INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 149 



results. Although I have come to associate an intense 

 Ehrlich aldehyde reaction of the urine with the occurrence 

 of a high degree of intestinal putrefaction, it must be 

 admitted that not every case of excessive intestinal 

 putrefaction shows this reaction in its very marked 

 form. 1 



1 A good discussion of Ehrlich's dimethylamidobenzaldehyde 

 reaction in the urine by C. E. Simon may be found in the American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences, cxxvi, p. 471, 1903. Bauer (loc. 

 tit.) brings forward evidence to support the view that the Ehrlich 

 reaction depends on urobilinogen. This view appears to me not 

 irreconcilable with the fact that the administration of skatol 

 intensifies or even gives rise to this reaction, since more than one 

 factor may be operative in certain instances. I am not certain 

 of the identity of the reactions obtained by Bauer and those 

 dependent on the administration of skatol, as I have failed to 

 make use of spectroscopic methods of study. 



