LACTIOACID BACILLI 713 



the nervous system, the circulation, and, in a variety of ways, the entire 

 body, can be clinically traced to the intestines, and can, in many cases, 

 be relieved by thorough purgation and careful diet. In some of these 

 conditions, specific microorganisms can be held accountable for the 

 diseases (B. enteritidis, B. botulinus, etc.). In other cases, however, 

 etiological investigations have met with but partial success because of 

 the large variety of microorganisms present in the intestinal tract and 

 because of the complicated symbiotic conditions thereby produced. 

 Intestinal putrefaction, recognized as the cardinal feature of such 

 maladies, has been attributed to Bacillus proteus vulgaris,* to Bacillus 

 aerogenes capsulatus, to Bacillus putrificus,^ and to a number of other 

 bacteria, but definite and satisfactory proof as to the etiological im- 

 portance of any of these germs has not yet been advanced. The fact 

 remains, however, that, whatever may be the specific cause, the disease 

 itself, a grave and often fatal affliction, may be clinically traced, in a 

 number of cases, to the absorption of poisons from the intestinal canal, 

 and it is more than hkely that these poisons are the products of bacterial 

 activity. Reason dictates, furthermore, that the bacteria primarily 

 responsible for the production of these toxic substances do not belong to 

 the varieties which attack carbohydrates only, but must belong to that 

 class of aerobic and anaerobic germs which possess the power of breaking 

 up proteids — in other words, the bacteria of putrefaction. 



On the basis of the mutual antagonism existing in culture between 

 many acid-producing bacteria and those of putrefaction — a phenomenon 

 recognized by some of the earliest workers in this field, many investigators 

 have suggested the possibility of combating intestinal putrefaction by 

 adding acid-forming bacteria together with carbohydrates to the diet 

 of patients suffering from this condition. The first to suggest this 

 therapy was Escherich ' who proposed the use, in this way, of Bacillus 

 lactis aerogenes; with the same end in view, Quincke,* a little later, 

 suggested the use of yeasts — Oidium lactis. The reasoning underlying 

 these attempts was meanwhile upheld by experiments carried out both 

 in vitro and upon the living patient. Thus Brudzinski ^ was able to 

 demonstrate that Bacillus lactis aerogenes, in culture, inhibited the 

 development of certain races of the proteus species and succeeded in 



' Lesage, Rev. de m6d., 1887. 



2 Tissier, Ann. de I'inst. Pasteur, 1905. 



» Escherich, Therapeut. Monatshefte., Oct., 1887. 



• Quincke, Verhandl. des Congress f. Inn. Med., ^\'iesbaden, 1898. 



' Brudzinski, Jahrbucli f. Kinderheilkunde, .52, 1900 (Ergilnzungsheft). 



