BACTERIA OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINE. 581 



in a living condition, but there is good reason to believe that the 

 spirillum of cholera or the bacillus of anthrax would not. On the 

 other hand, the tubercle bacillus and the spores of other bacilli can, 

 no doubt, pass through the stomach to the intestine without losing 

 their vitality. 



Of nineteen species isolated by Vignal in his cultures from the 

 healthy human mouth, the greater number resisted the action of the 

 gastric juice for more than an hour, and six species which did not 

 form spores were found to retain their vitality in gastric juice for 

 more than twenty-four hours. 



In making a bacteriological analysis of the contents of the healthy 

 stomach the more resistant microorganisms and those which form 

 spores will naturally be found in greater or less numbers, inasmuch 

 as some of them are likely to be present in food and water ingested. 



Van Puteren (1888) obtained a variety of microorganisms in very 

 considerable numbers from the stomachs of infants fed upon un- 

 sterilized cow's milk, but in healthy nursing infants the number was 

 much smaller, especially when the mouth was washed out with dis- 

 tilled water immediately before and after nursing. In 18 per cent 

 of the cases no microorganisms were found under these circum- 

 stances, and in 41 per cent the number fell below one thousand per 

 cubic centimetre. Among the nursing infants examined (eighty- 

 five) the following species were most numerous : Monilia Candida, 

 Bacillus lactis aerogenes, a non-liquefying coccus, Staphylococcus 

 pyogenes aureus, Bacillus subtilis. In infants fed upon cow's milk 

 (eleven) Bacillus lactis aerogenes was present in 45.4 per cent of 

 the cases, and Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus in 27.2 per cent, non- 

 liquefying cocci in 54.4 per cent, liquefying cocci in 72. 7 per cent, 

 Bacillus subtilis in 36.3 per cent, and Bacillus butyricus (Hueppe) 

 in all of the cases ; next to these Bacillus flavescens liquefaciens 

 was the most abundant. The author named reaches the conclusion 

 that no species is constant and that the presence of those found de- 

 pends upon accidental circumstances. 



Abelous (1889) found in his own stomach, washed out while fast- 

 ing, a considerable number of species of bacteria, viz. : Sarcina 

 ventriculi, Bacillus pyocyanus, Bacillus lactis aerogenes, Bacillus 

 subtilis, Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus amylobacter, Vibrio rugula, 

 and eight other undescribed bacilli and one coccus. All of these 

 microorganisms were able to resist the action of hydrochloric acid 

 in the proportion of 1.7 grammes in 1,000 grammes of water. 

 Several were found to be facultative anaerobics. 



The action of the bacteria isolated by him was tested by Abelous 

 upon various alimentary substances. The time required to effect 

 changes, such as the digestion of fibrin, the changing of starch 

 49 



