BACTERIA IN THE INDUSTRIES 715 



cus, isolated from milk by Massol ' and Cohendy^ in 1905. This bacillus, 

 according to the researches of Bertrand and .Weisweiller/ produces as 

 much as 25 grams of lactic acid per liter of milk. In addition to this, 

 it manufactures, from the same quantity of milk, about 50 centigrams 

 of acetic and succinic acids and exerts no putrefactive action upon pro- 

 teids. Added to these characters, it is especially adapted to therapeutic 

 application by its complete lack of pathogenicity. 



The administration of the bacillus to patients suffering from intestinal 

 putrefaction, first suggested by Metchnikoff in 1906, has, since that time, 

 been extensively practiced and often with remarkable success. In 

 spite of sharp criticism, especially by Luersen and Kiibn,* who deny 

 much of the antiputrefactive activity of the bacillus, the treatment of 

 Metchnikoff has found many adherents, upon the basis of purely clinical 

 experiment. It is not possible to review completely the already ex- 

 tensive literature. Among the more valuable contributions may be 

 mentioned the articles by Grekoff,' by Wegele," and by Klotz.' In 

 Metchnikoff's experiments and in the work of his immediate successors, 

 the bacillus was used either in milk culture or in broth in which it was 

 induced to grow in symbiosis with other microorganisms. 



Recently, North * has suggested the use of Bacillus bulgaricus in 

 parts of the body other than the digestive tract. His work was made 

 feasible by the discovery that the bacillus could be cultivated in dex- 

 trose-pepton broth to which calcium carbonate has been added, after 

 the manner recommended by Hiss. With such cultures, applied in the 

 form of a spray, inflammations of the ear, nose, throat, genitourinary 

 tract, etc., have been treated, many of them with success. 



BACTERIA IN THE INDUSTRIES 



Bacteria and Tobacco. — In the manufacture of tobacco, the har- 

 vested leaves are first dried and then heaped up in large masses ia which 

 the tobacco undergoes fermentation. During this fermentation, which 



' Massol, Revue m^dicale de la Suisse romande, 1905. 

 ' Cohendy, Comptes rend, de la soc. de bioL, 60, 1906. 

 ' Bertrand and WeisweiUer, Ann. de I'inst. Pasteur, 1906. 

 ' Luersen and Kuhn, Cent. f. Bakt., II, xx, 1908. 



' Grekoff, "Observations cliniques sur I'effet du lact. agri.," etc., St. Petersburg, 

 1907. 



» Wegele, Deut. med. Woch., xxxiv, 1908. 

 ' Klotz, Zentralbl. f. innere Med., 1908. 

 8 North, Med. Record, March, 1909. 



