310 THE BACTERIOPHAGE AND ITS BEHAVIOR 



lation, that is, make it a living being, or one must assume the catalyzer 

 to exist preformed in the bacterium. And if we accept this second inter- 

 pretation we fall into the second of the possible hypotheses, which we 

 will consider shortly. If on the other hand we can not admit either 

 the one or the other of these two alternatives we are confronted by an 

 absurdity, for such a chemical principle, incapable of reproduction, 

 would quickly be eliminated in the course of successive passages. At 

 that time when, because of dilution it would no longer be present as 

 such, it would no longer be able to function, and serial activity would 

 necessarily cease. 



As a matter of fact, we can calculate at just what point in the succes- 

 sive passages every trace of the chemical principle introduced into the 

 first suspension of the series would be eliminated. Obviously this is 

 when there would remain less than the smallest possible particle of 

 matter, that is, when the volume of the original material remaining is 

 less than an electron, whose mass, as calculated by physicists, is equal 

 to 10~" grams. 



To take a concrete example: Introduce into 10 cc, that is, 10 grams of 

 a bacterial suspension, 0.001 gram of a fecal filtrate (or blood, or any 

 other material containing the bacteriophage principle). The bacteria 

 are dissolved. Then remove 0.001 gram of this dissolved suspension 

 and add it to 10 grams of fresh suspension. Dissolution again takes 

 place, and when finished again remove 0.001 gram and introduce it 

 into a third 10 grams of bacterial suspension. Once more, a dissolution 

 of the bacteria will take place. And in this way, as we already know, 

 the passages can be continued indefinitely. 



But, the 10 grams of the first suspension received 10~^ grams of the 

 initial filtrate which contained the bacteriophage principle. A simple 

 calculation shows that the second suspension inoculated can contain 

 only 10~'^ grams; the third only 10^^^ grams, the fourth, lO"'^^ grams, and 

 the seventh, 10~^^ grams. This seventh suspension contains, then 

 only 10^27 grams of the filtrate which introduced the bacteriophage prin- 

 ciple into the first tube of the series. The quantity present is, at most, 

 equal to a single electron. With the eighth passage, this quantity would 

 fall to 10~^^ grams, a quantity virtually representing less than nothing, 

 since it is less than an electron. Nevertheless this eighth suspension is 

 dissolved, just as will be the thousandth, or the two thousandth. How 

 can this phenomenon continue to take place since the catalyzer or the 

 enzyme,^ — chemical substances, introduced originally by the filtrate 

 obtained from some substance from the body, — totally disappeared as 

 far back in the series as the eighth passage? 



