[43] "The metamorphosis of starch into sugar depends simply, as is proved by analysis, on the addition of the elements of water. All the carbon of the starch is found in the sugar; none of its elements have been separated, and except the elements of water, no foreign element has been added to it in this transformation."--_Liebig_, _Organic Chemistry_, p. 71. [44] As regards starch there appears to be some peculiar faculty regarding it. It is converted into sugar during the ripening of fruit, and it is just possible that being as it is of a cellular nature, the property of vitality may attach to it until it has, by being converted into sugar, fulfilled its destination. [45] Though I do not consider that the fermentation process is a fac-simile of diseased action, yet I think its phenomena generally afford an apt illustration of the changes which may be effected by living germs. Many able chemists still maintain the entire dependence of fermentation upon the Torula: "M. Blondeau propounds the view that _every kind_ of fermentation is _caused_ by the development of fungi." The varieties of opinions found in the literature of this subject, forms a curious specimen of scientific enquiry, and is sufficient alone to convince us of its vast importance and extensive relations. [46] By Dr. Mantell. [47] Mitchell on Fevers. [48] We wonder, and ask ourselves: "What does SMALL mean in Nature?"--_Schleiden's Lectures on Botany._ [49] Speaking of the bunt in wheat: "It appears certainly to be contagious, from numerous experiments, which shew that the contagious principle lasts a long time. I have tried it myself; some, however, doubt it, but it cannot be denied, that seed sown, infected with bunt, produces plants similarly affected; every one who has had the slightest experience must be convinced of it."--_Essay on the Diseases of Plants._ _Count R['e]._ [50] We have already spoken of the effects of these poisons, and have stated that the amount of each poison capable of destroying the body is pretty accurately known. [51] The italics are my own. [52] Gmelin says: "But the mode of action in these transformations, sometimes admits of other explanations; and when this is not the case, our conception of it is by no means sufficiently clear to justify the positive assumption of this, so called contact-action or catalytic force, which, after all, merely states the fact without explaining it"--_Gmelin's Hand-book of Chemistry_, vol. i. p. 115. [53] The history and symptoms of some epidemic diseases, such as cholera and influenza, are not inconsistent with the hypothesis that they are caused by the sudden development of animalcules from ova in the blood. But there is a total want of direct observation in support of this hypothesis.--_Dr. Williams' Principles of Medicine._