44 MICROBES AND TOXINS 



milk of cows and the milk of goats (at the same time, it is true, 

 the fat of lambs and of sheep and of kidney). There can be 

 no doubt that sour milk is more ancient even than the Bible 

 itself. 



The artificial cultures chosen for their chemical properties 

 are chiefly^, bifidus, B. acidi paralactici and the lactic ferment 

 which has become popular under the name of the Bulgarian 

 bacillus ; they are given either singly or in association. They 

 may be taken either in the form of clotted mik or in bouillon. 

 The characters of the Bulgarian bacillus are briefly the 

 following : it produces 25 grams of lactic acid per litre of milk; 

 not more than o"5o gram of succinic and acetic acid, traces of 

 formic acid, no alcohol, and no acetone. It hardly attacks the 

 proteins at all, and has no pathogenic power (G. Bertrand and 

 Weisweiler). Although it does not inhibit the development of 

 the B. colt in a culture containing peptone, it at least prevents 

 it from producing phenol and greatly reduces its indol 

 production. 



The mechanism of the action of the lactic ferments in 

 general is not quite settled. They appear to diminish the 

 number of anaerobes and of the B. coli. A diet of sour milk 

 reduces the ethereal sulphates of the urine more than does a 

 diet of sweet milk. 



The Large Intestine is a Useless Organ. — Since the 

 large intestine performs no digestive action and absorbs poison, 

 it follows that it is not only a useless but an injurious organ. 

 Medicine may possibly perfect methods of treatment and diets 

 to prevent it from doing harm ; surgery perhaps will reach this 

 end more quickly. However that may be, certainly no one 

 has ever proposed that the large intestine should be removed 

 from every human being ; but it is not the less true that from 

 the zoological point of view it is a useless inheritance left to us 

 by our animal ancestors.'^ 



^ We must consider it as a useless inheritance from our ancestors during 

 evolution, though they no doubt derived some benefit from it. Compara- 

 tive anatomy teaches us that, among all the vertebrates, it is only the 

 mammals which are provided with a large intestine properly speaking. 

 Birds, reptiles, and other lower vertebrates do not possess one 



