DISCUSSION OF THE IDEAS OF CLAUDE BERNARD 211 



fest themseh'es later in its sound neighbors. In these 

 decayed grapes I find alcohol. I find it also, at least 

 so I believe, in the dry grapes, and I see there no cells of 

 yeast. Thence, the idea of my diastase. It may very 

 well be that this secretion of diastase takes place only 

 once, and that I came at a fortunate moment, while 

 you were too early or too late, but that will not hinder 

 us from remaining good friends. 



"Note furthermore," Bernard might have continued 

 if he had been able to plead his own cause, or if he 

 had had an advocate, ''that my conception is in accord 

 with some of the experiments which you cite in support 

 of yours. MM. Lechartier and Bellamy before you 

 have seen fruits, put in closed flasks in the presence of 

 air, begin by absorbing oxygen, then give off carbonic 

 acid, and, furthermore, produce alcohol by an interior 

 fermentation accomplished without the aid of any yeast 

 cell. It is one of the experiments which you cite in 

 support of your ideas of life without air. I consider 

 it as a score for me, and I say that the results of MM. 

 Lechartier and Bellamy have to do only with the decay 

 of fruits in confined atmospheres. But if they were 

 rotted in contact with the air it would be the same, as 

 my results with grapes testify, and as, I hope, the 

 experiments which I intend to make on apples will 

 also testify." 



"But," responded Pasteur, "you who have such a 

 good memory for the results of MM. Lechartier and 

 Bellamy who, moreover, are in accord with me, how is it 

 that you have forgotten my experiments in which, 

 instead of waiting until they shall have consumed the 

 oxygen of the air with which they are in contact, I 

 plunge the fruits immediately into carbonic acid, and 

 see the formation of alcohol begin there immediately. 

 Can it be a question of decay in this quick experiment 



