Autointoxication, or, intestinal toxemia / by J. H. Kellogg.

  • John Harvey Kellogg
Date:
1919
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Autointoxication, or, intestinal toxemia / by J. H. Kellogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    28/388 page 24
    The Influence of Food Upon Bacteria The observations of Bienstock and numerous other bacteriologists have shown that the char¬ acter of bacteria may be modified to an astonish¬ ing degree by a change of food or culture media; that is, a change of the soil in which the bacterial plant grows, produces remarkable and char¬ acteristic changes in the character of the plant and of its products. One of the most notable facts is that most bacteria refuse to grow in the presence of acids. This is particularly true of disease-producing bacteria. A few bacteria are able to resist acids. These are the organisms that give rise to fermentations, such as the souring of milk and the fermentation of solutions of sugar in the formation of vine¬ gar. The products of bacterial work are always poisonous to the organism by which they are pro¬ duced. This fact limits the degree of acidity that can be produced by any particular organism. The B. Bulgaricus is remarkable in possess¬ ing greater resistance to acids than any other micro-organism known. It will endure a con¬ centration of acids as high as four per cent, whereas few other organisms can resist a con¬ centration much greater than one per cent. This organism will continue to grow in a solution that contains thirty times the amount of acid which will stop the growth of Welch’s bacillus, an or¬ ganism which produces foul gases in the in¬ testine. It is chiefly because of its acid-forming activity that the B. Bulgaricus is able to render special service in efforts to change the intestinal flora, as will be shown later.
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