Decembeb 23, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



897 



condition is to discover and publish the 

 facts. Recently, and following our expose 

 of the metabolized oil, the manufacturers 

 have had to face the authorities of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 and have been fined heavily because of the 

 same fraudulent advertising, in violation 

 of the provisions of the Food and Drugs 

 Act. 



The next thing I wish to speak of is an 

 "intercellular ferment." This name also 

 sounds well, and it should impress the 

 physician. This particular product is de- 

 scribed as a hardy metabolic ferment, use- 

 ful in tuberculosis, diabetes and various 

 forms of malnutrition. In diabetes the 

 organism gradually loses the power to 

 oxidize or completely metabolize sugars, 

 and these or certain derivatives may ap- 

 pear in large quantities in the urine. It 

 has been a dream of physiologists and 

 pharmacologists to produce a something 

 which might, when taken as a remedy, 

 overcome this difficulty and remove its 

 cause. Many things have been tried. A 

 few years ago Cohnheim thought he had 

 discovered the missing thing in a combina- 

 tion of extracts from muscles and the 

 pancreas, one of which was assumed to act 

 as a catalyzer for the other. This mixture 

 was believed to oxidize sugar rapidly and 

 it was even proposed to make it on a large 

 scale in a factory way in Germany. The 

 American product, made by a New York 

 firm, was claimed to do all the things re- 

 quired of this ideal ferment. It was ad- 

 vertised to contain an active enzjone which 

 would pass through the stomach and intes- 

 tines, the liver presumably also, and fol- 

 low the blood stream to the remoter tissues 

 where it would attack and oxidize the 

 sugars with liberation of heat and mechan- 

 ical energj'. This would indeed be a 

 wonder, even if it would not remove the 

 cause of the trouble. The manufacturers 



seemed to confuse the two things, as is 

 usually the case. But no proof was ever 

 brought by the concern that it actually 

 had such power, and on the face of it such 

 a claim would appear doubtful. It is too 

 much to assume that any enzyme could 

 traverse so long a path and still remain 

 active. 



The substance came to us in the form of 

 a light yellowish powder and in different 

 samples was found to have little or no ac- 

 tivity in any direction, or sometimes ac- 

 tivity in the direction of converting sugar 

 to lactic acid slowly. At one time a 

 strong starch-converting power was claimed 

 for it and also the power of rapidly di- 

 gesting fats, but in our experiments these 

 reactions were unworthy of notice. The 

 powder was found to consist largely of a 

 protein substance, apparent^ casein, and 

 innumerable bacteria, some living, some 

 dead, and resulted from an attempt to 

 grow a certain fungus on a medium con- 

 taining milk. What took place was this: 

 a rapid development of lactic acid bac- 

 teria, with consequent coagulation of the 

 milk, followed and the fungus-like mass 

 which was skimmed off and dried con- 

 tained, therefore, the casein and entangled 

 bacteria with some molds and a few other 

 growths. The sugar-converting power 

 noticed was due primarily to the lactic 

 bacteria present in vast numbers, and this 

 explained the principal activity sometimes 

 observed. The wonderful metabolic inter- 

 cellular ferment was really a mass of bac- 

 teria and casein! 



I know of few products which have been 

 advertised in more high flown language 

 than this so-called intercellular ferment. 

 It was, besides, ethical, and the carefully 

 coached detail men who recited its virtues 

 to the medical profession were examples of 

 good manners, correct dressing and re- 

 markable acquaintance with physiological 



