816 Experiments 



We see then that the tension figure, at which the rapid oxida- 

 tions due to the ferments of putrefaction begin to decrease, coin- 

 cides exactly with that at which the fatal effect of oxygen begins 

 to appear. Therefore the anatomical elements of a complex organi- 

 zation are susceptible to the same concentration as those which live 

 isolated, under the form of microzoa and microphytes. We shall 

 gain new confirmation of these facts when we take up the effects 

 of compressed oxygen on plants and germination. 



Similarly, Experiment CCCLXXXVI shows us that the pressure 

 of 21 atmospheres completely kills the microscopic beings of putre- 

 faction, as it kills higher animals. 



Let us add finally that meat which was preserved thus intact 

 during compression and after compression is none the less an ex- 

 cellent medium for the development of microscopic organisms, and 

 that putrefaction occurs rapidly in it, when germs brought by the 

 air come in contact with it in sufficient quantity. Experiment 

 CCCXCIV, in which germs penetrated into the flask through an 

 imperceptible crack in the cork, is quite characteristic. But for 

 microscopic beings, as for those of great size, the crop is propor- 

 tional to the sowing; it is not surprising therefore that under these 

 conditions putrefaction in meat which has been subjected to high 

 compression takes place rather slowly (Exp. CCCCVII), and that 

 in certain cases (Exp. CCCCV) , when the chances of the experi- 

 ment have allowed the germs of molds, and not the vibriones of 

 putrefaction, to enter the tubes, putrefaction was replaced by a 

 microscopic vegetation. 



I have sometimes seen meat kept in vessels closed by the flame 

 after the phase of oxygenated compression, remain in a state of 

 good preservation for weeks and months, then begin to putrefy; 

 Experiments CCCXCVII and CCCCIV give examples of this. In 

 this case, in my opinion, the oxygen did not kill all the vibriones of 

 putrefaction; it left some, merely sick, numbed, as it were, which 

 regained new activity in time. That happens, too, when meat has 

 been heated to a temperature considerably below the boiling point; 

 it happens in an apparatus in which a vacuum has been made by 

 boiling, when air is admitted through carded cotton, if the filter 

 is insufficient; it happens, in a word, whenever the ferments are 

 either in very small numbers or altered by some strange circum- 

 stance. 



Of course I had to study the putrefaction of some other sub- 

 stances. I record my experiments here. 



