A Theory of Ferments and Their Action. 
25 
that comes within the range of my vision, grow out of a possible dif- 
ference in dynamic effect between waves produced in the ether by pon- 
derable atoms and the electro-magnetic ether waves. Bnt even this 
difficulty seems to disappear “when the atoms are considered in con- 
nection with their electro charges.” 
FERMENTS AND THEIR ACTION. 
Fermentation is a process which has both a chemical and a physical 
side; the chemical side takes note of the nature of the material changes 
wrought in the substrate by the ferment, and of the end results of the 
reaction. The physical side of the process takes note of the nature 
and source of ferment energy, and the means of its transmission. Since 
ferment energy is conserved and transmitted by material substances, 
called ferments, which do not appear in the chemical equations they 
induce and add nothing from their own substance to the decomposition 
products of the reactions, the nature of these bodies and the source and 
nature of the specific energy they transmit are subjects of the greatest 
importance. Chemistry has endeavored to prove that ferments are 
definite chemical compounds, but so far has signally failed to separate 
the ferments from the proteids with which they are united, or to find 
a chemical test by means of which a ferment may be recognized; and 
until these objects are accomplished the chemical nature of ferment 
must remain a matter of surmise. Oppenheimer (“Ferments and Their 
Action”) says, “'Of the ways and means by which these peculiar forms 
of energy develop their activity we have not the slightest trustworthy 
idea. We must simply resolve to regard ferment actions as special 
phenomena of the ominous catalytic processes from which their dif- 
ferentiation is required by the fact that they are produced by living cells. 
Catalytic action is nothing more than a scheme of despair under which 
we may group chemical reactions which, while possessing a certain sim- 
ilarity in their course, can not, without further knowledge, be explained 
by our simple chemical theories.” 
I will not enter into a discussion of the various and conflicting 
theories of the nature of ferments and their action which have been 
advocated in the past, since they range in scope from the hypothesis 
that enzymes are chemical bodies, and that failure to separate them in 
a pure state is due solely to insufficient chemical knowledge, to the 
extreme view that ferments are not material — that they are properties 
of matter, as heat and magnetism are, or centers of force, but have no 
material structure. A discussion of these theories would needlessly 
prolong the time of your patience and throw no additional light upon 
the subject of this paper. 
