INFECTIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE TRACT 349 



many distinctly less productive than if these persons 

 attained physical vigor more nearly in accord with their 

 inherent possibilities. These partial failures of per- 

 formance entail a severe economic loss to the community 

 in which they occur. But this loss is one that cannot 

 be adequately measured in dollars and cents, for it must 

 make a nation less efficient in art, in science, in letters, 

 and in all intellectual pursuits. And, finally, it must not 

 be forgotten that the chronic enterogenic intoxications 

 of the nervous system may be extremely detrimental 

 to character and contribute to complicate and mar the 

 finer human relations. 



It is tacitly assumed by many that these various 

 morbid manifestations are inevitable, are inherited, or 

 are in some other way an expression of the will of Provi- 

 dence. The conditions to which I refer are indeed 

 recognized by few persons to be what they actually are 

 the effects of chronic poisoning of gastro-enteric 

 origin. Nevertheless it is certain that these relatively 

 obscure physical conditions are in large measure pre- 

 ventable. But their prevention is not simple; for it 

 implies, first, the recognition of chronic infections of the 

 digestive tract (in which the putrefactive anaerobes 

 are prominently concerned) capable of slowly damag- 

 ing the cell potentialities upon which health depends, 

 and, secondly, it involves the recognition and control of a 

 series of causative or favoring elements, such as habitual 

 errors in diet, sedentary habits, excessive mental and 

 physical work, emotional fatigue, errors in sexual life, etc. 



The recognition of the presence of a chronic intestinal 



