FERMENTED MILKS 5 
established in the intestines was caused by their inability to distin- 
guish between these two types. 
Rettger and Horton (76) were unable to implant L. bulgaAcus 
in the intestines of rats by the ingestion of milk or broth cultures. 
Kopeloff (51) concludes, after a critical review of L. bulgaAcus 
therapy, that " it is evident that the question of the implantation of 
L. bulgaricus. . . is the crux of the whole problem of L. bulgaricus 
therapy." 
The researches of Rettger and his associates with respect to sour- 
milk therapy are comprehensive and outstanding. The excellent 
treatise by Rettger and Cheplin (74) presents the work of Rettger 
and his associates and contains also an abstract of the literature per- 
taining to the subject. 
Rettger (73) fed milk cultures of L. bulgaricus to chicks in an 
effort to combat bacillary diarrhea, but no greater advantage was 
observed in using it than in using ordinary sour milk. He extended 
the experiments to rats by feeding them large numbers of L. bulgaricus 
grown on agar, but no L. bulgaricus was found in the droppings. 
Feeding sterile milk or lactose to rats on the same basic diet, how- 
ever, quickly brought about in the feces an aciduric type of flora. In 
numerous other investigations, Rettger and his colleagues confirmed 
these findings and extended their observations to human beings. 
These experiments demonstrated that by sufficiently augmenting the 
carbohydrate of the diet a change in the fecal flora is brought about. 
The usual mixed flora is replaced by an aciduric type of flora in which 
L. acidophilus is the predominating bacterium. It was further dem- 
onstrated that this transformation of the intestinal flora can be 
brought about by the daily administration of lactose (milk sugar), 
dextrin, or live cultures of the bacterium L. acidophilus, with or 
without added lactose. 
With respect to the influence of lactose and dextrin on the intestinal 
flora. Rettger states that a relation appears to exist between the rate 
of absorption of the utilizable carbohydrate and its tendency to effect 
a transformation. Only those sugars which reach the cecum and 
colon unchanged are able to bring about the transformation. He 
demonstrated that the transformation of the intestinal flora of an 
adult can be brought about by the daily administration of from 100 
to 300 grams of lactose. 
Rettger and Cheplin (75) applied the findings of previous investi- 
gations to a series of cases. They report favorable results in the 
treatment of chronic diarrhea, dermatitis, colitis, and sprue. These 
investigators administered live cultures of L. acidophilus, in some 
cases augmented by added lactose. Cheplin. Post, and Wiseman 
(13) treated nine cases of gastrointestinal disorders with acidophilus 
milk and obtained favorable results. 
According to the work of Kopeloff (51) as reported in his book 
entitled "Lactobacillus Acidophilus," acidophilus milk is of thera- 
peutic value in the treatment of certain intestinal disorders, particu- 
larly constipation and diarrhea. He demonstrated the implantation 
of L. acidophilus and showed that the beneficial results therefrom 
are essentially bacteriological phenomena. 
Many other investigations that support the value of L. acidophilus 
therapy have been carried out. Persons desiring to make a further 
