Pasteur
promoted a theory of disease that described non-changeable microbes as
the primary cause of disease. This is the theory of monomorphism.
This theory says that a microorganism is static and unchangeable. It is
what it is. Disease is solely caused by microbes or bacteria that
invade the body from the outside. (This is the germ theory.)
Bechamp
held the view that microorganisms can go through different stages of
development and they can evolve into various growth forms within their
life cycle. This is the theory of pleomorphism.
He observed microbe like particles in the blood which he called
microzymas. These microbes would change shape as individuals became
diseased, and for Bechamp, this was the cause of disease; hence disease
comes from inside the body.
Another scientist of the day, Claude
Bernard, entered into the argument and said that it was actually the
"milieu" or the environment that is all important to the disease
process. Microbes do change and evolve, but how
they do so is a result of the environment (or terrain) to which they
are exposed. Hence, for Bechamp, microbes, being pleomorphic, will
change according to the environment to which they are exposed.
Therefore, disease in the body, as a biological process, will develop
and manifest dependent upon the state of the internal biological
terrain. At the core of that terrain, is pH.
Missing link found between brain, immune system; major disease implications
In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. That such vessels could have escaped detection when the lymphatic system has been so thoroughly mapped throughout the body is surprising on its own, but the true significance of the discovery lies in the effects it could have on the study and treatment of neurological diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer's disease to multiple sclerosis.
