Book excerpt: The last work by Antoine B�champ, a man who should be regarded today as one of the founders of modern medicine and biology.During his long career as an academic and researcher in nineteenth century France, B�champ was widely known and respected as both a teacher and a researcher. As a leading academic, his work was well documented in scientific circles.Few made as much use of this fact as Louis Pasteur, who based much of his career on plagiarising and distorting B�champ's research. In doing so, Pasteur secured for himself an undeserved place in the history of medical science.The Blood and its Third Element is B�champ's explanation of his position, and his defense of it against Pasteur's mischief.This final major work of B�champ'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 B�champ to be without foundation.There is no single cause of disease. The ancients thought this, and B�champ proved it and was written out of history for his trouble. The relevance of his work to modern science remains as yet unrealized.