The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-01-11
What a Chemist Has Done for
France.


In modern society, industrial prog
ress is closely connected with scien-
tific studies. Practical men are de-
pendent on students, and the success of
the latter in original research insures
success to the former in increasing
wealth. An humble scientific observer
in France has made larger contributions
to the national wealth than eminent
tinanciers like Sully and Turgot. A
competent judge declares that Professor
Pasteur has saved enough to France by
his discoveries to pay the entire indem-
nifty to Germany. He is great chem
ist, and one of the most skillful expert
mentors in the world. For many years
he has been subjecting the theory of
spontaneous generation to the most Sc
we're scientific tests, and is positive in
his conviction that all life, SO far as we
know it, springs from living seed or
germs. He confirms the maxim of the
ancients by his cwn experience. 0nane
Utcun e1 0ro-the egg must always pre-
cede life. In the course of his expert
ments to discover by the microscope the
various kinds of seed invisible in the
air and capable of growth, he has found
the key to diseases in the grapevine, in
the silkworm, and in wines and vinegars.
France has large commerce in wines.
But from causes unknown to the man.
ufaeturers these wines lose their good
qualities, turning sour or bitter and
unfit for sale. The experience of the
best dealers has been baffied in seek
ing remedy for the difficulty. Pro-
fessor Pasteur put some of the spoiled
wine under the microscope and soon
| discovered the cause of the trouble.
Minute organisms were found in the
wine in every instance, and the change
of quality was due to their presence and
growth. OF course they grew from
germs, and if the germs could be de-
stroyed the mischief would be averted
Judging from experiments in other
| liquids that heat would be fatal to the
germs, he subjected the wines to de-
gree of heat which they could bear
without injury and found that all the
germs were destroyed. The wine max
ers profit by the science of the chemist
and save millions of dollars formerly
lost by the spelling of the wines. Hav-
ing been successful in making wine I'M
alterable he turned his attention to vim
egar. This was subject to changes
which make 1t putrid and
worthless. He detected another
kind of organism in vinegar, and
taught the dealers how to destroy it in
germ and keep the vinegar unframed
He next attempted to find the cause
and cure of disease which was ruin
ing the silk husbandry of France. Silk
worms ceased to spin; they lived and
fed as usual, but produced no silk.
Cultivators were puzzled to understand
the matter, and, after vain efforts to
read the riddle, were inclined to give
up silk-raising as practical failure.
But Pasteur with his microscope saw
what the sharp eyes of the growers
could not discover. He found that the
disease, called pebria, was due to a
minute parasite in the intestines of the
silkworm, which spread through the
body and filed up the sack where the
silk ought to form. The poor insect
attempted to spin, but there was
nothing to spin from, and its usefulness
was ended. Pasteur followed up the
inquiry by watching the growth of the
parasite through all its changes till he
found the stages where it could be de-
stroyed without injury to the insect.
He thus made the foundations of silk
husbandry secure and permanent, and
saved one of the most valuable indus
tries of France from utter ruin.