THEIR MODE OF ACTION. 365 



assume a different arrangement. The sugar is con- 

 verted into lactic acid without the addition or loss of 

 any element. (1 atom of sugar of grapes C12 H12 

 O12 yields two atoms of lactic acid =2(C6 H6 O6.) 



When the juice of onions or of beet-root is made 

 to ferment at high temperatures, lactic acid, man- 

 nite, and gum are formed. Thus, according to the 

 different states of the transposition of the elements 

 of the exciting body, the elements of the sugar 

 arrange themselves in different manners, that is, 

 different products are formed. 



The immediate contact of the decomposing sub- 

 stance with the sugar, is the cause by which its 

 particles are made to assume new forms and 

 natures. The removal of that substance occasions 

 the cessation of the decomposition of the sugar, so 

 that should its transformation be completed before 

 the sugar, the latter can suffer no further change. 



In none of these processes of decomposition is the 

 exciting body reproduced ; for the conditions neces- 

 sary to its reproduction do not exist in the elements 

 of the sugar. 



Just as yeast, putrefying flesh, and the stomach 

 of a calf, in a state of decomposition, when intro- 

 duced into solutions of sugar, effect the transforma- 

 tion of this substance, without being themselves 

 regenerated ; in the same manner, miasms and 

 certain contagious matters produce diseases in the 

 human organism, by communicating the state of. 

 decomposition, of which they themselves are the 



