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M. Bechamp, who studied these, recognized several belonging to the series of fatty acids, acetic acid, butyric acid &c. "The presence of succinic acid is not accidental, but constant; if we put aside volatile acids that form in quantities which we may call infinitely small, we may say that succinic acid is the only normal acid of alcoholic fermentation."
Relying on this established fact, that moulds are capable of development in sweetened water in which, according to M. Bechamp, they invert the sugar, our author asserts that he has proved that "living organized ferments may originate in media which contain no albuminous substances." M. Bechamp's first note on the inversion of sugar was published in 1855.
It is since the appearance of these two works of ours that the preponderating influence of the life of microscopic organism in the phenomena of fermentation has been better understood. Immediately after their appearance M. Bechamp, who from 1855 had made no observation on the action of fungoid growths on sugar, although he had remarked their presence, modified his former conclusions.
"What was the name of the officer in command who was quartered here?" he asked, looking straight at the girl. She raised her eye-brows slightly. "Do you mean to say that after listening for three hours to every inhabitant of Béchamp you haven't found that out?" "They all call him something different. My grandmother says he had a French name: she calls him Chariot."
M. Bechamp has applied Mitscherlich's observation, concerning the soluble fermentative part of yeast, to fungoid growths, and has made the interesting discovery that fungoid growths, like yeast, yield to water a substance that inverts sugar. When the production of fungoid growths is prevented by means of an antiseptic, the inversion of sugar does not take place.
Réchamp had climbed to the box, and seemed not to be noticing what was going on at the back of the motor. I understood that he loathed the job, and wanted not to see the face of the man we were carrying; so when we had got him settled I jumped into the ambulance beside him and called out to Béchamp that we were ready.
It is interesting to peruse, in our Memoir of 1860, certain facts of the same kind relating to fermentation by means of albumens that of the blood for example, from which, we may mention incidentally, we were led to infer the existence of several distinct albumens in the serum, a conclusion which, since then, has been confirmed by various observers, notably by M. Bechamp.
"Your grandmother was never taught German: his name was the Oberst von Scharlach." She did not remember my presence either: the two were still looking straight in each other's eyes. Béchamp had grown white to the lips: he was rigid with the effort to control himself. "Why didn't you tell me it was Scharlach who was here?" he brought out at last in a low voice. She turned her eyes in my direction.