124 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 



87 (230) 



On the bacterial production of skatol and its occurrence in the 

 human intestinal tract. 



By C. A. HERTER. 



[From the Laboratory of Dr. C. A. Herter, New York City.~\ 



Observations upon skatol produced in the course of putre- 

 factive decomposition are at present few and imperfect. This is 

 due largely to the difficulties incidental to the certain recognition 

 of this substance when present in small amounts. By means of a 

 method described by Herter and Foster it is possible to detect the 

 presence of very small quantities of skatol in a putrefactive mix- 

 ture, to separate skatol from indol and to estimate the quantity of 

 skatol present. This method is based on the use of ^-naphtho- 

 quinone sodium monosulphonate and para-dimethyl-amidobenzal- 

 dehyde (Ehrlich's aldehyde). By means of this method, studies 

 have been made with a view of discovering what organisms are 

 chiefly concerned with the production of skatol, and many obser- 

 vations have been made upon the presence of skatol in the human 

 intestinal tract. A large number of facultative and strict anerobic 

 organisms have been studied with respect to their ability to form 

 skatol. The anerobes B. putrificus (strain isolated by Bienstock) 

 and one strain of the bacillus of malignant edema (obtained from 

 Prof. Theobald Smith) were found to produce skatol in peptone 

 bouillon, although it was not possible to determine the conditions 

 under which skatol could be regularly obtained through the action 

 of these bacteria. It was found that skatol is rarely present in the 

 intestinal tract except in conditions of disease associated with in- 

 testinal putrefaction. Usually skatol is associated with indol in 

 such conditions, although there are instances in which the intestinal 

 contents contain little or no indol, but, relatively speaking, con- 

 siderable skatol. This has been observed heretofore only in 

 putrefactive processes associated with pronounced clinical mani- 

 festations. 



