St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-01-27
WE ARE FULL OF MICROBES.
And. What Is More, We Would BE
SOrry-LOOkIng Specimens
without Them.

| Nignal, ten years or so ago, ascer-
tanned that certain microbes found
haGtualIy i'm the stomach loesess
properties similar to that Of the SILVA
in aiding digestion. Numerous cul-
lures were obtained and pure cultures
made. With the artificially bred mi
.robes n lot of experiments were tried.
At least two kinds Of organism were
distinguished. One promoted the di-
| gestioE of starch and another that of
meat and albuminous substances. One
acted most efficiently when it was
slightly acidulated. The other needed
to be little alkaline. A third species
seemed TO have special fitness for
pI omoting the action of bile on fats.
| Nignal had shown in a general way
that these microbes played part in
the work of digestion. But no evidence
| was adduced as to how beneficial such
| activity was. And this is what Dr. NJ.
SchofteliuS now reveals. according to
| writer in the New York Tribune. His
investigation was conducted with
| chickens. He made elaborate provision
for raising part of his chickens in such
manner that they would not have
any bacteria in them. One lot broke
the shell 10 find themselves incarcer-
ated in a steriliZed vessel. whose at mos
phcre had been deprived of all germs of
every kind. The air was ''aseptic." The
food given TO them, too, was germ free
Thus all microbes were excluded from
the protected" chickens. while the
other lot were left exposed to tie ortli-
nary chances of infection-if such 4
term may be used in speaking OF bene-
ficent bacteria. To make sure that his
precautions had been effective. DR..
Schottelius examined the excreta of the
protected chickens, and found that dur
ing the whole series Of observations,
lasting Z days or more, no microbes ap-
peared.
The difference in the rapidity with
which the chickens grew in size was
highly significant. Those which were
confined in steriliZed air increased in
weight 25 per cent. in 12 days. After
that there was a trifling decrease. On
the other hand. these which were
brought up in the ordinary manner
made gain of 14O per cent. in IL days.
This is nearly six times as great a de-
velopment as that of the protected
chicks. But the increase continued,
and on the seventeenth day the unpro-
tected chickens weighed ten times as
much as when newly hatched. This
was ten times the growth of the speci-
mems from which the bacteria had been
SO carefully excluded.
Here. then. is the added service which
the microbe renders to the nan who
dimes. He already knows that The flavor
Of his cheese, the bouquet of his wine
and the aroma Of his cigar all depend
upon the activity. at some previous
time and in distant places. of various
specimens of micro-organislns. But
now he learns that he must thank still
another kind-residing- inside of him
and working in the present tense-for
the facility with which he digests his
repast. and the amount of resulting
gain in tissue. Hence he is tempted to
suspect that any predisposition he may
have discovered in himself toward the
acquisition of superfluous weight is not
altogether an effect of diet as his
physician tells him-but to some extent
of the size Of the colony of digestive
bacteria which has taken up its resi-
dence in his department of the interior.
This clew. moreover. may lead to the in
sention of new cure for dyspepsia
Chicago Times-Herald.