148 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



urobilogen, which has passed from the intestine into the 

 urine. I have found that the administration of skatol 

 to men and to monkeys is followed by some intensifica- 

 tion of the Ehrlich aldehyde reaction, and believe that 

 where skatol is produced in the intestine it may con- 

 tribute to intensify the reaction. 1 Dr. Adolf Meyer, 

 Director of the Pathological Institute of the State 

 Hospitals for the Insane, tells me that in some observa- 

 tions made under his direction the administration of 

 skatol to patients has been followed by a similar though 

 slight intensification of the dimethylamidobenzaldehyde 

 reaction of the urine. 



This reaction is seldom found in its most intense form 

 except in the urines from persons suffering from patho- 

 logical conditions. It was noticed by Ehrlich that the 

 intensity of the reaction is apt to be great in the case 

 of patients with phthisis, typhoid fever, and chronic 

 enteritis, and Clemens observed that persons with digest- 

 ive disorders are among those whose urines are likely 

 to give a strong reaction. It has appeared to me that 

 the urines of persons with the urinary evidences of exces- 

 sive chronic intestinal putrefaction (excessive indican and 

 phenol and high ethereal sulphates) are especially liable 

 to exhibit the deepest cherry-color tints on being treated 

 with the reagent. The urine of normal children, in 

 whom the processes of intestinal putrefaction are apt 

 to be mild, usually give negative or almost negative 



1 " On a Relation between Skatol and he Dimethylamidobenz- 

 aldehyde Reaction of the Urine," Journ. Biol. Chem., i, p. 251, 

 1905. 



