CONCLUSION. 291 
Béchamp’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, and 
