INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 303 



The methods that have been employed in the study 

 of the haemolytic action of the faecal extracts in such 

 cases are not wholly beyond criticism. Nevertheless 

 the indications seem sufficiently definite that there are 

 substances formed in the intestine (in extreme cases of 

 excessive saccharo-butyric putrefaction) that are capable 

 of haemolyzing more actively than is the case with 

 material derived from healthy persons on similar diet. 

 This haemolytic action is perhaps in part referable to 

 ammonium butyrate, but it has been found to persist 

 even after the removal of the ammonium salts of the 

 volatile fatty acids, and is probably due, in part at least, 

 to some unknown substance. The fact already mentioned 

 in speaking of the characters of B. aerogenes capsulatus, 

 that this organism is able to produce haemolytic sub- 

 stances, is worthy of notice at this point, since in many 

 people who have long suffered from this type of putre- 

 faction there are distinct evidences of anaemia. 1 The 

 onset of anaemia in excessive saccharo-butyric putre- 

 faction is usually very slow. It is first manifested by 

 indications of a decreased volume of blood without any 

 decided fall in the percentage of haemoglobin or red blood 

 cells. After a time, however, there may be a distinct 

 fall in the haemoglobin and later in the red blood cells, 

 so that a moderate or considerable grade of secondary 

 anaemia may be associated with the intestinal condition. 



1 1 have discussed at some length the relation of anaemia to 

 intestinal infections in a paper entitled : " On Bacterial Processes 

 in the Intestinal Tract in Some Cases of Advanced Ansemia, with 

 Especial Reference to Infection with B. aerogenes capsulatus (B. 

 Welchii)," Journ. of Biol Chem., ii, p. 1, 1906. 



