"Fermentation of gelatin, or other nitrogenous substance‥by the mixed organisms of soils and waters takes place in two perfectly distinct stages.‥ In the first stage the organic substance is simply broken down.‥ I shall call these two ‘first’ and ‘second’ stages of fermentation for want of better terms; new terms are, in fact, wanted to describe them properly. My friend Dr. E. A. Letts has suggested to me a term which seems to be very suitable for the first, viz. bacteriolysis" (OED).