Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-06
A REVOLUTION IN MEDICINE.
Former Ideas About the Causes and Treat-
ment of Diseases Completely Overthrow
P.steur's Great work and How II Has Been
Performed-Beneft to Cattle and Humanity.

l
for this great dicovery.
NEW SCIENCE.
What is bacteriology? 1t is the science which
treats Of microbes and which has overthrow
| from top to bottom all our ideas about the
causes and treatment Of diseases as we'll as
about anatomy, pathological physiology, thera-
peutics and hygiene. This new science, then,
has brought about an almost complete revolu-
ton in medicine, and, a. will show later on,
has possessed considerable importance for the
| champion of the social doctrines Of solidarity.
Robert Boyle, an English author, in his '.Es-
| says on the Pathological Part Of Physic," ex-
pressed the opinion that whoever could gain
| an insight into fermentation and the nature of
ferments would be more apt to comprehend
certain diseases, fevers especially, than he who
ton. For long time after Boyles death, how
| ever, the origin Of fermentation remained a
profound mystery. That the reader may see
the importance of Boyis's prediction and gain
some idea Of the vast amount Of work done in
| this direction during the past few years pro-
pose to show how the study of these fermenta-
lions, which are caused by different organisms
began. OF these organisms the prototype is
yeast, or TOrula cerevisiR. Let US see now
what alcoholic fermentation takes place in
phenomena known throughout all antiquity.
SOME NOVEL EXPERIMENTS.
The must of grapes, beer or any other sugary
substance becomes filed under favorable tenn
persture with bubbles Of air which accumulate
| on the surface forming mass Of foam more
! or less thick. The liquid bubbles up, the sac
| charine taste disappears, giving place to pc
culiar SAVIOR according to the nature OF the fer
| mented liquor. That this phenomenon pre-
SCENTS such an aspect has been known for ages,
but only quite recently has the cause OF the
phenomenon been discovered. The first step
n ira ylaIx IS ~,
gas which is set free from the liquor during the
process of fermentation. This step was not
taken until century ago. Then it was neces-
sary to find out what relation exists between
the alcohol accumulated in the liquor, the car
bonic acid which is set free and the sugar
which the liquor originally contained and
which subsequently disappeared That he
| solved this problem Is one Of Lavoisier's crown
ing glOries. In a vase filed with water he
melted certain amount Of sugar; then, in
order to cause a regular alcoholic fermentation,
he added little yeast.
WHAT FERMENTATION H.
When fermentation took place he weighed
the vase q second time, and, allowing for loss Of
weight, calculated how much carbonic acid had
escaped Next, by means Of several distilla-
tons, he separated from the liquor the alcohol
formed by fermentation and by adding the
weight OF the alcohol to that Of the carbonic
acid he was able to calculate almost to a nicely
the weight OF the sugar, which he had origi-
nally put into the liquor. From his experiments
he arrived at the conclusion that fermentation
is a simple division of sugar into alcohol and
carbonic acid. This discovery made a great
stir in the world and for the first time the OBJ
scnre process OF fermentation, which had
terry of nature, was fully explained and made
Ineligible by a simple formula. The Utmost
secrets OF fermentation, however, still remained
hidden. and though the simple formula showed
the how, the why remained still unexplaiAed
and no one yet suspected the real nature of this
yeast which is added to the liquor and really
causes fermentation.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
According to certain distinguished chemists
every modification which occurs in an organic
body, and is caused by the addition to that or
ganic substance Of small portion Of matter
extracted from another fermented substance,
was due to a particular chemical phenomenon,
to an initial force, which they styled catalytic.
What, then, are the component parts Of this
yeast that forms q sort of foam on the surface
OF fermented liquors or q deposit at the bot
tom of the vessels which contain them? Prior
to any microscopic analysis q chemical analysis
had been made and Had made clear the analogy
Of the yeast TO animal substances. In 1850
Lewenhock described the formation of the
component parts Of yeast and assigned to them
an oval or spherical form. His experiment,
instead of being appreciated as it should have
been, was forgotten and bore no fruit, though
since then several savants have drawn attention
to it and it was not until 1886 that Cagpiard
LatOur demonstrated beyond doubt the living
nature of yeast. He described the buds which
shoot off from each little Globule. He pointed
out how from these buds other buds branch
out and multiply, and he insisted that If yeast
acted on sugar in such a manner a. to produce
alcohol and carbonic acid the process was
doubtless effected by means Of inherent vegeta-
ton and life.
PAsTEUR's GREAT WORK.
The time for scientific appreciation of such q
discovery had not yet arrived, and opposed as
they were to established opinions, Cacniard
LatOurs ideas had to fight hard for recogni-
ton. Indeed, several years passed before the
genius of Pasteur established beyond question
the fact that life enters into the process of fer
| mentation. Nay, Pasteur did even more; he
proved that fermentation and contagion are in
timately connected, and it il to his progressive
ideas that we owe the great and beneficent revo-
| luton, the results of which we already see and
| the principles OF which we're bitterly opposed
| at first, just as every new scientific idea has
| been bitterly opposed at its birth. II have
dwelt at length on this question Of fermenta-
| ton it is because all the exact knowledge which
we possess in regard to the cause Of diseases
comes from his study of that subject. Robert
Boyles prediction is thus verified.
When Prateur had finished his researches in
regard to yeast and alcoholic fermentation, he
studied Tactic, tartaric, butyric fermentations,
DC. He was the first to make pure cultures in
each case by producing in a given liquid one or
another fermentation at his pleasure. by his
| experiments he reduced to silence the advo-
Gates OF spontaneous generation, who were his
/ most violent opponents. In 1850 DIR. Dwaine,
another French savant, had discovered in the
blood OF animals little sticks, which he de-
scribed as microscopic alge. Some years
later, seeing that the butyrio fermentation de-
scribed by Pasteur closely resembled the
''alge' which he had described, he second
time directed the attention Of the medical pro-
| fessiOn to the subject. Meanwhile Pollinder
in Germany had described the microbe. Koch
and then Pssteur cultivated this organism with.
| out the aid of sick animals. Thus the study OF
bscteriology began.
/ OTHER DISCOVERIES.
Other discoveries soon followed, and the 70
suit was that different microbes were success
lively discovered for the different contagious
diseases. At first many physicians opposed the
new doctrines, denying the existence Of mi
| cr0bes, and subsequently, when they saw that
this argument was absurd, maintaining that
| they were not the cause Of disease but were de-
| veloped through disease In the bodies of human
beings or auimAla The fallacy of this areu-
ment was made apparent by experiments which
| demonstrated that the pure culture Of the same
| microbe always brought about the same dis.
ease, and, this fact being indisputably proved,
the ranks Of those opposed to the parasitic theo-
/ ries became hmentably thinned. Certain biQots
unwilling to admit That they were vanouished
invented then that specious argument, accord.
Ing IN vhich IL In not thu mioroIe vh;ch c.,,..~