INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 319 



cases of chronic excessive intestinal putrefaction the gas- 

 tric conditions are usually such as to make the stomach 

 incapable of adequately coping with the putrefactive 

 bacteria introduced with the cheese. Cheese is there- 

 fore an article which should generally be excluded from 

 the dietary of nearly all cases of excessive chronic 

 intestinal putrefaction, although some forms of cheese 

 (especially those which are newly made from milk con- 

 taining few putrefactive bacteria) may be permitted in 

 moderate quantities. In eating uncooked fruit it is 

 desirable to guard against the organisms found on 

 the skin. Fruits therefore should be always peeled. 

 Bacillus putrificus and the bacillus of malignant oedema 

 are often found on the surface of fruits, and Dr. Rettger 

 has found the latter abundant on the skin of bananas. 

 The question of the sterilization of milk may be 

 briefly touched upon in its relation to the dietary of 

 persons suffering from chronic excessive putrefaction. 

 So far as the treatment of chronic putrefactive disorders 

 is concerned, I think it preferable to avoid sterilization 

 except where the milk contains considerable numbers 

 of putrefactive bacteria. One can form some judgment 

 of this point by permitting samples of milk to stand 

 in fermentation tubes in the incubator after subject- 

 ing them to a single partial sterilization by the process 

 of pasteurization. Under these conditions lactic-acid 

 organisms which restrain putrefactive decomposition are 

 killed ; the surviving spore-bearing putrefactive organ- 

 isms of the gas-bacillus type reveal their presence by 

 setting up a stormy fermentation of the milk. Effective 



