BACTERIAL METABOLISM WITHIN THE BODY 715 



before dietary procedures are begun can not be rectified, nor can the influ- 

 ence of this damage upon the subsequent progress of the disease be deter- 

 mined with precision. 



Perforations, hemorrhage, or other complications, can not be influ- 

 enced to any extent, nor can they be prevented, in all probability, by such 

 measures. Some time the specific poison or poisons of the cholera-typhoid- 

 dysentery group, as well as those of other intestinal invaders, may be dis- 

 covered, and more specific antidotes discovered for them than are now 

 available. In the meantime, the possibility of reforming, but not of 

 annihilating, these microbes appears to be the most direct method of re- 

 stricting their activities. The dietary route, both in the interest of the 

 metabolism of the patient and the reformation of the metabolism of the 

 microbe, is the procedure which thus far has had experimental justification 

 and practical application. 



