CONCLUSION. 291 



Bechamp's Theory of Microzyma. According to 

 this theory, diseases are not due to a fluid blastema 

 which is changed in disease, but to an organized and 

 solid blastema, resembling the constituents of the 

 blood, and consisting of very minute particles of living 

 matter, which are microzyma. These are the elemen- 

 tary granules which may be seen under the microscope 

 in the cells and in all the fluids of the organism. 

 The mycrozyma, and not the cells in which they are 

 encysted, are the real agents of all the functions of 

 the organism. By the secretion of a fluid termed 

 zymase, or ferment, by which they are constantly 

 surrounded (both together constituting what is called 

 protoplasm) ; these microzyma effect the various trans- 

 formations which have for their final object the nutri- 

 tion of the organism. Virulent and contagious diseases 

 are not produced by parasites coming from without, 

 but by the microzyma themselves, owing to a perver- 

 sion of their normal functions. In such cases they 

 secrete a vitiated zymase, and are transformed into 

 micrococci and bacteria, which it is an error to regard 

 as foreign bodies, since they are only the result of the 

 special form of microzyma pre-existing in our tissues. 



It must also be said that these microzyma are im- 

 perishable. The cells of our organism die and are 

 renewed, but the microzyma which they contain are 

 only associated with other microzyma in order to 

 constitute fresh cells. After death, their transforma- 

 tion into microbes produces putrid fermentation, an- ' 



