40 
subject; found a parallelism; although not complete; between the 
excretion of total ethereal sulphates and of indican. 
Pringsheim® has recently made a suggestion which is of special 
interest in this connection; namelj; that after the administration of 
alcohol some of this is excreted as the ethyl ether of sulphmic acid.^ 
His arguments and experiments; are; however; not at all conclusive. 
This is a point well worth further investigation; however. 
Accepting what seems to be the most probable explanation of the 
great increase in the ethereal sulphates in the above experiments; 
namely; that they have their origin in increased intestinal putrefaction; 
we may now consider how such increased putrefaction may be caused 
by alcohol. Among the numerous conditions to which increased 
intestinal putrefaction has been attributed there are two of special 
interest in this connection — chronic intestinal catarrh and dimmution 
of free hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Both of these are well- 
known results of the admmistration of alcohol. ThuS; Friedenwald 
found a gradual reduction in free hydrocliloric acid in the gastric con- 
tents of his experimental animals. The relation of the hydrochloric 
acid of the gastric juice to intestinal putrefaction has, however; been 
the subject of much discussion. The view of Kast; 4Yasbutzki; and 
Stadelmann that absence or diminution of hydrochloric acid in the 
gastric juice led to increased intestinal putrefaction was opposed by 
von Xoorden; but was again accepted by Biernacki; SchmitZ; and 
others. Schultz‘S in 1901 again brought up arguments agamst Kast's 
view; these have recentlv been criticised bv v. Tabora/ who, from a 
number of careful experiments; concludes that the hydrochloric acid 
prevents to a certain degree intestinal putrefaction and that sub- 
acidity and anacidity as a rule favor it. 
Assuming that the great increase in the excretion of ethereal sul- 
phate in these experiments is to be interpreted as showing that alcohol 
leads to increased intestinal putrefaction; the question ariseS; Can 
any of the pathological effects of alcohol be ascribed to this; in other 
wordS; may some tissues or organs be injured by the products of this 
mtestinal putrefaction? Attention has already been called to the 
work of de Schweinitz and Edsall hi regard to the relation of the 
products of mtestinal putrefaction to tobacco-alcohol amblyopia. 
Elschnig^ has reported a series of cases in which there seemed to 
« Zeit. f. physikal. u. diM. Therapie, v. 10, p. 281; 1906. 
& If this ether were formed it would doubtless be excreted unchanged in the mine, 
for Salkowski (Virchow’s Arch., v. 66, p. 315) found that it undergoes no change 
in the body. 
cArch. f. Yerdauungskrank. , v. 7, p. 43. 
d Deutsch. Ai’ch. f. klin. Med., v. 87, p. 254; 1906. 
e Elschnig, Miinch. med. Woch., 52, Xo. 41, Oct. 10, 1905; Klin. Monatsh. f. Augen- 
heilk., V. 43, p. 417; 1905. 
