1913] N. R. Blatherwick and P. B. Hawk 39 



It is evident that any uniform relationship between urinary in- 

 dican and fecal-bacteria excretions, over any period of time and 

 under various dietary conditions, is probably accidental. Indican, 

 of course, has its origin in the indole which is produced f rom protein 

 in the intestine through the activity of the indole-forming bacteria. 

 If all the bacteria present in the intestine were indole- formers, then 

 some definite relationship could reasonably be expected between the 

 urinary indican and the fecal-bacteria nitrogen, provided that indican 

 is a reliable putrefaction-index. However, inasmuch as there are 

 several species of intestinal bacteria which are not classed as indole- 

 organisms, it is readily seen how variations in the growth and 

 development of these types of bacteria will influence the fecal- 

 bacteria nitrogen values, but will have no influence upon the Output 

 of urinary indican. 



Conclusions. When 500 c.c. of distilled water were added to the 

 usual water-ingestion at each meal (100 c.c), a decrease was noted 

 in the amount of bacterial nitrogen excreted daily in the feces. 

 This held true for two subjects. One subject responded more 

 freely to the influence of the water than did the other. When the 

 water-ingestion (100 c.c.) was increased by 850 c.c. per meal, a 

 more pronounced decrease in the daily excretion of bacterial nitro- 

 gen was observed. This was more emphasized in the one case than 

 in the other, but was very obvious in both. 



Since the amount of bacterial nitrogen occurring in the feces 

 may, in a way, be considered an index of the utilization of the pro- 

 tein in the food, we are led to conclude that there was a more effi- 

 cient utilization of the proteins and hence better digestion and 

 absorption when water was taken with meals. In both cases the 

 beneficial results were not confined to theperiodsof increased water- 

 intake, but continued into the periods following. 



Two subjects fed upon a uniform diet for a period of slightly 

 more than one month were found to have an average content of 

 57.54 percent of bacterial nitrogen in the fecal nitrogen. The 

 average amount of dry bacteria excreted per day was 6.189 gm. 

 The Proportion of dry bacteria in dry feces was found to be 29.94 

 percent, 



A decreased Output of urinary indican was observed to accom- 



