334 INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 



excessively irritable through their use, and it often hap- 

 pens that patients fail in nutrition owing to the diminished 

 absorption of foodstuffs. The long-continued and fre- 

 quent use of cathartic remedies has in my experience 

 nearly always resulted badly. I think laxatives should 

 be employed mainly for the control of the disturbances 

 of a subacute or acute character arising hi the course of 

 chronic derangements rather than for the treatment of 

 the chronic conditions themselves. If it is possible to 

 use food containing an abundance of cellulose, this may 

 have a beneficial effect in the direction of preventing 

 constipation, but it frequently happens that patients 

 who suffer from constipation are also excessively sensi- 

 tive to those foods containing much cellulose and show 

 gastric disturbances from their use. 



The idea that pathological bacterial processes in the 

 intestinal tract may be favorably modified in a clinical 

 sense by making use of the antagonistic properties of 

 certain harmless microorganisms is by no means a new 

 one. It has long seemed probable that the well-known 

 beneficial action of fermented milks such as Kefir and 

 Kumyss is in part due to the restraining action exerted 

 by microorganisms contained in these drinks upon the 

 harmful bacteria in the digestive tract. The action has 

 been attributed in these cases largely to the lactic-acid- 

 forming bacteria concerned in the fermentation. The 

 fermented milk known as Matzoon is a similar preparation. 

 Lately there has been placed on the market a fermented 

 milk which has been named Badllac. The chief or- 

 ganism in this fermented milk is a lactic-acid producer 



