Page 807 - My FlipBook

FERMENTATION IN THE HUMAN MOUTH. 817

Exp. If.. White rat, injection in abdominal cavity : The animal
remained well,
Exps. 5—11. Seven white mice ; five inocnlated in abdominal cavity
with a- and }/-fungi ; two in the lungs with saliva in calf's broth : Of
the former two died at about the fortieth hour under the same symp-
toms as in Exp. 1. Great numbers of fungi were found in the abdom-
inal cavity, which by culture on gelatin proved to be the y-fungus. A
number of colonies were likewise found in the liver. Microtome sec-
tions of the liver of the rabbit stained in fuehsin show, when examined
under the microscope with sufficient
liglit to drown the tissue, a distribution Fig. 426.
of the fungi verv similar to that often srw /^^^^
seen in the outermost layei's ot carious ^ —^ ^.Tiji- " ' "
dentine. (See Fig. 426.) Of course no Jt'l''^'^ i' jA
definite conclusion can be drawn from '
''""V'' ..
a few experiments. They are, however, . . ^ . ' i,;
sufficient to show that these fungi cer- i^ % l*-'^?
^C^^' ^
tainly do possess a pathogenic character, %^. %
and when brought into other parts of %'\^ ,^ ^ a % ik
the human bodv mav be able, under ^ ''b mM \ 0?
^
predisposing conditions, to produce dis- ^'
astrous results. Especially the contin-
ual swallowing of these fungi in great numbers may by their ferment
activity alone in the course of time produce very serious derangements
of the stomach and alimentary canal, since the small percentage of
hydrochloric acid in the stomach, even in the presence of the normal
quantity of pepsin, is not sufficient to devitalize them. It was with a
certain degree of satisfaction that I have failed thus far to find the
coccus of sputum-septicaemia in my own saliva. It is, however, very
desirable that experiments should be made with the saliva of many per-
sons, for the purpose, if possible, of determining in what proportion of
eases this fungus is present.
Messrs. Underwood and Milles have endeavored to repeat some of
my earliest experiments in the production of artificial caries, but, under
those very abnormal conditions against which I entered warning in the
Lidependent Practitioner, failure was the necessary result. They per-
formed, further, a very elaborate experiment, lasting six months, in
which the baths became so putrid and offi^nsive that " they quit the
experiment with relief." They naturally produced no caries, thereby
furnishing an admirable confirmation of the fact to which I have so
often called attention—that it is impossible to produce even a trace of
caries by putrefaction alone. • They tried a third experiment, putting
the fungi under such abnormal conditions that they could not produce
acid, and of course failed again, once more confirming the fact that I
have long since estal^lished—that we can have no caries without acid.
With these experiments they risk the statement that artificial caries is
probably an impossibility. The production of artificial caries is a fait
arcompli, and to deny its possibility is only to endanger the reputation
of him who denies. They state further that they can find no softened
dentine which does not contain micro-organisms. This, however, is con-
VoL. I.—52