442 P. G. HEINEMANN AND E. E. ECKER 



lactic acid of the inactive modification as type B which produces 

 only levo-rotatory acid. Granular staining is frequently a 

 characteristic of enfeebled forms of bacteria and it is possible 

 that type B is an enfeebled strain of type A that has lost the 

 power to form dextro-rotatory lactic acid. If equal amounts of 

 both modifications of active lactic acids are formed they unite 

 to form inactive acid and it might be possible to convert type 

 B into type A if suitable conditions of growth were offered. 

 Type B is the one that is found active in cheese ripening and 

 this fact suggests that type B grows at lower temperatures 

 than type A whose optimum temperature is about 45° C. It 

 is usually stated that type A does not grow below 30°C. It is 

 possible therefore that type B is a modification of type A accus- 

 tomed to lower temperature. We hope to study this problem 

 at some future period. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



1. Boas-Oppler baciUi occur in normal gastric juice in moderate 

 numbers and in gastric juice containing either no hydrochloric 

 acid or materially less than the normal amount in large numbers. 



2. The presence of Boas-Oppler bacilli in large numbers in 

 gastric juice is an indication of reduction of the normal hydro- 

 chloric acid content, whether this is due to gastric ulcer, gastritis, 

 pernicious anemia or gastric carcinoma and possibly other 

 pathological conditions. 



3. The Boas-Oppler bacillus belongs to the group of lacto- 

 bacilli which occur frequently in foods, chiefly milk and milk 

 products. It gains access to the saliva, the stomach and in- 

 testinal contents with food. 



4. The Boas-Oppler bacillus is the lactic acid producing or- 

 ganism that occurs in saliva and in the contents of the digestive 

 tube. 



5. The Boas-Oppler bacillus is common in feces of bottle- 

 fed infants, but relatively scarce in the feces of breast-fed infants. 



6. Four strains of Boas-Oppler bacilli studied by us produced 

 in milk from 1.05 to 1.57 per cent acid, consisting chiefly of 



