New-York tribune., 1901-04-14
there should be water within reach of any
guest. and the prohibition still holds.
STERILIZED AIR AND LIFE.
ARE MICROBES ESSENTIAL. To VITAL PROC
ESSES?
From The Philadelphia Medical Journal.
- NN-
l.SSES .

From The Philadelphia Medical Journal
'rh rcfore. as a result Of the experiments
made hy in 1N!;; and 1891 and during thu
present year upon the Influence OF sterilized
air upon animals maintain that besides the
oNYg,n Of The ar. certain micro-OrganiSmS Cf
the air are also necessary maintain life and the
normal changes in the tiSsu $. These mcro-or-
ganisns inter- the blood during the Interchange of
gases and are dev"ursd 10y tn leUcocytts. Hence
th.y are found in normal blood. Then
after they have been disestel by them. they
give rise to the formation of fermentS without
which the normal process IF oNySeratiou in the
organs rapidly dimniehts. and is replaced Ivy
the rrlation and accunuiat'o1 of a large uuan-
tity # incompet" interim diary products If tis
sue mctam"rphoss, that is. 10y leucomaines
WhiCa cause the l. ath # the animal
ms IS /" say 'he least a startling assertion.
kijantzn. who mas done much work with
strriiiztd air. has Icrforutd = number If tx-
it r4lnentS ny placing sterile newly born and
other animals il sterile vessels. and supplying
them with a sterile atmosphere. Under these
conditions the animals eI9aciatc. as a result
IF marked increase in the heterogeneous ex-
erection compared with the nitrogenous intake
and large proportion Of them die in five days
or less. Il does not appear possible that this is
due t" the formation of any poisonous elem mt
in the air. as result of the intense heat To
which it has heen subjected; and carbon mon
oxide was not present in the blood OF the ami
mails after they died. Therefore it seems rea-
scnahIe t" suppose that the mere fact that tn
air sterile-that is. contained no ricr0-or-
ganiSmS- must be the true explanation.
The author supports his .ctrtne by the fol-
lowing arguments: Filst. that most Of the noy-
leuCocytes Second. in certain diseased states
certain Of the microbes are digested hy III" u
cocytcs, and give rise to the formation Of sub
stances that pos sess the characters of fern ats
Third. TIL non disc aSp pr duCiDg micrObeS : in
stead of being absolutely utrai. exert. urd +
certain circumstances. considerable iufiuy nee
uqc the tissue. especially upon the lcucocytoS
Fourth. the fact that the animals subjected ~
the cNi crfMcnt died not only il the apparatus
but frequen ntly from ten minutes to an hour AMI
half after their removal from il. when they
li
everything to enable them to recover is an indi-
Catitn that some profound alteration in their
economy had taken place.
The interesting feature about this paptr is tn.
liGht il throws upon the moot question of the
advantage OF bacteria in the economy of th,.
higher animals. 1t has been supposed i'm fact
IL has been accepted that the bacteria of the
ttstIrt are concerned in the digestion or at
least in the disintegrati0n Of ceIIulose but aSd.
action has ever been definitely proven. excanf-
ing Of course those very indirect benefits tba1
result from the formation of antitoxins
If kiJanitZin is correct we must modifv our
views. or rather agree to believe that m. f.
ments OF the blood, which by the way are nor
as well known as they should be but whose
functions are undoubtedly of the greatest inn,
part2nce, are produced largely. if not exrIu-
siNtly, as a result of the conversion of IN
bodies of bacteria obtained from the atmosnb..ro
10y the action Of leucocytes
If one should allow ones ina.-natior o.. ,
riot 1t might dream of the treatment of vorio|,-
morbid conditions 10y saturating the air in " hit
the patient should he placed with certain f,,
ol hacteFIa whose bodies should supply the miss
ing fermentS. ~ amos