whi ch it can receive nothing

from the air it must be that the ferments are p roduced
,
directly under the influence of the organisation within the

interior o f the cells themselves and that their generation is
1
Comptes Rendus 75, p 79 0
. .
1 52 B E C HA MP O R P A S T E U R ?
w as obliged so M F remy poin te d o ut , to accoun t for e a ch
,
.
kind of fermentation a s th e wo rk of a special org an ism .
T hen a g ain if ferm en tation s we re o nl y p roduce d by

,
atmosphe ric g erms they Could n o t take pl ace wh en ai r

,
had been purifi ed by rain o r on moun tain h eig ht s which , ,
Pasteu r hl m self had describ e d as free fro m such org an i sms .
An d yet it w as indi sp utabl e th at fe rmen t at ion s are pro

d uce d e v e rywh e re eve n after rain an d upon t he highe st
, ,
moun t ain s
“
.
If the air Said M Fre my Con t ain ed , as as se r te d by

,
.
,
M Pasteu r all the g erms of ferme nt s a swe e t e ne d liq uid ,

.
, ,
cap able o f developing ferments should fermen t an d ,
p r esent all t h e successiv e ch an g e s ex p e r ie n c e d by mil k or

”
barl ey meal a thing that n ever h appen s
- — .
M Fremy p ersisted that it Wa s e stablished t hat o rg ani sed

.
bodies like moulds e laborat e ferme n t s; an d th at thoug h

, ,
P asteur had always declared fe r men tati on to result fr om

the action o f atmospheric corpuscles , he M F re my had ,
.
,
long since demonstrated th at when the se e ds of barley ar e

left in Sweeten ed water a fermen tation is produce d in the ,
inte rio r— an int racellul ar ferm e n t ation carbon dioxi d e ,
bein g eliminated fr om t h e Cells Fre my claime d th at this .
int racellul ar fe r mentatio n g av e the fin al blow to Paste u r s ’
theo ry and he de rided P asteur fo r d e cl arin g the produc

tion of alcohol within the cells not to be fe rmen tatio n
bec ause o f the absence in the fruit j ui ce s of Specific bee r
e ast H e p ointed out that actual fer ments are secreted
y .
inside organisms inst an cing pepsin secreted by the

, ,
digestive app aratus an d diastase , produced during the

,
ge rmin ation o f barley H e showed that in th e s e c ase s the

.
ferments themselves are not visible but only the org an s ,
that secrete them ; an d that though known fe rmen t s, su ch

a s yeast are not found in intrac e llula r fermentations th at
, ,
is no proof th at fermentation does n ot o cc ur

“
.
He contended that a fe rment ation i s defin ed n o t by the

ferment that cause s it , but by the prod u ct s that ch aracte r
ise i t I g iVe th e n ame of alc oholic ferme ntation t o e v e ry
.
organic modification that in d ecompo sin g sug ar produces

A PLAGIA R IS M FRU S TR A T E D 153
chiefly carb on d iox l de an d alcohol The la ctic fe r .
me n tation i s c haracterised by the transfo rmation o f s ugar

or dex trin into lactic acid The diastasic ferment is that .
whi ch ch an ge s s tar ch first into dext rin an d then into

glu cose It is thus that in my idea fe rmen tation must be
.
, ,
define d If as d esired by M Pasteur o ne res ts the

.
,
.
,
definition of ferments up on the description o f the fo rms

that the fe rmen ts m ay tak e se rious e rrors are likely to ,
arise .
Finall y he wound up
,
In co n clus1o n I wish to refute ,
a sort o f acc us ation ofte n re p rodu ced i n the co m m un ic a

'
tions of M Paste ur O ur confrere accus e s m e o f b e i n g
. .
almost alo n e i n main tain ing the cpl n l o n s I hav e above

de v elope d I do not kn ow that M Pasteu r is justified in
. .
saying that all savants share his o pin ions upo n the ge nera
tion an d mode of act1on offerments I kn ow a ce rtai n n um
ber of savants o f full comp etence i n these matte rs Me mbe rs ,
of t he A cade my and others wh o do n o t ag r ee with M , .
”
P aste ur .
In the course o f the contr ove rsy M Fre my distinc tly .
showed that he did not rest his opposition to M Pa steur on .
the accuracy o r ina cc ur acy of his exp e rimen t s but u pon ,
the conclusions drawn from them which he c onside red to ,
be in corre c t Pasteur artfully refused to Consider the

.
, ,
subject from this p oint of View an d called fo r a C om

mission of Members of the A c ademy t o judge of the
accuracy of his experiments without regard to his in te rpre
t ation of r esult s! M Fremy p oin ted o ut that to d o thi s
.
would be to beg the real q uestion at issue an d the m atte r

1
,
ended in the two men continuing to slap at each othe r ,
Pasteur trying to m ake capital out o f the fa ct th at F re my

saw no use in the sug gested Commission .
Pa ste ur als o fell foul of the bot ani st M Tr e cul in regard ,

.
,
to a Note that h ad n o t been re ad aloud at the S e ssion of

the Acad emy On November 1 1th A t the S e ssion held o n
2
.
the 18th November Tr e cul exp ressed regret that Pasteur

,
1
Comptes Rendus 75 , pp . 1063 - 1065 .
1
C R 75 p 1 16 8
. .
, . .
had seen fit to add thi s Note which is of considerable ,
imp ortance being tantamount to a complete confession

,
that about four months p reviously he began to have

doubts in regard to the transformation of the cells of the
' '
organi sm he called my coaermi vim into yeast cells and now ,
was p rep ared to deny M Tr e cul s belief in a transforma .

’
tion of cells .
He condescendingly warned him L e t M Tr e c ul .
ap p reciate the diffi culty o f rigorous conclusions in these

”
delicate studies .
To whi ch M Tr e c ul retorted 1
. There is no need to
caution me as to the causes of error that may p resent them
selves i n the course o f such exp eriments I pointed them .
out in 1 868 and in 1 87 1 in four different Communications

,
”
and have since written lengthily up on them He
“
.
ad d e d z— M P asteur said in the Communication of the

.
7t h O ctober and in his re p ly to M “

Fremy o f the 2 8t h o f .
the same month I st that the cells o f grap es and of other

, ,
fruits p laced in carbonic acid immediately form alcohol ;

2 n d that there is no app earance o f yeast in their interior ;
,
g r d ,
that it is only in rare and exce p tional cases that cells o f
”
yeast can p enetrate from the outside to the inside .
M Tr e cul found these statements confusing in view of

“
.
another made by P asteur 2

In the gooseberry fruit o f ,
quite another nature to grap es and a pples it often h a p ,
ened to me to observe the resence o f the small yeast of

p p
”
acid fruits
“
.
How ask ed M Tr e cul can this penetration o f the

”
,
.
,
beer yeast tak e p lace into the interior of fruits that have
-
”
intact surfaces ?
I t is not altogether surp rising that such contrary state

ments on this and other subjects should have driven Tr e c u l
to complain of Pasteur s mode of argument which he 3 ’
,
s aid consisted o f contradicting hi mself altering the sense ,
o f words and then accusing his Op p onent o f the alteration

,
.
1
Comptes Rendus 75 , p . 1 2 19 .
2
C R 75 p 9 83
. .
, . .
3
C R 88 p 2 49
. .
, . .
156 B E C H A MP OR P A S T E UR ?
Past e u r s n ewly expre s se d view s In his M e moir e ntitl e d

’
1
“
.
S econd Obs e rvation on so me Re cen t Co m mun ications

by M Pasteur , notably on the Theory Of A lcoholi c Fer
.
”
mentation , B écham p commenced with a restrained and
dig ni fied protest
“ ‘
Und e r the title New Facts to Fo rward the Kn owledge
of the Theo ry of Fermentations Properly S o-called ’
, ,
M Pasteur has p ublished a Now the pe rus al of which h a s

.
,
inte re ste d me all the more in that I h av e foun d many

ide as in it th at h ave b e en familiar to me for a lon g time .
My d e ep res pect for the Acade my an d con sideratio n for

my own dig n ity impos e u pon m e the Oblig ation of
p r ese n tin g So m e O bs e r v atio n s o n t hi s com m u n i c ation ,
othe rwi s e pe ople who are not in touch with the q ue stion
,
might believe that I h ad impose d o n the public by at tri -

r
buting to mys elf fact s an d idea s that are not min e .
He went on t o sh ow by date s an d by quo tation s from

n u m ero us wo rks th at h e h ad be e n t he fi rst to es t ablis h t wo
e sse n tial I St Th at org ani sed a n d liv ing fermen ts
.
c ould be g enerate d in me dia depriv ed o f albumin oid

matte r 2 n d That the pheno mena of fe r men tation by
. .
”
o rg an ised Or figu r ed fe rmen ts are e ssen tially act s of
n utrition .
O n e sin g l e fa ct surely d e als the death stroke to the -
cl aim that Pasteu r in itiate d a tr ue understan din g of fe r

m e nt ation and that i s th at in his e arlier expe riment s
, ,
those o f 1 857 fo r in stan ce an d again in 1860 he employed

, , ,
t eid m atter s an d thu s show e d that he had mi ss e d t he

p r o
whole poin t of B ech amp s g re at di scovery that Organ ised ’
liv ing fe rments could arise in m edia totally d e v oid of

anythin g alb umin oid The life at larg e in the at mo sp here .
could only be demon st rated by its inv asion Of a purely

chemic al m e dium entirely free from the s uspicion Of an y
org ani se d living element s This solita ry fact gives ev iden ce .
th at Pa st e ur d id n o t th e n und e rs tan d the re al sig ni ficanc e

of B ech amp s demonstrat ion
’
.
The latter now went on to describe the physiolo g ical

1 Comptes Rendus 75 , p . 1519 .
A PL AG IAR I S M F R U S T R A Tg E D 157
theory of fe rment atio n a s p rove d by his p a st e x pe r i

ments : Fo r me al cohol ic and other fermentations by
organi s e d fe rments are n o t fermentations in the p ro p er
sense o f the te rm ; they a re acts o f nutrition th at is to say , ,
of digestion of assimilation and of ex c retion

“
.
,
Ye as t t ransforms first of all outside o f itself cane— sugar , ,
into glucose by means of a substance that it contain s fully

formed in i t s org anis m an d whi ch I h ave n amed z ymase :
,
it th e n absorbs this glu cose an d nourishes itself on it : it

assimilates multiplie s in creases an d ex crete s It as simi
, ,
.
l ates that is to say a p ortion of the modi fied fe r m e n tible

, ,
matter become s momentarily or definitely a p art of it s

bei ng an d se rve s toward s its growth an d it s life It .
excretes th at is to say it expe ls the p arts us e d by it s tissue s

, ,
un d e r the form of co mp o un ds that ar e t he p rod uc ts o f

fe rm ent ation
“ .
M P asteur objected that aceti c acid the con stant

.
,
formation of which I had demon st rate d in al coholic fe r

me ntation had its sour ce n ot in the sugar bu t in the
, ,
ye ast To thi s qu e stion on t he origin of the p rod uc ts o f

.
ferm en tation which so greatly occup ie d M Pas teu r an d

, .
hi s d sciple s I made an swer s—They ought accordin g to

i
, ,
the theory to co me fro m the ye a st in the s am e w ay t hat

,
ure a comes from us that is to say from the mate r ial s that
, ,
at fir st co mposed ou r o rgani sm In t he same w ay that the .
sugar whi ch M Claud e Be rn ard saw b e ing formed in the

, .
liver co mes from t he live r an d n ot directly from food so

, ,
alcohol co me s from y e as t This is what I call t he physio ,
logic al theory of fe rmen tation Sin ce 1864 all my effor ts .

,
h ave been directed to th e develop m en t of thi s t heo ry : I

develop ed it at a Conference held at Mont p ellier an d at
an othe r held at L yons The more I in sisted o n it .
,
the more it w as a ttacked A ttacked by whom? We shall .

_
”
see .
Bé ch amp then w en t on to show that it had been M .
Pasteur an d his p u pil M Duclaux who had b e en t he ,

.
,
c hi ef o pponents of thi s teaching He quote d M Duclaux

“
. .
as having said M Bécham p has n o t observe d that .

there might be two quite distinct sources from which they
( the volatile acids o f ferme n tation ) might p roceed ,
”
namely the sugar and the yeast
, H e also again quoted .
M Duclaux s extraordinary misconcep tion o f digestion as

’
“
.
exp osed by his statement : When one sees in an alcoholic

fermentation a given weight of sugar transformed into
alcohol by a weight o f yeast a hundred or a thousand times
smaller it is very di ffi cult to believe that this sugar ever
,
made p art of the material of the yeast and that it (the ,
alcohol ) is something like a p roduct of excretion .
T his misconcep tion B é ch am p showed to be now echoed

by M P asteur in the M emoir under discussion in which
“
.
,
th e latter stated :— That which se p arates the chemical

p henomena o f fermentation from a crowd o f others and ,
p articularl y from the acts o f ordinary lif e is the fact o f the ,
decomp osition o f a weight of fermentative matter greater

”
than the weight o f the ferment in action .
Th e Professor rep eated the exp lanation he had given in

1 86 7 in answer to such crude objections He had then .
shown that they could o nl y have been made by those

ignorant o f physiological p rocesses and had put forward
the simile o f a centenarian weighing 6 0 kilogrammes , ,
who in addition to other food could have consumed

, ,
something lik e the equivalent of kilogrammes o f

meat and have p roduced more or less 800 k ilogrammes of
urea “.Thus
”
Bé c h a m p concluded
,
it is impossible to
,
, ,
admit that M P asteur h a s founded the physiological

.
theory of fermentation regarded as a p henomenon o f

nutrition That savant and his disci ples hav e tak en the
.
Op p osite View I ask the A cademy to p ermit me to record

.
this conversion of M Pasteur ”

. .
S o fa r P rofessor B é ch a m p had ignored P asteur s final

’
attemp t at plagiarism ; but now at the same S ession o f the ,
A cademy on December 2 n d together with Professor

,
E stor he p resented a joint Note entitled : O bservations

“ ,
, ,
u p on the Commu ni cation made by M P asteur the 7th .
O ctober ,
1
Comptes Rendus 75, p . 1 52 3 .
B E C HA MP OR P AS T E U R?
is by them that the tis sue s ar e made alive The part of .
organ ised beings essen tially activ e an d living ac cording ,
to t h e p hysiologists is the granul ar p roto plasm We went a

,
.
step furthe r and s ai d it is t h e gran ul ation s of the p roto
p l a s m a n
, d t hough fo r th e ir p e r ce p t ion a sor t o f s pi ritu al
insight is re quired , we have based o ur conclu sions upon
ex perimental p roofs o f the mos t v aried an d positive .
nature Bichat looked up on the tissues as the elements of

.
the bo die s of the higher an imals With the help Of the

.
mi cros cop e very definite p articles cells were di scovered

, , , ,
and were regarded in their turn as elementary p arts as ,
the last term of the analysis as a sort of living molecule ,

.
We h av e said in our turn z The cell is an ag g reg ate of a

—
numb e r of minute bein gs havin g an indep endent life a

, ,
sep arate natural history Of this natural history we have

.
m ade a com plete description We have seen the micro .
z
y m a s o f a ni m al c ells assoc i at e tw o by two o r in large r ,
numbe rs and len gthen into bacteri a

,
We h av e
.
studied t h e functio n o f these microphytic ferment s in
p hysiolo g y in p athology
, a n d a ft e r dea th W e h a v e fi rst
.
de te rmin ed the ir importance in the fun c tion ing o f secre

tion s an d shown th at this functioning is afte r all on ly a , ,
spe cial mode of n utritio n We have conside re d th e m as

.
bu ilde rs of c e lls We hav e also ann oun ce d the im

.
f
’
p o r t anc e of m i c r o z
y m a s in p at h ology : I n t yp h o id ev e r ,
‘
we said in 186 9 in gan grene in an thrax t he p re sen ce of
, , ,
bacte ria has been e st ablished in the tissues an d in the

blo od an d there has b e en a st rong dis position to look up on
,
thi s as a fact o f ordin ary p ar asitism It is evide n t afte r .

,
what w e have said that instead o f main t aining that the

,
disorder has fo r sourc e and cause t he introdu ction into

the o rg an ism of foreign germ s with their conse quent
ac tio n it sh ould instead be a ffi rm ed that it is on ly a
,
m atter of a devi ation fro m the no rmal fun ction ng o f

i
mi cr oz ym as indicated by the change e ffecte d in thei r

,
Médzcal janvier
'
All m od e rn works o n con

’
, ,
ta g io n an d vi ruses ar e b aseless outside the doct rine of the

A PLAG IAR ISM F R USTRATE D 16 1
m i c r o z ym a s After death , we said again , at the M edical

.
Congress o f Mont pellier , in I 869 , it is necessary fo r matter

to return to its p rimitive state , fo r it has only been lent fo r
a time to the org anised living being In these latter days .
an excessive r ole has been ascribed to germs carried by the

air ; the air may bring them true enough but they are not , ,
essential The m icr o z ym a s in their bacterial stage are

.
, ,
su ffi cient to assure by p utrefaction the circulation o f

, ,
matter We have thus demonstrated fo r a long time not

.
,
only that cells can behave as ferments but also which are ,
the p arts in them that undertake this r ole Th e cell it is .

,
said does not die at the same time as the being or the
,
organ of which it forms a p art This p rop osition is badly .
exp ressed Th e cell dies fast enough if one considers as

.
,
such the external envelop e or even the nucleus It is .
known that it is impossible to study histology on a corp se ,
so cap able is it o f varied fermentations ; a fe w hours after

death it is sometimes impossible to fin d a single e pithelial
,
cell intact What should be stated is that the whole cell

.
does not die ; this we have demonstrated fo r a long time by

rearing the p arts in them that survive M Pasteur foresees . .
that a new p ath will be Op ened in p hysiology I n 1 86 9 we .
‘
wrote as an epitome o f all our p receding work : The -
living being teeming with m i c r o z y m a s carries in himsel f

, ,
with these microp hytic ferments the essential elements o f

life o f disease o f death and o f comp lete destruction T his
, , .
’
new p ath we have not only foreseen but have actually

, ,
Op ened many years ago and have ersistently ursued

p p
”
it
.
In face o f this restrained but damning p rotest P asteur ,
could not keep silent S o we fin d that on the 9 th Decem

“
.
,
ber he p resented to the A cademy O bservations on the

,
Subject o f Three Notes Communicated at the L ast S ession

by Messrs Bé ch am p and E stor ”1
“
. .
I have read with attention he said these Notes or , ,
claims of p riority I find in them only a pp reciations the

.
,
truth of which I believe I am authori z ed to dis p ute and ,
1
Comptes Rendus 75 , p . 1573 .
16 2 B E CHAMP OR PAS TE UR?
some theories the res p onsibility fo r which I leave to their
,
authors L ater and at my leisure I will justify this

.
, ,
-
judgment .
But ap parently the leisure was never accorded him

, , .
P asteur rela p sed into silence

“
.
No justification o f his judgment being forthcoming ,
Professor Bé ch am p and Professor E sto r sent up the follow

ing Note on the 3 0th December “We b e g the ,
A cademy to p ermit us to p lace on record that the observ a

tions inserted in the name of M B é cham p and o f ourselves .
,
on p ages I 2 84 I 51 9 and I 52 3 of the p resen t volume o f the

, ,
Comptes Rendus remain unanswered , .
T h e facts indeed seem unanswerable Th e famous .
chemist who had gained the ear o f the Public that ex ,
c e e d i n g ly credulous organ and had put forward as his ,
own so muc h of B echamp s teaching was now completely ’

,
check ed in his attemp ted incursion into the micro zymian

doctrine Here he had to cry a halt and content himself
“
.
with his own assertion that fermentation is life without

”
air without oxygen
, To this a p plying his o wn ap
.
,
roved test f time we fi n d his admirers regretfully

p o ,
ac knowledging the defi ciencies o f his explanation

“
.
”
I t would be out o f p lace here say hi s biograp hers
2 “
, ,
P rofessor and Mr s Fr an klan d to discuss the criticisms

.
,
w hich at the p resent day are being actively carried on ;

one o f the p rincip al objections to the accep tance o f
P asteur s views being the omission o f all consideration of
’
the element of time in estimating the fermentative po wer

o f yeast . Within the p resent year ( 189 7) the dis
c o v e r y has been made by E B uchner that a s oluble .
rinci le giving rise to the alcoholic fermentation o f sugar

p p
may be extracted from y east cells and fo r whi ch the name ,
o f zy mase is ro
p p osed T his im p ortant d iscovery
. should
throw a n e w light on the theory of fermentation as it will ,
soon be p ossible to attack the p roblem in a new and much

more decisive manner T hus it is p resumably very
.
1
Comptes Rendus 75, p . 183 1 .
2
P asteur, by Pr o fe sso r an d Mr s . F r a n klan d , chap . IX .
1 64 B PASTE UR ?
E CHAMP OR
Did P aste ur co m e t o ackn owl e d g e B echam p s co n te nti o n ’
t ha t th e re i s fe rm e n ta ti o n ap art fro m th e a cti o n o f a i r b o rn e -
o r a n i sm s b u t fa i l t o sub stan t i a te a n cl i m t th i d i c v ry ?
g , y a o s s o e
B E C HA M P 69 E S T O R PA S TE UR
°
2 Dece mbe r 7 O cto b e r

C om m u n icati o n to the C o m m un i cati o n to the
A cade my o f S cie nce A cadem y o f S cien ce
1
tha t
“ “
3
on
O bs e rv ati o ns up o n M E ve ry be i n g . every o rg an , ,
Pa steur 5 No te o f t he 7th every cell that li ves wi tho ut

’
O cto b e r I t w a s show n th a t
. the he lp o f oxyg e n m us t
it w a s the y w ho fo r ma n y p o ssess the character o f a
”
ye ars p ast had tau g ht that ferm ent .
e ve ry b e i n rath e r v y T h o e i f re f a
g o r ,
e e r e p n n g o se e n o
o r an i n such a b i nd new th t hy i l y and

g e n g a p a o p s o o
g
”
e very colle cti o n o f ce lls i n such medical p atho lo g y .
a n o r an c uld lay t h art

g o p,
e p
o f fe rme nt s by mean s o f the
m inute ce llular p articles the ,
ferm entative ag ents .
T he new p ath t o physi o lo g y

they had n o t o nly fo rese e n ,
but had op ened up and p e r

si ste n tly p ursued fo r m a ny
years .
3 0 D ecember 9 D ecember
A No te to the A cademy o f E xp resse d to the A cademy
S ci e nce asking fo r the fact t o
2
o f S cience ho p e to be able ,
4
be re co rded that the ir o b se r late r at his lei sure to dis , ,
v a ti o n s o n M Paste ur s C o m ute h C o m mu n i c a ti o n of
’
.
p t e
m u n i ca t i o n rem ain un an M essrs B é cha m p and E sto r . .
sw e r e d .
'
1
Comptes Re ndusi 75 , p . 1 52 3 .
3
Comptes Rendus 75 , p 785
. .
2
C R 75 p 183 1
. .
, . .
4
C R 75 p 1573
. .
, . .
CHAPTE R X II I
MIC R OZ Y MA S IN GE NE RA L
So much worldly success had fallen to the lot o f P asteur

that he was little accustomed to checks from his con
temp oraries Th ere seems small doubt that his ranco u r
.
against B é ch a m p w a s considerably increased by the

latter s determination to safeguard himself against any
’
lagiarism o f hi s theories con c e rm n g the cell and its

p
formative elements If the microzymian doctrine
.
,
suitably disguised could not be put forward as P asteur s

,
’
so much the worse fo r the m ic r o z ym a s and all that con

cerned them Th e standing that the renown ed chemist
.
had achieved made it easy fo r him to trample u p on any

scientific growth likely to overshadow his own achieve
ments and with his extraordinary good luc k circum
, , ,
stances again abetted him .
The time had come when Professor Bé ch a m p r e lin

q u i sh e d his imp ortant
p ost at M ont p ellier i n the ho e o f
p
benefiting his country H is gifted young son Joseph who
.
, ,
was p roving a worthy help er in his researches followed ,
his example The whole family with the exce ption o f the
.
,
elder daughter who in 1 8 72 had been married to M

, , , .
Gasser moved to L ille and dark p ages began to be turned

, ,
in the great worker s life history H e no longer p ossessed

’
-
.
the blessed gift o f indep endence which he had hop ed to ,
increase by his transfer to the north o f France H e was .
er
p p etually inter fered with by the p riestly directors o f the
new house o f learn ing and what between worry and work
, ,
his hands were soon so full that the time w as o pportune

fo r his influence to be undermined at the A cademy o f
S cience in P aris where thank s to P asteur the very name
, , ,
”
microzyma was rendered almost anathema .
H o w contrary his destiny must have seemed to Pro

16 5
1 66 B E CHAMP OR PA ST E UR ?
fe sso r B é ch am p ! At
the p eriod when he was finally
shaping his remark able and exhaustive explanation of the
p rocesses o f life disease and
,
disru p tion u ne x p ected o pp o ,
n e n t s arose in the sha e o f riests uninstructed in science

p p , ,
whose narrow minds could only find irreligion and

materialism in views that had they possessed any di scern
,
ment they would have realised could have combated fa r

,
better than any of the dogmas of Rome the atheism whi ch ,
at that e p och was inclined to link itself with science The

“ , .
”
little learning with its dangers would have been re
, ,
v iv ifi e d by the dee er draughts o f B echam s ro founder ’
p p p
teaching But of this the Bishop s and Rectors o f L ille
.
,
gleaned no idea in their comp lacent ignorance and in ,
di plomac y perhap s B é ch a m p fell far short o f P asteur

, , .
S ubterfuge was imp ossible to him He could not p retend .
that ignoramuses knew more than he did of the workings

o f Creation and he made no attemp t to defer to the
,
bigoted clerics since to do so would have savoured too

,
much o f bowing the knee to B aal H e was n o opp ortunist .

,
and the Creator he imaged as p ortrayed by his marvel ,
lous works outdistanced the anthrop omorphic ideas o f the

,
p riests as the God o f the I sraelites sur p assed the crude

man made Philistine idols
-
.
Worried though he was at every turn the P rofessor con ,
t in ue d to pu t into sha p e the conclusions derived from the

ceaseless exp eriments he had undertaken at Montp ellier
and still p ursued at L ille regardless of all interruptions
,
.
Th e dee p er he delved into the microzymian doctrine the ,
better it seemed to him were the answers it gave to the

u zz les o f contem p orary science
p .
O n e o f B echamp s earlier achievements had been a clo se

’
analysis o f the albuminoids and a consequent discovery of

their variations Instead of finding them alike in each of
.
the innumerable s pecies o f living beings the Professor and ,
his collaborators found them everywhere different so ,
much so that they could put no limit to them Thi s .
variety they p roved by those p recise chemical tests in the

m aking o f which B é ch am p seems to have so utterly out
demonstrated the similarity he had found in the structure
of the p ancreas to that o f the arotis and the dissimilarity
p
in their p roducts ; while the secretions o f the p arotis he
found to be different in man horse and dog Th e great , .
t eacher ex p lained that it is owing to the m i c r o z ym a s o f

allied s p ecies o f animals being often functionally di fferent
in certain o f their physiological centres that each animal
has diseases p eculiar to it and that certain diseases are not
transmissible from one s p ecies to another and o ften not
from one in dividual to another even of the same s pecies .
I nfancy adult age old age sex have their share in

, , , ,
influencing suscep tibility to disease conditions -

.
T hese researches o f the S chool o f M ontp ellier certainly

seem to throw light u p on the nature of infection and on the
immunity constantly met with in s pite of alleged exp osure , ,
from all kinds o f infectious maladies Th e world might .
have been s p ared the p ro p agation and inoculation o f

disease matters had the p rofound theories o f B é ch a m p
-
been followed instead o f the cruder fashionable germ

theory o f disease which appears to consist of distorted half
,
truths o f B echamp s teaching’

.
A nother s pecial study o f the younger Bé ch am p was to

trace mi c r o z ym as in the foe tus and in the organs o f the
body after birth where by laborious exp erimentation he
,
p roved their varying multi plicity at di fferent stages He .
also showed the variations of their action in differe nt

organs the placenta liver etc and their variations of
, , ,
.
,
action at di fferent ages comp aring fo r instance those of

, , ,
the foe tus with those of the adult and demonstrating that ,
no ex traneous organisms coul d effect these changes He .
also assisted his father in his researches on corp ses where ,
the two B echamp s maintained that the inherent micro

m a art from the assistance of foreign
“germs ”
bring
z
y a,
s p ,
about decomp osition T hey taught that when the cor

.
p o r a t e li fe o f a being is at an end the infinitesimal organ ,
isms that originally built up its cells continue to flourish

and by their life p rocesses destroy the habitat o f which
-
they were the up builders In 1880 Joseph Bé cham p a s

-
.
, ,
M I C R O ZY MA S IN G E NE RA L 1 69
indefatigable a worker as his father demonstrated the ,
p resence Of alcohol in tissues shortly after death and its
disappearance in advanced p utrefaction when he con ,
si d e r e d it to be destroyed by a continuance o f fermentation
due to the very m ic r o z ym a s that had p roduced the alcohol

in the fi rst instance Thus he explained the continued
.
vitality of the organisms that had till lately vitalised the

now inert corpse or carcass and showed that nothing is “
,
”
the p rey Of death ; everything is the p rey o f life to quote ,
A ntoine B echam p s e pigrammatic de finition

’
.
What a different fut u re might have aw aited the micro

z y m i a n doctrine had life been s p ared to P ro fessor E stor
and to Joseph B é ch am p instead o f both being cut Off in

,
the p rime o f manhood But the inscrutable decrees o f

.
P rovidence dealt hardly with the great M aster His .
p atriotic work f oiled by bigotry his scienti fi c discoveries

,
stifled by jealousy his collaborators struck down by death

, ,
which Sp ared neither his wife nor the young daughter o f

whom the p r1ests had robbed him he fi nally made his ,
solitary Way to P aris to fin d his chief detractor enthroned

as the idol of the p ubli c his own genius almost un ,
recogni sed I t was a dreary outlook and might easily

.
hav e daunted even a brave s pirit ; but B echamp s will ’
p ower rose indomitably to meet the future and aided and , ,
quickened by his s p lendid health and vitality s p urred him ,
on to fresh investigations With increasing years his in

.
cessant work never abated and he p ersevered in searching

the mysteries of life p rocesses Up to 189 6 he continued to
-
.
p ublish articles on milk its chemical com, p ositio n its ,
s p ontaneous changes and those occasioned by cooking .
H e not only maintained his early idea o f its inherent

autonomous m ic r o z ym as but he showed the distinctive
,
character o f various milks human bovine etc H e denied

, , ,
.
the p o p ular belief in milk being an emulsion but was o f ,
the Opinion in which Dumas concurred that the milk

, ,
globules are vesicles o f a cellular typ e that is furnished , ,
with envelop es which p revent their ready solution in ether

,
in the milk stage and in cream are causative of the clotting

, .
Th e crowning achievement o f B echamp s laborious ’
and p ersecuted c areer wa s the p ublication when in hi s ,
eighty fifth y ear of a work on The B lood in whi ch he

-
,
app lied his mi cro z ymian views to its p roblems es ecially

p ,
that of its coagulation We cannot do better than quote .
Dr Herbert Snow s summary in the New Ag e of the I st

.
’
fl
t
May 19 15
“ ,
It rep resents the blood to be in reality a flowing tissue ,
not a liquid The corpuscles red and colourless do not

.
, ,
float in a liquid as is commonly thought and as our

, ,
senses indicate but are m ing led with an enormous mass

,
o f invisible m i c r o z ym a s— the mix ture behaving p recisely

as a fluid w ould do while under normal conditions They
,
.
are each clad in an albuminous envelo pe and nearly fill ,
the blood vessels but not quite Between them is a ve ry

,
.
'
small quantity of intracellular fluid These mi cr oz ym as .

,
‘
in their albuminous shells constitute the m olecular mi cro ,
m i a n granulations — the t hi rd anatomi cal e l ement

’
— of
z
y
the blood
“
.
Directly the natural conditio ns of blood life cease and -

,
t he bl ood is withdraw n by an 1n c 13 1o n in the v e ssels these ,
molecul ar granulations begin to adhere to each other very

rigidly By this adhesion the clot is formed and the p r o
.
,
cess of coagulation is so ra pid that the co r p uscles are

caught within its meshes b e fore they have time to sink t o
t he bottom as by their weight they otherwise w o uld d o
'
.
,
The n we h ave a second stage Th e albuminous envelop e .
o f the g r anulation becomes condensed an d shrinks SO .
the clot sin ks en masse and ex p els the intrace ll ular li quor,
.
Fin ally in the third stage the corpuscles are crushed by

, ,
the contracting clot and the red yield their colouring to,
the s erum without There is no such thing as fibrin per se

. .
‘
Fibrin is not a p roximate p rinciple but a false membrane ,
of m i c r o z ym a s
’
“
.
There is much , adds Dr S now , in this ingenious ex .
p lanation o f a di ffi cult and hitherto by no means satis

fa c to r ily solved p roblem , which seems to indicate , at any
rate , to t he p resent writer, that it is worthy o f fa r closer
Th e m i c r o z y m a s exist p rimarily in the cells of the
diseased body and become diseased in the cell itself .
Diseased mi c r o z ym a s should be differentiated by the

p articular grou p o f cells and tissues to which they belong
rather than the p articular disease condition with whi ch -
they are associated .
Th e m i c r o z ym a s inherent in t w o different s p ecies o f

animals more or less allied are neither necessarily nor
, ,
generally similar .
T h e m i c r o z ym a s o f a given morbidity belong to one

certain grou p o f cells r ather than to another and the ,
m i c r o z y m a s o f two given s p ecies o f animals are n ot

suscepti ble to an iden tical ejection .
S uch roughly summed u p are the p ro p ositions that

, ,
form B echamp s basis Of p athology Needless to say he

’
.
,
p u t none forward as an untried theory : each was founded

u p on exact exp erimentation and observation .
In s p ite o f the hold o f P asteurian dogma over the

Medical Fac ul ty scientifi c minds here and there confi rm
, , ,
fragments o f B echam p s teaching without knowledge o f

’
,
it from their inde pendent studies In this connection may

,
.
be quoted the evidence before the Royal Commission on

Vivisection o f Dr G ranville Bantoc k whose great
1
.
,
rep utation needs no comment

“
.
”
B acteriologists he said have discovered that in
, ,
order to convert filth or dead organic matter o f any kind

into harmless constituents Nature employs micro ,
organisms (Or microbes ) as her indis p ensable agents

In the modern sep tic tank it is the action Of the micro ,
organi sms whether aerobic or anaerobic that dissolves the

, ,
sewage and it is the continuous action o f these mi crobes

,
that converts all manurial matter into the saline con

”
st it u e n t s that are essential fo r the nu t rition o f
p lant li fe
“
.
After several examples Dr B antock continued : ,

—
. The
m icrobe in its relation to disease can only be regarded as a
”
resultant or conco mi tant ; and after quoting many in
1
Repor t of the Roy al Comm ss i i on on Vivisection, Q .
-
6 o f t he 4 th R e p o r t ,
1 9 0 6 , p 7 7b
. .
M IC R O ZY MA S IN G E NE RAL 1 73
stances of error of diagnosis through reliance on bacterial

a p p earances he queried —
“I s it not therefore reasonable
,
to conclude that these micro organisms are cer

“
-
”
t ai n ly not causative o f disease ? He also said I am —
bound to accep t as a matter o f fact the statements made

as to the association o f the L o e ffl
‘
e r bacillus w ith d i h
p
’
theria ; but to say that their p resence is the result o f the

disease a pp ears to me to be the more sound reasoning .
Then again we may quote the p ractical Observations o f

,
the great p ioneer o f nursing Florence Nightingale

“ 1 “
.
,
I s it not living in a continual mistake she said to , ,
look u pon diseases as we do now as sep arate entities , , ,
which must exist like cats and dogs instead o f looking u p on

, ,
them as conditions like a dirty and clean condition and , ,
just as much under our own control ; or rather as the r e ,
actions Of kindly Nature against the conditions in which

we have p laced ourselves ? I was brought up by scientific
men and i g norant women distinctly to believe that small
x was a thing Of which there was once a s p ecimen in the
p o
world which went on p rop agating itself in a p erp etual

,
chain of descent just as much as that there was a fi rst

,
dog (or a first p air o f dogs ) and that smallpox wo ul d not ,
begin itself any more than a new dog wo ul d begin without

there havin g been a p arent dog Since then I have seen .
with my eyes and smelt with my nose smallp ox growi ng

u p in fi rst s p ecimens either in close rooms or in over ,
crowded wards where it could not by any p ossibility have

,
‘
been caught but must have begun Nay more I have
,
’
.
, ,
seen diseases begin grow up and p ass into one another , .
Now dogs do not p ass into cats I have seen fo r instance .

, ,
with a little overcrowding continued fever grow up and , ,
with a little more typ hoid fever and with a little more
, , ,
typhus and all in the same ward or hut For diseases as

, .
,
all exp erience shows are adjectives not noun sub , ,

”
sta n t iv e s .
It was she who said also The s p ecific disease doctrine

is the grand refuge o f weak unc ul tured unstable mi nds , , ,
1
N t Nu i g p 1 9 ( t )
o e s on rs n , . no e .
1 74 B E CHAMP O R PASTE UR ?
such as now rule in the medical p rofession There are no .
”
s p ecifi c diseases : there ar e s p ecific disease conditions -
.
S uch was her teaching based u p on fa r reaching p ersonal -
exp erience u p on o pi nions that are understandable in the

,
light Of B echamp s microzymian doctrine which thus

’
gains confirmation from Nature s every d ay lessons I t ’

-
.
seems that causative disease entities must g ive place to -
disease conditions following u p on bad heredit y bad air

-
, ,
bad food vicious living and so forth and p rovided our

, , ,
ancestry be good our surroundings sanitary and our

habits hygienic our physical status lies chiefl
,
, y in our own
k eeping fo r good or evil as Our wills m ay determine
, ,
'
.
I nstead o f being at the m ercy of extraneo us en e m ies it ,
rests p rincip ally with Ourselves whether o ur anatomical

elements the m i c r o z ym as shall continue on the even
, ,
tenor of their w ay when our conditions will be those of

,
health or from a change Of environment in their im

, ,
mediate surroundings develop morbid ly p roducing bad

, ,
fermentative e ffects and other bodily c alamities Thus .

,
whi le our own shortcomi ngs ar e first reflected on them so ,
the ir ensuing corruption afterwards reven ges itself up on

us .
It has been argued in answer to Miss Nig htingale s '

’
s ound reasoning th at she was o nly a nurse an d therefore

n ot qualified to exp ress medical o pl m o n s Thi s Objection .
comes oddly fr om the devout adherents of men such as ,
Jenn er who bough t his medical degree fo r £ 15 and

, ,
P asteur who manag e d to Obtain by a majority of just one

,
vote a p lace a m ong the Free A ssociates of the A cademy o f

M edicine ! L e t us howeve r tu rn to the Op in ion s of two
, ,
genuine me dic al men and se e ho w ex actly th e y bear o ut

t he views of the great nur se In th e e ig ht e enth cha p ter o f
1
,
The Wonderf ul Cen tury a w ork b y the g reat sc ie ntist Pro

, ,
fe sso r Alfre d Russel Wallac e we fin d t hat he q uote s t he ,
medical statistician Dr Farr and Dr Charles Cre ighton

,
.
,
.
,
greatest of epi de miol ogists

1
Th i s ch ap t e r n o lo n g e r a pp e ar s in t h e w o r k, but w as for m e r ly t o be
'
Obt a i n e d se a r a t e l fr o m G e or e Alle n 69 Unwi n , M u se um S t

p y g
°
.
that up on the status of the m i cr o z ym a s dep ends the status
o f the w hole or a n art o f the cor orate organism
y p p .
In place o f the modern system o f treating that p han tom

shap e a disease entity and trying to quell it by every form
,
-
,
o f injectio n scientifi c p rocedure on B echamp s lines will ’

,
be to treat the p atient study ing his p ersonal idiosyncracies

, .
For these dep end u p on his anatomical elements the mi cro ,
m a s which according to B é ch am build u his bodily

z
y , , p p ,
frame p reserve it in health disrup t it in disease and

, , ,
finally w hen the corporate association is ended by death ,

‘
these with or without extraneous help demolish their
, ,
former habitat themselves being set free to continue an

,
indep endent existence in the earth the air or the water , ,
in which they happ en to fin d themselves A n y morbidity .

,
which may be in them or in their evolutionary bacterial

forms is quickly dis p elled by fresh air
,
An d since the .
m ic r o z y m as o f different animals different p lants and ,
different organs lungs kidneys colon as the case may be

, , , , ,
are themselves all different so will there be variation in ,
their bacterial dev elop ment and so the innumerable ,
forms Of bacteria p erceived everywhere are readily

accounted fo r A s the British E mpire or the United S tates
.
,
o f A merica or the R e ublic o f France are com osed o f

, p p ,
innumerable varying individuals so the corp orate body ,
o f p lant or animal is an association o f living entities ; and
as the work of myriad individuals comp oses the life

p rocesses o f the nation so the action ,
o f the m i c r o z y m as
constitutes the life processes of all corp orate beings

-
.
What might not the new outlook on life and disease

have been had B echamp s belief been develop ed instead o f
’
stifled under the j ealousy o f a rival !

An d now we will turn to some modern v iews that seem
to bear out his teaching .
C HAPTE R XIV
MODE R N C ONFIR MA TI ONS OF B E C H A MP
As we have cl ai med that B é cham p laid the foundations o f

cytology or the science of cellular life it may be as w ell to
, ,
give examples of modern views that bear out his early

conclusions For this p urp ose we cannot do better than
.
quote the Presidential A ddress to the Zoological S ection

Of the B ritish A ssociation fo r the A dvancement o f S cience
at M anchester in 1 9 1 5 by Professor E A M inchin M A . .

, . .
,
Hon Ph D F R S
. . .
,
. . .
’
A s we have seen B é ch am p combated Virchow s view
,
o f the cell as the anatomical unit and did this in the sixties ,
o f the nineteenth century .
What is Professor Mi n chi n s Opinion in the year 1 9 1 5? ’
“ M any cytologists app ear indeed to regard the cell as ,
they know it in the M etazoa and M e taphy ta as the begin ,
n i ng o f all things the rimordial unit in the evolution of

p ,
living beings For my p art I would as soon p ostulate the

.
,
special creation of man as believe that the M etazoan cell ,
with its elaborate organisation and its extraordinary p e r

fe ct e d method o f nuclear division by karyokinesis ,
”
rep resents the starting p oint of the evolution o f life -
.
T hus after the lap se o f more than half a century we

, ,
fin d this exp ert co n fi rmation of B echamp s teaching

’
.
Whi le Professor B é cham p and Professor E stor were

working together they were struck by seeing the granules
, ,
the m icr o z y m as in cells associate and thread like forms

,
-
develo p There seems little doubt that all those years

.
,
ago they were already Observing different stages in that

,
complicated series o f changes known as Karyokinesis or ,
Mitosis which occur in the division of the cell nucleus in

,
-
,
which is e ffected an equal division o f the substance o f the

nucleus o f the p arent cell into the two new resultant nuclei
-
.
M I 77
T his p rocess , the chief phenomenon in the cleavage o f a
cell is the mode of cell multiplication fo r the up building
,
- -
o f those structures known as the bodies o f all living s ecies

p .
A ccording to the most p o pular modern view it is e fl e ct e d ,
by the granules which on uniting are known as chroma

“ ”
tin threads the name Chromatin being applied to their
, ,
substance because of the deep er shade it takes when

stained fo r observation under the microscope S taining .
methods greatly facilitate although they occasionally ,
falsify the work o f p resent day observers ; but these

,
-
were but little known in the middle o f the last century ,
so that B é cham p must have been far ahead o f his gene

ration in his manner of mi croscopically in v e stig at
ing the intricacies of cellular life and in viewing phe
n o m e n a not yet noticed by his contem oraries T hat
p .
early axiom o f his that minute living granules build up

cells holds good to day more than half a century later
-
, ,
regardless o f nomenclature Indeed when we come to .

,
names the number and variety in use are su ffi cient to be

,
fo g any clearness in the matter and the p ity seems that ,
general use has not been made of Bechamp s co m pr e he n ’
“ ”
sive term micro zyma In regard to B echamp s priority .
’
,
in demonstrating the r Ole of the granulations and the sub

sequent confusion o f terminology we may quote M ,
.
Nencki a S wiss Professor o f M edical Chemistry at

,
Berne 1
“
-
To my knowledge it is A Bé ch am p who was the first to .
consider certain molecular granulations which he named ,
m icr o z y m as to be organised ferments and that he

, ,
”
defended his view resolutely against various attacks .
I n maki ng his own ackno wledgment o f the molecular

granulations o f the p ancreas M Nencki continues ,
. .
These are evidently the microzy mas o f Bé cha m p the ,
eoce us o f Billroth the same thing as the manor erepusoulum o f

,
”
E hrenberg .
The outstanding names fo r the minute dots p resent in ,
cell substance and distinguishable under the microscope

-
,
1
G mm lte A b it I p 2 12
esa e r e en . . .
180 BE C H A M P OR PASTE UR?
tion of the p rogeny and thi s app ears to consist p ractically
,
exclusively of chromatin May not the chromosomes be

.
simply grou ps of these determi ners (of characteristics ,
qualities etc ) adhering by mutual chemical affi nity under

,
.
the p eculiar chemical conditions obtai n ing in the cell in

the p eriod preceding karyokinesis If this be the case the
?
,
app arent total disapp earance of chromosomes during the

”
resting p eriod could be accounted fo r .
It is p ossible that fo r want o f modern app liances ,
B é ch am p may have overlooked the great imp ortance o f

the cell nucleus in his cellular doctrine ; but even so Pr o , ,
fe sso r M inchin confi rms the correctness o f his view in

ascribing the sup reme influence to what we may i n diffe r
ently term the mi crozymian granular or chromatinic ,
entities
“
.
A lready says Professor Minchin O n e generalisation

, ,
o f cytologists has been tor edoed by the study o f the

p
”
Protista ( a very p rimitive form of micro organism )
“ Th e -
‘
dictum omnia nucleus e nucleo is p erfectly valid as long as it
’
is restricted to the cells of Metazoa and Me taphyta to the ,
material that is to say to which the professed cytologist

, ,
usually confines his observations B ut in the Protista it is .

,
now well established that nuclei can arise de novo not from ,
r e existing nuclei but from the extra nuclear chromatin

p
- -
,
‘
fo r whi ch Hertwig first coined the term chromidia
’
.
L e t us run through B echamp s early views as we fin d

’
them expressed in his Theorie da Microzy ma : ’

— 1 “Micro
z
y m a s are builders o f cells and by evolution
,
become
, ,
vibrios : they are histologically active ; they are p roducers

o f z ymases (ferments ) : they are hysiologically active ; and
p
i n noting that z ymases are agents endowed with a
chemical activity o f transformation or decomposition it ,
may be said that m icr o z y m as can generate chemical

energy ; it is thanks to the m ic r o z ym as that we digest and
that we are able to transform and assimilate the materials
that serve to nourish us They are thus chemically active ;
.
p laced in certain arti fi cial surroundings called p utrescible , ,
1
p 3 1 9
MOD E R N CONFIRMAT IONS OF B E CHAMP 1 81
under favourable circumstances they bring about de ,
composition (that is fermentation) in other words they , ,
nourish themselves while they multiply no matter ,
whether they evolve into vibrios or whether they do not

do so They are therefore individually organisms com
.
p arable to those we call living and organised ferments ,
etc etc Finally they defy putrefaction and if I add that

.
,
.
, ,
they are not digested in the condition o f animal matter

where they are one can say that they are ply siolog ically
,
i
”
indestructible .
Now let us compare the modern views o f Professor Min

“
chin : I regard the chromatin elements as being the
-
constituents which are o f primary importance in the life

and evolution o f living organisms mainly fo r the following
reasons : the experimental evidence of the p rep onderating
hysiological rO l layed by the nucleus in the life f the
p e
p o
cell ; the extraordinary individualisation Of the chromatin

p articles seen universally in living organisms and mani
fe st e d to a degree which raises the chromatinic units to
the rank of living individuals exhibiting Sp ecifi c be
haviour rather than that of mere substances res ponsible
,
fo r certain ch e m i c o physical reactions in the life o f the

-
organism ; and last but by no means least the p ermanence

, ,
and if I may use the term the immortality of the chromatinic

, ,
”
p a r ti cles in the l ife c cle o
y f o rg anisms g eneral y
-
l .
Here it may be objected that though Professor Minchin

’
confi rms Professor B echamp s views as regards the
individuality and immortality of the minute cellular
granules no confirmation is g i ven Of vibrionic or as one
, ,
would say more familiarly bacterial evolution , .
Yet the modern Professor has no hesitation in enun

c i at i n
g such a belie f if relegated to p rimeval
, eras and the
realm of hypothesis and fancy imagining the develop ment
o f living forms from the earliest living beings
,
“ mi nute , ,
ossibly ultra m i c r OS CO ic
p articles f the nature f
” “
p p
“
-
o o
chromatin T hese earliest living things

. he says were , ,
biological units or individuals which were the ancestors ,
in a co n tinuous propag at ive series , of the chromatin ic

1 82 B E CHAMP O R PASTE UR?
germs an d p articles known to us at the present day as
”
universally oc curring constituents o f living organisms
“
-
.
Moreover he tells us
"
, The evolution of living things
-
m ust hav e diverged in at least two princip al directions .
Tw o new ty pes o f organisms arose one o f which continued ,
to s pecialise further in the ve getative mode of life in all its ,
inn umer able v ariations while the other typ e developed

,
an entirely new habit of life namely a predatory existen c e

, , .
I n the vegetative typ e t he fi rst ste p was that the body b e

came surrounded by a rigid envelo pe Thus came into .
existence the ba cterial typ e o f organism Here is con .
firm a tio n Of bel ief i n bacte rial evolution fro m c hromatinic ,
otherwise micro zymian granules further su pported by

suc h statements as — “ ,
I agree with those who de r ive the

,
bacteri a as primitive truly no n cellular organisms directly

, ,
from the bi o co c cus (Me re schkowsky s term) th rough an

’
”
ancestral form .
It is curious to comp are this exp e rt readine ss of belief i n

a p rimeval evolution a matter of p ure conje cture with the
, ,
indifference displayed towards B echamp s ex p erimental ’
d e monstrations of bacterial develo p ment In regard to

“
.
this we may quote his opinio n as follows

,
— 1
But you
m ust not i magi n e that the m i cro z y m as a r e converted into
bacteria without any transition : on the contrary the r e are ,
many intermediate forms between the m icr o z ymas and

the bacteria What you must b e ar in mind is that the
.
m ediu m has a great influence on the app earance o f the

various forms in their evolution from the m icr o z ymas an d
that there is an infinity o f s pecies whic h vary in their
function ; finally that according to the n ature of the
,
medium the m icro z ym as can pr oduce cells in place of

,
bacteria true cellular mi cro phytes an d fro m thes e the

, ,
”
moulds .
It has been arg ued that m odern research h as n o t con

firmed B echamp s s a e m e t z
t t n
’
— 2 “
We hav e seen the micro
z y m a s o f animal cells associate two by two or in larger ,
1
L es M icrozy mas , p 14 0 . .
2
Les M icrozymas , p 9 72 (A p pe n d
. i )
x .
1 84 B E CHAMP PA STE UR ?
OR
B u t besides thi s more or less accidental no rmal p arasitism ,
he says there is an o ther order o f facts m o re g eneral mo re

, , ,
co n stan t and do min ati n g to a certain extent the life o f the

,
tissues name ly the p resen ce i n the ce ll itself o f liv i n g e lemen ts

, , ,
ele ments indi sp en sable to i t s fun ctio n al activity

“ ‘
H e accep ts B echam p s term o f micro zyma fo r these a n d
’ ’
.
calls the man ifestati ons o f the bi o log ical activity of these
‘
i n tracellular e lemen ts m i cro bio sis ’
“ , .
T he se i n fi n ite simal elem ents m ay survive the de structi o n o f

the cell a n d they may ac q uire fo rm s and bi olo g ical p ro p ertie s
,
that the y p reviously did n o t p ossess They m ay fun ction i n a

.
ki n d o f auto n o mo us manner and may adap t themselves t o the

new co n diti o n s in which they fin d themselves and co ntinue
the ir evolution
“ .
T he n o rmal p arasiti sm and the m icro bi o sis may co n tinue

their evo lutio n p arallel t o o r indep endently o f each o ther
“ I n hi s exp e riments w ith app les etc G a li pp e relate s that
,
.
,
.
he was able t o induce the ap p earance o f micro o rg ani sms fro m -
the micro bi o sis while excludin g tho se fro m no rmal p arasitism .
T h e metho ds by which he reali sed this included mechan ical

trauma co ntusi o n s etc an d he thus was able t o trace c e rtain
, ,
.
,
man ife stati o n s o f i n tracellular li fe and Observe the appearan ce

a n d evo luti o n o f certain living elements and cultivate them
further
“
.
The se facts o f g e n eral bi o l o g y are app licable to all tissues ,
he says all cells whatever the i r o rig in T he mo st striki n g

, ,
.
example is i n war woun ds T he crushed tissue s in the wo un ds

.
favo ur the develo pme n t o f the phe n o m e n a due to m icro bi o si s .
T he dang er fro m leaving these co ntused tissues in the wounds

is reco g n ised n ow by all surg e o ns and the surg ical cleansi n g
o f all wo u n ds is now th e ro uti n e p ractice
“
.
What they do n o t know a n d what Ga lipp e devotes the

,
fifty p a g e s o f his mo n o g raph to p ro ve is that o n account o f the

no rmal p arasitism a n d the micro bio sis the par t played by the ,
crushed ti ssues a n d the m o re extravasated blo o d is at the sam e

ti m e m o re i m po rtant a n d mo re decisive They may g ive birth .
d irectly witho ut fo reig n c o llabo rati o n to infecti o us ele m ents

, , ,
so that a n abs o lutely asep tic p roj ectile is cap able Of infecting a
wo un d s olely by its mechan ical actio n in starting the abno rm al

evo lution o f the livin g intracellular elemen ts a lready p resent
“
.
T h e research was u n dertaken in L a n do uzy s labo rato ry

’
,
and the data p resented co rroborate the lessons already learne d

”
from cli nical observati o n .
In The Vaccination Inquirer fo r December 1st 19 2 0 Mr , , .
Alexander Paul summ arises from the Reports of the Fre n ch

MO DE R N CO NF IRMATION S OF B E C H A M P I 85
A cademy o f S cience the results o f other observations by 1
M V Galippe o f living m icro z ym as and their modification

“
. .
into bacilli Mr P aul quotes the latter as follows : Now

. .
-
the m icr o z ym a s form an integral p art o f the cell and can

not confer on the tissues a se ptic character which they do
not themselves p ossess when they belong to a healthy
organism In s pite of some failures due without doubt
.
,
to accidental causes the brilliant results obtained in sur ,
gery by the process o f grafting are an irrefutable proof o f

this The grafts are not dead in the absolute sense o f the
.
word since they contain living elements cap able o f

evolution in situ or in the midst o f app ro priate cultures
, ,
as demonstrated by our exp eriments Neither glycerine .

,
nor alcohol nor time destroy the m icr o z ym as of the

,
tissues These different agents can only diminish or sus

.
p end their activity T hey are endowed with .

p erennial
”
life .
Mr P aul refers to another Communication by M

“
. .
Galipp e to the A cademy o f S cience on L iving Micro

2
organisms i n p ap er : their Resistance to the A ction o f Heat

”
and of T ime In this the modern worker treats o f cul
.
t iv able elements found in all p a p er even in ancient ,
Chi nese manuscripts and E gyptian p apyrus which have ,
yielded micro organisms endowed with movement -

.
M r P aul subsequently quotes Galipp e s r esume o f his ’ ’ ’
3 “
.
research on fl o w e rs : R eviewing this long series o f e x p e r i

ments the fact that we have set forth shows that the living
,
”
p art o f the p roto p lasm is constituted o f m i c ro z y m a s .
Finally M r P aul refers to Galipp e s discovery of mi cro ’
“
.
,
z
y m as in amber and hi msel f comments : —
, H o w sad to
think that M B é cham p after hi s valiant struggles till a
.
,
rip e old age with P asteur and his school whom he ,
accused Of p erverting his discoveries and building u p on

them a false microbian hypothesis should have gone down ,
to the grave without enjoying the satisfaction o f hearing

1
Comptes Rendus S e p te m be r 19 19 , , .
2
Comptes Rendus Nov embe r 3 19 19 , , .
3
Comptes Rendus F e bruary 9 192 0 , , .
that later research has established his position and seeing ,
‘ ’
the too long tabooed name micro zyma reinstated in the
”
records of the A cademy of S cience !
M any who seem never to have heard of Bé ch am p ,
app ear to be working sl owly and laboriously towards his

view We may quote fo r example a p assage from p age 64
.
, ,
o f Health Disease and I n teg ration

,
an interesting and ad ,
v a n c e d work by H P Newsholme ,M A MD . . . .
, . .
,
M edical O ffi cer of Health fo r the City of Bir m in g

ham “T hus we again reach a p osition writes Dr
“
.
, .
Newsholme in which while not negating (sic) the r Ole

, ,
p layed by an extraneous virus in p roducing ence p halitis

lethargica we nevertheless fin d reason fo r not rej ecting
,
the p ossibility that a purely natural enzyme or virus ‘ ’

,
p roduced by the individual and not by any bacteria

harboured by him or introduced from outside may on ,
occasion be the cause o f p articular cases o f a syndrome

indistinguishable from that arising from extraneous
”
infection .
In conclusion we may say that not only have we e v i

dence of modern confirmation o f B echamp s views but ’
indications a re many that his explanation of cellular and

mi cro organic life will receive a warm welcome from
-
disinterested unp rejudiced inquirers For instance we

,
.
,
may quote from a work p ublished in 1 9 18 entitled ,
P hilosophy of Natural Therapeutics by Henry Lin d lahr M D

1
“ , , . .
”
Until a fe w weeks ago writes L i n d lahr I was not , ,
aware of the fact that a French scientist A ntoine B éch am p , ,
as far back as the middle o f the last century had given a ,
rational scientific explanation of the origin growth and

, ,
life activities Of germs and of the normal living cells o f

vegetable animal and human bodies This information
,
.
c ame to me first in a p amphlet entitled L ife s P rimal ’
Architects by E Douglas Hume

,
2
.A ccording to the .
1
i
It ap p e ar s t h a t , s n ce t h e d e a th o f H e n r y L i n d lahr , a ll r e fe r e n ce s t o
B é c h a m p h av e b i i
e e n e l m n a t e d fr o m la t e r e d t o n s o f t he P h losoph ii
y fo i
Natural Therapeut cs i .
2
ii
Ch ap te r X of t he fir st e d t o n o f Ph loso’ phy of Natural Therapeutics i s, i
i i
for t he m o st p ar t , a r e pr n t of p or t on s of L ife s P rimal Arch tects i .
the minute p rocreative cell and in the rudimentary body
o f the foe tus B echamp s theory o f m ic r o z y m as brings the
’
.
rational and scienti fi c exp lanation If these m icr o z y m a s .
are as minute in comp arison to the cell as the electrons are

in comp arison to the atom and the atom in comp arison to ,
the VISI ble p articles o f matter then the mystery of the ,
genesis of the complex human body from the p rocreative

cell as well as the mysteries o f heredity in its various
,
p hases are ,
amenable to ex p lanation I f the m i c roz
y m a s .
are the s p ores or seeds o f cells it is p ossible to conceive

, , ,
‘
that these infi nitesimal minute living organisms may ,
bear the I mpress o f the s p ecies and of racial and family

characteristics and tendencies finally to reappear in the ,
”
cells organs and nervous system of the adult body
, .
Just as Dr L i n d lahr has accepted B echamp s micro

.
’
z
y m i a n doctrine as the ex lanation of
p p athoge n ic and
other mysteries so we cannot but anticip ate a similar
,
acce ptance on the p art o f other workers and considerable ,
advance as an ever widening circle claims acquaintance

,
-
with B echamp s ep och making discoveries We would

’
-
.
rep eat the pro phecy of the Moniteur Scien tifique that time
will do j ustice to his work and make it known in its e n
t i r e ty A n d with this end in view we would advise all
.
students to go direct to the writings of this brilliant French

man who even i n that e p och of intellectual giants is seen
, ,
in p ers p ective to have been an out standing genius of the -
nineteenth cent ury !

PA RT THR E E
TH E CU L T OF TH E MI CRO B E
CHAPTE R XV
T H E O RI GI N OF
“
PR E V E NTI V E ME DICI NE
IT was at the commencement of the year 18 73 that P asteur
was elected by a majority o f one vote to a place among the
Free Associates o f the A cademy of Medicine H is ambi
“
.
tion had indeed s purred him to op en a new era in medical

”
p hysiolo g y and p athology but it would seem to have ,
been unfortunate fo r the world that instead o f p utting fo r

ward the fuller teaching of Bé cham p he fell back u p on the ,
cruder ideas now p o pularly known as the germ theory o f -
disease It is astonishing to fin d that he even used his

.
ower ful influence with the A cademy o f S cience to

p
“
anathematize the very name of mi crozyma so much so ,
that M Fremy the friend o f B é cham p declared that he

.
, ,
dared not utter the word before that august assemblage 1

.
As a name was however required fo r air borne mi cro

“
-
, ,
”
organisms P asteur accepted the nomenclature microbe
,
suggested by the surgeon S é dillo t a former Director o f , ,
the A rmy M edical S chool at Strasbourg The criticism .
might be p assed that this term is an etymological solecism .
The Greeks used the word M acrobiorus to denote races o f

long lived p eople and now a name concocted from Greek
-
, ,
words fo r short lived was conferred u pon micro organ

-
,
-
isms whose p arent stem the microzyma B é cha m p had

“
-
, , ,
described as physiologically imperishable Man who .

,
S O seldom lasts a century might better be called a microbe

, ,
and the microzyma a m acr o be !

It was not till 18 78 that S é di llo t put forw ard his sug
par A B échamp, Pr e face , p 43 ,
1
Le Sang , . . n ot e .
189
gestion ; but before this P asteur had been busy no mi nating ,
micro organisms as direct agents of varying troubles and

-
,
in 1874 he was gratifi ed by an a pp reciative letter from

L ister Th e latter wrote that the P asteurian germ theory
“
-
.
Of p utrefaction had furnished him with the p rinciple

u p on which alone the antiseptic system can be carried
”1
out .
However let us turn to that verdict Of time which

, , ,
according to P asteur s own dictum must p ronounce ’

,
judgment on a scientist B efore the last R oyal Commission .
on Vivisection which sat from 1 9 06 to 1 9 08 Si r H enry

, ,
Morris President o f the Royal College of S urgeons

, ,
wishing to make out the best case that w as p ossible fo r

P asteur had all the same to ackn o wle d g e z—
“In co n se
, , ,
q u e n c e o f further researches and ex p erience some m o d i fi

cation of the technique fi rst introduced by L ord L ister
occurred and the evolution o f t he aseptic method
2
,
”
resulted .
Dr Wilson points out in his Reservation M emorandum

3
“
.
o f the R oyal Commission that the basis of aseptic sur ,
gery which in essence is clean surgery was laid as stated

, , ,
in the R eport and in re ply to a question by Sir William

Collins by S e m m e lw e iss before 1850 who attributed the
, ,
blood poisoning which devastated his lying i n wards in a

- -
Viennese hos pital to p utrid infection and strongly urged

”
cleanliness as a means o f p reventing it Dr Wilson . .
shows how L ord L ister brought about the a pplication of -
this advice as to clean ll ness id

“
eas
were moulded by Pasteur Th is l atter inset1165 this -
“
.
P asteurian Theory that the causa causans o f se pt i ci sm in

wounds rested on micro organisms in the air was an alto
“
-
” 4
gether mistaken theory It was on this mistaken
“
.
”
theory this principle p rovided fo r him by P asteur
, , ,
that L ord L ister based his use o f the carbolic s p ray o f ,
which before the Medical Congress in Berlin in 189 1 he

, , ,
1
Th L if f P t u by R é V ll y R d t p 2 3 8
e e o as e r, en a er -
a o , . .
2
F i l R p rt of th R y l C mmi i
na Vi i tio p 2 5
e o e o a o ss on on v sec n, . .
a
p 89. .
4
p 90. .
scientists opp osed it sturdily P asteur however continued .
, ,
u pon a triumphal career of pronouncements upon dise ase

germs and was largely assisted by the conclusions of Dr .
Koch and other workers A nthrax to which we have .

,
already alluded o ffered him a convenient fi eld for his

,
quest o f the microbe and a little later his attention was

,
turned to an organism first noticed by an A lsatian sur ,
geon named Morit z and afterwards arraigned by T ous

, ,
s ai nt fo r inducing chicken cholera T his so called mi crobe -

.
-
P asteur cultivated assiduously as he had already cultivated ,
the bacillus anthracis H e also inaugurated the fashion fo r

.
’
what may be called the study o f artifi cial disease condi -
tions ; that is to say instead o f giving at tention to Nature s

,
’
exp eriments in naturally diseased subj ects human and ,
animal the mania was aroused for inducing sickness by

,
p oisonou s injections a p ractice P asteur started

,
about this
time and which his followers have so p ersistently co pied
,
that some have even deliberately p erformed iniquitous

exp eriments u p on men women and children There can ,
.
be no question that since his day bird and animal , ,
victims of every Sp ecies have languished by millions all

over the world in p athological laboratories and that had
“
P asteur never lived our little brothers and sisters to
,
,
,
quote St Francis o f Assisi would have been sp ared

.
,
incalculable agonies .
His admirers will of course retort that his exp eriments

, ,
were undertaken with a direct view to alleviate suffering ,
and in the first instance animal sicknesses p articularly

, , ,
s plenic fever But it must strike anyone as a top sy turvy

.
-
method to start the cure of natural diseases by the pr o

duction o f artifi cial and the principle Of vicarious suffering
,
can surely only hold good ethically by voluntary self

sa c r ifi c e But we are not here so much concerning our
.
’
selves with the ethics o f P asteur s p rocedure as with its
p ractical outcome SO let us turn our attention to the un
,
fortunate hens that were numbered among his early

victims .
P asteur tested his cultures o f the so called c hi cken -

ORIGI N OF ME DICINE
cholera microbe u p o n poultry an d killed a number o f
birds with systematic regularity It Came about however .
, ,
a ccidentally that a fe w we re inocul ated with a stale

,
cult ur e and then merely sickened to recove r This did

,
.
not howev er save them from further experiments and

, ,
”
these already used hens were now given a fresh dose o f
n e w c ul ture A gai n they p roved refractory to the death
.
that had been designed fo r the m T his immun ity was

'
p ro m tl
p y ascribed to the p revious dosage o f stale culture .
Past eur the n sta rted to inject attenuated doses int o hens
’
,
and cl aimed thus to p rotect them fro m death when after ‘
wards in oculated with fresh virus

“ 1 “
.
”
Was n o t this fact his biograp her asks worthy o f
, ,
being placed by the side of that great fact o f vaccine over

” ‘
which Pasteur had SO Often p ondered an d me ditated ? '
Hi s m edi t atio ns however show n othing o f the caut ion

, ,
hi s biographer is so anxious to ascribe to him

‘
“ 2 “
.
”
O riginal re searches he says n e w and bold id eas , , ,
app eale d to P asteu r But his cautious mind p reve n te d his

.
boldness from leading him into errors surprises or hasty ,

‘ ‘ ‘
conclusions That is p ossible he w ould say but we mu st
.
’
look more deeply into the subject .

’
However bold ideas h ad app arently only to have been

, , ,
made fami liar by time fo r cautiousnes s to fors ake P asteur .
A true dis p osition o f scien tifi c doubt would have p romp ted
him to establish the truth of the success or failure o f
Jennerian vaccination before accommod ating accidents or
theories to account fo r it As a matter o f fact Koch in .
, ,
would not admit that the chicke n cholera p ro phy

lax is had the value that was claimed fo r it ; while Kitt in ,
1 886
4
declared that ordinary p recautions (cleanliness
, ,
isolation o f infected birds were preferable In , .
regard to the p articular accident of the st ale culture

'
1
The L fe i J
( P asteur, by R e n é Valle r y -R ad o t , p 3 00 . .
2
i bid .
p 33. .
3
M edical P ress a nd Ci rcular J a n u a ry 1 7
, ,
1 883 .
(Q u o te d I n Rabies and Hy dro
'
phobia by S u r g . G e n e ral A . C Gord o n )

. .
De ce m be r 2 0, 1 886 .
(Q uo t e d in
which was made the foundation stone fo r the whole -
system o f inoculation it is evident that like most p eo ple

, , ,
P asteur had acce p ted vaccination without p ersonal

investigation and so like many others showed himself
, , ,
p ossessed o f a sim p le credulity that is the antithesis to

scientifi c cautiousness This criticism is the more justified
.
because at this date in France as in E ngland the subject , ,
o f vaccination had entered the fi eld o f controversy In .
1 86 3,
Ricord a famous French physician was already
, ,
delivering a warning against the transmittance o f syphilis

by the p ractice By 1 86 7 the A cademy had received
.
,
evidence Of the truth of this contention ; and in 1 870 Dr .
A H Caron o f P aris declared that long since he had

. .
, ,
p ositively re fused to vaccinate at any p rice .
It may be well to recall what ha pp ened when Dr .
Charles Creighton was asked to write an article on v ac

c in ati on fo r the E nc l
y p
c o e dia B ri tan n ica H e com p lied .
,
but being a scientist in deed as well as in name felt it ,
incumbent fi rst to study the subj ect A s a consequence the .

,
article had to be condemnatory fo r investigation p roved

“
vaccination to be a grotesque su p erstition in the ”
,
Op inion o f the greatest o f modern e p idemiologists .
P asteur on the contrary incautiously acce pting the

, ,
o ular V iew had a credulous belie f in the success of

p p ,
’
vaccination and made his hens behaviour account
,
theoretically fo r a practice that he seems never to have

investigated historically It is true that he p aused to
.
’
notice a discrep ancy b e tween Jenner s vaccination and the
theory founded u pon it A ccording to P asteur a p revious
.
,
injection o f a stale culture safeguarded against a later

inj ection o f fresh virus ; but how could two such dissimilar
,
disease conditions as cowp ox and small p ox be a p rotection

“
-
the one from the other ? From the point o f View of

” 1 “
p hysiological ex p erimentation he said the identity
, ,
Of the variola virus with the vaccine virus has never been
”
demonstrated .
We are not engaged upon an anti vaccinist treatise but -

,
1 Th L if of P ast u by R é V ll ry R d t p 3 08
e e e r, en a e - a o , . .
19 6 BE C H AM P OR PA STE UR?
‘ '
z ymo tic d l se ase ar e o f that de g re e Of rari ty as to prov e

,
so me im munity or p rote ction i ndicates the incap acity fo r ,

”
deali ng with what is a p urely statistical question .
Y et S O imbued i s medical orth odoxy with the immunit y

‘ ‘
th eo ry that We re call a d octor layIn g down th e law on

1
'
'
“
this subjec t ev e ri thou 1s hi s owri daughter had r ébe nt ly
'
" '
l
died o f a thi rd attack O sc arl et fever !

”
' ‘ ‘
As Herbert Spe nce r hasShown 11 his P rinciples of s iehol
' ’
1
" ‘
og
y
2
t her
, e is in t hé g enesis o f ne rves a
g r ea t l ik eliho od of
the d evel opment o f h b t ommo n e xpe r e fi ce tells th at
i C
'
a i .
C t p Q
i nfl uen z a are ,
a p t to be repe a
ted . A t rifli ng t fo u le , b su ch
Se em p rob ab le that Wh e n
less than I n more t r 1fl 1n

g dist u rban ce s s uc h as c Old S and
infl uenz a We have to rememb e r th at wh at We c all
.
di se as e rs Oft e n Nature S method for ridding us of poisons

’ ’
,
and; to take a ho me ly examp l e fro m h ou seh old life while

'
‘
,
‘ ' ‘
h OuSe é le a n i n g t ak e s pl ac e usu ally Once a y ear t l1e d usting
‘
-
'
Of roo ms18 o f fr e que nt o cé urren é e S uc h a th e ory 1s how ’

.
,
ever palp ably o pp os ed t o beli ef I n immunity through

,
artifi cially i nd uced disorders an d m o reover p l ausible , , ,
thOug h i t may seem i t appears to be c on trad ic te d by

'
‘
,
‘
stat istic al evid e nce T he t e Sti fnOh y Of P rofe SSOf A dolf
.
’
Vo g t,who from 1877 to 1894 was Professor Of H ygi ene a nd ’
o f S anitary S tatistics I n the University O f Berne Swit z er

lan d is quoted by Professor A lfre d Russel Wallace in
,
Chapt er E ighteen o f The Wonderful Century A ccording to .
St atistic al data obtai nable at his period Vo g t supp lied a ,
mathematical demons tration that a p e rso n whO had once

’
'
u n d e r g On e smallp ox Wa s 63 p er cent mo re l i able to suffer
from it again in a sub sequent epide mic than a p erson Who

’
had never been a victim to it Vogt concluded : A ll this “ .
1
Dr . Alfre d salte r .
1
Vol . 1, p 579
. .
OR IGI N OF PRE VE NTIVE M E DICINE 19 7
ju stifies our maintaining that t he theory o f immunity by a

p revious a ttack o f s m p
all o x whether t he n, t
au r a l d is ease ,
or th e disease p ro duced arti ficially mu st be r el egated to ,

”
the r ealm o f fi ction
j
Certainly if no auto p ro phylaxy is
.
,
-
induced by natural disorders n o claim c an su r ely be m ade

,
for auto prop hylax y from artificially pr ovoked di s

-
t urb‘an c e s .
In regard to vaccinati on against smallpox exp erien ce ,

’
can be our guide sm oc we have a whole century s history
,
whereby to d ecide fo r or against its e ffi cacy We are faced .
by outstanding facts from among which we may quote an

illustrative example provided by Pr ofessor Wallace in that
eighteenth chapter o f The Wonderful Century which he
, _ ,
tells us elsewhere is likely to gain in the future the v erdict

o f being the most scientifi c o f all h s writings it he
i I n .
shows ho wfree v accm at i o n was p rovided fo r in 1 840 the ,
op eration m ade compulsory in 1 853 and in 186 7 the ,
Guardians were ordere d to p rosecute eva ders and so , .
stringent were the regulations that fe w were the children

who escap ed vaccination Thus the following table pr o
.
vides a striki ng illust rati on O

f the i n e ffi c acy of vaccination
in regard t o smallp ox mortality .
E n g land a n d Wale s
De a ths fro m S m allp
I n cre ase p e r c e n t In crease p e r ce n t of

B etwe en of p o p ulati o n sm allp o x de aths
"
I st 69 2 n d e i d e m i c 8
p 7
2 n d 69 g r d e p i de m i c 9
°
We see here that while the p opul ation went up only 7

e r cent a nd 9 r cent small ox mortality increased at
p p e
p ,
the rate o f 4 0 8 p e r cent and 1 2 3 p er cent and this l n face

.
,
of a n e v e r ‘
,
1nu-
lt i l
p y gi n number o f vacci n ations !
Now let us turn to some military testimony since in all ,
countries the men of the army and navy are the most
.
thoroughly vaccinated members o f t he c0111m un ity , ,

.
19 8 B E CHAMP O R PASTE UR ?
Under the date o fJanuary 1 89 9 Chief S urgeon L ipp en
. . .
“
cott o f the U S A A rmy writing from M anila said : The ,
, ,
entire Command has been vaccinated at least four times

since the app earance o f the disease In the
following M arch he wrote again to state that all danger
,
was over However in the R ep orts o f the Surgeon

.
,
General of the U S A A rmy are to be found the follow

. . .
ing figures of smallp ox cases and death s :

U S A A rmy
. . .
C ases Deaths F atality-rate

p er ce n t
1
4 5 93 -
43 6 3
During the same period the smallpox rate ,

fatali ty -
among the far less vaccinated general p o pulation of the

United S tates did not exceed 3 p e r cent !
T o turn back to The Wonderful Cen tmy 1
Professor Wal ,
lace p rovides a comp arison between the B ritish A rmy and

Navy and the unvaccinated inhabitants o f L eicester
during a p eriod when the fighting forces on land and sea
at home and abroad were admitted to have been com “ ,
le t e ly revaccinated L eicester is taken as an exam le

p .
p ,
because o f the unvaccinated condition o f almost all its ’ 0
inhabitants since the smallpox outbreak Of 187 1 and 1872 .
Before this 9 5 p e r cent o f the children born were vac

,
ci n a te d and the huge attack and death rates during the -
e pi d e m l c were su ffi cient to rove the futilit f vaccination

p y o .
The authorities were therefore led to try imp roved sanita

, ,
tion and isolation as p reventives and have been rewarded ,
not only in comp arative freedom from smallp ox but also ,
in the best health rate o f all the industrial towns of Great

“
-
Britain Professor Wallace writes as follows

. Th e aver -
age annual smallpox death rate o f this town ( L eicester) fo r -
the twenty two years 1873 9 4 inclusive is thirteen p e r

-
,
-
, ,
million (see 4 th R ep ort p but in order to comp are

,
.
1
C h ap . 1 8, pp . 2 84 , 2 85 .
2 00 BE C
-
II
--
A M gP Q R P AS TE U R?
much smallpox while p erh aps t he Ph ilippine Is l ands

, , ,
p ro v ide u s w it h t h e m o st s tr iki n
g obj e ct le sson o n r ec or d .
. Sin ce t h e ta king over o f the i slands by t h e United S tates

.
ot m e r i c a e ve r y atte n tion h as b e en p aid to the p erfecting

,
-
o f sanitation B ut not content with this their P ublic

.
,
“
H ealth S ervice has seen to the thorough systematic v a c
ci n at i o n o f the p o p ulation adding t here to a con sid era ble ,
amou n t of s e rum inoculation For the result let us turn to

-
.
,
an A merican p ap er p ublished in Minneap olis The Masonic

, ,
Observer of the 14 th Janu ary 19 2 2 :

“
.
, ,
The P hili ppi nes have exp e rienced three sma llp ox
e pidemics since the United S tates fi rst took over the
I sl an ds the fi rst in 1 9 05 19 06 the second i n 1 9 0 7 19 08
,
-
,
-
,
and the third and worst of all the recent e pidemic o f ,

a .
1 9 18 1 9 1 9
-
B efore 1 9 05 (with no sys tem atic g en e ral v ac
.
ci n a t io n ) t he case mort ality was about 1 0 p er c ent

-
I n t he .
190 1 9 0 6 e i d e mic with va cin a tion well started t h

5 p c e
-
, ,
case mortality ranged from 2 5 to 50 pe r c ent i n di ffe rent

-
_
p arts o f the I slands D uring the . e pidemic of 1 9 18 1 9 1

9,
-
with t he Philippines supposedly almost universally i111 , ,
m un iz e d against s mal lpox by vaccination the c as e ,
mortality averaged over 65 p e r c e nt Th e se figures can be .
verifi e d by refe rence to the R eport of t he Phi lippi ne

Health S ervice fo r 19 19 see p ag e 78 These fi gure s ar e ,
.
‘
accomp anied b y the st ate men t that TH E MORTA LITY i s
HA RDLY E XP LA INAB L E T o anyone but a Philippine
’
.
Medical Health Co mmissioner it is p lain ly the result o f ..
vacci nation
“
.
Not only has smallpox become more de adly i n the

‘
P hilippines but I n addition Th e statistics o f the P hilip
, , ,
p ine H ealth S ervice show that there has been a steady

increase in recent years in the number of p reventable .
’
diseases esp ecially t yphoid m al aria and t uberculosis
, ,
.
(Q uo t e d from the 1 9 2 1 R e p ort o f t h e S p e cial M i ssio n on
I nv e stigatio n to the P hilipp ine I slan ds o f which C o m ,

”
mission General L eonard Wood was the h e ad ) -
G oing more into d e t aflin an e arlier issue t he l oth

December, 19 2 1 The Masonic Observer writes
,
ORIGI N , O F “
PR E VE NTIVE ME DICINE 201
The h ighest p ercentag e of mortality p e r cent was , ,
in Manila the most thoroughly vacci nated place in the

,
Islands ,
l owest p ercentag e o f mortality ,1 p er cent , ,
was in Mindanao where owing to religious prejudices o f the

,
i nhabi tants v acci n atio n had not been p ractis e d a s much

,
x
as in most o ther !p arts of the Islands To the everlas ti ng

. .
‘
sha me of t he misname d H ealth S ervic e vaccination has
’
,
be en larg ely forced on Mindanao since 19 18 in th e face

o f fth is dire ct proo f that t heir p eo p le were sa fer wit hout it ,
a nd wi th th e ; res ult o f a s mall p ox mortality in c rease to

i
.
above 2 5 ;p e r ce n t in 4 9 2 0 In View o f t he fact that

_
.
S anitary E ngineers had p robably done more in Mani la to

clean u p t he city an d make it healthy than i n any other
p art o f t h e i slands t here is e m
,e ry r eas o n to believe th at
excessive vaccination actually brought on the sm allpox
epi d emic in s pite of “ the s an itary me asu res tak en t o g
”
p ro mote h ealth .
Again fro m the i ssue o f t he 1 7th December 1 9 2 1 we

“
‘
, ,
may quot e — Think o f i t le s s than

—
p p
o ula
t ion i n the P hilippi nes and cas es of smallp ox with

t h e a wful toll o f deaths in 19 18 and 19 19 and bear ,
in mind that in all human p robability the inhabitants o f

, “ ,
the Phi lippines are as thoroughly va ccinated and r e

r
vaccinated as any p eople in the world

“
.
Systematic vaccination started in the Philippines in

1 9 05 and has continued ever since I t i s ce r tai n th at over . ,
T e n Million vaccinations fo r smallp ox were p erformed in

the Philippines from 19 05 to 1 9 1 7 I nclusive and very , ,
p robable that the vaccinations numbered even as many as

Fifteen Million during that time This can be verifi ed by .
reference to reports o f the Philippine H ealth S ervice .
T urning to those R e p orts we fi n d evidence that the facts

must have been even worse In his letters o f trans mi ttal to .
the S ecretary o f P ublic I nstruction Dr V de Jesus ,

. .
,
Director o f H ealth states that in 1 9 18 and 19 19 there

,
were in the Philippines I 1 2 549 cases of smallp ox with , ,
deaths Th e Chief of the Division o f S anitation in

.
the Provinces gives yet higher figures for the year 19 19 ,

BE C H A M P OR P A ST E UR?
bringing the total fo r the two years actually up to 145 3 1 7 ,
cases and deaths .
S o the verdict o f Time p ronounces against Jenner and

P asteur .
Yet basing his theories u pon a p ractice already dis

,
credited by those who had given it close impartial scientific

study P asteur determined to inaugurate a system o f
,
p reventive medicine to safeguard against what he p ro
claimed to be the ravages o f air borne microbes The -

.
attenuated doses which according to his theory were to

, , ,
be preventive o f natural diseases did due honour to ,
E dward Jenner by being called vaccines

“
.
P asteur s son i n law tells us

’
- - l — Midst his researches on '
a vaccine fo r chicken cholera the etiolog y of s plenic fever

-
,
”
was unceasingly p reoccupying P asteur .
A lthough a vaccine fo r the former complaint was the

fi rst he professed to discover it was i n regard to the latter
,
that a great stir was occasioned fo r P asteur was called ,
up on in various instances to test his method of vaccination .
We will therefore leave to the next chapter a study o f his

, ,
methods against anthrax which form the starting p oint of

,
-
that subsequent fashion fo r inoculation which has p roved

so fi nancially p rofitable to the manufacturers o f vaccines
and sera and has so disastrously clogged the calm dis
p assionate advance o f science with the p ecuniary con
siderations o f commercial interests .
1
'
The L ife qf P asteur, p 3 03 . .
2 04 B E CHAMP O R P A ST E UR?
M edicine Dr Colin who asked how anthrax could be
, .
,
due to the bact e r id ia when it was sometimes found in a ,
virulent stage and yet devoid o f the p resence o f these

micro organisms -
H e claimed the floor on the 1 2 th .
M arch 18 78 to criticise the p rinte d Rep ort o f the former

, ,
S ession 1
“
.
M P asteur at the p revio us S ession he said had

.
‘
,
'
formulated two p ro p ositions which are not to be found in ,
t he B u lletin T he fi rst i s t hat t he b act eri di a o f anthrax do

.
n o t d e velo p i n the blood of healthy a nimals ; the se c g nd .
that e ba ct e r i di a will not supply germ s to the org a nism

t h i _ .
I r e p lied ;that these t wo allegation s seemed to me op en to

dis p ute b ut all cri ticism of them bec omes po in t le ssjowi ng
,
to their su ppr ession fro m t he p rinted r e cord c e r st at e S . .

,
ments o f M P asteur have also been su ppressed from the

.
record as p ri nted a n d among others the one that "

, It ,
would take a man his life time to examine a drop of -
‘
an thr a ci se d b lo od and also that Th e se arch for a bacteri ’
d iu m in a dro p o f blood is as di ffi cult as th at for a cell of a

ferment in a litre o f beer yeast
’
-
“
.
T hese su ppressions and some additions of which I ,
need not s peak are absolutely a matter o f indifference to ,

‘
me although they make me a pp ear as having s pok en in
,
the air and without obj ect B ut what is not indifferent

’
.
to me is that M P asteur represents me in the B ulletin as .
say I n g something I did not say inserting as mine a mode ,
o f e x p e r i m e n t a tion a n d o f reasoning that are not mine at
all It is against this that I p rotest

. .
P asteur gave a confused re p ly which did not answer Dr ,

.
Colin s accusation which be it no ted did not concern the

’
, , ,
natural correction by an author o f the re port o f his

observations but a direct juggl ing wi th the recor ds In
,
.
the absence o f any pro p er explanation and ap ology from

M P asteur we can quite understand Dr Colin sayI n g : 2
“
.
,
.
I d e cl are that henceforth I will have no discussion with

M P asteur
. .
1
B ull de l A cademie de
.
’ ’
M édecine , 2c Vol 7, pp
. . 2 2 0 -2 3 5 .
2
i
ib d p 26 1 . . .
I NTE R N A T I O N A L ME D I C A L C O N G R E S S 2 05
Th e glowi ng p anegyrics that surround the me mory o f

th e famo us French chemist considerably obscu re the dis
favour in which his method s were held by many o f his
co ntemporaries .
P asteur lost no time in p ushing his Vi ews o n anthrax and

’
kindred subj ects and o n the 3 oth A pril 1878 read before
,
'
, ,
the A cademy o f S cience a M emoir b earing his own name”
and those o f Messrs Joubert a nd Chamberl and It was

’
“
. .
entitled The Theo ry o f G erms and th eir A ppli cat ion to

M edicine and Surgery and was the fi rst lust y trump et
'
” '
blast of the germ theory o f disease P asteur seized this

-
.
‘
good opportunity to advertise widely th at he h ad d is
“
covered th e fact th at ferments ar e living beings It g oes .
without saying that not one wo rd o f acknowledg me nt was

made to B é cham p fo r his wonderful illuminatio n o f the
,
subject Th e M emoir began by ass e rting that this dis

.
c o v e r y was a result o f P asteur s Commun i cation in 1 857

’ ’
1 858 u o n fermentation ; that the germs o f m icro org an

‘
p
-
i srn s abound everyw here ; that the th eory o f s p onta neous

’ '
generation w a s th us Shown to be a chi mera, and th at

wine beer vinegar blood urine and all the liquid s of the
, , , ,
body undergo none of their ordina ry changes i n cont act

with p ure air .
We have already seen fi rstly th at in regar d to fe r m e n

’ ’
, ,
t a t i o n in general and vinous fermentation in p artic ular as ,
also in regard to silk Worm diseases it is i mp ossibl e to

-
,
deny that P asteur p lagiarised B é champ S econdly we .

,
have seen that P asteur s exp e rim ents were insu ffi cient to
’
defeat the theory of Sp ontaneous generation a n d that they

never satis fied S pon te p arists such as Fouchet L e B on and , ,
B astian B echamp s expe riment s and exp l anations alo ne

’
.
seem to accou nt fo r phenomena that without them c a n

only be exp lained by heterogenesis Thirdly n o twi th .
,
standi ng the assertio ns of this M emoir of triple authorship ‘ ‘
both the liquids and solids of animal a nd vegetable bodies

do undergo changes by reason so B é ch am p explained o f
, , ,
t he i n fin i tesimal living organisms they contain to whi ch ,
he gave the illu m inating name o f microz yma E ven .

M P asteur hinted at belief in this when he claimed that
“
.
every being every organ every cell that lives or con

, ,
tinn es its life without the hel p of the oxygen o f the air
”
must p ossess the character o f a ferment H i s own self
“
.
”
styled famous ex p eriment on meat actually bore
witness to such changes although he denied them
, .
T h e authors o f the Memoir went on to describe how in ,
their judgment an infinitesimal quantity o f their last

,
p roduced culture was ca p able o f p roducing anthrax with

all its symp toms O n sowing their se ptic p roduct (vibrios
.
obtained from the carcass o f an animal that had died of

sep tic aemi a) the authors found that their first efforts
,
failed T heir cultures were not barren but the organisms

.
,
obtained were not the se ptic vibrios but had the common ,
form of chaplets o f small Spherical grains exceedingly

minute and not virulent .
S imilar observatio n s had alread y been made by Pr o

fe sso r B é ch a m p who with his collaborators had demon
, , ,
st r a t e d the connection between a disturbed state o f body
and the disturbed state of its indwelling p articles which , ,
u p on an unfavourable alteration in their surroundings are ,
hamp ered in their normal multiplication as healthy

m i cr o z y m as and are consequently p rone to develop into
organisms of varied Shap e known as bacteria Up on an , .
imp rovement in their environment the bacteria according , ,
to Bechamp s View by a form of devolution may return

’
, ,
to their micro zymian state but much smaller and more ,
numerous than they were originally .
It is regrettable that exp ositions by B é cham p Should

have been set aside es pecially as P asteur and his friends
,
could only account fo r the phenomena described in the

Memoir by concluding that they had sown an unobserved
imp urity at the same time as the se ptic vibrio They also .
p u t f orward the contention that each micro organism o f a -
p articular form and sha p e w as a p rovocative disease

agent Thus according to them the septic vibrio pr o
.
, ,
d u c e d se p tic aemia and the rod shap ed bacterium usually

,
-
,
associated with anthrax and Since known as the bacillus

B E C HA MP O R P A S TE UR ?
the mselves to a d e votee o f Nature like Bé champ ; tha t is to ,
say P asteur s mind always tu rned t o the business side of

’ : ’
any p rop osition H e now saw ahead a chance of tangible

.
p ro fi t a n d dreamed o f a means o f arresting or

p ro f essi n g to ,
ar res t the r ava g es o f anthrax among Sheep and cattle

, .
Using hi s classifi cation o f ae robic and anae robic micro

organisms he p ro p osed by a mix ture o f the two Sorts to
,
neutralize the virulence o f the b ac t e r id ium We have a l .
ready seen how he regarded the accidental ad m inistration

o f some stale culture to hens as a guide to hi s subsequent
roceedings and it was f chicken cholera that he first

p
“
, o r -
”
endeavoured to p rocure what he called a vaccine .
Professor T oussaint o f the T oulouse Veterinary S chool

“
worked at the subject o f vaccination again st a n thrax ”
, ,
which P asteur subsequently took u p and announced him

self satisfi ed that he had discovere d a real p reve ntive .
In May 1 88 1 P asteur was invite d to put hi s Vaccine to

, ,
th e t e st at a farm ne ar M elun and in June he wrote home ,
triumph antly that c o mp lete success had r esulted By this .
was meant that sheep that had been first ino culated with
his p rep aratio n d id not succumb to a subseque nt dosage of
e t es t was artifi cia l
oiso n T h " N O r e al success c o u ld be
p . .
p r o ved u nles s i t W a s fou n d th a t natura l in fec tio n w as
T n was
‘
p ow e rle ss against inoculated animals hi s obj ec tio .
p u t f orw a rd a n d in July some exp erim ents Were u n der

‘
taken that we re su pposed to satisfy it sinc e the power of ,
the vaccine was tested by a subsequent inje ction of blood

taken from a shee p that had actually died of anthrax But .
here again it is obvious th at the pr ocedure w as distinct

from natural infection e s p eci ally as ce rt ai n she ep re ,
mained imp ervious to the comp laint although fee ding on ‘ ‘
ground Su pp osed to be pe rvaded by bacteria from the

However, succe ss
‘ ‘’
buried carcasses of diseased Sheep .
seemed su ffic ie nt for a commercial asse t tO be made of the .
su pposed pro phylactic It does n ot t a ke much? obs erv atio n

“
.
to no te that pe cuniary profits obstruct u nbiase d criticism ,

‘
and thus re al i nv estig atio n was checked fro m the first by
P steurs all iance o f science with commerci alism
a
:
”
M “ ”
-« m m w w mMHM M ”
W W
M
A v ’
WM M W M W
I NTE R NATIONAL M E DI C AL CONGRE SS 2 09
Inthe midst o f his exp eriments a break came A n I nter .
national Medical Congress took place i n L ondon in

A ugust 1 88 1 and the French R ep ublic sent P asteur as
, ,
its representative .
His son i n law tells us o f the outburst of cheering that

1 - -
arose as he a pproached the p latform after entering S t .
James Hall ; while quietly seated in hi s place amidst the

’
great assembly unnoticed fo r the most p art sat the real

, , ,
discoverer of the fermentative role o f micro organisms o f -
the air and o f the internal tissues the real elucidator o f ,
the mysteries o f silk worm diseases and vinous fermenta -
tion the founder of views considered to be new even to day

,
-
by cytolo g ists B é cham p watched the triumph o f his rival

.
in ence n a foreign assembly he would have been the

.
last to cast any stigma u p on a comp atriot and it never ,
entered his head that Paste ur would go out o f his w ay to

attack him in the p resence o f strangers But unhappily .
, ,
ambition often oversteps delicacy .
The incident took p lace at a S ectional meeting at which

Professor Bastian put forward hi s view o f the develop ment
o f micro organisms in internal tissues his o pinion di ffering
-
,
’
from B echamp s in that instead of acknowledging living ,
granulations the m icro z ym as as p arent units it involved

, , ,
the s p ontaneous generation o f organic from inorganic

matter .
P asteur called u p on to answer went o ff at a tangent on

, ,
the subject and to refute Bastian suggested a cruel

, ,
exp eriment which in itself contradicts his ap ologists ’
attempts to whitewash his callousness towards animal

su ffering The Times of the 8th A ugust 1 88 1 quotes his
.
, ,
words as follows :
“ If Dr Bastian took the limb o f a living animal healthy
.
,
or ill p rovided the illness was not microbienne bruised the

, ,
tissues of it and reduced it to a most unhealthy condition ,
without however breaking the skin and taking care to

, , ,
exclude microbes from the intestinal canal he would never ,
fin d in it the smallest microsco pic organis ms H ad Dr . .
1
The Life f
o P asteur, by R e n é Va lle ry -R ad o t , p 3 2 9 . .
o
B astian forgotten his ( P asteur s ) exp eriment o f 1 86 3 by
’
which he had shown that the blood and urine of a living

ani mal introduced into glass vases could not putrefy al ,
though exp osed to free contact with the air and with ai r , ,
moreover which was constantly renewed p rovided only

, ,
the air was free o f germs? I n the study o f microsco pic

organisms there w as an ever p resent source o f error in the
introduction o f foreign germs in s pite o f the p recautions
,
that mi ght be taken against them When the observer saw .
fi rst one organism and afterwards a different one he was ,
p rone to conclude that the fi rst organisms had undergone

a change Yet this might be a pure illusion
. Th e .
transformation of a bacillus anthracis into a micrococcus did

”
not exist .
A las ! fo r P asteur and the verdict o f time u pon a

scientist ! That same news p aper The Times which , ,
quoted his glib assertion many ye ars later on the 8th

, ,
A p ril 1 9 14 thus wrote o f the contradictory testimony of a

, ,
worker at the very P asteur Institute

“ Mm e Henri s discovery marks a step in the evolution
.
’
o f the science of bacteriology Briefly stated what has been

.
,
accomplished is the transformation of a well known -
bacillus o f definite shap e and possessing definite tox ic

ro
p p erties into another ty p e o f micro organism a pp arently -
p ossessed o f ro
p p erties o f a kind entirely di fferent from
”
those of the original anthrax bacillus .
O r as The Daily News of the same date put it

“ ,
The exp eriment was made with the anthrax bacillus ,
which from a rod shap e was transformed into a s pherical “
”
coccus .
S o much fo r P asteur s assertion that

’
the transforma
”
tion of a bacillus an thracis into a micrococcus did not exist
“
.
T hough as to the newn ess o f M m e Henri s discovery

’
.
,
P rofessor B é ch a m p could have exp lained it at the M edical

Congress in the year 188 1 when he was already familiar
,
with the transformation of bacilli both as regards form ,
and function
“
.
This discovery ( Mm e Henri s ) says The Times 18

’
.
, ,
’
P asteur s behaviour cannot we think be condoned by , ,
even his m ost enthusiastic admirer Confronted by his .
victim he simply turned on his heel and quitted the

,
assembly defrauding B é cham p o f all opportunity fo r a

,
p pro er p ublic vindication o f himsel f and his discoveries .
A s The Times has quoted the latter s s p eech we can see

’
fo r ourselves the contrast o f the Professor s magnanimous

’
and dignifi ed treatment of P asteur

“
.
Professor B é ch a m p o f L ille likewise s p eaking in ,
French affi rmed that the m ic r o z ym as in chalk did ex ist

,
and that if M P asteur had not obtained such results it

.
'
,
was because his exp eriments were badly conducted O n .
other points also M Bé cha m p contested M P asteur s . .

’
views He held that the cause of disease and o f death lay

.
‘
in the animal itself The so called molecular granula .
-
tions of histologists were living organised things endowed

’
,
with chemical activity and having the same functions as ,
the similar granulations which existed in the air and in

chalk under the name of mi cro z ym as; they were the
p rimitive agents o f the organisation and the chemical
activity of living organisms though strange to say these , , ,
m icr o z ym as while morphologically identical exercised

, ,
different functions in different organic centres and tissues ,
as for in sta n ce the m icr o z ym as o f the p ancreas c omp ared

, ,
'
with those o f the liver He could not admi t that they .
entered the tissues from the air M P asteur denied their . .
ex istence there because it conflicted with his theories For .
hi s own p art however he was convinced that tissues did

, ,
show bacteria of different shap es and sizes where no p ene

t r a t i o n of germs from the air could have occurred In .
M P asteur s exp eriment with blood and urine these

.
’
,
liquids really su ffered a change and so fa r from disp roving ,

”
the existence o f m icr o z ym as in them served to confi rm it ,
.
P asteur was Sp ared the di ffi culty o f re plying since he ,
had already withdrawn after his uncalled fo r attack upon -
the fellow countryman to whose researches he owed such

-
a vast debt P ossibly it was this very fact that envenomed

.
him ag ainst Bé cham p We are reminded of the story of the .

I NTE R NATIONAL M E DICAL CONGRE S S 2 13
man who u pon being told that a neighbour detested him

“ ,
asked : Why should he? I have never done him a good

,
turn .
L io n ised by the big wigs among whom he found himself -

,
P asteur felt secure in his triumph A t one o f the great .
general meetings at the request o f the President S ir James

“,
P aget he gave a lecture u p on his method o f vaccination

”
,
against chicken cholera and anthrax fo r which he -

,
naturally claimed unmitigated success while he took the ,
o pp ortunity to extol E dward Jenner relegating himself ,
and his own works to what was certainly ver y suitable , ,
comp any Delighting almost childishly in the fl

. atte r i e s
that had been showered u pon him announcing his ,
triumph in private letters Pasteur returned to France , ,
where a fresh honour soon overjoyed him his election to ,
the French A cademy He was growing so accustomed to .
riding down like a Car o f Juggernaut any contradictions

that dared to u plift thems elves that it was very galling to
him when about this time the wheels of his triumphal
, ,
rogress met with obstructions from abroad

l — “
p .
H is biographer tells us The sharp est attacks came '
from G ermany
”
Dr Koch and others dis puted P asteur s
. .
’
conclusions and dared to doubt the e ffi cacy of his p rophy

lactic against anthrax .
A t home too there were annoyanc es At the A cademy

, , .
o f M edicine voices were raised against the germ theory o f -
disease and in p articular M P eter ridiculed the all

, .
conquering microbe It was the easier for him to do this .

,
as in M arch 1882 the boasted success of the vaccine fo r

, ,
anthrax had met with a disastrous downfall .
It had come about in this way In Italy it had been .
thought worth while fo r a Commission comp osed o f Me m

bers o f the University o fTurin to p erform exp eriments such
as P asteur had described and thus test his p rophylactic
z — “
.
As a result to quote M R ené Vallery R ad o t z

, A ll the .
-
sheep vaccinated and unvaccinated had succumbed sub

, ,
1
fl
The L i of P as teur , by R e n é Va lle r y -R ado t , p
»
3 57 1
. .
2
f P aste ur , pp 36 7, 368,
The L ife o
l
.
sequently to the inoculation of the blood of a shee p that
”
had died of charbon No failure could have been more
.
complete .
P asteur wr ote fo r p articulars and was informed that the

sheep which had been used fo r the exp eriment had died o f
anthrax on the 2 2 n d M arch 1 882 and that the following , ,
day its blood had been inoculated into other shee p every ,
one o f which had died as a conseq uence A ccording to .
P asteur s theories this should not have happ ened fo r in a

’
, ,
Commu n ication on the subject to the A cademy of

M edicine on the 1 7th July 18 77 he had maintained that , ,
blood from the heart would not be virulent even though

taken from an animal already putrid and virulent in many
extensive p arts o f its body P asteur tried to wriggle out of
.
the dilemma by denying that this applied to an animal

that had been dead fo r twenty four hours H e claimed -
.
that the catastrophe was due to a mistake on the p art o f

the Turin Professors who had inoculated blood that had
been septic as well as tainted by anthrax .
Th e eminent I talians men o f excellent standing were

, ,
naturally very indignant at his accusation that they did

not know how to recognize se pti ca m ia and that a man by ,
the way neither a doctor nor a veterinary surgeon should

, ,
consider himself able from P aris to diagnose conditions in

an animal on which he had never set eyes .
For a year a battle royal waged hotly between the Turin

Veterinary S chool and M P asteur who fi nally in the .
, , ,
S p ring o f 1883 wrote and offered to go to T urin and p e r

,
so n ally re p eat the exp eriment in which the P rofessors had
failed so Signally and show that the blood o f an a n t hr a cise d

carcass would be also septic on the second day after death .
But M P asteur was now dealing with men o f the race of

.
Machiavelli T hese Italians at once saw how easy it would

.
be to make such an experiment a pp ear to succeed by some

trickery They were determined to safeguard its rep etition
.
under exactly similar conditions to their own disastrous

trial They therefore re plied to P asteur that as a condi
.
, , ,
tion o f the acce ptance o f his o ffer he should fi rst give some ,
p arts o f the body T o this he made retort :
. I have never
written anything of the sort with regard to an animal that
”
has been dead 2 4 hours He went on to quote his own
“
.
version of what he had said winding up The blood,

-
will not be at all virulent although it be taken from an ,

”
animal already p utrid in several p arts o f its body T he .
Commissioners having the text of his Communication o f

,
1 8 77 before them were able to re ly that P asteur even

, p
when quoting himself had omitted the words and “ ,
” “ ” “
virulent after putrid and extensive before p arts
,
“
,
thus manipulating his own statement .
T hey p ublished this communication o f P asteur s to

’
gether with their own criticism in a p amphlet entitled Of

the Scien tific Dog matism of the Illustrious P rofessor P asteur ,
which was issued on the l oth June and translated into

French in A ugust 1 883 and bore the signatures o f
, ,
Vallada Bassi Brusasco L ongo Demarchi and Venuta

, , , , , ,
all men o f high character and rep utation .
In this document it was p ointed out that P asteur seemed

to have forgotten that the p utrid decomp osition of bodies
might vary in rapidity according to the temp erature o f
M arch a month notably changeable in its climatic relation
,
to time and place The Professors now explained that they

.
had regarded P asteur s o ffer as a trick and that not being

’
the fools he had taken them for they had decided that
they must know what he understood by the term septi “ ,
”
c aem i a
,
and that the experiments should be made fully
and under the conditions and in the way that they had
followed in their own exp eriment of M arch 1 882 With , .
cutting irony the Commission rejoiced with their illus

,
t r i o us o pp onent fo r having at last admitted that the i n o cu

lation of blood at once an thr a cise d and septic could ,
according to the relations of the two taints in the blood

doubly infected produce sometimes pure anthrax some
, ,
times p ure sep tic aemia and sometimes anthrax and se p

,
t ica m i a combined By this admission he destroyed his own

.
dogma o f the non develop ment o f the bacillus o f anthrax

-
when it is associated with other organis ms aerobic or an ,

I NTE R NATIONAL M E DICAL CONGRE SS 2 17
aerobic The Commission further cong ratulated themselves

.
on having convinced M P asteur that he could not at P aris

.
diagnose the complaint o f an animal that had died at

T urin and they were glad that they had led to his review
,
ing his dogmas through the researches o f his assistant ,
M Roux and recognising as erroneous the following

.
,
rinci le laid down in his Communication o fJuly 1 8 7

p p 7 ,
The bacteria o f anthrax may be p rofusely introduced into

an animal without giving it anthrax It will be su ffi cient .
if the bac te r i d ia sus p ended in the liquid have at the same

time the common bacteria associated with them .
The Commission po i n t e d o ut that P asteur s assertion

’
that the blood of an an thr acise d carcass would be se ptic

after 2 4 hours was as muc h as to describe septic aemia as a
necessary consequence o f the p rogress of p utrefaction ,
reasoning they considered narrow and inconsistent with

facts T hey comp ared various statements o f P asteur s
’
.
taken from his Communication o f July 1 877 and from

“
his Memoir of 1878 on The Theory of G erms and their
, ,
Application to M edicine and S urger y

”
“
.
He had stated — The blood o f an a n thr acise d animal

cont ai ns no other organisms than the bact e r id ia but the ,
b ac t e r id i a are exclusively aerobic T hey therefore take no .
p art in the p utre faction ; thus the a n thr ac ise d blood is not
cap able of p utrefaction by itself B ut in the carcass .

,
things happ en differently The a n thr acise d blood enters

.
rapidly into putrefaction because all corpses give a home

,
to vibrios coming from without that is to say in the , ,
p resent case from the ,intestinal canal which is always ,
fi lled up with all kinds o f vibrios

“
.
The se ptic vibrio is none other than one o f the vibrios

”
o f p utrefaction .
After asking himself whether se ptic aemia or putrefaction

in a living subject is a sp ecial disease he answers — “N0 ! ,
S o many vibrios so many different septic aemias benign or

, ,
”
malignant .
Yet in his M emoir on the Germ Theory he asserts -

,
We h av e only m e t on e single vibrio in septic ae mia ,

ro
p p erly so called
-
which the media in which
,
they are
cultivated cause to change in a ppearance as regards ,
”
facility o f p ro p agation and o f virulence .
After many other quotations the Commission summed ,
u p that it was clearly to be deduced that according to the ,
illustrious M P asteur the blood of a n thr a cise d carcasses

.
,
must be necessarily and fatally se ptic in 2 4 hours or less ,
because it contains the vibrios o f p utrefaction They sar .
cast i ca lly re ferred to his admission o f se tic aemias benign

“ ”
p
“
and malignant but it seems they said that the vibrios
, , ,
o f the benign se p tic aemias reside in P aris only and that in
I taly they do not exist because he has declared p ositively

,
that the unfortunate animals which died as a result of our

former exp eriment on the 2 g r d M arch were ki lled by se pti ,
cae m i a which having succeeded in killing must without

, ,
doubt belong to the category of the malignant N o twith

, .
standing the comp etence of the illustrious M P asteur in .
such an argument we venture to differ from him and to

, , ,
show that our o pinion is correct we will say in a fe w words ,
that some o f our exp eriments have p roved that even in

T urin there are vibrios o f benign se ptic ae mia that is to say ,
o f se p tic aemia that is not fatal ; and they have further
p roved that the blood o f shee p and horned cattle su ffering
from anthrax the blood o f the latter not an thr acise d the
, ,
juice of the flesh a p rey to putrefaction containing septic ,
vibrios in the sense understood by the illustrious M .
P asteur may sometimes p roduce neither p ure anthrax

,
nor p ure sep tic aemi a nor anthrax and septic ae mia com
,
bi n e d . A n d that such negative result may be o b

t a i n e d even when the blood contains mi llions of the vibrios
that the illustrious M P asteur regards as se ptic and when
.
,
”
these are in very active movement .
T h e p amphlet then describes the Commission s e x pe r i

’
ment in fullest detail showing how lowered conditions o f

,
temp erature etc must have retarded putrefaction and

,
“
.
,
’
that according to P asteur s own dogmas it was certain
, ,
that there were neither vibrios o f putrefaction nor other

evidence of septic aem ia in the blood ino culated into our
modify his original assertion Moreover although he had .
,
asked the Commission to correct the faults in the French

translation of their Italian Report he actually p ublished ,
this in the Revue Scien tifique without p aying the slightest

attention to the all too numerous corrections of mi stakes
that put a totally different construction u p on the original
signifi cation .
P erha p s it is scarcely to be wondered that while the

T urin controversy was raging his son i n law should put
“
- -
,
on record that P asteur was tired of incessant and barren

1
”
struggles Th e Italian P rofessors however did not con
.
, ,
sider their time to have been wasted On the contrary .
they declared themselves satisfied because we have ,
attained our pro p osed end the research and demonstra ,

”
tion of truth and the refutation of error .
It is only to be regretted that this attitude o f scientific

doubt should have given way to the simple credulity the ,
unquestioning faith o f modern medical orthodoxy to

,
wards almost any dogma enunciated by the followers of

P asteur .
It did not require much p ers picacity to realise that if

P asteurian treatment could secure any a pp earance o f suc
cess the p ecuniary advantages would be considerable
,
.
T hus P asteur inaugurated the era that was to see the

calamitous prostitution of science to commercialism .
Bacteriological I nstitutes fo r exp erimentation u pon li ving

animals and fo r the production and sale of vaccines and
sera came into being all over the world modelled u pon ,
the one o pened in 1 888 in P aris , .
O dessa was one o f the p laces early provided with such

an institution ; but the histor y of its initiatory traffic in the
2
anti anthrax vaccine was calamitous
-
.
The nostrum was sent to Kachowka in S outhern Russia ,
where it was administered according to P asteur s d e scr ip

,
’
tion to 4 564 shee p o f which number

, , ,
were very soon
1
i
L fe f
o P asteur, p 3 69 . .
2
i
S e e n tr o du ct ory le t t e r fr o m P
r ofe ssor Pe t r (pp
e . 8 an d 9) to E tudes sur
la Rag e , par le Dr L utaua
’
. .
I NTE R NATIONAL ME DICAL CONGRE S S 22 1
dead . vaccinations were p erformed in A ugust

The fi rst ,
1 888 by Dr ,
B ardach commencing on the 8th
.
,
.
mother shee p were divided into two flocks O n e lot was .
vaccinated before 1 1 a m o f which one shee p died within .
2 4 hours and 7 others within 3 6 hours o f the o p eration .
Th e second lot was vaccinated on the evening o f the 10th

A ugust Th e fi rst to die succumbed during the night o f the
.
9 t h l
- oth A ugust Th e greatest mortality occurred
. on the
1 0t h and 1 1 th Of the shee p vaccinated
. died ,
from the e ffects— a p ercentage o f 6 8 .
A nother trial took p lace at a farm belonging to a man

called Sp e n d ri an ow The first flock consisted o f .
sheep o f one two and three years o f age The other flock
,
.
consisted o f sheep some older than those in the fi rst ,
lot and some younger Th e sheep were vaccinated on the .
l oth A ugust between 7 and 1 1 a m The nex t day at .
1
p m
. the first
.
,
death took p lace ; the following day the
mortality was at its hi ghest and it dimini shed from
A ugust 1 3 th A ltogether out of . animals vaccinated ,
as many as died— a p ercentage of 8 1 .
T hus the Turin disaster is shown to have been by no

means an isolated ex amp le and in answer to P asteur s , ,
’
supp osed benefactions these unfortunate a ni mals had , ,
they been g i ven a voice in the matter would certainly ,
have p rayed to be delivered from such a friend Moreover .

,
M R en é Vallery Rad o t in hi s biograp hy tells us nothi ng

.
-
, ,
o f the rivate owners in France and elsewhere whom

p
P asteur had to comp ensate for animals killed by his vac
cine A sp ecial Commi ssion in H ungary recommended
1
.
the Government o f that country to p rohibit its use ; Koch

a n d M ti lle r in G ermany ronounced against it the E ng li sh
p ;
B oard o f A griculture declined to recommend it ; whi le ,
fi nally before the last Royal Commission on Vivisection

, ,
its p rotago ni sts could not do better than damn the modern
“ ”
modified edition with faint p raise .
Al as !fo r P asteur and his p ronouncement that the only

”
sovereign judge must be hi story !
E tudes par le Dr Lutaud, p 4 19
1
sur la Rag e, . . .
CHAPTE R XVI I
HYDR OP H OB IA
To the average man or woman of the p resent day the ,
mention o f the name P asteur immediately conjures up

, ,
the thought o f a horrible malady hydrop hobia For to ,

.
many with the ha z iest notions o f hi s connection with

,
fermentation silk worm troubles and anti anthrax i n o cu

,
- -
lation hi s fame is embla z oned on honour s roll as the

,
’
saviour of humani ty from the ravages of mad dogs !

Th e p ity is that since P asteur s day there should have
’
been so much scare on the subject fo r hydrop hobia is a ,
comp laint of the nerves and consequently fear is its , ,
p rimary factor Various instances

. have been recorded o f
cases unquestionably brought on by suggestion For .
examp le two young Frenchmen were bitten at Havre by

,
the same dog in January 1 853 O n e died from the

,
.
e ffects withi n a month but before t hi s the other young

,
man had sailed fo r A merica where he lived for 15 years ,
in total ignorance of the end o f his former comp ani on .
I n S ep tember 1 86 8 he returned to France and heard of

, ,
the tragedy and actually then himself develop ed sym p

,
1
toms and within three weeks was dead o f hydrop hobia !
A gain a p atient who threatened to bite his medical
,
attendant after being told that the correct symp tom in a

,
human being was the use o f the fists struck out all round ,
him like a boxer and indulged up to the time of hi s death

in this quite novel form o f p aroxysms 2
.
Th e avoidance o f fear is therefore the main essential of

, ,
safety after a dog bite and the very sli ght amount of risk
-
,
may be realised by the thousands o f innocuous bites r e

c e i v e d by veterinary surgeons and others in the habit o f
constantly handling an i mals Occasionally there may be a .
1
E tudes sur la Rag e, par lo Dr L utaud, p . . 2 62 .
1
E tudes sur la Rag e, par le Dr Lutaud, p . . 2 69 .
222
that many animals were merely su ffering from a p ast
scarcity due to war time conditions ; as wrong feeding has -
been known to p roduce symp toms like those o f so call ed -
rabies as evidenced in the scare in the Klondyke in 1 89 6

, , ,
an account of which has been given in the journal of

Z p ly hi by A rnold F George 1
oo . .
I t is clear that more fear t han intellig ence is shown in fl - W VN M
regard to rabies p articularly as a ni mals susp ected o f it are

al most 1nW
,
t6 death sum
W
s
r
fi fifi fi t e a d o f being
kep t afi v e under kind and careful observation M oreover once
—
.
,
they are dead the complaint cannot be traced by a post

,
mortem ex amination The test app lied is the one introduced .
by P asteur and this brings us to his commencement of

,
work on the subject .
It was in the ye ar 1880 that two mad d w d

to him fo n in x e stig atio n by M Bou rr e l an A rmy Ve te r i n .
,
ary S urgeon Then began the series o f observations , very

.
cruel fo r the mo st 1W
— T
2 t a t r e su lt e d in the p roud
,
an
n o un c e m e n t to the A cademy o f S cience at P aris o f a

p ro
cess that would so P asteur maintained infallibly p revent

”
, ,
rabies from develo ping in p ersons who had undergone the

misfortune to have been bitten by rabid animals .
Th e d ate of this Communication the 2 6 th O ctober

w “
_ _
M
, ,
188
5 ,
a s made b it memorable in o m o f medi
cine and g lofio us fo r French S cience according to the ,
enthusiastic p raise o f the chairman M B ouley The day ,

. .
w as also memp r a ble fo r the inaugurationW

w m
m of
intolerance the antithesis of all that is scientific which has
, , ,
unfortunately continued in regard to the fetich worship of

,
-
P asteurian orthodoxy O n this p ast e v e ntfiil dat e it was .

,
carried tol he le n g th o f to he ar a wo r d fro m M _ _

.
Jules Gué ri n Dr Colin and others who dared to venture

, .
,
W
c r 1t 1c1sm a g al n st the c o n c lu sm n s o f M P asteur The g reat
o 0
“
. .
man had s p oken He had dared to claim infallibility.

— I
call my method p erfect It behoved others either to .
r ai se or else to hold their eace

p p .
Yet how much there was to criticise ! The very inocula

1
S l t i l R bi
e e a so ar d Hy d phobi b y L L t i t h B mb y H um i
c e a es an ro a . oa ,
n e o a an
t i
ar an f A p i l 19 2 0
or r , .
H YDROPHOBIA 225
tion test fo r p roving madness was quite uncertain This .
test introduced by P asteur is to take some matter the

, , ,
saliva blood p art o f the brain or s pinal cord usually the

, , ,
cerebro —s pinal fluid from the susp ected animal and inject
,
it into a living rabbit It is evident to common sense .

,
1
a p art from B echam p s illuminating explanation that’
,
matter from one creature introduced into another is likely

to be injurious and Vulpian a French
, —
doctor and p hysi
, M
W W W
ologist and a su pp orter o f Pasteur that the ,
saliva o f as quickly
as the sa ll v a o f a child who had died o f hydro phobia The .
condition o f a rabbit after inoculation p roves nothing

e x c e t th or weakness of its p owers of resistance ; —
and yet the p aralysation of the hind quarters o f a rabbit is

h uh u m
made the test o f rabies in the dog from which it received

the injection True that nowadays rabid do g s are said to
have neg ri bo d iem the nerve cE llsL o r their branches and
.
,
”
-
,
these are claimed to be not causal but diagnostic agents ; ,
but considering the contradictions and mistakes in regard

to bacteria and disease we may well question a diagnosis ,
that dep ends u pon these neg r i bodies es pecially as it does ,
not seem to have been p roved that they are always absent
in other diseases .
So
W o r the test now as to the ro
p p hylacti c what
w
, ,
c ha n
w fi nostrum ! I n
1 884 ,at a Medical C ow at Co p enhagen he a n ,
n o un c e
w wea e n in
g the v 1r u s ffo m dogs ( p
su
p ose d ly mad ) by transmissi o n through m onkey s a n d by

m
/
—
fortifying it again thf b d obtained some
thing p rotective to dog g n d which would e r adi cate ra bie s
Considering that n o tfi ifig f hefi was or
'
from the world .

,
now is known of the cause of rabies if regard ed as a

, ,
s pecifi c malady as it was in P asteur s o pin ig g fl rg ly such ’

,
“
a boast savours very much o f the cure alls of g u a cke r y ” '
P asf m
.
that he had not succeeded in

“ ”
rendering refractory more than 1 5 or 1 6 out o f 2 0 dogs .
Afterwards he abandoned the monkey as a transmissio n

1
S ee L e Microzy mas p 6 9 0 ; l s p 2 76 f t hi w k
s , . a o . o s or .
P
agent having originally chosen it he said because of its
, , ,
p hysical resemblance to man I n a p a mp hlet H yd ro .
ph o bi a an d P as teur by Vincent Richards ,

the ,
author p ertinently asks : Does the result that 15 or 16

out o f the 2 0 dogs inoculated remained unaffected in any
way warrant the assump tion that the method ado pted by
? ”
P asteur was p rotective
O n the 2 6th O ctober 1885 P asteur described his later , ,
method o f treatment which was to take the s pinal cords o f

,
rabbits that had received injections of virus keep these fo r ,
varying lengths of time then beat them up each with , ,
twice its own weight of sterilised bouillon finally com , ,

’
m e n ci n g with the weakest inoculate the p ati ent fo r ten ,
days successively Moreover he triumphantly pointed to a

.
,
successful case that o f Jose ph M eister a little A lsatian

, ,
boy ni ne years old who had been badly bitten by a dog on

, ,
the p receding 4th July 1885 and t wo days later was taken , ,
to P asteur fo r treatment .
This being the crucial case u p on which the famous

Frenchman inaugurated his claim to su ccess it may be as ,
well to review it .
Th e worst o f the many severe bites recei ved by the child

were cauterised the same day with carbolic acid At 8 p m . . .
on the 6th July P asteur by means of a Pr av az syringe

, , ,
inoculated the boy with some dro ps o f his broth o f s pinal

cords taken from rabbits that ha d died o f the p aralytic
,
complaint induced by injections into the brains of these

p oor little animals For the succeeding ten. days Jose p h ,
M eister was regularly inoculated r e ce iv in g i n all about a ,

’
d o z e n injections o f the s pinal cord dosag e .
Now in considering this case we must ask what p roof

, ,
P asteur had o f the madness o f the dog and p robability o f

hydro phobia ensuing in the victim ?
state of the animal was inferred by its

savagery and the fact that a post mortem examinatio n dis -
“ ” 2
closed hay straw and piece s o f wood in the stomach .
,
“
W h a ck e r ,
i
S p n k an d C o , C alcu tt a .
2
The L ife of P asteur, by R e n e Va lle r y
-
Ka d o t , p 4 4
1 . .
B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR?
P a steurian success has no more to be said fo r it when ,
examined carefully than that Joseph M eister so fa r as his , ,
history is known does not ap p ear to have come o ff better

,
or worse through P asteur s treatment than several others ’
who went without it .
But all were not so fortunate as the little Alsatian .
A nother child M athieu Vid a u inoculated by P asteur and

, ,
supp osed to be c ured died seven months after treatment 1

,
.
T o excuse the death o f again another child named L ouise ,
P elletier failure was attributed to the bites being on the

,
head and too much time having elap sed after the bite
before the inoculation : yet P asteur claimed that his treat
ment would be successful if commenced at any time before
hydrop hobia set in even after a year or more C o n t r a d ic ,
.
tions seem to have been o f no account when needed as

excuses so much so that an A merican Dr Dulles of
, ,
.
Philadelp hia has said that on p lacing P asteur s state

’
ments side by side the accep tance of almost any one ,
de m ands the obliteration o f the others !

Th e late Dr Charles B ell T aylor in the National .
,
Review fo r July 1 89 0 gave a list o f cases in whi ch p atients

, ,
o f P asteur s had died while the dogs that had bitten them
’
remained well .
A notable failure was that o f a French p ostman named ,
Pierre R a sc o l who with another man was attacked by a

, , ,
dog su p p osed to be mad but not bitten fo r the dog s

, , ,
’
teeth did not p enetrate his clothing ; but his comp anion
received severe bites The latter refused to go to the .
P asteur I nstitute and remained in p erfect health ; but u n

fortunate R a sc o l was forced by the p ostal authorities to
undergo the treatment which he did from the 9 th to the ,
14 th M arch O n the following 1 2 th A p ril severe sym p

.
,
toms set i n with p ain at the p oints o f inoculation not at

, ,
the p lace o f the bite fo r the reason that he had never been ,
bitten On A p ril 14th he died o f p aralytic hydrop hobia

.
, ,
2
the new disease brought into the world by P asteur .
1
S eeE tud s u l R g p l D L ut ud pp 2 45 2 46
e s r a d f ll w i g
a e, ar e r. a ,
.
, ,
an o o n .
2
E tud u l R g p l D L ut ud p 2 77 8 F
es s r a a e, m wh t im i l
ar e r . a , .
-
. o r a so e a s ar
c a se r e
g di g
ar F hm
n m d Néa th m w o k p 345
re n c an n a e e , se e e sa e r , . .
H YDROPHOBIA 229
What wonder that Professor Michel Peter complained

“ M P asteur does not cure hydrop hobia ; he gives it !
.
”
Certainly it may be admitted that P asteur never p r o

,
fessed to have a cure What he undertook was to p revent .
the develop ment o f a p oison that he comp ared to a slow

train which in the human system was overtaken
, , , ,
according to him by his p rotective exp ress the inoculated

, ,
virus .
A lready in his own day there were many unbelievers

, ,
in his method To these in the L ondon L ancet fo r M ay 1 5

.
, ,
1 886 the following caution was addressed by Dr

,
G H . . .
B randt evidently a sincere believer in the words and

,
works o f the famous French c e st z h m i — “ To the u m

believers M P asteur says Wait ! Time will reveal many
.
—
facts connected with this question and it is only by con ,
t i n u a l exp erience and constant observations carried on fo r

a considerable time on hundreds o f cases that we shall be
”
able to arrive at p ositive and defi nite results .
Many years have gone by since these words were

p enned and ,
we fi n d ourselves now in a
p osition to study
the ex p erience and observations fo r which earlier critics
were told to be p atient .
The claim fo r P asteur s success is based u p on the asser

’
tion that he reduced the death rate fo r hydrop hobia from -
16 e r cent to 1 e r cent B u t the late Colonel T illard

p p .
has shown in a p amp hlet called P asteur and Rabies that

1
,
the 1 6 p e r cent theory o f death rate before P asteur -
brought in his su pp osed p reventive must be ridiculously

wrong A s the yearly average number o f deaths fo r
.
France up to then had not been more than 3 0 the number ,
o f the bitten according to the 1 6 e r cent estimate says

, p ,
Colonel Tillard should have been less than 2 00 ; but

,
P asteur on the contrary had

, p atients during the ,
year 1887 which meant according to this calculation

, , ,
that over 2 50 would have died had they not gone to hi m .
1
P ubli h d by t h B i t i h U i
s e f t h A b li t i
e r f Vi i ti
s
47 n on or e o on o v se c on , ,
Whi t h ll L d
e a SW
, on on , . . I
2
Th i i t h
s um bs g i e i th n ti l H y dr ph bi i Allbu t t
er v en n e ar c e on o o a n
’
s
Sy t m f M di i by P f G S im W dh d M D
se o e c ne ro . . s oo ea , . .
230 B E CHAMP OR PA STE UR ?
T his is nothing short o f an absurdity in view o f the facts ,
the highest total of deaths ever recorded fo r any year

having been 6 6 !
More than this if we turn from France to other ,
countries we fin d that at Zurich fo r instance of 2 33

, , ,
p ersons bitten by rabid animals in a p eriod o f 4 2 years ,
only 4 died 2 of whom were bitten in p arts where ,

”1
p reventive measures could not be ado p ted A gain .
,
Wendt of B reslau treated 106 persons bitten by mad

animals between the years 18 10 and 182 3 O ut of this .
”2
number 2 died O nce more during an e pide mi c o f
.
,
rabies in Stockholm in 182 4 106 bitten persons p resented ,
themselves at the R oyal H os pital only 1 of whom con ,
tracted hydro phobia 3

M any more instances might be .
enumerated such fo r e xample as the gunp owder

, , __
,
treatment formerly carried out in the Island o f Hayti ,
where though dog bites were common hydrophobia was

,
-
,
p ractically unknown 4
.
S uch results of p r e P asteurian treatment surp ass the -
best boasts of P asteur and u pset the truth o f the 16 to 1

r cent reduction in mortality E ven were the latter
p e .
claim correct it would merely be brought about by the

,
huge multiplication o f cases a method of jugglery ,
continually found in statistics and which as Dr Boucher , ,

.
o f P aris p oints out ,

5
does not prevent deaths from hydro ,
p hobia increasing while the p ercentage decreases,

!
A s to this increase facts s p eak only too p ainfully Before ,
.
P asteur s treatment the average number o f deaths per

’
annum from hydro phobia in France was 3 0 : after his
treatment the yearly average number increased to 45,

,
Th e late P rofessor C arlo Ru a t a gave the annual average

'
mortality from hydro phobia in Italy as 6 5 before the

P asteur treatment and complained o f its increase to 85 ,
1
R bi
a d Hy d phobi by Th m
es an M D l ro t p
a, o as . o an , e c. , .
2
ibid pp 55 56
. . 1 -
1 .
2
i bid p 56. . 1 .
4
ibid p p 88 9
. . 1 -
.
5
A ti R bi I
n -
ul ti
a Th i D dly E j t by D H B u h
c noc a ons : p ubli h d e r ea ec s , r . . o c e r, s e
by Th A i m l D f
e n d A t i Vi i
a ti S i ty 3 5 O ld B d S t
e e n ce an n - v se c on oc e , ,
on .
,
L o n d on , W . 1
‘
H arvey explains in these words — There were twenty six -
deaths from hydro phobia Of these fourteen died during .
the treatment eight within fifteen days of completion o f

,
treatment and four later than fifteen days after completion

,
o f treatment O nly the last four are accounted as failures

.
o f the treatment according to the usual defi nition o f a
failure and it is on this number that the p ercentage

,
failure rate is
-
This screening o f statistics p revents the inclusion of the

death o f the late King A lexander o f Greece among the
list o f P asteurian failures The announcement was made .
,
after a monkey had bitten the King that exp ert advice ,
had been summoned from P aris Had the King lived .

,
no doubt a pae an o f victory would have p roclaimed his

rescue through P asteurian methods As the King instead .
,
unha ppily grew ra pidly worse a discreet silence was for

, , ,
the most p art observed as to his tr e atm e n t the truth as

'
, ,
to which however we learn in a bulletin received by the

, ,
Greek L egation in L ondon and reported in the Daily

1— “
Mail: A thens S aturday Th e King p assed a critical
. .
night His fever attained

. deg Fahr and was p r e . .
ceded by severe shivering and accompanied by a fit of

delirium which lasted one hour and a half This morning
, .
he was ag ain vaccinated His heart has weakened H is . .
breathing is irregular A s the King thus died during the .
course o f treatment we must not only blame the monkey ,
and not the vaccination fo r his death but must not even ,
count the latter as a failure of P asteurian treatment .
A nother more recent case cannot be thus excl uded

from this category Th e Daily M ail o f January 14 1 9 2 1
“ , ,
.
re p orts — A rare case of hydro phobia was revealed in

P aris yesterday when M m e Gisse le r a Dutch woman , ,
died as the result of having been bitten by a mad dog

eight months ago After the bite Mm e Gisse le r was
'
immediately treated at the Pasteur I nstitute and altogether

”
received 2 5 injections of serum The excuse then follows .
that : such cases of death after treatment are extremely

1
18t h O ctobe r , 19 2 0 .
HY DR O P HgO B I A 2 33
rare which announcement loses its force when we

consider the many deaths like that o f the late King o f ,
Greece excluded by an arbitrary time limit from the

,
-
table of failures .
A p art from the so called accidents o f treatment and -
a p art also from d eaths after treatment from whatever ,
cause an additional argument against Pasteur s method is

,
’
its introduction o f a new disease p aralytic hydro phobia , ,
entirely different from the many forms o f pseudo rabies -

.
T hat this comp laint is often wrongly attributed to other

“
causes syphilis alcoholism or even influenza and in
, , , ,
other cases slurred over altogether is disclosed in a ,
R ep ort entitled P aralysis of Anti Rabies Treatmen t by

,
-
,
Dr P Remlinger Director o f the P asteur Institute

. .
, ,
Morocco to the International R abies Conference held

,
at the P asteur Institute P aris from A p ril 2 5 to 2 9 , ,
We we re i m pre sse d he write s (p with the d i scr e p

,
.
an cy betwe e n the n um b e r o f o bse rv a ti o n s publi she d by

dire cto rs o f i n sti tute s a n d the n um be r o f ca se s o rally a c
kn owle dg e d by the m to have o ccurre d S u ch o ccurre n ce s
we re co m m o n ly ke p t se cre t as if the y we re a re fl
.
e cti o n o n the
P a ste u r m e tho d o r a re fl
,
ecti o n o n t he do cto r w ho appli e d it .
S uch a p o li cy ap p e are d t o us t o b e c lum sy a n d t he reve rse o f

sci e n t ifi c
”
.
“
A n d ag a i n (p 85) We have c o m e t o the co n clu
.
si o n tha t c e rta i n i n sti tute s co n ce al the i r ca se s O n vari o us .
o cc a si o n s w e have fo u n d i n m e d i c a l li te rature o b se rva ti o n s
co n ce rn i n g p a ralysi s o f tre a tm e n t a n d w e have afte rward s ,
fa i le d t o fi n d i n t he re p o rt a n d sta t i stics o f the institute s

”
conce rn e d a n y m e n ti o n o f the se un fo rtu n ate case s .
Solong back as January 1 1 9 2 0 P asteurian statistics , ,
were criticised in the Times by no less an authority than ,
the eminent statistician P rofessor Karl P earson well , ,
known as the G alton P rofessor o f E ugenics and Director

o f the L aboratory fo r National E ugenics at the L ondon
.
“
University Q uestioning the boast o f P asteur s conquest ’
”
o f hydro p hobia he wrote ,
“
F ull st a ti sti cal d ata fo r t he P aste ur tre atm e n t bo th i n
E uro p e a n d A si a are n o t avai la ble . What d ata a r e p ubli she d
1
P ubli t i ca on s o f t he L e ag ue of N ti a on s . I II . H e a l th . 19 2 7 . I II . 14 .
234 B E CHAMP PA STE UR? OR
p e rm i t o f no
p r ude n t st a t i sti c a l j u d m e n t
g I f th e I n d i a n .
G o vern me n t i s i n p o ssessi o n o f i n fo rm ati o n on this p o i n t

-
,
why is it withhe ld If it do es n o t p o sses s it why do es it n o t

?
,
obtain it and i ssue it? I s the re any cause fo r d issati sfacti o n

with the re sults obtai n ed a n d have any chang es been m ade
,
i n the treatm e n t o n the ba sis o f such di ssati sfacti o n o r fo r a n y

other reaso n ? These are q ue sti o ns fo r whi ch an swers should be
dem an ded i n the H o use o f C o mm o n s No G overn m en t i s to .
be blam ed fo r ado p tin g a co urse re co m m e n de d by i t s scie n tifi c

advisers Bu t it si n s n o t o n ly ag ai n st scien ce a n d hum an ity
.
,
but ag ai n st the brute wo rld as we ll if it do e s n o t p ro vid e the ,
material it m ust p o ssess fo r a j udg m en t o f the succe ss o r failure

o f its e ffo rts I n our p resent state o f kn o wledg e I ve n ture to
.
‘
assert th at it is n o t wise to speak o f the co n q ue st o f rabies .
’
I am S i r , ,
Yo urs ,
KA R L PE A R SON .
Un iversity C o lleg e W C 1 , . . .
S uch is the exp ert statistical commentary that after all

these long years rep lies to Pasteur s request to await t he ’
verdict o f time and o f exp erience .
E ven the information obtainable from the P asteur

I nstitutes can hardly be encourag ing to belie v ers in
P asteur s treatment For instance if we turn to the Rep orts
’
.
,
of the P asteur I nstitute at Kasauli in I ndia we find the ,
big increase from 10 deaths from hydrop hobia in 1 9 00 ,
to 72 deaths in 19 15 A gainst this we can scarcely set the

.
corresp onding increase in cases because so many o f the ,
latter cannot be described as genuine ; it is frankly acknow

ledged in the Sixteenth A nnual R ep ort that many o f the
1
E uro p eans have undergone no risk whatever We can .
well believe this when we recall the example o f L ord

and L ady Minto who went through the course o f
,
inoculations merely because their p e t dog had been

bitten by another dog su pp osed to have been mad ! A ,
large p rop ortion of the Indians can run no risk either ,
excep t from the treatment seeing that the p atients , ,
accordi ng to the Rep ort s own showing have not all ’
“
been bitten but many merely scratched or licked “ ,
,
, ,
1
p . 2 1.
remedial system named after himself whi ch has been , ,
most successful and which in case of need can be p ut

1
, , ,
into op eration at the B attersea General Hospital (A nti

Vivisection ) L ondon S W I 1 , ,
. . .
I t is to say the least o f it remarkable that defini te

, ,
curative measures should be overlooked and set aside

fo r a mere p reventive which cannot set forward a single
tangible p roof o f ever having saved anyone while on the , ,
other hand as we have seen there is undeniable evidence

, ,
that it has occasioned a new comp laint p aralytic hydro ,
p hobia For .such p rocedure there must be some ex p lana

tion and p erhap s the I ndian p ap er The P ioneer fo r M arch , ,
12 1 9 1 9 unconsciously
p rovides i t :
“ , ,
Th e Central Research I nstitute 2

at Kasauli has
develop ed its vaccine p roduction to an almost incred ible
ex tent The yearly average before the war was
.
cubic centimeters ; during the war it rose to over 2 1million

cubic centimeters and included anti typ hoid cholera ,
-
, ,
p neumo ni a and influenza vaccines From a monetary .
oint f view alone the value o f the Kasauli vaccines fo r

p o
”
the p eriod of the war was about half a million sterling .
P asteur s inoculations fo r hydrop hobia form p art o f a

’
vast money making system in which the beneficiaries

-
,
have no wish that any item should be discredited The .
Kasauli returns are only a fraction o f the monetary gains

accruing in E urop e A sia and A merica A fe w years ,
.
back we were told by Professor R ay L ankester that the

,
L ister I nstitute in L ondon made a year by the

sale o f vaccines and sera a sum that seems likely to have
—
increased largely Thus we fin d science dominated by .
commercialism Were it not fo r p ecuniary advantages

.
,
there seems little doubt that the broth emulsions o f s pinal

cords would have gone the same way as an older less
“
nauseous p anacea— the hair of the dog that bit you ! ”
From the earliest records of history the p revalent mania ,
1
F or c a se s o f cur e s, se e On Rabies and Hy dro phob a, i
by S ur g e o n - G e n e r al
Th ofn t on , C B . .
, M . B .
, BA . .
2
A se p a r a t e i n st i tut i o n from t he Pa ste ur In st tut e i .
H YDRO PH OB IA 237
seems to have been fo r frightfulness in medicinal

remedies ; but the witches cauldron itself never surp assed
’
the noxious nostrums inaugurated by P asteur in what has

roved indeed “a new era in medicine ”
I t is the era for
p .
the injection into the blood o f matter of var ying degrees

o f o ffensiveness the era in which animal ex p erimentation
, ,
vastly increased has found its sequence in experiments

,
on human beings and the credulous and the ignorant

,
are everywhere at the mercy o f the subcutaneous syringe

and thereby swell the monetary returns of the m a n ufa c
t ur e r s o f vaccines and sera !
CHA PTE R XV I II
A FE W E XA MP L E S OF TH E C UL T IN TH E O RY A ND IN
PRA C TI C E
WH A T a striking contrast between L ouis P asteur the worn , ,
p aralysed man aged be fore his time and the magni fi cence ,
o f the I nstitute erected in his honour and called after
him which was o p ened on the 14 th November 1888 at

, , ,
P aris ! For the ambitious chemist had achieved his goal

fame and fortune He now found himself installed as the
.
idol o f medical orthodoxy and through succeeding years

,
his worshipful followers were to waft his doctrines abroad

like incense to his memory .
’
Th e reason fo r the general public s acclamation of his
views has been succinctly explained to us by Bé cham p in
the p reface to his work L a Theorie da Microzy ma H ere he
'
“
.
writes — The general p ublic however intelligent are , ,
struck only by that which it takes little trouble to under

stand T hey have been told that the interior of the body
.
is something more or less like the contents of a vessel filled

with wine that this interior is not injured that we do
,
—
not become ill excep t when germs originally created ,
morbid p enetrate into it from without and then become

, ,
microbes The public do not know whether this is true ;

.
they do not even know what a microbe is but they take it ,
on the word o f the master they believe it because it is

,
simple and easy to understand they believe and they ,
re peat that the microbe makes us ill without inquiring

further because they have not the leisure nor p erha p s
, , , ,
often the cap acity to p robe to the de p ths that which they
,
”
are asked to believe .
O n the other hand exp erts have been educated from

,
the start to consider micro organic life from the P asteurian

-
standp oint and to acce pt these theories as though they

2 38
T he carrier theory is also constantly invoked in con
-
n e cti o n with diphtheria Years ago we read o f the

1
.
throats of 700 schoolchildren at A lp e r t o n in Middlesex

being examined with the result that 2 00 were accused o f
,
being diphtheria carriers and were isolated in c o n se -
q u e n ce O n e outstanding weakness o f the theory is that

.
we ne ver seem to hear o f the isolatio n of p rominent bac

t e r i o lo g i st s who obviously should set the exam ple in
,
undergoing microsco pic and chemical tests and the subse

quent quarantine so far a pp arently only advocated fo r , , ,
other p eo ple ! But as the E ditor of the L ancet has con

2
,
fessed without the carrier theory Koch s postulates could

’
-
,
not even p retend to be fulfilled .
T ake fo r instance the fourth p ostulate which des

, , ,
cr ib e s the causative germ as p rovocative in an a ni mal o f
the same disease as that with which it was originally

associated We are told in the same article in the L ancet
.
3
how the p neumococcus of pneumonia introduced even

into the lung o f a rabbit brings about not pneumonia but ,
general septic aemia A ccording to B echamp s theory of .

’
the differences between the m icr o z y m as of varying s p ecies ,
this result is understandable and p resents no mystery ; but

it means the undoing of the truth of Koch s fourth ’
p ostulate .
‘
In S ternberg s Text B ook of B acteriolog y
’
1
we find -
,
Th e demonstration made by O gston Rosenbach P a sse t , ,
and others that micrococci are constantly p resent in the

,
u s o f acute diseases led to the i nference that there can be

p ,
no pus formation in the absence of micro organisms of this -
class But it is now well established by the exp eriments of

.
Grawitz de Bary S teinhaus S ch e ur le n Kaufmann and

, , , ,
others that the inference was a mistaken one and that

certain chemical substances introduced beneath the ski n
”
give rise to pus formation quite inde p endently o f bacteria .
O n the other hand Dr Robb has shown that under the

5
, .
1
S e e t he E ven ng i News o f t h e 4t h Jun e ,
19 2 0 .
2
M a r ch 2 9 , 1 9 09 .
3 i bid .
4
p .
3 71
5
Asept c S urg i ical Techn ique , by Hun te r R obb, MD . .
C ULT IN THE OR Y AN D PRACTICE
most rigid antisep tic treatment micro organisms are con ,
-
st an t ly found attached to sutures when removed from
wounds made by the surgeon and that a skin abscess is ,
frequently associated with the p resence o f the most com

mon of these micro organi sms e g staphy lococcus albus -
,
. .
,
.
T hus on the one hand we are given evidence that p u s

, ,
formation may be indep endent o f bacteria while on the ,
other the utmost p recautions against micro organisms

,
-
may not p revent their p resence From the viewp oint o f .
P asteur this is a contradiction not easily accounted fo r by

his theory o f invasion We are told by hi s son i n law that
1
.
- -
it was his habit to sp eak o f an in vaded p atient Yet we .

,
have just been informed on the one hand of p u s without , ,
any so called microbes and on the other o f microbes

-
, , ,
when every p recaution has been taken against them This .
is very confusing according to P asteur s teaching On the ’

.
contrary we fin d exp lanation directly we turn to B é c ha m p

,
.
A ccording to his doctrine whi ch with the cautiousness o f , ,
a true man o f science he p ut forward as a p robable hyp o

“ ,
thesis instead o f asserting it to be a p roved fact incap able

, ,
o f question after the ex amp le o f P asteur it seems

, ,
p ossible to understand the malignant influence o f certain

chemi cal substances up on the normal m i c r o z ym a s o f the
body and the p us formation that might be the co n se
q u e n ce I
. n the other e x amp le where micro organ i sms ,
-
are seen in sp ite o f antisep tic p recautions against external

,
invasion we are shown the app arent accuracy o f

,
B echamp s View that the medium having become u m

’
suited to normal m i c ro z ym a s they themselves develop into ,
bacteria thus p roving the latter to be the consequence

, ,
instead o f the origin of the disease condition ,

-
.
A nother remarkable theory that has had to be invoked

in supp ort o f the general germ theory is that o f M e t chn i -
ko ff s p hagocytosis or the assump tion that the leucocytes

’
, ,
otherwise the white corpuscles o f the blood are in e ffect ,
its scavengers which make an end of undesirable intruders .
A favourite term fo r them has bee n that o f the p olice o f

1
The Life q asteur, p . 2 9 1.
Q .
2 42 BE C HA MP OR PASTE UR ?
the body notwithstanding the salient fact that the more
,
o f them the less the body se e ms safeguarded while it ,
gains in security with the diminution of this hyp othetical

p olice f orce B é c h.a m p taught that the leucocytes are
living but he treated M e t c hni ko ff s theory with ridicule ’
“ , .
” ‘
Th e leucocytes he wrote in L es Grands P roblemes ‘
“ ,
M edicaux are even held to be so much alive that they are

'
,
rep resented as p ursuing the microbe to swallow and devour

”
him The droll thing is that they believe it ! B ut without
.
p hagocytosis what would become o f the whole doctrine o f

invasion and resistance and all the other p op ular theories?
O n e p robable factor o f satisfaction in the disease germ
theory has been the exp lanation that it has been supp osed
to p rovide fo r the p roblem o f infection I t is so easy to .
conjure up arrays o f malignant microbes p assing from one

diseased subject to another S uch an idea seems to be .
p re v alent even with men o f science For instance we fi n d .

,
that before the R oyal Commission on Vivisection Dr ,

.
C J M artin o f the L ister I nstitute is rep orted to have

1 — “
. .
, ,
st a t e d z H i s ( P asteur s ) exp erience on this subject (fe r

’
mentation ) led him to the great generali sation that i n

fe c ti o us diseases might themselves be interp reted as p a r
t i c u lar fermentations and as due to sp ecific m icro
,
organisms By a series o f masterly exp eriments on

.
ani mals he established the truth o f his hyp othesis in the

,
case o f anthrax and chicken cholera and swine erysip elas .
T hese results o f P asteur s may be regarded as the fo u n d a

’
tion o f the whole modern study o f contagious diseases both

in man and in animals ; and their extension by P asteur and
his p upils and by bacteriologists and p athologists all over
,
the civilized world has led to the discovery o f the causa

,
tion o f most o f the infectious diseases to which man is

liable .
We have already comp ared B echamp s and Pasteur s ’ ’
work on fermentation and in regard to Pasteur s master “ ’
,
”
ly exp eriments on animals we have seen something of
“ ,
the truth o f his hyp othesis in the case fo r instance of , ,
1
See F i l R p t of th R y l Commis io
na e or e o a Vivi e tion p 2 9
s n on s c , . .
E C H A MP
”
R P A S T E UR?
’
2 44 B O
long ago something to be at fault with the P asteurian

view of the germ theory A n d even in cases where the -
.
,
germ hunter seems most sure o f his mi crobe in a little ,
whi le what dire confusion is ap t to overtake hi s certainty .
Never fo r instance did there seem to be a better bolstered

, ,
case than Si r David B ruce s arraignment of the micrococcus ’
melitens is in goat s milk as the cause o f M alta fever Yet

’
.
when Dr Walter R H a dw e n o f Gloucester took up the

. .
, ,
defence how innocent after all he p roved the supp osed

1
, ,
o ffender Th e decline o f the fever in the Navy was

.
found to have had nothing to do with abstinence from

’
goat s milk but to have been gradual and to have ,
coincided with the dredging o f the harbour at M alta .
Neither was the sudden drop in the A rmy disease rate to -
be accounted fo r by avoidance o f the milk fo r it had ,
already taken p lace before that beverage was banned , ,
when the troop s were mostly removed from the insani tary
S t E lmo barracks to new quarters at a higher altitude
. .
’
To these measures the imp rovement in our sailors and
soldiers health rate was clearly traced by Dr H a d w e n s
’
-
.
’
investigations and the main e ffect of the micrococcus ,
meli tensis was to gain a knighthood fo r its false accuser ,
whi le incidentally it occasioned a great deal of dis

, ,
content among M altese connected with the milk industry .
Dr A gius of M alta who at the time went into the matter

.
, , ,
very thoroughly found that bad sani tation was invariably ,
the cause o f outbreaks o f fever in p rivate houses whi ch ,
were sometimes the quarters of B ritish o fficers On one

, ,
.
occasion it was only after a floor had been taken up that

,
the real seat o f the trouble was discovered .
Yet u p on a theory so constantly found at fault when

,
thoroughly sifted there has been erected a whole system o f ,
inoculation O r p erhap s the facts may be stated con .

, ,
v e r se ly H a d it not been fo r the sale o f sera and vaccines

.
,
nowadays grown to such vast p rop ortions , Pasteur s ge rm -

’
theory“ o f disease might befor e this have collap sed u h

fi ‘) h ,
o bsc ii r l t y T hus i t can hardly be deni e d that he com

P W V ” M m.
1
S The C t mpor y Re i w f r Aug u t
ee d No e m b er 19 09
on e ar v e o s an v , .
CULT IN T H E OR Y AN D PRA CTICE 2 45
an o fl
m i t te d e n ce in draggi ng medical science down to a
commercial level M oreover he has besmirched its fair

.
,
name by allying it with cruelty It is true that also in t hi s .
he was an imitator H e was the friend o f men like Claude

.
B ernard who in the words o f P rofessor M etchniko ff 1
“ , ,
feel no scrup les in o p ening the bodies and submitting the

,
”
animals to the most cruel su fferings B u t atrocious as is .
,
often their torment victims o f the knife were and are fe w

,
in number as comp ared with the millions of victims in

p athological laboratories sometimes undergoing tests as ,
fantastic and misleading as they are cruel since they could ,
never furni sh real evidence o f disease under natural

conditions .
As examp les might be instanced birds and rats in

mi nute cages slowly devoured by fleas by way o f p roving
, ,
whether the latter can convey sleep ing sickness without ,
regard to the fact that the inevitable bad health o f

creatures thus tormented cannot with certainty guarantee
anythi ng excep t the callousness of their tormentors O r .
again the test o f milk by its inoculation into guinea pigs

,
-
,
whi ch kep t in covered tins would by the mere fact o f

, ,
such unhealthy cap tivity be made liable to tuberculosis , .
'
Yet fo r t hi s the ratep ayer dip s into his p ocket while fo r

, , ,
all he can tell the milk he consumes may have come from
,
a consump tive cow wading through a filthy farmyard and
mi lked by a diseased individual into a dirty utensil .
H yg i eni sts in some p arts avert such conditions leaving ,
Paste ur i an s to worry the guinea pigs The amount o f -

.
harm that has ensued from the diversion of attention

from real to false factors in the causation o f ill health is
p robably incalculable A n examp le in this connection in .
, ,
regard to p lague in India is the amount o f time and ,
money wasted over fleas and rats that mi ght be exp ended
u p on the insani tary huts standing on fil th sodden soil -
,
whi ch Dr Charles Creighton in a treatise on the subject

.
2
, ,
has clearly shown to be breeding grounds o f the p estilenc e

1
L es Anna les , P ar s, A pr l , 1 9 08i i .
2
i
Plag ue in Ind a, by C har le s Cr e g h t on , i MD
, ,
}
To return to the subject of milk admirers of Pasteur ,
ay p oint in p ride to the reservative methods called by

p
hi s name which immortalise his memory ; but even here
,
the p raise is so faint as to be damni ng If we turn to the .
rn al o the Ro al S ocie y o Arts fo r S e tember 1

j o u f y
“ t f p 9 1 9 9
1 , ,
we fin d an article on P roblems of Food and our E conomic

Policy by Professor Henry E A rmstrong Ph D LL D
”
,
“
. . .
, , .
.
,
D S c F R S H ere we are told that the great reformer of

. .
,
. . .
recent times has been the chemist Pasteur the ex tent to

—
”
whi ch he has influenced our doings is astounding Pr o .
fe sso r A rmstrong then shows how owing to him wines , ,
were sterilised and the Grand Vin the result of some ,
fortuitous concourse of organisms became a great rarity ; ,
the quality of wines was thereby reduced to a low general

average though of course much was saved from the sewer
, .
B eer su ffered a like fate though on the whole the changes

,
were much to the public advantage But the real harm was .
don e when mi lk was tamp ered with

1
Dilution be .
came a general p ractice ; the p ubli c su ffered less from

occasional dishonest tradesmen but it was dep rived o f the ,
advantages up till then derived from deali ng with the

large body who were honest p urveyors o f the natural
article The blow was made all the heavier by the intro
.
duction of clever engineering appliances fo r the sep aration

T hen P asteur s teachi ng became o p erative
’
o f the cream .
once more aided t hi s time by Koch ; milk was not only

,
diluted but also sterilized S ome lives may have been saved
.
but the step has undoubtedly been productive of untold misery 2

.
Not a fe w o f us have long held on general grounds that , ,
a material p roduced as milk is cannot be heated above

blood heat without diminishing its dietetic value Recent
-
.
observations Show indeed that the anti scorbutic advitant -

,
which is none too abundant a constituent is affected , ,
although app arently the fa t soluble anti ra c hi tic and - -
water soluble anti neuritic factors are not destroyed ; but

- -
di ffi culties have been encountered in localities where the

milk supp ly has been systematically sterilised and it m ay
1
It li s ou
a c r s. It li u 2
a cs o r s.
acclaimed as the p anacea fo r all ills has yi elded in popu ,
l a r i t y to vaccine therapy -
.
Th e latter needless to say has no connection with cows

, , .
Under P asteur s tutelage p recision in nomenclature was

’
lost as much as p recision in theories The name v accine

,
“ ”
.
is now appli ed to micro organisms and their surrounding -
medium abstracted from a sick body the organisms being ,
left to multip ly in a suitable nutritive substance known as ,

”
a culture afterwards being usually killed by heat and
,
p pre ared in various ways according to the p revalent,
fashion Th e nostrum is fi nally sold as a cure or more

.
, ,
often a p reventive against the disease with whi ch the

,
mi cro orga ni sms were originally associated I n thi s case

-
.
,
a n I m a ls are Sp ared a p art in the p rep aration though , ,
owing to their use as tests su ffering is fo r them by no ,
means necessarily eli mi nated .
We are here reminded of the homeop athi c law of cure

“
that of L ike cures L ike though what a contrast is
,
H a hn e m an n s scienti fi c
’
p resented to p recision in allowing

fo r individual idiosyncrasies Whereas he sub mi tted .
his drugs to Nature s laboratory the stomach according

’
, ,
to the P a ste urI an system on the contrary an introduction

, ,
is made directly into the blood regardless o f Nature s p r e ,

’
caution the e ffi cient coverings wherewith she has p r o

—
t e c t e d t hi s life stream against external intrusions

-
It has .
indeed became the fashion fo r p uny humani ty to consider

itself wiser than choose which name you will— Nature or
—
P rovidence .
We are well aware o f the array of statistics with which

P a st e u r i a n s confront the critics o f the system o f inocula
tion and in rep ly we would say that statistics are worth
,
less to p rove results without full investigation and

thorough allowance fo r the conditions o f their p resent
ment For instance it is easy to p arade a fall in the
.
,
'
diphtheritic fatality rate since the introduction o f ant i

-
tox in Yet that fall does not conduce to the merits o f the
.
serum if seen merely to be the result o f a case rate inflated

,
-
by a bacteri olog ical as opp ose d t o a clini cal di agnosis an d '

CULT IN TH E OR Y AN D PRA CT I CE 2 49
the inclusion as dip htheria of what in the p ast would have

been considered to be mere sore throat tonsilitis lar y n , ,
gitis etc The altered diagnosis in itself p revents p rop er

,
.
, ,
comp arison between p ast and p resent case rates B ut if -

.
,
with an inflated case rate there is an increase instead o f -

, ,
decrease in the death rate such an increase in surely highly

,
-
,
signifi cant For instance we find that fo r the 1 5 years

.
, ,
subsequent to the introduction o f anti toxin the number -

,
o f deaths in E ngland and Wales from dip htheria became
2 0 p e r cent greater than they had been fo r the 1 5 years
p rior to the serum treatment 1

T hough-
the M etro p olitan .
A sylums B oard s rep orts o f cases may seem to show at first

’
sight by a decreased death rate that advantage accrues -
from the use o f the anti toxi n their detailed p articulars -

,
confirm an opp osite op inion Whereas fo r the years 1895 .
to 1 9 0 7 there were cases of dip htheria treated with

anti toxin o f which
-
,
died giving a fatality rate o f ,
-
r cent there were fo r the same years 1 cases

p e ,
not treated with anti tox in o f which only 70 3 died giving

-
, ,
a fatality rate o f 6 p e r cent Foot notes to the tables show

-
.
-
that of the latter cases 55 were moribund when admitted

and 1 2 died of diseases other than diphtheria so that the ,
exact fatality rate should in reality be under 6 p e r cent

-
.
It is to be regretted that the cases treated with and without

anti toxin are no longer differentiated in the M etrop olitan
-
A sylums B oard s R ep orts and since 19 3 0 the B oard itself

’
has ceased to exist From those cases that have been .
p articularised there seems to be no gainsa y i ng the belie f

that the imp roved methods o f nursing and medical treat
ment whi ch should reduce deaths accomplish this
, ,
only in a lessened degree when anti toxin is admini stered -

.
Th e following table su p plies a p roof o f this view in regard

to i n fantile diseases We see here the remarkable decrease
.
in measles scarlet fever and whooping cough comp laints

, , ,
1
i
T hi s c alculat on i s b ase d on t h e y e ar s 1 880- 94 a s th e p r e -an t -to x n i i
p e rio d .W e r e t h e co m p ar so n m a d e fr o m i 1 8 79 3
-
9 , t h e n cr e ase w o ul d i
a m o un t t o 3 3 T h e R e g i st r ar - Ge n e r al g v e s sm all supp or t t o t h e alle i
i
g at io n t h a t m an y o f t he e ar l e r cr o u p d e ath s should h av e be e n class fie d a s i
i
d p h t he r a i .
2 50 B E CHAMP O R PASTE UR?
not subject to treatment by inoculation ; while dip htheria ,
with its s p ecific anti tox in shows an increase of 1 02 p e r

-
,
million The contrast is surely striking

. .
1
A NN UA L MOR TA L ITY PE R MILL I ON L I V IN G AT A GE S 1 -
5
YRS . IN 1 9 1 1 14 -
A ND 1 9 1 6— B OT H SE X E S
In c
r e as e
or
De at h -
r at e De cr e ase b e tw e e n
19 11-14 an d 19 16
19 11-14
6 Me as le s 2 643 1 22 5 1 3 88
7 S c l tF v
ar e e er
8 W h p i g C gh
oo n ou 1 202 1 050
9 Diph th i er a
The claim fo r immediate injection and the advantage of

a fi rst day inoculation as compared with a second day ,
and so forth may surely be dismissed fo r the followi ng

,
reasons B efore clini cal symp toms are mani fest it is i m

.
p ossible to tell whether the trouble would ever be serious ,
i f indeed the dip htheria be genuine ; and i f on the other ,
hand it be asserted that the p romp t ad mi nistration of

,
anti toxin has p revented dangerous illness it i s as easy to

-
,
assert on the other that through anti toxin a mere mild

, ,
-
sore throat has been aggravated into severe sickness ,
sometimes complicated by heart trouble and p aralysis .
The one method o f argument is no more inexact and un

scientifi c than the other .
A lso one may ask why if di phtheria anti toxin be such

, ,
-
an unfailing remedy it should have been found necessary ,
to introduce the S chick system o f p reliminary test and

subsequent immunisation Th e supposedly suscep tible .
children should run small risk if p rovided with an i n fal

lible cure If in answer to this it be argued that the
.
, ,
immunisation is fo r the p revention o f diphtheria fo r

all time it may be retorted that statistics show no i m
,
P t f T b l XXX IV o p g xiv f R gi t
’
1
ar o a eGe r al R p t for n a e o e s r ar ne s e or
19 16 (E gl d a d W l )
n an n a es .
without exp lanation that convenient omissions had
brought about these seemingly magical returns The .
serum fi rst tried in the S p ring o f 19 0 7 was acclaimed as

,
“ ”
bringing about a complete revolution Yet what about
,
this wonderful cure when a terrible outbreak of mening itis

in New York with a death roll of 74 5 fo r the single month
,
o fJuly 1 9 1 6 trans formed the A merican ca p ital into a city

, ,
o f mour ni ng Flexner s marvellous serum was so i n e ffi c a

’
?
cio n s that we fi n d it barely gained a mention and its

“
discoverer confessed that there exists at p resent no sp ecifi c
,
”
or curative treatment .
I t transp ired further that this comp laint known also as

, , ,
sp otted fever is at any rate according to bacteriologic al

-
, ,
diagnosis fast losing its limitation to c hi ldhood O ut

,
.
breaks o f it are said to have been frequent among young

men in military traini ng camp s I t has followed so .
suspiciously in the wake o f anti typhoid and other inocula -
tions that instead o f such measures having p rovided

,
safeguards fo r health it would seem fa r more p robable

,
that they hav e sometimes been directly p rovocative o f

sickness A n d now this brings us to a fe w lessons that we
.
‘
may be able to derive from the inoculatory ex p eriments

that were p ractised u p on our fighting men during the
course o f the Great War .
CHA PTE R X IX
S OME L E SSON S OF TH E GR E A T WA R
IT is constantly asserted that the comp arative freedom
from ep idemic disease among the armies fi ghting on t h e
western front during the war i s a su ffi cient demon
st r a ti o n o f the value o f
“ ,
reventive ”
inoculations We on
,
p .
,
the contrary believe that a study o f the subject p roves

,
such an Op inion to be based up on sup erficial observation .
I t has to be remembered that every sanitary and hygienic

p recaution p ossible to call into being was attended to on
the western front .
A n d here we may p ause to notice that the G reat War

was not without accomp anying ep idemics affo rding an ,
interesting illustration o f the substitution theory o f disease

conditions to whi ch we have already alluded Through
,
1
.
out hi story we find that p lagues have followed in the wake

o f war with a systematic diminution in intensity according
,
to the sanitary and hygieni c conditions of the p op ulation .
Thus the black death o f the M iddle A ges was in later ,
times rep laced by smallp ox which in our own day h a s

, , ,
found its substitute in mysterious outbreaks o f influenza

“
.
I n reference to t he G reat War we read as follows :— Th e2

,
war ended with the accomp ani ment o f the influenza

epidemic o f 19 18 19 (as that of 18 70 7 1 ended to the
- -
accomp animent o f p andemic smallp ox ) an epidemic - -
whi ch without reckoning S outh A merica China Jap an

, , ,
and great tracts o f A sia and Africa is comp uted to have ,

”
claimed eight million lives T hus no one can deny that
.
the war involved the inevitable aftermath o f disease ,
whose far reaching ravages may p erhap s be ex plained by

-
1
Se c Chap XIII o f pre se n t work
. .
e t: Report on Infl
2
g f Chief M edical
uenz a o fl
O icer to the Ministry of Health ,
P 4
2 54 B E C H A M P OR PASTE UR?
the distribution o f camp aigns in widely diversifi ed are as .
T o return to the subject o f inoculation its success as a ,
p reventive o f disease can only be tested under conditions

where sanitary and hygienic measures fail and as where , ,
ever these were wanting whether in E ast Africa G allipoli , , ,
P alestine or M esop otamia disease conditions ran riot ,

-
,
we confess that we entirely fail to see where the success of

inoculation came in .
Nevertheless the P ress is inundated with medical argu

,
ments such as the following statement by L ieutenant

Colonel S A M Cop eman O fl
. . i ce r i n Charge of t he
.
,
- -
R A M College which ap p eared in The Times fo r

“
. . .
,
February 1 5th 19 1 7 A s to typ hoid fever contrasting

,
.
,
admissions to hosp ital and deaths in the S outh African

camp aign and in France fo r the fi rst two years of the war ,
there had been a marvellous effect of p rop hylactic i n o cu

lation in the p revention of attack and to an even greater ,
extent in the saving o f life A similar result had followed .
the later introduction o f inoculation in the French A rmy ,
which su ffered heavily from typ hoid fever in the early

”
months of the war .
N0 better criticism of the above can be found than that

of Mr E B M c C o r m i ck in the Vaccination In q uirer fo r
“
. . .
M arch 19 1 7 H e writes as follows

,
. The imp lication —
here is that as between the S outh African war and the

E urop ean war essential conditions were similar ap art from
inoculation in the p resent camp aign Now nobody deni es .
that sanitary conditions are a governi ng factor or at least ,
an imp ortant one in the p revalence o f typ hoid I t is

,
.
notorious that sanitary conditions were deplorable in S outh

Africa whereas in France they have been in Si r Frederick
, ,
Treves words without a p arallel in the history o f war

’
.
,
What are we to think o f medical logic whi ch (in its sp ecial

p leading fo r inoculation ) continues to ignore this vital
factor? When we remember further that the two cam
ai n s are not even fully di fferentiated in res p ect to
p g ’
inoculation but that ,
doses o f Si r A lm r o th Wright s
oison were sent to S outh Africa fo r the A rmy and that
p ,
2 56 B E C HAMP OR PASTE UR?
was undoubtedly the care exercised in regard to the
, ,
water su pp ly On occasional houses in the outskirts of

-
.
L ille and along the M e ni n road German notices still ,

1
remain to indicate where good drinking water may be
obtained and to illustrate Teutonic attention to details .
Th e hi story o f water p ur i fic a ti o n fo r our own troop s has

-
been described by Cap tain J S tanley A rthur .

,
in a p ap er read before the I nstitution o f M echani cal

E ng ineers on November 1 9 t h 1 9 2 0 and p ublished in The , ,
E ng ineer fo r November 2 6t h and December g r d 1 9 2 0

“
.
,
Here we are told how bleac hi ng p owder or chloride of ,
lime was first used to sterilize a sup p ly o f drinking water

,
in 189 7 at M aidstone where an epide m ic o f typ hoid was

,
rag i ng I t s use was attended with very successful results

.
,
”
typ hoid being rapidly stamp ed out Further we read
“
.
,
that Chlorine in the gaseous condition although used in ,
A merica to a small extent fo r some time has only come ,
into general use during the last fe w years The amount of .
c hl orine either as a gas or from bleac hi ng p owder r e

, ,
quired to sterilise water is quite small A t the out .
break o f the war the only method o f water p urification ,
other than that involving the use of tablets of acid sodium

sulp hite that could be carried out in the field was em
,
bodied i n the water cart A ttemp ts were made to

.
devise a simp le method by which the amount of bleac hi ng

p owder required to sterilise any water could be determined
in the field The fi rst suggestion was made by Professor
.
Sims Woodhead and the actual details resulting in the ,
fitting up o f a case containing the necessary ap p aratus and

chemi cals with instructions fo r carrying out the test were ,
worked out at the Royal A rmy Medical College under the

direction o f Sir William H orrocks With t hi s test case .
,
‘
known in the A rmy as the Case Water Testing S te ri li sa
tion and the water cart as the starting p oint the whole of
,
’
,
the great water p urification scheme o f the A rmy has been

built up That the methods adop ted have been successful
.
is seen from the fact that throughout the war there has
1
A ug ust , 19 2 2 .
SO ME L E SS O NS OF T HE GRE AT WA R 2 57
been no epidemic of any water borne disease Cap tain

-
.
93
A rthur goes on to sp eak o f advances up on the water cart

and also of work done in A merica fo r the ad mi ni stration
o f chlorine gas to water fo r sterilisation p urp oses Th e two .
typ es of chlorinators constructed by Messrs Wallace and .
T iernan o f New York have p roved most satisfactory and

“
their direct feed typ e was adop ted throughout the water
”
p uri fi cation p lants in use in the B ritish A rmy T he .
article treats further o f stationary and p ortable p lants and

the whole p rocess of p urification Cap tain A rthur also .
mentions the diffi culty of sup plying sterilised water to the

troop s in the E ast in the early days o f the war ; but shows
“
that now a supp ly o f sterilised water can be maintained
under almost a n y p ossible conditions by use o f one or the
other of the various typ es o f water p urification p lants
”
mentioned and he tells of the new p lants ordered fo r use
,
in the E ast T o this system of water p urification he as

.
cr i b e s all the raise fo r the A rmy s good health rate T hat

’
p
-
.
this is the case is evident from the contrasting sick rates on -
all those fronts dep rived of similar advantages With a .
contaminated water supply inoculation p roved no ,
reventive f disease A n d i f inoculation unnecessary

p o .
,
under safeguarded conditions is useless when such condi ,
tions fail o f what use is it at all

,
?
I nutility however is not the only or the most serious

, , , ,
criticism to be levelled against the p ractice ; the teachings

o f the Great War oint to it as directly deleterious
p .
I n a p amp hlet M icrobes and the War by Dr Walter R

,
1
,
. .
H ad w e n we find a quotation fro mP rofessor E rnest Glynn

f
as ollows
,
— “ S ickness (in the S outh African camp aign )

was resp onsible fo r the loss of men by death and
invali ding (in nearly three years ) ; yet the total number o f
o fficers and men including native Indian troop s leaving
, ,
the G allip oli Peni nsula on account o f sickness from A p ril

2 5 to O ctober 2 0 may be stated as o ffi cers and
other ranks !T he total has since been increased to
1
bi
P u l sh e d by t h e B r t sh ii Un ion for t he A bol t ii on of Viv i se c t i on ,
Wh te h all, L on don , S W I
i . . .
R
short comments Dr H ad w e n the toll of disease
In , .
,
and death in these modern days of serums and vaccines

‘
with all their p rotecting influences against microbes ’
was in p rop ortion to the p eriod and the resp ectiv e num
,
ber o f tr00p s emp loy ed nearly six times greater in the last ,
Six months o f the G alli oli disaster than in the whole three
p
”
years o f the B oer War .
T he follo wi ng o ffi cial figures fo r the losses in the Galli

p oli E xp edition s p eak fo r themselves .
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T aki ng into consideration the shot and shell from whi ch

there was no escap e in that inferno of fighting this enor ,
mous number ,
victims o f disease is nothing short ,
o f amazing ; esp ecially too in view o f the fact that so many , ,
A ustralasian tr 00p s were included rep resenting the p ick o f ,
robust manhood The sick fa r outclass the number killed

.
and even the number wounded ; and we have to remember

that o f this great host o f invalids almost every man had
been rigorously inoculated The nomenclature app lied to .
their comp laints is a mere minor matter in face of the

sweep ing generalisation that the app lication of Pasteurian
methods on a vast scale met with an overwhelming return
in the shap e o f illness Indeed so high was the sick rate .
,
-
among the stalwarts of G allip oli that the inference is p e r

missible that inoculation conduced towards it by p oisoning
the systems and lowering the vitality of the fighting men .
I n sp ite o f this general damnatory evidence bac ,
t e r i o lo g i c al diagnosis has done its utmost fo r statistical

inoculatory success by giving every name ex cep t typ hoid
to intestinal troubles which by clinical diagnosis in , , ,
p revious wars would ,

have been thus classi fi ed T h e .
p rocess o f bacteriological diagnosis has been illuminatingly
divulged by L ieutenant Colonel C J M artin and M ajor -

. .
W G D Upjohn Pathologists o f NO 3 General H ospital

. . .
,
.
,
the suggestion that the p rotective treatment failed at
G alli p oli I t gives me p leasure to nail that lie to the
“ “
.
” ”
counter Th e facts to p rovide light are given in a
.
quotation from Dr Charles S earle o f Cambridge who

“
.
, ,
has stated B efore G allip oli we only inoculated fo r

typ hoid and the result was that out o f
, cases o f
sicknes s there were only 4 2 5 cases o f typ hoid and of
p araty p hoid We were under the

. most a pp al ling condi
tions ; we were on half a p int of water a day We drank .
from any p ool o f muddy water any filthy stu ff so long as ,
it wa s moist There is nothing more terrible than t hi rst

.
,
we had no relief; we lived in the trenches E very man was .
s ick and we had some thing like d but we

, f y
cases o sen te y
r ;
had only a very small p rop ortion indeed of typ hoid Dr ”
. .
S earle continues by giving some figures fo r E gyp t and

P alestine in regard to typ hoid and p aratyp hoid incident
“
ally interjecting that there was any amount of dysentery in
,
”
P alestine All we c an say is that the o ffi cial figures fo r
.
these countries have been rep eatedly asked fo r in P arlia

ment and that they have not yet been p rovided B ut to
, .
return to Gallip oli Colonel Martin and Major Upjohn

,
have described the kind o f bacteriolog ical diagnosis that

brings about the naming o f diseases while Dr S earle ,
.
”
himself bears witness that every man was sick and p uts
forward figures to Show that nearly were down with
directly in testinal complain ts Granted that the conditions .
”
were app alling : we are not denying it though they ,
might p ossibly have been less bad but fo r the extravagant

, ,
assurances o f the value o f p reventive inoculation whi ch ,
inclined those in command to take less p recautions about

a p ure water supp ly What we are debating is whether .
our troop s esp ecially the hardy A nzacs would not have
, ,
withstood those conditions very differently had they been

free from the p ollution o f P asteurian interference T his .
obsession o f viewing disease from the standp oint of mi cro

organi sms regardless too o f their p ossible variabili ty
, , , ,
seems to blind the reason to the obvious fact that in serious

illness mere nomenclature can be of no solace to the
S O ME L E S S O NS OF THE GR E AT WA R 261
p atient ; neither would it console a mourner to be assured

that dysentery rather than typ hoid had been responsible
fo r the loss o f his or her friend or relative Of what value .
is an artificial immunity from a p articular complaint if a ,
simi lar complaint be its substitute? Up on general health

and disease rate must the matter be judged and when
-
,
again we learn from General S muts in regard to the E ast

“
African camp aign that disease has wrought havoc we
,
, ,
are once more p rovided with p roof o f the failure o f

P asteurian methods in the G reat War .
A nother p sean o f medical victory that has been sung ,
even from such an unsuitable v antage ground as the p ul -
i f S P aul s 1
is that f inoculatory success in regard to
’
p t o t . o ,
tetanus The p rop hylactic use o f anti toxi n is claimed to

.
-
have modified the complaint .
What however are the p roo s o this claim

, ,
f f ?
When we consider the commencement o f the war we ,
find that Si r David B ruce had stated that the ratio o f

2
tetanus in S ep tember 1 9 14 was 1 6 p e r ,

in O ctober
, ,
3 p2 and in November only 2 S i

“
e r
p e r r
David admits several factors at work in S ep tember and

”
O ctober 1 9 14 to raise the ratio but fo r the drop vaunts
“ , ,
as the most imp ortant factor the p rop hylactic injection

—
,
o f tetanus anti toxi n

” “
-
T his was not carried out during
.
”
the fi rst two months o f the war he says though this
assertion is modified by his disclosure o f the amount o f“ , ,
serum sent out to France in the first fiv e months

A ugust 1 9 14 6 00 doses ; S ep tember
, , O ctober , ,
November 1 December
,
He ,
refers to a letter from Si r William L eishman who feels ,
sure that the drop in the incidence o f tetanus in November ,
1 9 14 was due to the use o f the ro hylactic dose and does

, p p ,
not think any large complicating factor comes in To .
those who recall the insu fficiency o f ambulances and

medical ap p liances in the early days o f the G reat War an ,
immense comp licating factor is self evident and this Si r -

,
1
By D
e an In e g .
3
ii
S e e The B r t sh M ed ical j urnal J o , an u a r y 2 7t h , 1 9 1 7 p
, . 1 18 .
2 62 B E C HA MP OR PA STE UR ?
David B ruce himself acknowledges when he describes
“ the di ffi culty o f collecting the wounded on account o f
their numbers and the movement o f the troo p s and finall y ,
the di ffi culty of giving the thorough surgical treatment to

their wounds which is so essential in the fight against
”
tetanus .
In p assing judgment up on all p reventive treatment

there is naturally always an initial diffi culty as to whether
any given comp laint has really been p revented or whether
it would not have ap p eared in any case In tetanus this .
,
di fficulty is augmented by the fact that the anti tetanic -
injection following customary P asteurian p rocedure as

, ,
in hydrop hobia has brought about the creation of a new

,
disease The L ancet fo r O ctober 2 3 r d 19 1 5 refers to Dr

.
, ,
.
M ontais observations as set forth in the Annales de

’
L Insti tut P asteur

’ “ Dr Montais has collected from -
,
French sources alone no less than 2 1 cases of p urely local

tetanus without trismus as well as a number of simi lar
, ,
cases in which trismus and other general symptoms later

intervened All were in persons who had received a prophy lactic
.
injection of serum A lthough the form o f tetanus which

.
begins locally and is followed by trismus has long been

known p ure local tetanus is a p athological novelty in man
,
.
T h e condition Dr Montais claims is the creation of pre

,
.
,
”
ven tive serotherapy A gain The L ance t fo r January
. 2 7t h , ,
contains an article on Modified Tetanus by Cap tain

H B urrows whi ch begins as follows
.
— “ There are two
,
reasons why the subject of tetanus should be o f interest at

the p resent moment In the fi rst p lace the disease still .
,
occurs among the wounded During the months o f July .

,
A ugust and S ep tember 1 9 1 6 at the General Hosp ital we , , ,
had one case o f tetanus in every 6 00 cases of gunshot

wound A n d this o f course does not rep resent the full
.
, ,
liability fo r cases have occurred in p atients who have been

,
evacuated to E ngland and p ossibly at casualty clearing ,
stations also In the second p lace a large p rop ortion of

.
,
the cases whi ch have been seen recently have been ab

1
p . 13 9 .
giving the p reventive inoculation is almost always caused
by the imp ossibility o f removing the wounded man from
the p lace where he was hit till military conditions p e r
mi tt e d S uch cases are therefore s p ecially liable to
.
”
gangrene and to the more severe forms o f sep tic trouble .
This confession turns the search light of commonsense u pon -
the question Th e men who received early doses o f serum

.
were the men who were rescued o ff hand and whose -
wounds gained p romp t cleansing from filth with its u n

toward i n fl u e n ce u p on their muscular and nervous
systems The men who went without or received belated
.
serum treatment were the men whose wounds were left

to fester fo r hours or even days the unhapp y victims
, ,
abandoned in shell holes or left exp osed in No Man s

-
,
’
L and to the hell fir e o f shell and bullet

-
I s it not self .
evident that these rather than others must have fallen

, ,
victims to tetanus and that quite ap art from any question

,
o f inoculation ?
What inoculation however app ears to have done is to

, ,
have introduced a new form o f tetanus which vitiates

statistical judgment o f the death rate We read fo r -
.
,
examp le in the same lVIili t ar y Medical Manual Abnormal

F orms of Tetanus —
,
“I nasmuch as the true local tetanus has
,
p ractically no mortality it may readily

,
be seen how the
introduction of such cases in statistics o f tetanus has
reduced the app arent mortality of the disease and inci ,
dentally encouraged many observers to regard the r e d u c

tion o f mortality as a demonstration o f the effi cacy of some
”
p articular form o f treatment .
L eaving the p rop hylactic and turning to the curative

asp ect o f the anti teta n ic serum even such orthodox
-
,
critics as Si r William L eishman and M ajor S mallman 1
have had to allow t hat z — “ T here exist wide di fferences o f

view both as to the usefulness of anti toxin at all and a d -
, ,
mi tting its value as to the system o f its emp loyment

,
whi le in announcing a case mortality from tetanus of

,
-
r cent in hos itals in France they have had to

p e p ,
1
The L ancet, Jan uary 2 7th, 1 9 1 7, p . 13 1.
S O ME L E S S O NS OF TH E GRE AT WAR 2 65
admi t — “
This as f r as it goes does not disclose any con
a ,
,
degree of imp rovement in the treatment em

si d e r a ble
”
loyed T h e contradictions as to the di fferent routes o f
p .
admi ni stration throw li ght up on the e Xp e r i m e n tal nature

o f the treatment
“ Taki ng the intravenous route first
”
“
.
,
L eishman and S mallman are in full agreement with the

recommendation of the T etanus Committee in their
revised Memorandum that this route should not be used ;
not only does it introduce a risk o f anap hylactic shock ,
from which other methods are p ractically free but it ,
app ears to us from our records that it has done little if

any good in treatment ” “ A s to the intrathecal route
.
,
the study o f our own cases has not imp ressed us favourably
the evidence is p retty strongly against its emp loy
ment the method app ears to us to p ossess some very
definite disadvantages and dangers I n at least one .
case death followed rap idly up on a thecal dose when the

,
p atient was said to have been p rogressing favourably .
H ere we have a sp ecifi c examp le o f the dangers that our

soldiers and sailors had to face from P asteurian methods as
an aftermath o f the risks they ran from the Germans fo r
“
in spite of being dubbed dangerous this intrathecal
, ,
route was the one emp hatically recommended by the War

O ffi ce Committee 1
It s decision was app arently based
.
, ,
up on Professor S herrington s exp loitation of monkeys and

’
so another instance is p rovided of the misleading results of

exp erimentation on li ve animals A s regards cli n i cal .
observation of the treatment Si r David B ruce has supp lied

,
a comical instance 2
Detailing case mortality with the
“
.
,
object o f seeing whether the intrathecal route had any

”3
advantage over the other methods of injection he ,
p roved hi s highest mortality p e r cent to,

have been ,
in 53 cases treated intrathecally with anti tetani c serum -
on the day that the tetanus symp toms declared themselves ,
and hi s next highest p e r cent

,
in 9 6 cases treated ,
with the serum also on the same d ay that the disease set in .
1
ii i
The B r t sh M ed cal journa l, July 2 1st 19 1 7, p 89. .
2
The Lancet, Jun e 3 0t h , 1 9 1 7, p 9 86
. .
3
ibid .
p 9 88
. .
T he lowest mortality rate p e r cent was in 2
3
-
cases , ,
treated with serum but not intrathecally on the day after

, ,
the onset o f the disease ; while the nex t lowest p e r ,
cent was in 2 6 cases which received the anti toxin any

,
-
time between 3 and 1 2 days after the app earance of

tetanus Thus Si r David B ruce is driven to bewail
“
.
L ast year ( 1 9 15 19 16 ) the di fference was in favour o f the

-
intrathecal route Now the Opp osite is true From these

. .
fi gures it would app ear that it is better to defer treatment

until the symp toms have been manifest fo r one or more
”
days Q uad est absurdum Which commentary on P asteur
. .
ian theories and p rocedure in general may be considered

to be a correct p ronouncement !
M eanwhile leaving the doctors to theorise let us take
, ,
the fi gures fo r tetanus that deal only with the wounded

soldiers that reached the hospitals in the Un ited King dom .
Deaths
“
Years C ases
1 9 14 19 2 1 04
19 1 5 13 4 75
1 9 16 50 1 1 82
19 1 7 3 53 68
1 9 18 2 66 68
Theseumbers can surely only be fe w as comp ared with

n
the corresp onding number in hosp itals in the war zones

and other quarters Thus there app e ars to be no reality
.
in the boast that tetanus was stamp ed out of the B ritish

A rmy by inoculatory measures I ndeed it seems the other .
,
way about as we see more clearly by a comp arison with

,
two former wars .
If we turn to The L ancet fo r December 2 9t h 1 9 1 7 we , ,
fin d An Analysis of Recen t Te tanus S tatistics by F Golla .

,
M E B C h Oxon In this while trying to eulogise p r o

. .
,
. . .
,
p hylactic treatment fo r a lengthening o f the incubation
p eriod Ca p tain,
G olla has to make the following striking
admissions in regard to the Franco Prussian war where -
,
inoculation was unknown and the recent war with its cult ,
o f injections On p age 9 6 8 referring to cases o f tetanus we

“ ,
.
,
read — If however the first three week p eriods are com

, ,
2 68 BE C HA MP OR PA STE UR ?
tality ; but even when disregarding this convenient
,
statistical factor the attack and death rates remain

,
-
greater than among the troop s in S outh Africa with whom

”
p reventive inoculation against tetanus was entirely
unknown !
T o sum up medical results throughout the Great War
,
have not equalled in any measure the surgical T his is the .
more remarkable in view of the modern imp roved methods

o f hygiene the sp lendid system o f nursing and the grand
,
self sa c r ific e o f most o f the A rmy doctors and nurses

-
.
P asteurian methods alone seem to account fo r the medical

success falling short o f the surgical .
A s regards this we may instance the p revalence of se psis

, .
E ven such an orthodox P asteurian as Dr S aleeby has 1
“
.
ad mi tted that the war raised new p roblems not least in ,
regard to sep tic wounds o f a number and ki nd which ,
reach serious military imp ortance and which the p revious

”
exp erience o f our surgeons has scarcely encountered .
T h e trouble was of course conveniently ascribed to a

, ,
malignant organism inhabiting manured soil ; but with

the tiresome p erversity with which Nature knocks over
such p lausible excuses wounds received at sea where , ,
there is no soil at all p roved to be as sep tic as wounds ,
encountered on land H a d our m e d i c o e s followed

.
Bechamp s teaching as the Frenchman G a lipp e has done

’
, , ,
they would like him have understood the p henomena due

, ,
to microbiosis the p art p layed by the crushed tissues and

,
the extravasated blood which through their inherent , ,
m i c r o z y m as may give birth in themselves according to

, , ,
G alipp e to infectious elements

,
2
I t seems reasonable to .
imagine that such trouble would be fa r more likely to arise

in blood contaminated by Pasteurian nostrums than in the
unp olluted blood of healthy subjects .
The Vaccin ation In q uirer sums up the matter succinctly

3
I t looks more than p robable that the doctors have been at

their ancient p ractice o f sowing with one hand the disease
1 i i
S e e t he Da ly Chron cle, J an u ary 18th , 1 9 17 .
2
S e e C h ap te r X IV o f t he pr e se n t w or k .
3
Mar ch ,
19 1 7, p 36
. .
S O M E L E S S O NS OF TH E GRE A T WA R 2 69
whi ch they p retend to cure with the other o f course in all ,

”
stupidity and good faith .
I t is an unhap p y fact that ap art from generalisations , ,
the war has p rovided concrete instances o f the truth o f this

op ini on We will only refer to one illustrative ex amp le the
.
,
enforced inoculation o f the B edford Regiment on board

The E mpress of B ri tain on her voyage from S outh Africa to
I ndia in A p ril o f the year 1 9 1 7 A lthough the vessel was .
vermin ridden and the water supp ly both as regards

-
,
drinki ng and washing p urp oses quite inadequate the , ,
inoculation o f the men o f the B edford R eg i ment was

insisted up on in sp ite o f advice to the contrary The result
,
.
was that 10 died on board 5 more after landing at ,
B ombay ; while in addition 50 men were laid low with

, ,
serious illness A n d actually no o ffi cial inquiry has ever

.
,
taken p lace in regard to this highly regrettable incident ,
such is the smoke screen that shields even the most

-
flagrant Pasteurian p erp etrations .
B u t all the same there 1s an evidence that no Govern

, ,
ment can blot out the evidence o f the facts o f life the
-
,
danger signals o f exp erience Though the careless may

-
.
p ass them by to the obse

,
r vant they stand out in war n i ng ,
'
like the o mi nous hand that startled the roysterers in

ancient B abylon and happ ily there are still Dani els in
, , ,
our mi dst with the g i ft o f interp retation H owever we

“
.
,
”
must leave the writing on the wall fo r consideration in
the next chap ter .
CHA PTE R XX
TH E WRITIN G ON THE WA LL
TH E whole subject o f injecting into the body foreign
matters associated with disease conditions must be con
-
si d e r e d broadly from every asp ect P erhap s no better

.
op inion can be quoted than that of the great thi nker ,
H erbert Sp encer fo r what app lies to one injection must

,
also have some app lication to all others .
I n the chap ter on vaccination in his book F acts and ,
Commen ts the p hilosop her quotes the following remark o f a

,
distinguished bi o lo g i st z — “When once you interfere with

the order o f Nature there is no knowing where the results
will end .
”
M r Sp encer continues
.
“ Jenner and his -
discip les have assumed that when vaccine virus has p assed
through a p atient s system he is safe or comp aratively safe
’
, ,
against smallp ox and that there the matter ends I will

,
.
not say anything fo r or against this assump tion We may ”

.
add that he does however in a foot note which is

“
-
, , ,
decidedly ag ainst Then he p roceeds

.
— I merely p rop ose
to show that there the matter does not end The inter .
ference with the order o f Nature has various sequences

other than that counted up on S ome have been made
.
known
“
.
A P arliamentary R eturn issued in 1 880 (No 3 9 2 ) .
shows that comp aring the quinquennial p eriods 1 84 7 1851 -
and 1 874 1 8 78 there was in the latte r a diminution in the

-
deaths from all causes o f infants under one year old o f

, ,
r million births p e r annum ; while the mortality

p e
caused by eight sp ecified diseases either directly com ,
m u n i c able or ex acerbated by the e ffects o f vaccination ,
increased from to p e r million births p e r
annum— more than double I t is clear that far more were

.
killed by these other diseases than were saved from

smallpox .
damaged constitutions The disease is the same ; but there
.
is less ability to withstand it

“
.
T here are other signi ficant facts I t is a fa mi liar bi olo g .
ical truth that the organs o f sense and the teeth arise out
o f the dermal layer o f the embryo H ence abnormalities .
a ffect all of them blue eyed cats are deaf and hairless dogs
-
,
have imp erfect teeth ( Orig in of Species Chap ter I ) The ,

.
like holds o f constitutional abnormalities caused by

disease Syp hilis in its earlier stages is a ski n disease
.
-
.
When it is inherited the e ffects are malformation of teeth

and in later years iritis (inflammation of the iris ) Kindred
‘
relations hold with other skin diseases : instance the fact -
that scarlet fever is often accomp anied by loosening of the

-
teeth and the fact that with measles often go disorders

, ,
sometimes temp orary sometimes p ermanent o f both eyes

, ,
and ears M ay it not be thus with another skin disease“

.
-
that whi ch vaccination gives I f so we have an exp lana

?
,
tion o f the frightful degeneracy of teeth among young

eo
p p le in recent times ; and we need not wonder at the
p revalence o f weak and de fective eyes among them B e .
these suggestions true or not one thing is certain : The ,
assump tion that vaccination changes the constitution in

relation to smallp ox and does not otherwise change it is
”
sheer folly
“
.
”
Is it changed fo r the better? finally questions
Mr Sp encer
.
“ If not it must be changed fo r the
.
,
”
worse .
Th e great t hi nker and observer delivered this warning

against only one form of injection H o w much greater .
must be the danger in view o f the myriad and frequent

inoculations in fashi on at the p resent day? We are r e
“
mi nded o f an invalided A ustralian soldier in the medical

ward o f a L ondon H osp ital who u p on being asked
whether he believed in inoculation rep lied — “ ,
Well
,
,
,
hardly ! I v e been inoculated against half a dozen c o m

’
I
’
p laints and I,
v e had everything
’
v e been inoculated
against excep t cholera and I daresay I ll be getting that

,
’
”
yet !
THE WR I T IN G ON THE WA L L 2 73
All is danger wrote B é c ha m p long ago in this kind

,
1
,
of exp erimentation fo r the reason that it is not anyt hi ng

,
inert that is acted up on but that there is a modification ,
more or less injurious o f the mi c ro z ym as of the i n o cu

,
”
lated .
Many long years after this statement of his op inion a ,
remarkable confirmation has been g i ven by outbreaks o f a

disease o f the central nervous system commonly known as ,
encep halitis and whi ch has so often followed vaccination

,
that comp ulsory vaccination has been susp ended in

H olland and its abolition suggested by a medical congress
,
in Sweden ; while even in Germany its dangerous p ossi

, ,
bili ti e s have been o fficially recogni sed .
The cases o f p ost vaccinal encep halitis in E ngland - -
resulted in the ap p ointment of two Committees of

I nvestigation whose R ep orts p ublished in July 1 9 2 8
, , , ,
dealt with 9 0 cases 52 o f which ended in death In ,

.
answer to a question in P arliament on February 2 6th , ,
1 93 2,
the Minister of Health gave the latest figures as
19 7 cases with 10 2 deaths
, .
A s a consequence o f t hi s serious develo p ment ,
the Ministry of H ealth in A ugust 19 2 9 issued a new , , ,
Vaccination O rder reducing the vaccination marks from

4 to 1 ,
and in the accomp anying circular referring to
, ,
thi s danger suggested that it was inexp edi ent to vaccinate

,
fo r the first time adolescents or chi ldren of school age -

.
Controversy continues as to the cause of the malady ,
P rofessor James Mc In t o sh of L ondon University and the ,
Middlesex Hosp ital attributing it to the actual vaccine

, ,
whi le other investigators consider that thi s simp ly arouses

some ex istent but hi therto latent trouble .
During the very p eriod in whi ch sani tation and hygiene

have p layed a p art unknown before in recorded hi story a ,
disap p ointing deterioration seems di scerni ble in the

human p hysique The fashion fo r crowding to cities the
.
,
strain o f the wear and tear o f modern existence and the ,
breedi ng of the unfit are no doubt numbered among , ,
1
Les Microzymas, p 902
. .
a
2 74 B E CHAMP O R PA STE UR?
contributory causes which however cannot omit human
, , ,
exp erimentation fo r nothing short o f this is the i n t r od uc

,
tion into bodies of p oisons whose far reaching e ffects are -
entirely beyond knowledge and control .
On the face o f it how futile to attemp t individual safe

,
guards agai n st a disease like smallp ox which can only be ,
eliminated in the mass by general cleanliness while grue ,
some dangers such as cancer exhibit a hideous warning

, ,
against p laying with unknown quantities We do not .
attemp t to theorise u p on the causation o f malignant

growths but we would certainly p oint to their alarming
,
increase A ccording to a statement p ut forward on the

.
authority o f the Cancer R esearch Fund one man in ,
twelve and one woman in eight over forty years o f age are
liable to this horrible torment In reg ard to the useless .
,
mis directed e fforts made against it F E R McDo n ag h

-
,
. . .
,
in The Nature of Disease journal Vol 1 ( 193 2 )

”
“
.
,
writes Over -
have been wasted u p on
cancer research For the 10 years 19 2 2 3 1 there were
.
-
,
over exp eriments on animals In some cases a .

,
single one o f these exp eriments may have involved the

sacrifi ce Of from 4 0 to 50 creatures The complete non .
success of these V ivisectional cruelties is well evidenced by

the steady increase in the disease shown by the statistics
o f the R egistrar General -
.
DE A TH S F R OM C A NC E R 1N E NG LA ND A ND WA L E s
1 89 I - I g oo = Yearly
2 3 , 2 18 19 2 1 = 6
4 , 22
o
19 0 1- 19 10 = 3 ,9 4
0 I A verag e
19 1 2
19 2 4 = 5 3 9
o .
8
19 2 6 :
1 9 16 = 4 6 0 1 9 2 7= 54 o 78
o , 3 .
19 2 8: 53
19 2 9 :
19 2 o = 4 2 ,
6 8 7 193 1
2 76 B E CHAM P OR PASTE U R?
revealed in the light of B echamp s doctrine that the ’
micro zyma is at the beginni ng of all organi sation and

“
that every organism may be reduced to the micro zyma
,
Thus if he be correct our corp orate life is comp osed o f a

united multip licity of infinitesi mal cytological and
, ,
hi stolog i cal elements each p ossessed o f its own i n d e p e n

,
dent being A ccording to Bé ch am p it is because every

.
,
organism is reducible to the microzyma that life exists in

the germ before it develop s organs It is because there are .
in the micro zyma p ermanent p rincip les o f reaction that

we have at last realised some idea o f life It is because the .
mi c r o z ym a s are endowed with an individual indep endent

life that there are in the di fferent centres of the body
di ffering m ic r o z ym a s with varying functions
,
This .
biological teaching throws light on the p otency o f the

mi nutely delicate homeop athi c dosage ; it ex p lains the
changes that must be involved by what Herbert Sp encer
“ ”
called invading agents a danger immediately sensed ,
by hi s ge ni us quite ap art from such teaching as that p r o

,
v id e d by B é c h a m
p in whose great work L es M icroz mas
y
1
we find the following p assage

“The most serious even fatal disorders may be pr o
, ,
v o ked by the injection o f living orga ni sms into the blood ;
organi sms whi ch existing in the organs p rop er to them

, ,
f
fulfil necessary and beneficial unctions chemical and
—
p hysiological — but injected into the blood into a medium ,
not intended fo r them p rovoke redoubtable manifesta

,
tions o f the gravest morbid p henomena Micro .
z ym a s mor hologically identical may d i fl

‘
e r functionally
, p , ,
and those p rop er to one sp ecies or to one centre of activity

cannot be introduced into an animal o f another sp ecies '
,
nor even into another centre of activity in the same

ani mal without serious dan ger .
H o w much more dangerous is it then when the micro ,
z
y m a s artificially
,
inoculated are not only o f,
a foreign
sp ecies but are in a morbid condition even in the
, ,
sp ecies from whi ch they are taken .
1
Les M icrozymas, p 690
. .
TH E WR IT I NG ON T H E WA L L 2 77
B é cham p follows the p assage above quoted with a

up , ,
descrip tion based up on exp eriments of the microzymian

, ,
cap acity fo r changing function I t would seem that .
P a st e ur i ans in their fear o f p arasites have overlooked the

, ,
e ffects o f inherent elements and have reduced their

system o f inoculation to one of raw exp erimentation .
Already they app ear to have commenced a retreat from

their boosted vantage ground We refer fo r instance to .
, ,
the views o f Dr B e sr e dka o f the P asteur Institute which

“
.
,
the B ritish Medical journal has described as subversive o f

the ideas hitherto held by bacteriologists The Times .
o f the 2 8t h A ugust 1 9 2 0 sums u B e d ka s teaching as

’
“
e sr
, p ,
follows — H ere then was the idea that immunity or

, ,
p rotection against dysentery is not an a ff air o f the blood

at all but an affair o f those sp ecial p arts of the body
,
in whi ch the dysentery germs live and act In short that .

,
salvation is not by antidote but by some local e ffect , ,

‘
the intestinal barrier becomes unbreakable whatever the ,
’
nature o f the barrier may be T his it will be seen is a .

, ,
concep tion o f an absolutely di fi e r e n t ki nd from that to

whi ch we are accustomed On e result fo r the work .
—
f
ap p lies also to typ hoid ever is t ha t v a cc1n a t10n as now
—
w
‘ ‘
o e
v
a
i
fi Z
l
v
h
g b
”
p ract i sed is unnecessary Th . r o afd goes f
t h e WHO RE P a st éfiriafi theory of 1m m un i t y and with it the

’
system o f inoculation ; fo r according to Dr B e sr e d ka :

“ , .
vaccination is only e ffi cacious when the vaccine fi nally

reaches the intestine or certain zones of it Th e . .
mode of vaccination to be p referred I S the oral route .
The Times o f the 3 l st A ugust 1 9 2 0 fu rthe r com

ments “
— T
,
hese results turn attention p ositively from the

, ,
seed to the soil from germs to the men and animals who
,
153? H IR E ? them
”
11 A n d in so doing the advice is
.
followed that was given so long ago by the great doctor ,
Pro fessor A ntoine B é c ha m p .
S o much fo r the shuffii n g s o f those who have based their

work on the teachings of L ouis Pasteur ; and we cannot but
commiserate the innocent among the p ublic who blindly
sub mit t heir bodie s to t he s hiftin fashio ns of Pa ste uria n
g
2 78 B E C HAMP OR PA S T E UR?
treatment The victimising of a ni mals has brought about
.
its logical sequence the victimising of human beings !

—
For this we have to thank the imitator of E dward Jenner

, ,
the chemist L ouis P asteur who by a majority vote of

, , ,
one gained his p lace among the Free A ssociates of the

,
A cademy o f M edicine Thus has the most jealous trade

.
u ni on in the world that o f the orthodox M edical Faculty

, ,
bee n completely brought under the sway of an outsider

with no p retensions to being a p hysician !
sep arating thi s che mi cal p henomenon from the acts of
”
ordinary life and in so doing p roving that he did not
,
understand B echamp s exp lanation o f fermentation as the ’
result of acts o f assimilation and ex cretion .
“1 86 2 S o called S p o n tane o us Generati o n

-
.
We have seen that Pasteur never satisfied the Sp onte

a r i st s and that his very exp eriments sometimes contra
p ,
dicted his own conclusions .
“1 86 3 .S tudi es in Wine .
In dedicating his work to Nap oleon I I I Pasteur ,
wrote Sire If as I hop e

—
,
time consecrates the
, ,
exactness of my work .
Dr L utaud comments
. The hop e has been mis 1
p laced T ime . has not consecrated the exactness o f this

work All who p laced confidence in t hi s p rocess under
.
went heavy loss O nly the S tate p ersisted in heating the

.
wines destined fo r the armies o f land and sea This .
rendered them so bad that the men p referred to drink

water I t is hi gh time that the app aratus fo r heating
.
wines according to the Pasteur system should be put

— —
into the melting p o t -

.
1 86 5 Diseases o f S ilk Worms

.
-
.
W e have seen how in regard to these com p laints

, ,
B é cha m p p rovided P asteur with the correct diagnosis and ,
that after the latter inaugurated hi s system of grainage

“ ”
the salvation of sericulture was a drop in p roduction
,
according to M de M asq u ar d from . to ,
and later on to kilogrammes , .
“18 7 1 S tudies in B eer .
Dr L utaud tells us that the boast that French breweries

.
2
owe an incalculable debt to Pasteur is best answered by

the facts that the latter s p rocess was abandoned as im ’
racticable and that the brewing o f beer in France is

p
1
E tudes sur la Rag e e t la M éthode P as teur, p 4 2 9 . .
3 E tudes sur la Rag e, pp 42 8, 4 2 9 . .

PA S TE UR A ND B E CHAMP 281
almost nil most of the amount found there having been

,
imp orted from Germany .
1 8 77
“Virule n t Micro bic Diseases
. .
We have seen how Pasteur opp osed the microzymian

doctrine after failing in an a pp arent discreet attemp t at
la i arism and followed instead the ideas o f L inn é
p g ,
.
Ki rcher and Rasp ail .
Vaccinating Viruses .
The S anitary Commission o f the H ungarian Govern

ment in 1 88 1 thus rep orted up on the anti anthrax i n o cu
“
-
,
lation — Th e worst diseases p neumonia catarrhal fever , , ,
etc have exclusively struck down the animals subjected

.
,
to injection I t follows from this that the Pasteur inocula

.
tion tends to accelerate the action of certain latent

diseases and to hasten the mortal issue of other grave
”
a ffections .
A s we have said the Hungarian Government forbade

,
the use of the inoculations .
Prophylax is o f R abies .
Dr L utaud reminds us how P rofessor Peter p u t

.
1
p ertinent questions to the A cademy o f M e di cine on the

1 8th January 1 886 in the early days o f P asteur s so ’
, ,
called p reventive treatment .
H as the annual mortality from hydrop hobia in France

”
been di mi ni shed by the anti rabic medication? -
Does thi s mortality tend to augment with the intensive

”
rabic methods?
”
Where then is the benefit?
A s we h ave seen the benefit lies in the monetary returns
,
gained by makers of such nostrums P asteurism has be .
come a vested interest and one u nfortunately supp orted, , ,
by that p ower ul trade uni on the Medical Fraterni ty

f — -
.
Far be it from us to deny that Pasteur s place in the ’
1 E tudes sur la Rag e,

p 4
. 04 .
2 82 B E C HA M P OR PA STE UR
world of science was gained by genius the geni us fo r ,
business and he was certainly not o f the order of intel

,
le c t u als who disregard the allurement o f L s D Al though . . .
he p rofessed reverence fo r religion we find on the , ,
authority o f Dr L utaud that he secured the election to

1
.
,
the I nstitute of the p hysiologist P aul B ert who had been , ,
objected to as an atheist Dr L utaud claims that he did . .
not scrup le moreover to bring about this election at the

, ,
exp ense of his old friend and benefactor Dav ai n e and , ,
made a condition o f it that B ert a Member of the B udget ,
Commission and all p owerful with the Government -

,
should obtain fo r him a p ension of francs .
We whose lot is cast in an age of adve rtisement can

, ,
'
app reciate Pasteur s p ower in t lus direction Never has

’
.
m on o l iz e d w ho was a r e a t e r ade t in p us hi n g forward

himsel n “Pl “
f a d
m
? theories A mbition was his driving .
p ower -
,
w hi c h a ii iron vxiill lfefd in harness B efore any triump h

fi
had met him his mi nd was set u p on honour and glory

, .
E arly in his married life when according to his

biograp her 2 “success did not come ”
Mm e P asteur
,
,
“ , .
wrote to her father i n law — L ouis is rather too p r e

- -
occu pied with his exp e riments ; you know that those he is
undertaking this year will give us if they succeed a , ,
”
Newton or G alileo T h e admiring wife was un aware o f
.
her testimony to her husband s self interest There is no ’

-
.
allusion to any excitement as to the secrets that Nature

mi ght unfold The exaltation o f the individual is made
.
the pivot o f hop e M ore than this as we study his life we

.
, ,
fi n d throughout his cleverness in allowing others to s o und

, ,
his p raises while at the same time he himself gave vent to

, , ,
‘
self dep reciation ; he thus app arently garmented himself

-
, ,
in a humility seemingly not quite sincere when we take

note o f his indignation against those like B e ch a m p who in , ,
asserting their just claims in any way detracted from his ,
own honour .
On no account would w e deny his p ower in gaining

1
E tudes sur la Rag e,
p p 4 09.
, 4 10 .
2
f
The L ife o P asteur, by R e n é Valler y
-R ado t
, p 78 . .
down his life in his service is the best commentary u p on ,
the heart o f L ouis P asteur Tenderness may have been .
fo r hi m all right in its p lace but it was quite out o f p lace ,
when it stood in the way o f ambition P ersonal success .
where to be more cogent factors of worldly success than

high intellectual abili ty Of the latter his childhood gave
1 — “
.
little evidence Hi s son in law honestly tells us :

.
-
T hose -
who would decorate the early years o f L ouis P asteur with

wonderful legends would be disapp ointed : when he
attended the daily classes at the A rbois College he
belonged mer ely to the category of good average p up ils ”
.
H i s strongest force was his will p ower of which he

z — “
-
,
wrote to hi s fam i ly z To will is a great t hi ng dear ,
sisters fo r action and work usually follow and almost

, ,
always work is a c c Om p ani e d by s uccess .
H ere again as ever we find success the leading motive

, ,
o f his life Had he not p ut p ersonal ambition before love

.
o f science it would seem imp ossible fo r him to have

,
Opp osed the fellow worker whose ideas -

in numbers o f ,
instances he unqu e stionably pirated H a d his forceful

,
.
ness and great business ability been harnessed to

B echamp s idealistic intellect and all round knowledge
’
-
,
signal services might have been rendered to science which ,
now on the contrary students o f its hi story feel that

, ,
P asteur has often led to wrong issues so that years have ,
been wasted over unsatisfactory theories at the cost of

vast ani mal sufi e r i n g and a dangerous form of e x p e r i
mentation on human beings Time has indeed brought .
, ,
him triump h in the shap e of worldly acclamation This is .
hardly surp rising fo r the way of p op ularity is through the

,
wide gate easy o f entrance P asteur during his life

,
.
, ,
desp is e d and detested by a fe w keen sighted observers who -
saw through his p retences was in general a p op ular man , ,
1
i
The L fe of P asteur, p 7 . .
2
The L ife of P asteur , by R e n é Valle ry-R ad o t , p . 1
5 .
PAS TE U R A ND B E CHAMP 2 85
and his cult o f the microbe is a p op ular theory whi ch the ,
least scientific can easily understand : riches and p rosp erity

attend up on it as glory and renown attended up on him
,
.
Why should the ambitious i mi tate the self immolation o f -
the truth seeker Bé cha m p who in his lonely ap artment

, , ,
p assed away almost unrecognised ?
T ruth not self was B echamp s lodestar L ike Galileo

’
.
, , ,
the simp lest observation led him to his great discoveries ,
and like G alileo incessant p ersecutions clerical and

, ,
scientific p ursued him with unrelenting malignity I t

,
.
was from no lack o f hatred in his Opp onents that he

escap ed the fate of S ervetus and his great work L es , ,
Microzy mas an inclusion in the Roman Index

,
.
Never had Truth a more zealous votary than the man

who with P rofessor E stor stood quivering with awe
, ,
struck amazement at the unfolding of Nature s secrets ’

,
self entirely obliterated every brain cell concentrated

,
-
up on astounding revelations With his extraordinary .
p owers f labour he am ly justified Carlyle s de fi nition ’
“
o p ,
”
o f ge ni us— the cap acity fo r taking infinite p ains ; while ,
also he absolutely exempli fied the reverse side o f abn o r

,
mal faculties whi ch may be described as — “ the cap acity

,
fo r doing with infi ni te ease that over which others require

”
to take infinite p ains From hi s boyhood ordinary
.
,
stu di es were to hi m the lightest o f labour whi le fo r his ,
incessant researches no toil was too insistent no sacrifice ,
too great .
A ltogether he stood on an et hi cal p lane elevated above

,
hi s fellows H e lived at the same ep och as P asteur sur

.
,
rounded by the same callous exp erimenters men such as ,
Claude Bernard whose own daughters felt comp elled to

,
forsake hi m and undertake a ni mal rescue work as some

sort of atonement fo r their father s Vivisec tional atrocities ’
.
Yet Professor B é cham p as ardent a devotee as ever wor

,
s hi pp ed a t the altar o f knowledge stands out in marked ,
contrast i n nocent o f cruelty convicted of pity In hi s own

, , .
multifar ious exp eriments we come u pon no record of ,
brutality and in reference to Magendie s work he does

,
’
,
2 86 B E C HAMP OR PA STE UR?
not fail to voice symp athy fo r b M agendie s ? “
: la
’
pau vre ete ,
miserable victim The fact o f B é c h a m p having delved so

.
much deep er into knowledge than his callous con

. temp oraries may well be an instance o f the advantage o f
not blunting a scientific mind by familiarity with cruelty .
H i s imagination p ossessed to the end the p ristine sensitive

ness essential to the discoverer and sp urred and stim u , ,
lated by his wonderful health and vitality age itself had ,
no p ower to dull his intellect .
Devoid o f p ersonal ambitio n but filled with a passion ,
ate yearning fo r Truth fo r its own sake there is no reason ,
to wonder that in astuteness he failed to comp are with

P asteur ; nor that the crude theory o f the latter should have
disp laced deep er more comp lex teaching whi ch could
, ,
not in the same way become the immediate p rop erty of

“ ”
the man in the street The one who mi ght have worked
.
with B é cha m p on the contrary p lagiarised and distorted

, ,
his i d eas B ut if we thus seek to dethrone the I dol of

.
O rthodoxy whom France and the world have delighted

,
to honour it is only to install another Frenchman as

,
worthy to be ranked among the earth s great luminaries ’

.
L ike many another o f these it was his fate to meet with ,
neglect and dis p aragement P ursued on the one side by .

, ,
the jealousy of hi s less gifted but more successful rival and , ,
on the other by narrow minded men with no under

,
-
standing o f how t he Creator can best be interp reted by

H i s Creation p ersecution and bitterness of sp irit were the
,
earthly rewards o f his long life .
Truth is a weary height to scale its towering p innacle ,
evasively distant while climbers are confronted by ever

,
re curring p eaks o f diffi culty To make the ascent at all .

,
imp edimenta of gain and p op ularity must be disp ensed

with and the adventurous are ap t to p ass like B é cha m p
, , ,
out of sight of their contemp oraries What wonder that .
most like P asteur elect to remain comfortably below l n

, ,
full view ! Yet as we gratefully realise from time to time

, ,
B echamp s do arise lured by the towering mountain peak

,
-
,
fo r were it not so man kind would forever stagnate at the

, ,
INDE X
ZE r o bi c a n d a n oe r o bi c , P aste u r s cl assificati o n o f, u n te n able ,
’
6
7 . 77 .
A lbum i n o ids, B echam p s di sco very o f variati o n s i n , 1 6 6, 16 7;

’
d i ffe ri n g o p i n i o n s o n , 3 0 .
A ni li n e d ye , B echam p s di scove ry o f che ap m e tho d o f m aki n g ,

’
18 .
A nthrax, Ko ch s wo rk i n co n n e cti o n w ith, 14 0 ;

’
P aste ur, basi c the o ri e s o f, fo r p ro p hylaxi s, 2 03 ;

p r o p hylactic o f, I ta li a n fa i l ure o f, 2 13 ;
R ussi an failure o f, 2 2 0 ;
te sti m o n y a g ain st, 2 2 1 ;
T o u ssa i n t, wo r k o f, o n va cci n e ag ai n st, 2 0 8 .
A p p e r t, m e tho d o f, fo r p re se rvi n g fruit, etc , 3 3 . .
A toxyl , B echa m p s di sc o ve ry b f, 18
’
.
A tro p i n e , sug g e ste d u se o f, i n hydro p ho bia , 2 3 5 .
B a cte r i a , B echam p s views o n , 10 9 , 1 2 6 , 1 2 7, 1 2 8 ( se e chap

’
.
XI on ) .
B a n to ck, Dr G ra n vi lle , vi e ws o f, o n m i cro o rg a n i sm s, 1 72

.
-
.
B a sti a n , H C ha rlto n , c o n firm a ti o n o f Bé c h a m p , 9 6 , 9 7;

.
e m e rg e n ce o f li vi n g m a t te r, 84 , 8 ;
5
o b se r va ti o n s o f, o n c cl
y p q
o s ua dr i corn is,
84;
vi e ws o f, at M e dical C o n g re ss, 2 09 .
B e a c o n E xp e r i m e n t (se e chap I V o n )
. .
B é c ha m p a n d E sto r, n o a n swer t o clai m o f p ri o rity o f, 1 6 2 ;

re p ly o f, t o Paste ur s fi n al atte m p t at plag i a ri sm , 158- 16 2
’
.
B é cha m p , J o s e p h, de ath o f, 2 6 ;
re se arche s o f, 16 7- 16 9 .
Sha re r in fathe r s wo rk, 2

’
3 .
B é cham p , Pie rre J acq ue s A nto i n e ,

bi rth o f, 15;
C o mm uni catio ns and M e m oirs of, 4 6 , 5 1, 56, 57, 73 , 78,
1 1 5, 1 16 , 1 1 7, 1 0, 13 8, 1 2 , 1 8, 1 6 8- 16 1 6
3 4 4 55 5
,
1 ,
1 5 ,
1 2,
1 6 3 . 1 64 ;
ti ci sm s o f o n m icrobi a n do ctri n e
cr i , ,
14 0 - 14 3,
P aste ur s wo rk 4 1 6 1 79 80 1 1 I
’
, , , , , ,
1 1 2 , 155- 16 2 , 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 ;
T 2 89
2 90 X I ND E
B é c h a m p Pi e r re J ac q ues A n t o ine
, ,
c l e rg y Opp o si ti o n o f t o 2 4 2 5 166 2 85
, , , , , ,
crue lty n o allian ce o f with 2 85 2 86 ;

, , , ,
de ath o f 2 8 ; ,
d e sce n da n ts o f 2 6 ; ,
de scrip ti o n o f pe rso nal 2 2 ; , ,
early abi li ty of 16 2 85; , ,
co n traste d wi th Pa ste ur 16 ; ,
fu n e ral o f 14 ; ,
l abo urs a n d di scove ri e s o f 18 19 , , ,
L yo n s S cho o l o f M e di cine le cture at 1 3 1 ; , ,
m arri a g e o f 1 7; ,
m edi cal wo rk o f o bservati o ns fro m 13 3 1 3 4 ; , , ,
m i cro zym a na m e g ive n by t o ce ll g ra nule 19

, ,
-
, , 2 0;
obse rvati o n s o n micro o rg an ism s i n -
be er ye ast 70 75;-
,
-
cacti 13 5 13 9 ; ,
-
cane sug ar so luti o ns 4 3 58 6 8 73 ;

-
,
-
,
-
c ells o f the liver 109 ,
dead ki ttens 12 3 12 4 ; , ,
6 8852 1 2 9 ;
saliva 109 13 0 13 1 ; , , ,
silk worm di se ases (se e chap IX on ;

-
) .
v a c c m e Vi rus 1 09 13 1 ; , ,
recapitulati o n o f discove ri es of 1 2 2 ; ,
star o f at zeni th 9 9 ;
, ,
sweepi n g results o f fermentation exp eriments o f,

title s o f I 5; ,
views o f on g iving credit to o thers 6 2

, , .
B ert Pa u l e lecti o n o f t o I n stitute 2 82

, , , , .
B e sr e d ka Ti mes sum m ary o f te a ching o f 2 77

’
.
, ,
B i o t p atro n o f P aste ur 1 7 3 5 79
, , , , .
B lo o d B echam p s wo rk o n 1 70
’
.
, ,
B o nn e t te achi n g o f 3 2 3 3
, , ,
.
B uchare st B ech a m p s li fe i n 16
’
.
, ,
B uchn e r E B echa m p s di sc ove ry attributed to 74

’
75,
Bu fl
.
, , , ,
bn id e as o f 3 2
, ,
.
B ui ss o n cure o f hy d r o p ho bi a 2 3 5
, , .
C arri e r the o ry absurd i n stan ces o f 2 3 9 2 4 0

-
, , , .
Chalk B echam p s surp ri sin g o bse rvatio ns o n 88 9 7

,
’
,
-
.
C hicke n chole ra Kitt s and K o ch s Opinio n o f Pasteur s

-
,
’ ’ ’
p ro
p hyl a xi s fo r 1 93 ; ,
m i cro o rg an i sm s c o nn ected with cultivated by P asteur

-
, ,
19 2 ;
vacci n e fo r 2 02 , .
292 I NDE X
F er m entati o n ,
P a ste ur, ap p ro pri ati o n o f Du claux stra n g e views o n , 77;
’
M e m o i rs o n l a cti c a n d alco ho li c , 3 6 4 1 , 56 58 ; -
m i sunde rsta n ds Bé c h a m p 5 vi e ws , 156 158 ;

’
vi n ous (se e chap X I I ) . .
F ibr i n , B echa m p s d e scri p ti o n o f, 1 70

’
.
F lache rie , B echam p s de scri p ti o n o f, 10 9 - 1 1 1 ;

’
p ri o r o b se rvati o n s by J o ly, 10 6 , 1 1 1 ;
P a steur s p r e te n si o n s r e g a r di n g , 1 10
’
.
Fra n c o Pru ssi a n war, a llusi o n s t o , 2 3 , 14 6

-
.
F r a n kla n d , P r o fe sso r a n d M r s , o n o bj e cti o n s t o P a ste ur s

’
.
views, 16 2 .
F rem y, fri e n d o f B é cha m p , 2 7;

i n te rrup ts P a ste ur, 14 8 ;
repli e s t o Pa ste ur, I 50 153 -
.
F riedel , c o ll e a g ue o f B é cha m p , 27 .
G alile o , hi s a n d B echa m p s di sco ve ri e s c o m p ara ble , 5 1

’
.
G alli p o li cam p a i g n , hug e si ck rate , 2 57, 2 58 -

.
G a li pp e , h i s m o d e rn c o n firm a ti o n o f B é ch a m p s vi e ws, 183 I 85

’
.
G a sse r , E d o ua rd , m a rri e d B echa m p s d a ug hte r, 2 6

’
.
G e rm the o r y o f di se a se , ab se n ce o f di sce rn i ble sp e ci fi c o rg an

-
i sm s i n the m o st i n fe c ti o u s di se a se s, 2 4 3 ;
Becha m p s p ro n o u n c e m e n ts o n , 14 0 14 3 , 2 0 7;
’
-
c o n tr a ste d wi th m i cr o z ym i an do ctri n e , 2 1
di ve rsi o n o f a t te n ti o n fr o m re a l t o false fa cto rs, 2 44 , 2 4 5;
li abi li ty t o i nfe cti o n i n suffi ci e n t to supp o rt the o r y, 2 4 2 , 2 4 3
M a r ti n o n Pa ste u r s g e n e ra li z a ti o n s o n , 2 4 2 ;
’
P a ste ur s M e m o i r o n , 2 0 5
’
.
re aso n fo r g e n e ral be li e f i n , expla i n e d by B é cham p , 2 3 8 ;

G re at War fo ll owe d by i n ue n z a ep i de m i c , 2 53 (se e chap fl .
X IX o n ) .
Gue r m o n p r e z , Fr , 5 . .
H a dw e n , Dr Walter
. R .
,
on Malta fe ver, 2 44 ;
p a m p hlet by 2 57 ,
H ahn e m an n p reci si o n i n all owing fo r individual idi osy n cr a

,
sie s 2 4 8,
.
H avre B echam p s m ove t o 2 6

’
.
, ,
H e nle o bse rvatio n s o n m o lecular g ra n ulati o n s 9 1 ;

, ,
referred to 1 2 1 ,
.
H enri M m e Victo r e xp eri m ental co ntradicti o n by o f Pa s

,
.
, ,
t e ur s te aching
’
2 10 ; ,
e x p er i m e n t o f o n a n thr ax bacillus 183 , .
H o fm ann A u g ust Wilhe lm v o n German che m i st 18

, , , .
I NDE X 2 93
Hyd ro pho bi a ( ha p X V II on ) ;
se e c .
c ri ti ci sm o f P a ste ur s te st fo r 2 2 5 ;
’
,
fa taliti e s afte r P a ste ur s tre atm e n t 2 2 8 2 3 2 2 3 3 ;

’
, , ,
fe ar the p ri m ary facto r o f 2 2 2 ;

, ,
p a r a lyti c fo rm o f i n tro duc e d by P a ste u r 2 2 8 2 33 ;

, , ,
P aste ur s C o m m u n icati o n o n 2 2 4 ;
’
,
sm all p e rcen tag e o f li ability to 2 2 3 2 3 0 ; , ,
scre e n i n g o f stati sti cs o f 2 3 1 2 3 4 ; ,

-
sta ti sti cs o f d e alt with 2 2 9 2 3 5

, ,
-
.
wro n g fe e di n g o f d o g s pro ductive o f sym ptom s similar

224 .
L Illustration , q uo tati o n fro m , 2 83

’
.
Imm u ni ty- the o ry, unte nable , 19 5 I 9 7

fl
.
In ue n z a ep id e mi c fo llo win g Gre at War, 2 53 .
I n o culati o n , i nu tility a n d dan g er o f, 2 57- 2 6 1 .
I nter n ati o na l M e di cal C o n g r e ss, 2 5, 2 09 - 2 1 2 .
Inver si o n o f sug ar, 3 3 , 3 4 (se e ch a p I II a n d chap IV) . . .
Jenne r ,
E dward , p urchase of m edical d e g ree ,
1 74 .
Karyokinesis 1 77 1 78 180 , , ,
.
K asauli 2 3 4 2 3 6 , , .
Ki rche r o n e o f fir st sug g e sto r s o f sp e cific disease g e rm the o ry

,
-
,
14 0, 14 1 .
Ki tten s d e ad fir st exp er im en t o n 12 3 12 4 ;
, , , ,
s e co n d e xp e rim e n t o n 1 2 4 12 5 , , .
Ko ch R o b e rt d o ubts e ffi cacy o f P asteur s anti anthrax

, ,
’
-
p r o
p hylact i c 2 13 2 2 1 ; , ,
Op inio n o f o n chicke n cho le r a p r o p h lax l s 1 9 3 ;

y
-
, ,
p o st ulate s o f g erm th e o ry o f dis e ase 2 0 7

-
,
bre ak d o w n o f po stulate s 2 3 9 2 4 0 ;
-
, ,
wo rk o n anthrax 140 , .
L ato ur, C a g n i a r d d e , new idea o f ferm entati o n, 3 3 .
L avo isie r, d e ath o f, 14 ;

re fe rre d t o by B é c ha m p , 6 9 .
L e ch ar ti e r a n d B e llam y, wo rk o f, on vino us ferm entati o n, 14 7 .
L i e big , e arli e r exp e r im e nts o f, 3 6 .
L ill e , B echa m p s m o ve t o , 2 3 , 1 6 5
’
.
L i n d la ll r , Dr H e nr y, a g ree m e nt o f, w ith B echamp s views,

’
.
1 8fi- 188 .
L inné , o n e o f fi r st sug g e sto r s o f sp e cific d isea se g e rm the or y, -
14 0 .
2 94 I NDE X
L iste r, L o rd , appreciative l e tte r t o P asteur, 19 0 ;
m i sl e d by P a ste u r , 54 ;
recan tati o n o f carb o lic spray and disreg ard of fl
o atin
g
p art i cl e s i n the air, 1 9 0, 1 9 1 .
L ub e ck di saste r , 2 5 1 .
L fi d e r sd o r ff, fe rm e ntati o n exp eri m ents o f, 3 6 .
MacB r i d e Pro fesso r on transm itters o f heredity, I 79

, , .
M cDo n a g h F E R q uoted 2 74
, . . .
, .
Malta fever Dr H adw e n s dem o liti o n o f B ruce s the o ry

, .
’ ’
o f,
2 44 .
Maum e n é exp erim ent by 4 6 4 7

, , , .
M ed ical ortho doxy diffi culty o f breaking away fro m 2 75 , , .
M e ister J o seph treated after d o g bite by Pasteur 2 2 6 2 2 8

, ,
-
,
-
.
Mencius q uo tati o n from 2 7

, ,
.
Men in g itis pro ved uselessness o f Fle x n e r s serum ag ainst

,
’
,
M etchni ko ff p ha g o cyto
,
sis the o ry o f 2 4 2 42 ;
1 , , ,
vivisecto rs his descrip ti o n o f 2 4 5

, ,
.
Mi cro be nam e g iven by S é d i llo t 1 89

, ,
.
Mi cr o z ym as an ato m ical elem ents p rimary 12 0 12 1 ;

, , , ,
B é cha m p b e g g ed t o dro p nam e 1 14 ; ,
crown ing d isc o very o f 74 ; ,
first p ro p o sal o f n am e 95; ,
teaching o f c o ncerni ng 1 2 5 1 2 9 ;
, ,
-
develo p m en t in to bacte ria 1 2 2 1 2 3 ; , ,
distin g uishable o n ly by fun cti o n 1 3 0 13 1 ; , ,
evo luti o n a n d d evo lu ti o n o f 2 06 ; ,
nam e re n d e red alm o st anathe m a by P asteur 16 5 1 89 ; , ,
e r so nal i d i o syn cra si e s health disease and d e ath deter

p , ,
m i n e d by 1 75 1 76 ; , ,
variability o f acco rd in g t o a g e c o ndition and sex 166

, , ,
1 68 ;
variatio n o f action in d iffe rent org ans and factors o f d e co m ,
p o siti o n 1 6 8 1 6 9 , ,
.
Ii c r o z ym i a n d o ctrine descrip tion o f by B éch am p and E stor

lV , , ,
1 59 16 1
sum m ary o f 1 7 1 1 72 , , .
Milk B echam p s exp erim ents o n 9 4 ;

,
’
,
B echam p s o p i n i o n o f c o n sti tu tio n o f 1 6 9 ;

’
,
P asteu r s o pi ni o n o f c o n stitu ti o n o f 14 5;
’
,
P a ste urisati o n o f cri ticiz e d by Pro fe ss o r ,

A rm strong , 2 4 6,
2 47
Ii n chi n , Pro fe sso r,
lV cyto l o g ical vie ws o f, c o m p ared with
B echam p s, 1 77, 18 1
’
1 80 ,
1
79 , .
2 96 I NDE X
Pé brine ( ch a
p X II on ) ;
se e .
c au se o f d i sco ve re d by B é c ha m p
, 1 00 ; ,
co m ple te m i sco ncep ti o n o f by P a ste ur 10 1 , ,

.
‘ll
Pe ter r idicule by o f a c o n q ueri n g m ic ro be 2 13
, ,
-
,
’
.
Philippine Islands ravag e s o f smallp o x in 2 00 2 0 2 , ,

-
.
Pi d o ux taug ht di se ase i s b o rn o f us a n d in us 14 1 , .
Po larimeter B echam p s applicati o n o f p o lari metric measure

’
,
ments 19 ,
.
Fo uche t be lief o f in sp o ntane o us g e neration 6 3 6 4 ;

, , , ,
inve stig ation of mo untai n air by 82 ; ,
ne ve r co nvince d by Paste ur 84 , .
Pri o rity claims fo r di sco ve ry o f:

c ause s o f silk wo rm di seases 1 15 1 1 7; -
,
-
fermentati o n by air b Or n e org anisms 56 58 ; -

,
-
by c ellular p article s 164 ; ,
v i n o us 16 3 , .
Pro tista refe rence t o by M inchin 180

, , , .
Pro to p lasm theo ries o n 2 9 3 0 , , , .
R abie s ( see hyd ro pho bia ) .
R aiba u d l A n g e , 1 1 2
’
.
R a sp ai l, o n e o f first sug g e st o r s o f sp e cific disease g erm theory -

,
R e m ling er, P , 2 3 3 . .
Ro bin, Charle s , d e fi n iti o n o f mo lecular g ranulati o ns, 8 7 .
Ro yal C o mm i ssi o n o n Vivisectio n, 1 72 , 1 9 0, 1 9 1 , 2 3 1 .
Rua ta , Pro fe ss o r, o pini o n o f, o n I talian anti rabic i n stitutes , -
2 30 .
Ru sso -J ap ane se
war a bse nce o f anti typho id ino culati o n and ,
-
inaug uratio n o f sanitary and hyg ienic measures 2 55 ,

.
S ang ,
L e, criticism from ,
of Paste ur
’
s M e m oir o n fe rm e ntati on,
6 1;
q u o tati o n fr om 55; ,
summ ary o f by Dr S no w 1 70 , , , .
S chwann vie ws o f on fe rm e ntatio n 3 4

, , , .
S e arle Dr Charle s q uotatio n from 2 6 0

, .
, , .
S éd illo t name m icro be sug g e sted by 189

, , , , .
S ep sis Dr S al e eb y o n 2 6 8 ;
, .
,
only explicabl e thro ug h B echam p s teaching ’

, 2 68 .
S e rum p rep arati o n o f 2 4 7

, ,
.
S hepp ar d E J sum m ary o f G a lipp e s wo rk by 183 , 1 84

’
.
, ,
. .
S ilk wo rm d isease s ( se e chap I X o n )

-
,
. .
NDE X I 29 7
S n o w Dr H e rbe rt s u m m ar y o f The B lood by I 70

,
.
, ,
.
S o r b o n n e d i scu ssi o n o n sp o n tan e o us g e n e r ati o n at 64 ;

, ,
P aste ur s l e cture at cri ti cise d 8 2 84

’
-
.
, ,
S p all a n z an i p ansp e r m ist 3 1

, , .
S p e n ce r H e rb e rt b e li e f o f in d e ve l o p m e n t o f H ab i t
, , , ,
o n vaccinati on 2 70 2 72 ,
-
.
S p onta n e o us Ge nera ti o n b e lie f in n o t over thrown by , ,
te ur , 8 2 - 84 ;
d ivi d e d ns o n 3 3 ;
o p n ioi ,
le ctur e o n by P asteur 82 83 , , , .
S trasb o urg B echa m p s wo rk i n 16 , 1 7

’
.
, ,
T abl e s,
B echam p s B e aco n E xp erim e nt, 4 5;
’
e xp e ri m e nt b y M a u m e n é , 4 7 ;
Becha m p s B e a co n E xp e r i m e nt, 4 8 ;
’
B echa m p s B e aco n E xp e rim e n t, 50 ;

’
fl
i n e i c acy o f vacci n a ti o n i n reg ard t o sm allp o x m o rtality,
I 9 7;
sm allp ox case s and deaths d uring fo ur ye ars in U S A . . .
arm y 19 8; ,
co m p ariso n o f B r itish arm y an d navy sm allp ox d e ath rate -
fo r 2 2 ye ar s w ith that o f L e ic e s te r 19 9 ; ,
m o r tality fro m in fantile d ise ase s 2 50 ; ,
im mun isation di saste rs 2 5 1 , ,
B ritish l o ss e s In Gallip o li 2 58 ,
°
te tan us cas e s and d e aths in ho sp itals i n United King

d om ”
, 2
66 ;
de aths fro m cancer in E ng land and Wal e s 2 74 2 75 , ,
.
T e tanus B ruc e S i r David o n 2 6 1 2 6 6 ;

, , , , ,
curative asp e ct o f anti te tanic serum 2 64 2 66 ; -

,
-
Go lla s co m p ariso n o f F ranc o Prussian with late war 2 6 6 ;

’
-
,
n e w fo rm o f 2 6 2 2 64 ; ,
-
p r e v e n ti v e an ti t o xin fo rl
2 6 1 2 6 4;
-
,
-
S o u th A frica n war fi g ure s fo r 2 6 7 , , .
Tr e cul c o ntro versy w ith P aste ur 153 1 54

, , , .
Turin C o mm issi on on P aste ur s a n ti a n thrax p ro phylactic

’
-
, ,
77, 2 13 - 2 2 0 .
T urp in views o f o n ye ast 3 3 , , .
Typho id artifi ci a l no m e n clature 2 59 2 6 1 ;

, ,
-
C o p e m an o n i n o cula ti o n ag ai n st 2 54 ; ,
M c C o r m i ck o n i n o cu lati o n ag a in st 2 54 , .
Typ ho id and p ara ty p hoid m e tho d o f d iag no sis -

, , 2 59 .
2 98 X I ND E
V accinati o n French warn i ng s ag ai n st 1 9 4 ;

, ,
P a ste ur s accep tance o f fo r fo und a ti o n o f syste m o f i n o cu

’
l ati o n 1 9 3 1 9 4
, , .
Vaccination In q uirer M c C o r m i ck E B q u o tati o n fr o m 2 54

, ,
. .
, , ,
2 59 ;
P aul , A lexa n der, q uo tati o n fro m , 184 , 1 85, 2 43 .
V accine, p re p arati o n o f, 2 4 8 .
V og t statistical data ag ainst imm u n ity the o ry

,
-
,
196
Wallace ,
Pro fess o r A lfred Russel , on vaccinati on ,
1 74 ,
Water sup p ly s afe g uard s during Great War 2 55 2 57

, ,
-
.
Wils o n Dr Geo rg e o n basis o f asep tic surg ery 1 9 0 19 1 ;

, .
, , ,
o n statistics o f hydro pho bia 2 3 1 2 3 2 , , .
Wrig ht Si r Alm r o th 6 ;
‘
, ,
on the Pasteurian De cal o g ue 6 ,

’
.
Yeast, atm osp heric orig in o f, first p roved by B é ch a mp , 19 ,
ssf fii
Zym a se,
B é ch a m p defines and is o lates , 1 9 ;
his disco very o f various, 73 ;
g ives nam e t o , 73
fi rst p ublic use o f nam e by, 6 7, 73 , 74 , 9 3 .
B uchner, Bé cha m p s disc o very ascrib e d t o , 74 , 75, 16 2 .

’
LE S M I CROZYMAS DANS LE URS RAP P OR TS A VE C LE S
F E RME N TA TI ONS E T L A P H YS I OL OGIE Discours .
f i le dc l Associ ation F ran aise

’ ’ ’ ’
A
’
a t en s e an ce
g e n e ra
f pour l van ce
men t des S ciences , d Nan tes . 18
75 .
S UR L E TA T P RE SE N T DE S RAPP OR TS DE L A S CIE NCE

’
E T DE LA RE L IGI ON A U S UjE T DE L ORIGINE

’
DE S E TRE S ORGANIsE S 1877 . .
DE L AIR A TM OS P H E RI Q UE , CONS IDE RE S OUS L E

’
P OIN T DE VUE DE L A P H TSI Q UE , DE LA CHIMIE

‘
E T DE L A TOXI COL OGIE These de Concours pour .
'
l Ag reg ation
’
1851 . .
RE CHE RCHE S S UR L A P YROX YL INE . These de Chimie ,
p our le Doctorat des S ciences 1 853 . .
DE L A C TI ON CH IMI QUE DE L A L UM IE RE
’
. These de
P hy si que , pour le Doctorat des S ciences 1 853 . .
E SSAI S UR LE S S UB S TANCE S ALB UM IN OIDE S E T S UR

L E UR TRANSF ORMA TI ON E N URE E These pour .
le Doctorat en M edecine 1 856

’
. .
E SSAI S UR L E S P ROGRE S DE LA CHIMIE ORGANI Q UE

DE P UIS L A VOISIE R L efon d Ouverture da Cours de
’
.
Chimie M edicale a la F aculte de M édecine de M ontpellier I 857

' ’
. .
ME M OIRE S UR LE S P RODUC TS DE LA TRANSF ORMA

TI ON DE LA F E OULE E T DU L I GNE UX S OUS
L INFL UE NOE DE S AL CALIS , DU CHL ORURE DE
’
ZI N C E T DE S A CIDE S 1 856 . .
DE L AC TI ON DE S P RO TOSE L S DE F E R S UR LA
’
NI TRONAP H TAL INE E T LA NI TROB E NZINE .
Nouvelle methode de F ormation des E ases Org ani ques Artificielles

’
S UR LA GE NE RA TI ON DE LA F UCHS INE , nouvelle B ase

Org anique , M ati ere Coloran te Roug e , derivée de l Aniline 1860
' ’
. .
S UR L E S M E TA UX Q UI P E UVE N T E XIS TE R DANS LE

SANG OU L E S VIS CE RE S , E T SP E CIALE ME N T S UR
L A C UI VRE DI T P II rS I OL OGI Q UE 1859 . .
S UR L A RE CHE RCHE TOXI COL OGI QUE DE L ARS E NIC

’
E T DE L AN TIM OINE
’
I 86 I . .
ME M OIRE S UR QUE L QUE S OX TCHL ORURE S NOU

VE A UX E T S UR QUE L QUE S P HE NOM E NE S DE
S TA TI QUE CHIMI QUE RE L A TIF S A UX GOMB IN
AIS ONS B ASI QUE S DE S P RINCIP A UX SE S QUI
OX TDE S 1 859 .
DE L IN TE R VE N TI ON DE L A CH IMIE DANS L E X
’ ’
P L I CA TI ON DE S E F F E TS THE RAP E UTI Q UE S DE S

ME DICAME N TS 1 861 . .
N OUVE LLE ANAL TSE CHIM I QUE DE S E A UX THE R

DE B AL AR UE L E S —B AINS
MAL E S -
. 1 861 .
ANAL TSE DE S E A UX MINE RALE S A CIDULE S AL -
CALINE S F E RRUGINE USE S DU B OUL OU 1 863 . .
ANAL YSE DE S E A UX S ULF URE USE S DE S F UM ADE S .
ANAL rSE DE S E A UX DE VE RGE SE 1 867 . .
RE CHE RCHE S S UR L E TA T DU S OUIRE DANS

’
LE S
E A UX M INE RAL E S S UL F URE E S E ssai sur l un e des
’
.
causes probables de la f or ma ti on de ces e aux 1 869 . .
LE TTRE S H IS TORI QUE S S UR L A CH IM IE e M le .
P rof esseur Courty 1 876

. .
S UR L E S AL TE RA TI ONS S P ON TANE E S DE L A]T E T

S UR CE LLE S Q UE L A C UISS ON L UI F AI T S UB IR .
M emoire presen te a la S ociete Chimi que

' ' ’ ’
LA S AL I VE , LA SIAL OZTMASE E T L E S ORGANISME S

B UCCA UX CH E X L H OMM E
’
E tude pour servir d
.
“
l E dification d un e Theorie de la P ancreatin og enie
’ ’ ' ”
Archives
’
de P hy siolog ic Normale e t P atholog i que 1 882 . .
DU R OL E DE S ORGANIS ME S M ICR OS COP I QUE S DE

LA B OUCHE DANS L A DI GE S TI ON E N GE NE RALE
E T P AR TI C UL IE RE ME N T DANS L A F ORMA TI ON
DE LA DIAS TASE SALI VAIRE E n commun avec E stor
.
e t S ain t P ie rre M on tpe llier M edical, 1 867

’
-
. .
A lso i n t he COM P TE S RE NDUS a n d t he ANNALE S DE

CHIM IE E T DE P H TSI QUE a n d o the r such publi ca
ti o n s a r e m an y de scri p ti o n s o f Becham p s re se arche s i n
’
c o n n e cti o n with m i cr o o r g an i sm s, sali va , e g g s, m ilk,

-
hum an and bo vi n e , ure a , e tc , e t c . .

DI R E C T P A TH S T o H E A L T H , by
M ajo r R . F E A u s ti n ,
. . 5/
Thi s b
o o k co v e r s D e t C o r r e ct B r e at hi n g i
Man p ulat i on P h y s cal , ,
i ,
i
Cult ur e an d S t r a g h t T h n k n i i i g
I t i s a r e m ar k a l e c o n fe s si on o f fa t h . b i
of an A r m y D
o c t o r w h o h as se e n t h r o u h o rt h o d o x m e d c n e a n d g i i
e x p ose s m e d c al S h a m s i
S t r k n g e v d e n c e fr o m t r op cal e x p e r e n ce
. i i i i i
b
i s r o ug h t fo r w ar d .
T H E NE WE R P R A C TI C E OF M E DI C I NE , by
J S t e n s on H oo k e r , M D
. . .
Th e r e sult s o f t hi rt y y e a r s o se r v a t o n o f t h e t r e n d o f m o d e rn m e d c n e
’
b i ii
i
t o w a r d s t h e scr ap p n g o f c r ud e d r ug g n g i n fa v o u r o f t r e at m e n t b
y i
E l e ct r c t y i i
L g ht B o ch e m st r y
, i
H o m o e op a t h y
, i
Me n t a l S c e n ce , i , ,
i
Ost e op a t h y a n d N a t u r e C ur e w t h s p e c al r e fe r e n c e t o D ph th e r a , , i i i i
i b
M a l a r a T u e r c u lo s s a n d Ca n c e r
, i .
T H E C A N C E R M Y S T E R Y S OL VE D , by
A n d r e w S e r g e ant M c N e i l ,
i b
Th e a u t h o r o f t h s o o k cl a m s t o h av e e l u c d at e d t h e o r g i n an d n at ure i i i
o f c an c e r H e a l so. v e s r e a so n s fo r hi s gi
e l e f t h at t h e m e t h o d s o f b i
r e se a r c h b i
y a n m a l e x p e r m e n t a t o n h av e n o t o n ly fa l e d t o e x p l a n i i i i
c a n c e r o u s g r o wt h s , b u t h av e e e n t h e d r e ct c a u se o f su c h fa lur e b i i .
T HE S T O R Y O F VI T A M I N S , by
H . Va l e nt i n e Kn a g g s , e tc .
b i
A v a lu a l e g u d e fo r a ll n t e r e st e d i n t h e s u je ct i
Th e a u t h o r p u t s b .
fo r t h a n e arn e st p l e a fo r p r o p e r ly o r g a n s e d r e s e ar ch n t o t h e S t ru ct ur e i i
i
a n d P r o p e r t e s o f V t a m n s w h c h h e a v e r s w o u ld i i
p r o d uce r e sult s m o r e ,
i
i i
t h r ll n g t h a n a n y o t h e r s c e n t fi c d s co v e r y o f t h e a g e i i i .
T H E M IS UNDE R S T O OD M IC R OB E , by
H Va l e nt i n e Kn a g g s ,
. e tc . 2/
Th i bo k
s i s a c h alle n g e t o p r e se n t d e a s o n n fe ct o u s d se as e s
o Dr i i i i .
Kn a g g s a d v a n c e d t h e o r y t h a t g e r m s a n d m c r o e s a r e n o t t h e c a u s e
’
i b
i
o f so c a ll e d g e r m d s e a s e s b u t a r e t h e m se lv e s p ro d u ct s o f d s e a s e d
-
i
i
t s s u e s h a s c a use d w d e sp r e a d n t e r e st a n d d sc u ss o n i
S e v e n or n al i i i . igi
i
m c r o p h o t o r ap h s
-
g .
S M A L L P O X A N D VA CC I N A T I O N , by
H Va l e nt i n e Kn a g g s ,
. etc .
/ l
T h e a ut h o r d e c l a r e s t h at v acc n at o n i s u n n at ur al an d is i i r e sp on s ibl e
i g
fo r a n a st on shi n m ass o f p r e v e n t a l e suffe r in an d d se ase b g i t h at
an d
i
s m allp o x i s a H e al n g Cr s s an d sh o u ld b e t r e at e d a s an e ffor t ii o f N at ur e
t o r i d t h e sy st e m o f m p ur i t e s i i .
T H E DIF F I C UL T I E S O F DR DE . G UE RR E , by
W al t e r R H a d w e n , M D
. . .
W ith i on
b y GE OR GE F C S E A RL E , D so F R S Illus t r at e d
I n t r o d uc t . . . . . .
b y A R T H UR MO R E L A N D I n t o t h e m o ut h s o f f c t t o us ch ar act e rs w hi ch
. i ii
r e pr e se n t b
o t h t h e l ai t y a n d m e d cal e x p e r t s Dr H a d w e n h as p ut i , .
a ll t h at c an b e sa d fo r a n d a ai n st Vi v i sec t i o n i
Va cc n ati on an d g , i
I n o c ula t o n i .
L ondon : Th e C . W Danie l . Comp any 4 6 B e rnard S t re e t , , WC1 . .
P R I NT E D BY TH E S TA N H OP E P RE S S L TD .
, ROC H E S T E R , KE NT

Bechampor or Pasteur - E, Douglas Hume

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

You might also like

Bechampor or Pasteur - E, Douglas Hume

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bechampor or Pasteur - E, Douglas Hume

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

B E C HA M P OR P A ST E U R

F orty - s i x Be rn ard S tre et W C I , . .

SINC E the ﬁ r st e di ti o n o f this book was sold out , two o f its

best friends , on c in this country and one in A merica , have

p assed into the Great B eyond Yet t heir inﬂuence stirs

E vidence of growing attention to B é ch am p reaches us

Fr Gu e r m on p r e z , was p ublished in P aris by A m ed ee

L egrand , 9 3 , Boulevard S aint Germain In the same year, -

on the 18th Se ptember, a bust o f the great French

o f success ful medical work on the lines o f B echam s

Bacteriolog y is being written by Dr We i an t , in collabora .

tion with Dr J Robinson Verner , in whi ch reference

is to be made to B échamp or P asteur and B echamp s

labours are to be recognised From far away M exico , a .

request comes from Dr H ernan Alpuch e S olis to be .

allowed to undertake a S p anish translation o f B échamp or

throughout the world .

Denials of the claims made fo r B echamp s discoveries ’

have been imp ossible ; fo r as Fr Gue r m o n p r e z writes on

p age 1 8 o f hi s B écha m p: E tudes et S ouve nirs : — T o get a

Duclaux or their pupils are not the ones to study ; but

inst ead the imp artial records of the learned S ocieties

p articularly those o f the A cademy o f S ciences o f the

ments to Pasteur s stands secure fo r good and all Never

t h e le ss this p ersonal side o f the subject in s p ite of its

imp ortance from the p oint of view of historical justice is ,

o f less consequence than the results of building medical

p ractice u p on the insecure theoretical foundation de

rep orted in The Times of November 2 7th 1 9 3 1 very fe w , ,

indications of modern medical views converging towards

Disease and In teg ration by H P Newsholme M A M D ,

occu pies so wide a ﬁeld to day is in no small measure an -

expansion of the teaching o f Béch am p ; while the remark

that in the m icr o z ym as (o f the chromatinic threads )

ﬁrst o f two articles by C P H askins in the General E lectric

Review o f July 193 2 ,

Of B écham p a sto r y is related o f how when a tiny child

he was once caught telling a lie His mother on hearing o f .

t hi s on her return home in the evening then and there ,

soundly imp ressed up on him her horror of falsehood

B é ch am p it is said attributed his p assionate regard fo r

ex actitude to this early lesson whi ch he never forgot ,

T o all others known and unknown to whom Truth is

recious I am roud to dedicate the new edition o f this

but also to the discovery o f neglected records made in days

know how and by whom the foundations o f natural truth ,

up on which we build our own more modern structures ,

were laid We have long been accustomed to build on

stones p laced in p osition by the world famed Pasteur but

it is not commonly recogniz ed that many o f these stones

temp orary A ntoine Bécham p It is ﬁttin g that one should

hesitate to disturb stones set by those already gone from

can be no question as to the liberty o f extending the in

p pre ared to acce p t much that is said in criticism o f P asteur

hi s eyes will be op ened to many references fo r which the

I t is greatly to be desired that the fundamental work o f

debt is due to the author fo r throwing the limelight on his

son chanced to come up on the writings o f Pierre Jacques

the views o f the French P rofessor that he seized the ﬁ rst ,