INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 277 



from cyclical vomiting. It would be well worth while 

 to learn in how far these different manifestations of 

 intoxications are dependent on common factors or in how 

 far on different agencies. There is good reason for 

 suspecting that very similar bacterial processes in the 

 digestive tract lead in one case mainly to digestive dis- 

 orders and in others (owing to a lesser sensitiveness of the 

 digestive tract itself) to better absorption of poisons and 

 the development of more remote consequences such as 

 gout, arthritis, anaemia, or nervous disorders. While 

 it is possible that these very different manifestations 

 are always connected with different and perhaps spe- 

 cifically different types of gastro-enteric infection and 

 intoxication, the possibility is not excluded that even 

 such very different disorders may have much in common 

 in their etiology. 



That the mental and emotional peculiarities of indi- 

 viduals have a large part in fixing the type of nervous 

 reaction that occurs in consequence of intoxications has 

 become apparent to careful students of pathological 

 conditions. It is not unreasonable to believe that it 

 will well repay close observers of the phenomena of dis- 

 ease to take into consideration the individual nervous 

 reactions much more than is at present customary. 



