INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 331 



it is most important that the quantity of proteid food 

 (especially of meat) should be regulated in an exact 

 manner, since an increase of putrefaction in the intestine 

 through the use of excessive quantities of meat can easily 

 be demonstrated. 



I have made some observations on the action of so- 

 called intestinal antiseptics, and I have reached the con- 

 clusion that most of them do very little good in effecting 

 a dkninution of the putrefactive anaerobes of the in- 

 testine. Their ability to control fermentative processes 

 in the stomach cannot, I think, be questioned, and in 

 cases where such processes are excessive they may 

 indirectly do good by diminishing the opportunities for 

 putrefaction in the intestine by placing obstacles in the 

 way of the development of the sugar-splitting gas-form- 

 ing anaerobes. It cannot be denied that through the 

 use of glutoid or other protective capsules antiseptics 

 can be made to reach the intestine itself before they are 

 liberated. The tendency of such antiseptics when used 

 in practical doses to enter into combination with many 

 substances outside the bodies of the living bacteria 

 must be regarded as greatly diminishing their ideal 

 efficiency, estimated on the supposition that they act 

 simply to kill or arrest the growth of living microorgan- 

 isms. I have found in certain instances that salicylates, 

 aspirin, and salol have exerted some action in diminish- 

 ing the output of indican, but beyond this I have not 

 been able to satisfy myself that the effect of intestinal 

 antiseptics is pronounced. In many cases they are not 

 well tolerated by the stomach after they have been used 



