1917] FOODS — HUMAN NUTRITION. 665 



occasions it lias been found in the feces of rats tliat had been supplied 

 with it as a part of their diet. The raw grains are also probably acted 

 upon slowly, or at least some of the intermediate carbohydrate products are 

 not immediately absorbed. Bread, on the other hand, which contains cooked 

 starch, does not foster the development of the aciduric bacteria, because it ia 

 digested quickly, and no available sugar remains in the intestine long enough 

 to be attacked and utilized by this group of bacteria. . . . 



" Meat or other high protein diet increases the indol-producing bacteria and 

 other organisms of the so-called 'putrefactive' type, like B coli and B. welchii; 

 cornstarch appears to foster the amylolytic group of intestinal organisms, while 

 in a few experiments grain feed seemed to favor the development of what ap- 

 peared to be fusiform bacilli. 



" The reaction of the intestine remained independent of the character of the 

 intestinal flora. While the acidity of the intestinal conents varied in different 

 rats, it was not increased during the course of lactose feeding experiments. 

 The acidity was highest in the duodenum, as a rule, and lowest at the ileo-cecal 

 valve. 



The marked influence of a high lactose diet upon the intestinal flora of man, 

 which was demonstrated in these experiments, has been confirmed by other in- 

 vestigators working with typhoid patients, who found that eating milk sugar 

 (250 to 300 gm. daily) brought about a marked change in the intestinal flora 

 where the initial flora had been of a distinctly putrefactive type. The authors 

 state that in both the earlier and present work they were unable to establish 

 B. bulgaricus in the intestine of white rats even for short periods of time, al- 

 though the bacilli were fed in large numbers. These results are in harmony 

 with those of other investigators. 



A bibliography of cited literature is appended. 



Experimental studies of the intestinal flora, W. R. Sisson {Amer. Jour. 

 Diseases Children, IS {1917), No. 2, pp. 117-127). — Experiments are reported 

 in which was studied the effect of various foods commonly used in infant feed- 

 ing on the bacterial flora of the intestinal tract. The observations were made 

 on infants and laboratory animals (puppies). The bacterial flora of the 

 puppies fed on cow's milk was found to be essentially the same as that of 

 infants on a similar diet. The following conclusions were drawn from the 

 experiments with puppies : 



" In puppies the types of organisms occurring at the duodenum, ileum, cecum, 

 and rectum are in all instances similar. One can not speak of a characteristic 

 local flora occurring in these regions. 



" Feedings to puppies of cow's milk mixtures with high percentage of su- 

 crose or lactose does not cause characteristic changes in the intestinal flora 

 at any level, even when a diarrhea is produced. 



" Starvation of 24 hours renders a relative amicrobism of the small intestine." 



The influence of fresh and autoclaved cows' milk on the developm.ent of 

 neuritis in animals, R. B. Gibson and Isabelo Concepcion {PMlwpine Jour. 

 Sci. Sect. B, 11 {1916), No. 3, pp. 119-lSS, pis. 2, figs. 2).— Feeding experiments 

 are reported with laboratory animals (fowls, pigs, and dogs). These were 

 carried out to determine whether or not antineuritic substances were present 

 in milk and to what extent these would be affected by autoclaving the milk 

 for two hours at 125° C. 



The results obtained showed the antineuritic vitamins to be present in milk 

 in slight auiounts only, and that the continued feeding of either fresh or auto- 

 claved milk without suitable additions to the diet induced symptoms of beri- 

 beri. The authors state that the antineuritic powers of milk are so slight that 

 in infant feeding the diet should be extended as soon as possible, and that 



