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described nutrient liquids, so rich in carbohydrates and various 
nitrogen compounds, and at temperatures between 35° and 40°C. 
The answer to this question L hope to give later. That the sarcina 
should only accidentally occur in the soil and the mud of ditehes 
and not multiply there, cannot be admitted on account of the 
very common occurrence of this organism; near the Laboratory at 
Delft, for exampie, the sarcina could easily be found to a depth of 
70 em in all earth-layers, even in so small quantities of soil as 0.1 
to 0.5 g. 
Why the sarcina develops so easily in the diseased stomach is in 
my opinion connected with the readiness with which this organism 
grows in meal-mashes, supported by the absence of hydrochloric acid 
which under normal circumstances inhibits all microbie growth in 
the stomach. The general occurrence of the sarcina is perhaps 
best shown by the following experiment. If some coarsely ground 
rye is mixed with water and placed in a thermostat at 30° to 35° C. 
it will the next day be found in astrong coli-aérogenes fermentation. 
If then this mass is carefully examined with the microscope many 
packets will be found of the sarcina in a state of very active multi- 
plication. They clearly originate from the dust deposited on the 
surface of the corn at the reaping, the sarcina being quite well 
adapted to endure severe drying. 
Although the sarcina of the stomach, in itself harmless, can at 
most be troublesome by the evolution of hydrogen, *) it should still 
be observed that development of this microbe is impossible in 
absence of carbohydrates, so that at a flesh diet, if there were no 
reasons to avoid such a regimen, it would soon disappear. A milk 
diet, too, would have such a result, as well if the milk were 
acidified by lactic-acid ferments, as without previous acidification. 
So it was not possible in laboratory experiments to cultivate the 
sarcina in butter-milk, and even fresh milk, acidified with various 
quantities of lactic or phosphoric acid, gave only in few instances a 
feeble growth. In absence of acid the growth of the sarcina in crude 
milk is quite impossible, this organism being overgrown by the 
other microbes. 
1) The periodical vomitting observed in some cases of stomach sarcina may be 
connected with the accumulation of hydrogen, formed in the stomach. 
