816 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



egar, to the staying of the plague which threatened utter 

 destruction of the silk husbandry of France, and to the 

 examination of other formidable diseases which assail the 

 higher animals, including man. His relation to the im- 

 provements which Professor Lister has introduced into 

 surgery is shown by a letter quoted in his '* Etudes sur 

 la Bi^re."' Professor Lister there expressly thanks Pas- 

 teur for having given him the only principle which could 

 have conducted the antiseptic system to a successful issue. 

 The strictures regarding defects of reasoning, to which we 

 have been lately accustomed, throw abundant light upon 

 their author, but no shade upon Pasteur. 



Redi, as we have seen, proved the maggots of putrefy- 

 ing flesh to be derived from the eggs of flies; Schwann 

 proved putrefaction itself to be the concomitant of far 

 lower forms of life than those dealt with by Redi. Oar 

 knowledge here, as elsewhere in connection with this sub- 

 ject, has been vastly extended by Professor Cohn, of Bres- 

 lau. *'Ko putrefaction," he says, *'can occur in a nitrog- 

 enous substance if its bacteria be destroyed and new ones 

 prevented from entering it. Putrefaction begins as soon 

 as bacteria, even in the smallest numbers, are admitted 

 either accidentally or purposely. It progresses in direct 

 proportion to the multiplication of the bacteria, it is re- 

 tarded when they exhibit low vitality, and is stopped by 

 all influences which either hinder their development or 

 kill them. All bactericidal media are therefore antiseptic 

 and disinfecting."" It was these organisms acting in 



» P. 43. 



* In his last excellent memoir Cohn expresses himself thus: *'Wer noch 

 beut die Faulniss von einer spontanen Dissociation der Proteinmolecule, oder 

 • pn einem unorganisirten Ferment ableitet, oder gar aus 'Stickstoffsplittern' 



