LACTIC-ACID BACILLI 715 



work of these men and of others has seemed to place cheese production, 

 attempts at uniformity in cheese production have met with almost in- 

 superable obstacles because of the presence of a variety of adventitious 

 microorganisms which, depending in species and proportion upon the 

 local conditions under which the various cheeses have been produced, 

 have added minor characteristics of flavor which have determined mar- 

 ket value. Occasional failure of good results in cheese production l is 

 due to contamination with other chromogenic or putrefactive bacteria. 

 In its relationship to the spread of infectious disease, cheese is rela- 

 tively unimportant except in regard to tuberculosis. Typhoid and 

 other non-spore forming pathogenic germs can not survive the condi- 

 tions existing during cheese-ripening for any length of time. Tubercle 

 bacilli, both of the human and bovine types, have been found in cheese 

 by Harrison 2 and others, and Galtier has shown experimentally that 

 tubercle bacilli may remain alive and virulent in both salted and un- 

 salted cheese for as long as ten days. 



THE LACTIC-ACID BACILLI AND METCHNIKOFF'S BACTERIO- 



THERAPY 



A problem which has occupied clinical investigation for many years 

 is that of gastrointestinal autointoxication. There are a number of 

 conditions occurring in man, in which symptoms profoundly affecting 

 the nervous system, the circulation, and, in a variety of ways, the entire 

 body, 'can be clinically traced to the intestines, and can, in many cases, 

 be relieved by thorough purgation and careful diet. In some of these 

 conditions, specific microorganisms can be held accountable for the 

 diseases (B. enteritidis, B. botulinus, etc.). In other cases, however, 

 etiological investigations have met with but partial success because of 

 the large variety of microorganisms present in the intestinal tract and 

 because of the complicated symbiotic conditions thereby produced. 

 Intestinal putrefaction, recognized as the cardinal feature of such 

 maladies, has been attributed to Bacillus proteus vulgaris, 3 to Bacillus 

 aerogenes capsulatus, to Bacillus putrificus, 4 and to a number of other 

 bacteria, but definite and satisfactory proof as to the etiological im- 

 portance of any of these germs has not yet been advanced. The fact 



1 Beijerinck, Koch's Jahresber, etc., 82, 189. 



2 Harrison and Galtier, quoted from Mohler, U. S. Pub. H. and Mar. Hosp. Serv., 

 Hygiene Lab. Bull. 41, 1908. 



3 Lesage, Rev. de med., 1887. 



4 Tissier, Ann. de 1'inst. Pasteur, 1905. 



