The faeces of children and adults : their examination and diagnostic significance with indications for treatment / by P.J. Cammidge.

  • Cammidge, P. J. (Percy John), 1872-
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The faeces of children and adults : their examination and diagnostic significance with indications for treatment / by P.J. Cammidge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    brings about an improvement in the symptoms and is accompanied by a change in the intestinal flora; and (4) On one occasion at least it has been possible to obtain the characteristic poison from the stools by extracting them with alcohol. The poison is apparently not a toxin in the bacteriological sense, for it is relatively very stable to heat and preservatives, it can be extracted with alcohol, and attempts to obtain an antitoxin have been unsuccessful. In its fomiation the presence of both sugar and the products of tryptic digestion appears to be essential. Whether or not this toxic substance is identical with the butyric acid produced by the organism is not settled, but McCampbell has obtained a poisonous effect with a solution of butyric acid of similar strength to that of the cultures. Passini states, however, that neutralization or even alkalinity of the medium does not affect its toxicity. An examination of the urine may show an increased acidity, although in some cases the acidity is low, owing probably to the formation of carbonates. An excess of uric acid relative to total nitrogen, and the presence of volatile fatty acids, such as acetic, formic, etc., is also found in some instances. Occasionally there is also more or less marked oxaluria. In some cases the acidity of the urine brings about increased frequency of micturition. The flatulence due to fennentative intestinal indigestion must be distinguished from that dependent upon an exogenous intake of gas in which the functions of the intestine are not disturbed. This is chiefly met with in nervous individuals who swallow air with their food and in persons who eat quickly. The gas eructated, or passed downward, is free from smell, and the flatulence is independent of the kind of food taken. Macroscopical, microscopical, and bacterio- logical examinations of the stools reveal nothing abnormal, and the fermentation tests show no unusual gas formation. 2 Putrefactive Intestinal Indigestion.—The putrefactive pro- cesses in proteins that go on in the intestinal tract are of distmctly greater importance than the fermentative changes that occur in carbohydrates. The products of fermentation are for the most part haniiless, excepting when they are fomied in considerable quantities ; but the substances formed in the putrefactive disintegra- tion of proteins being to a great extent toxic nitrogenous bases, an abnormal formation is much more Ukely to give rise to serious symptoms. Even in healthy individuals a certain amount ot protein decomposition goes on in the contents of the lower parts of the intestine, and chemical investigation may show that these are considerably increased without there being any obvious clinical symptoms. It is only when the putrefactive changes are so great,