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314 THE MICRO-ORGANISMS OF THE HUMAN MOUTH.

the gas-producing bacteria referred to. In every case diarrhoea
made its appearance in from thirty to forty hours, and in two
cases distention of the stomach was very marked. After the
last feeding they were muzzled to prevent the possibility of
their taking anything into the stomach, and killed after two
and a half, six, eight, and nine hours respectively. In every
case, except the last, the four kinds of bacteria administered
were found in the stomach in great numbers, also in the large
intestines; but few were present in the duodenum. In two
cases the reaction of the contents of the intestines was strongly
sour throughout, in one case slightly sour, and in one only was
the reaction neutral or slightly alkaline. The remaining two
dogs were treated in the same manner, except that the bread and
sugar were omitted; the result was the same as above, only
more marked. One of the dogs had profuse diarrhoea in fifteen
hours, and the intestines, six hours after feeding, were distended
with gas, and the reaction strongly sour. In both cases the bac-
teria were found in large numbers in the stomach, as well as
in the intestines.
It appears from these experiments that these bacteria can
maintain their existence, even in the stomach of dogs, for eight
or ten hours, and can thereby give rise to disturbance in the
intestinal canal; and when we take into account the fact that
the gastric juice of the dog is one and one-half times as strong
as that of the healthy human subject, and from one and one-half
to many times as strong as that of the dyspeptic or stomach-
ailing, there is little room left for doubt that living bacteria are
constantly present in the stomach, and that many chronic
troubles of the stomach are due, not alone to the micro-organisms
which are at each meal taken in along with the food, but more
particularly to those which are already in the stomach at the
beginning of a meal.
It is, consequently, of greater importance to sterilize the
stomach before eating than to sterilize the food itself. For
example : What is the use of repeatedly boiling milk to free it
fi'om every single germ, and then taking it into a stomach con-
taining vastly more bacteria than Avere in the milk in the begin-
ning? It will furthermore be readilv seen that the time for