Oral pathology and practice : a text-book for the use of students in dental colleges and a hand-book for dental practitioners / by W.C. Barrett.

  • Barrett, W. C. (William Cary), 1834-1903.
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Oral pathology and practice : a text-book for the use of students in dental colleges and a hand-book for dental practitioners / by W.C. Barrett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    forming), Saprogenic (putrefactive), Pyogenic fpus-producing), Saprophytic (decomposing), etc. CHAPTER III. FERMENTATION. A ferment is any substance which has the ability to bring about the molecular oxidation and decomposition or disintegration of the carbohydrates and proteids, or nitrogenous and albuminous com- pounds. As these are the substances which are chiefiy concerned in the composition of organic matter, it will be seen that the process is of overwhelming importance, and that without its comprehension the student is not prepared to consider any of the constructive or destructive changes of the body. Fermentation may be defined as the change brought about in such organic medium by the presence of a ferment. It is only within a recent period that its true nature has been comprehended. It was formerly ascribed to what was called catalytic action. It is now known to be induced by a special organism or substance, and its phenomena are those produced by the decomposition of the medium in which the ferment is growing, or exhibiting its energy. There are organized and unorganized ferments. The action of the so-called unorganized ferments does not essentially differ from that of the organized. In either the process consists in a solution of the bonds of constructive affinity and the formation of new com- pounds—in active molecular derangements and rearrangements. With the organic ferments this is brought about through the func- tional activities of simple individual organisms, while the inorganic ferments are formed by and owe their activity to a compound, com- plex structure, made up of functionally united organs, each display- ing its activities for a common purpose. The organized ferments are certain of the micro-organisms whose growth or proliferation is by the assimilation of the elements of the fermentable substance. This they have the power to decom- pose, as a cabbage disintegrates and resolves into its elements the soil in which it grows. The unorganized ferments are the enzymes, or those of diges-