Page 341 - My FlipBook

complaints of the digestive tract. 313

Gas-Forming Bacteria of the Stomach.
Reference has been made above to five kinds of bacteria,
which are characterized by the very considerable qnantities of
gas which they produce in starchy and saccharine substances,
and further by the marked resistance which they possess to the
action of the gastric juice.
In view of the great importance which a thorough knowledge
of the physiology of these micro-organisms has in the thera-
peutics of many disorders of the stomach, and especially in the
dietetic treatment of such troubles, the results of a series of ex-
periments made in connection with this subject may not be
without value.
Two questions in particular appear to me to require a solu-
tion : 1. Are the micro-organisms which are taken into the
stomach at any meal passed out or devitalized before the recur-
rence of meal-time, or does the stomach, of dyspeptics in par-
ticular, contain bacteria at all times ? 2. In what manner is the
quantity of gas generated by these bacteria influenced by the
kind of food taken ?
Respecting the first question, practical experience would incline
us to the belief that the diseased or impaired stomach contains
micro-organisms at all times, otherwise how are we to explain the
fact that many patients almost immediately after taking starchy or
saccharine foods are troubled with the distention of the stomach
from formation of gas ? I have demonstrated by various ex-
periments that the bacteria which may be swallowed with a
piece of bread are alone certainly not capable of bringing about
this distention. a*^evertheless, it appeared desirable to test the
correctness of this supposition experimentally; and since the
proper experiments could be performed on the human subject
only with great difliculty, I chose dogs as the subjects, as they
have a digestive process very similar to that of human beings.
Up to the present but six dogs have been experimented upon, but
as the results were the same in every case, they are entitled to
consideration. »
Four of these dogs, all healthy, were fed for two days on a
mixed diet of meat, bread, milk, and sugar, richly infected with