The Bluebottle : The Grub 



Well, this result is really astounding, when 

 we consider the scantiness of the means. No 

 Pig's or Sheep's pepsin can rival that of the 

 worm. I have a bottle of pepsin that comes 

 from the School of Chemistry at Montpellier. 

 I lavishly powder some pieces of hard-boiled 

 white of egg with the potent drug, just as I 

 did with the eggs of the Bluebottle. The oven 

 is not brought into play, neither is distilled 

 water added, nor hydrochloric acid : two 

 auxiliaries which are recommended. The ex- 

 periment is conducted in exactly the same way 

 as that of the tubes with the vermin. The 

 result is entirely different from what I ex- 

 pected. The white of egg does not liquefy. 

 It simply becomes moist on the surface; and 

 even this moisture may come from the pepsin, 

 which is highly absorbent. Yes, I was right: 

 if the thing were feasible, it would be an ad- 

 vantage for the chemists to collect their digest- 

 ive drug from the stomach of the maggot. 

 The worm, in this case, beats the Pig and the 

 Sheep. 



The same method is followed for the re- 

 maining experiments. I put the Bluebottle's 

 eggs to hatch on a piece of meat and leave the 

 worms to do their work as they please. The 

 lean tissues, whether of mutton, beef or pork, 



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