HOW DOCTORS ARE USING MICROBES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 41, 28 May 1910, Page 9

HOW DOCTORS ARE USING MICROBES

MICROBES AS AIDS Tu DIGEVi'IOX. ■Sir Eay Lankester explains the whole mystery of sour milk and lacto-oaciiiinc of sour milk and the romance of the World of microbes in a verv lucid article in the Telegraph.

"What." asks Sir Ray l.an'ke-ter. "is the purpose with which the .lactic bacilli •or .microbes are nowadays so largely taken by all snrl< of people who-e digestion is in an un.-atisfactory slateV It must be remembered that what is aimed at —in this .matter—is not ihe swallowing of a dose of inetie acid. That is another business, and is easily accomplished. Jjactic acid has been and is often given as a. drug. The object in taking la*to-bacilline, or the sour milk prepared with it, is to get the living lactic microbes to .establish themselves in the intestine and to grow there for days and weeks, manufacturing lactic acid, so to ■speak, on the spot. The effect of this sowing or 'insemination' of the intestine iwith the lactic organism is to make the contents of the intestine acid, instead, of neutral or alkaline. 'Now let me try to explain the importance of this result. THE WORK OF THE MICROBES. "Few persons can realise at first what an immense number and variety of microbes there are, not only around us, m air and dust and water, but also in us, and on us, and in and on every living thing. The work, the huge system of chemical change and the circulation of the elements, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen,' nitrogen, and sulphur, which they carry on is incessant, varied and complex. Those five, elements are the main and essential constituents of all living things. "Supposing there were no microbes, there would be no putrefaction, no breaking down of the dead bodies of animals and plants which were once alive into gas and substances soluble in water. They—by a series of steps, Ln which different kinds of bacteria or microbes are successively concerned—convert the proteids and the fats and sugars of dead ■plants and animals into less elaborate bodies, organic acids, aromatic bodies, and other compounds (some, highly poisonous to man], and at last, when what were highly complex combinations of hundreds of atoms in each molecule have been reduced by the action of first one and then of another kind of microbe into comparatively simple substances of twenty or thirty atoms to the molecule, the coup de grace is given by certain special microbes, which convert these later compounds into still simpler combinations, namely, ammonia, and nitrates, which are fairly stable, so that the whole elaborate chemical fabri; of living matter in a few hours or days after death is broken down until it reaches the stable "mineral" condition, practically carbonate and nitrate of ammonia —smelling-salts! If there were no microbes this would never occur.

IF THERE WERE NO MiCROBES. "The earth would be cumbered with the dead bodies of past generations of animals and plants—undecomposed. And very soon all the organic elements, all the carbon and nitrogen, if not all the hydrogen and oxygen, on the face of the earth would be fixed in these corpses, and tihe green plants would perish from the whole world for want of sustenance. For it is the green plants which feed on, and absolutely must have their food, the carbonic .acid, ammonia, and nitrates', into which the microbes resolve all living things when dead. "It is the green plants which, from those simple compounds, build up again the more complex molecules, the sugars, fats, albumens, and proteids, and provide for the nourishment and increase of the most complex of all—the living matter hidden iii protoplasm. INVESTIGATING THE MICROBES.

"That being so, the investigations of a host of talented chemists and microseopists have been directed to these microbes. I should be sorry to say how many hundreds of kinds have been actually separated and studied, and their particular kind of chemical destructive work ascertained. As might be expected the intestines of most animals are swarming with them. There are a dozen or more kinds in the human mouth, however much they must be kept in check by antiseptic mouth-washes. The nose , and air-passages contain nine or ten more, and the ■stomach and intestines so great a number and variety that nOj one would venture to say precisely how' many kinds are present, but. probably more than thirty. An enormous variety of kinds is swallowed with our food and drink, and survive for a longer or shorter time in the digestive tract. SENSITIVENESS OF MICROBES. "Bacterial microbes are very sensitive to two eon litions.. which affect their activity and life. Firstly, some kinds will only live in an alkaline fluid, and are either killed or rendered torpid by the presence of even weak acid (hence the value of vinegar with oysters); whilst. on the other hand, some other kinds. multiply and cause chemical changes in the presence of acids. Now. the contents of the large intestine are. in civilised man, usually found to be neutral or alkaline. Consequently, certain microbes flourish there which will not tolerate or multiply in acid surrounding. ACID-FEAT \Tt MICROBES. ! "Amongst what vc may •. ill the acidfearing microbes ■ re some which produce in the ineon oletely digested food in'the large intestines a highly-putrid chemical condition, and especially manufactured certain known chemical compounds which are poisonous. The*e compounds are absorbed into the blood and exert their poisonous effect. The name 'auto-intoxication/ or self-poisoning, is given .by doctors to this result. In strong, healthy adults they merely produce lethargy, .perhaps headache, and are of no serious consequence. But in the case of children, old people, and otherwise enfeebled adults, they often cause ill-healtli, and if, owing to special causes (such «s intestinal disorder). these poisons are produced bv the bacteria in excess, they may lead to the gravest consequences. Now. since the-o poison-nroducing bacteria will not flourish in the presence of acid, whv not try to produce acid in the intestine, regularly anil constantly? That should stoo them! And so it has come about that sour milk and tabloids of dried Ifictobacilli are administered by medical men. WHY SOUR MILK TS f!Of)D.

"There is no doubt thnt the of the l-ar<rc intestine can th>r< b" <-'■•'- timiouslv veiulcrrtl acid, und iV>v i- no doubt that the production of th» ,n-' : - eular r,oi S o ns fllw t|) aoi(l . fMrin j mi . crobes is almlishcl. That ha- been «-.„- ■™telT dniwwtriitM bv chemical ,mlv-

are beginning to hoar of the serious •work which lias been done on this .■.abject. Hut it is at present difficult for anyone to obtain prober advice on tips matter in London, since ;i number <r manufacturers are anxious to obtain a .sale for their own special preparations of the lactic 'bacillus, .and wild statements are current as to the worthlessness of rival products. "The fact is, as Br. George Herschell says in an excellent little treatise on the subject, recently published, 'We are undoubtedly indebted to MetschnikofT for t'lie brilliant conception that the daily use of yohourt (the Bulgarian sour milk) or its equivalent could be utilised in the treatment of disease."