The behaviour of bacteria in the digestive tract / by Allan Macfadyen, M.D. Edin.

  • Macfayden, Allan, 1860-1907
Date:
[between 1885 and 1891?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The behaviour of bacteria in the digestive tract / by Allan Macfadyen, M.D. Edin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The researches detailed show that the organic acids of the food have a not unimportant influence over bacteria. They pro¬ bably hinder the development of fermentations by killing or paralysing the germs. It seems as if they could have the power to kill out extraneous bacteria which have nothing to do with the intestinal processes, and to leave the path free for the usual fermentations. This may also explain their importance as dietetics, e.g., sour milk, vinegar, pickles, mustard. Clinically, too, in abnormal fermentations, lactic or acetic acids might be given instead of hydrochloric acid. These acids also can probably enfeeble bacteria, so that they are not capable of recultivation; and taking this in conjunction with the number of anaerobic bacteria found in the gut, one is brought again face to face with the local predisposition as a great factor in disease. Finally, these researches enable us to say, that in the gastric juice and intestinal secretions we have very little protection against the organisms which find their way into the digestive tract. The food acids are able to paralyse the germs and hinder the development of fermentations, when these are not stopped by the products of the bacteria themselves. In the intact walls of the intestine we have an efficient barrier against the absorption of micro-organisms.