4 TRANSFORMATION OF THE INTESTINAL FLORA 



dioxide and iodo-anisol and secured no reduction; and Harris (1912) 

 failed to obtain any reduction in the bacterial count by employing 

 salol, beta-naphthol and guaiacol carbonate as antiseptic agents. Oliver 

 (1907), on the other hand, used beta-naphthol with excellent results; 

 Ellis (1912) reports success with magnesium sulphate in chronic forms 

 of diarrhea, and Hand (1912) speaks of bismuth salicylate as an anti- 

 septic in acute diarrhea. On the whole, however, the use of intestinal 

 antiseptics has proven more or less disappointing. 



As early as 1868 Senator declared that the decomposition of protein 

 within the alimentary canal under ordinary conditions results in the 

 formation of substances toxic to the host. Nearly twenty years later 

 Bouchard (1884) elaborated the theory of intestinal intoxication. He 

 claimed that the amount of putrefactive products eliminated in the 

 urine was a measure of the degree of intestinal putrefaction and called 

 his measurements "Urotoxic Coefficients." Jaffe (1877), Salkowski 

 (1878), Brieger (1878) and others introduced new methods which 

 played an important part in extending our knowledge of the processes 

 of intestinal putrefaction under different conditions. 



Ortweiler (1886) and Miiller (1886) demonstrated that the admin- 

 istration of carbohydrates tends to lessen putrefaction in the digestive 

 tube. Krauss (1894) obtained similar results with dogs. Biernacki 

 (1892), Eisenstadt (1897) and Bachmann (1902), however, noted only 

 a weak inhibiting action of carbohydrates. Hirschler (1886) appears 

 to be the first to conclude that particular carbohydrates, sucrose, 

 lactose, dextrin and starch, as well as the alcohol glycerol, exercise 

 some inhibiting influence on intestinal putrefaction. Poehl (1887), 

 Biernacki (1892), Winternitz (1892) and others studied the influence 

 of milk and found that a milk diet tended to decrease the undesirable 

 products of protein decomposition by bacteria. These observations 

 were further confirmed by Herter (1897) and Leva (1908). Herter 

 and Kendall (1909) fed milk and dextrose to cats and monkeys and 

 observed a marked decrease of the ethereal sulphates in the urine. 

 Barker (1914) and Torrey (1915) reported favorable results from the 

 feeding of lactose to typhoid patients. 



Solukha (1896) and Kopetski (1900) sought to establish a definite 

 relationship between specific constituents of milk and the diminution of 

 intestinal putrefaction, and since previous workers, Hirschler (1886), 

 Winternitz (1892) and Schmitz (1893) had demonstrated that lactose 

 could inhibit putrefaction, their efforts were naturally directed to this 

 sugar. They concluded that lactose will inhibit intestinal putrefaction 

 when it is fed by mouth. Wereschtschagen (1895) claimed that glu- 

 cose may exercise the same action. 



Nencki and Sieber (1882) and Stadelmann (1883) administered 

 lactic acid to their patients with apparently good results. Grundsach 

 (1893), Schmitz (1894) and Singer (1901) also claimed that lactic 

 acid lessens intestinal putrefaction, as measured by the decrease of 



