INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 245 



There are many persons from whose intestines it is 

 impossible to recover indol at all or in more than a mere 

 trace. This is particularly the case with young children 

 and young adults. There are, however, some older 

 persons who, although suffering from disorders of diges- 

 tion, do not form indol in the digestive tract. On the 

 other hand, the production of considerable quantities of 

 indol in the large intestine is a feature of many instances 

 of intestinal putrefaction, and in some cases the quantity 

 formed is large. One may find as much as fifty to sixty 

 milligrams of indol by the naphthaquinone method in 

 one hundred grams of the fresh stool. This probably 

 approaches the maximal amount present at any one 

 time. It is of course clear that such indol production 

 is distinctly pathological in occurrence. Its production 

 in smaller amounts permitting the recovery of five 

 milligrams in one hunndred grams of moist faces is 

 no uncommon occurrence, and such indol production 

 may or may not be associated with the development 

 of intestinal or nervous or other disturbances. The 

 significance of the indol produced during putrefaction in 

 the intestine depends upon its absorption into the organ- 

 ism through the intestinal wall. That this occurs in con- 

 siderable amounts is shown by the appearance of large 

 quantities of indican in the urine of persons in whom 

 the intestine contains large amounts of indol. A close 

 relationship between the quantity of indican in the urine 

 and of indol formation in the intestine is not always 

 demonstrable. The faeces may contain little indol while 

 the urine holds much indican. Conversely, the fseces 



