The blood and its third element

"Germs seeks their natural habitat - diseased tissue - rather than being the cause of diseased tissue." “They are not the cause of the disease, any more than flies and maggots cause garbage. Flies, maggots, and rats do not cause garbage but rather feed on it. Mosquitoes do not cause a pond to become stagnant, they are attracted to already stagnant water. You always see firemen at burning buildings, but that doesn’t mean they caused the fire.”First published in France in 1899 and later translated into English in 1912, this final major work of Béchamp’s embodies the culmination of his life’s research. This book contains, in detail, the elements of the microzymian theory of the organization of living organisms and organic materials. It has immediate and far reaching relevance to the fields of immunology, bacteriology, and cellular biology; and it shows that more than 100 years ago, the germ, or microbian, theory of disease was demonstrated by Béchamp to be without foundation.Antoine Béchamp was able to scientifically prove that germs are the chemical by-products and constituents of pleomorphic microorganisms enacting upon the unbalanced, malfunctioning cell metabolism and dead tissue that actually produces disease. Béchamp found that the diseased, acidic, low-oxygen cellular environment is created by a toxic/nutrient deficient diet, toxic emotions, and a toxic lifestyle.He is associated with Terrain Theory and the concept of Pleomorphism. Béchamp is regarded as one of the founders of medicine and biology in circles that practice effective medicine. History, however, is written by the winners, and too often has little to do with the truth. The career of Antoine Béchamp, and the manner in which both he and his work have been written out of history, are evidence of this. What Dr. Béchamp is describing is a foundational concept. According to his experiments and observations, these tiny particles he named 'microzymas' have an active role in sustaining and also in terminating life. Using the syllable '-zyme' (now also used in the word 'enzyme') to indicate this principle of causing 'fermentation' (activity) Béchamp searched for and found the same particles and activity even in limestone, apparently from the ancient shelled creatures whose bodies were incorporated into the stone. They still retained their activity. The only factor that stopped these particles was heat. As Dr. Béchamp expressed it, "Life is the prey of life": i.e. as the organizing life-principle of a complex body ceases to operate, the microzymas take up their role of breaking it down and returning its elements to nature to be taken up by other life forms. Unfortunately Pasteur first tried to steal Béchamp's work, then when he objected, Pasteur set out to use his political clout to destroy the career and reputation of the great French doctor. This is why we don't hear much about this alternative school of science. A complete history of this scientific and political conflict was written early in the 20th century, by a woman doing meticulous research into the historical records of the French Academy of Science. Please see Bechamp or Pasteur?: A Lost Chapter in the History of Biology by Ethel Hume. Her book is another must-read for grasping the significance of this concept and why certain interests wanted it deleted from the scientific record. The same discovery of tiny active particles was repeated in the 20th century, first by Royal Rife using a very complex microscope to observe the particles changing into four different types. Later, working independently and with a different powerful microscope of his own invention, the French scientist Gaston Naessens observed these particles morph into sixteen different forms including bacterial and fungal. The significance of this is that what we think of as pathogens are not necessarily 'infectious' (or 'exogenous', or from outside), but can be 'endogenous' (from within). Christopher Bird's detailed account of this concept which has been named "pleomorphism" - and which is still being attacked by the chemical-based medical authorities - is in his very instructive book The Persecution and Trial of Gaston Naessens: The True Story of the Efforts to Suppress an Alternative Treatment for Cancer, AIDS, and Other Immunologically Based Diseases. Like Ethel Hume, the late Christopher Bird was fluent in French, and attended the French-language trial in Quebec. A version of this story in French is titled Le Galilée du microscope" (Galileo of the Microscope). In reference to the infamous behaviour of Galileo's critics who refused to look into his telescope, the critics of Naessens refused to look through this powerful microscope that could resolve images in angstrom resolution, without first killing or staining the samples. As the science of "psychoneuroimmunology" begins to gain traction in clinical practice, I entertain the hope that the role of the endogenous (driven by the psyche) aspects of dis-ease will become more respected. (For a detailed account of that field of understanding I'd recommend reading Dr. Gabor Maté's book When the Body Says No (also in print).) Then perhaps Béchamp may be restored to the status he deserves as a medical pioneer far ahead of his time.

At a moment when the nuclear nonproliferation regime is under duress, Rebecca Davis Gibbons provides a trenchant analysis of the international system that has, for more than fifty years, controlled the spread of these catastrophic weapons. The Hegemon's Tool Kit details how that regime works and how, disastrously, it might falter. In the early nuclear age, experts anticipated that all technologically-capable states would build these powerful devices. That did not happen. Widespread development of nuclear arms did not occur, in large part, because a global nuclear nonproliferation regime was created. By the late-1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union had drafted the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and across decades the regime has expanded, with more agreements and more nations participating. As a result, in 2022, only nine states possess nuclear weapons. Why do most states in the international system adhere to the nuclear nonproliferation regime? The answer lies, Gibbons asserts, in decades of painstaking efforts undertaken by the US government. As the most powerful state during the nuclear age, the United States had many tools with which to persuade other states to join or otherwise support nonproliferation agreements. The waning of US global influence, Gibbons shows in The Hegemon's Tool Kit, is a key threat to the nonproliferation regime. So, too, is the deepening global divide over progress on nuclear disarmament. To date, the Chinese government is not taking significant steps to support the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and as a result, the regime may face a harmful leadership gap.

Front Cover Table of Contents Author’s Preface / Chapter 4 Also from A Distant Mirror