240 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



cerned in the formation of skatol rather than indol. 

 Suspicion rests on a slender, curved, Gram-positive organ- 

 ism about four microns in length which I have several 

 times found associated with the production of skatol, 

 but which has not yet been obtained in pure culture. 1 



I found that the administration of skatol to monkeys 

 by the mouth and by subcutaneous injections has been 

 followed by the appearance of a substance in the urine 

 giving the Ehrlich dimethylamidobenzaldehyde reaction 

 of the urine, and the administration of 0.1 gm. of skatol 

 to man has been followed by the appearance of a stronger 

 Ehrlich reaction than was previously present. 2 I am 

 inclined therefore to ascribe the intensification of the 

 reaction in these cases to the administration of skatol. 

 The direct evidence, however, is lacking to show that 

 the reaction thus induced or accentuated is dependent 

 on the presence of the same substance in the urine that 

 gives rise ordinarily to the Ehrlich aldehyde reaction. 



1 The ground for this suspicion is that flasks containing pu- 

 trefactive media inoculated with faecal bacteria have shown the 

 presence of this organism in very large numbers in a case where 

 skatol has been present, whereas flasks prepared with the same 

 media and the same bacteria plus magnesium carbonate have 

 failed to show this microorganism and have also failed to show 

 skatol. In these cases the difference between these flasks as re- 

 gards other microorganisms than the one mentioned have been 

 slight. The subject is difficult of investigation. One might sup- 

 pose that the faecal bacteria from a case in which the intestine 

 contains considerable skatol would form skatol when grown in 

 bouillon. I have never found this to be the case. Indol is formed, 

 not skatol. 



2 " On a Relation between Skatol and the Dimethylamidobenz- 

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

 1906. 



