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PUTREFACTION IN THE INTESTINE. 517
follows from the fact that putrefaction may also continue during com-
plete fasting. From the observations of Muller l
upon Cetti it was
found that the elimination of indican during starvation rapidly de-
creased and after the third day of starvation it had entirely disappeared,
while the phenol elimination, which at first decreased so that it was
nearly minimum, increased again from the fifth day of starvation, and
on the eighth or ninth day it was three to seven times as much as in man
under ordinary circumstances. In dogs, on the contrary, the elimina-
tion of indican during starvation is considerable, but the phenol elimina-
tion is slight. Among the secretions which undergo putrefaction in the
intestine, the pancreatic juice, which putrefies most readily, takes first
place.
From the foregoing facts it must be concluded that the products
formed by the putrefaction in the intestine are in part the same as
those formed in digestion. The putrefaction may be of benefit to the
organism in so far as the formation of such products as proteoses, pep-
tones, polypeptides and amino-acids is concerned. The question has
indeed been asked (Pasteur), Is digestion possible without micro-organ-
isms? Nuttal and Thierfelder have shown that guinea-pigs, removed
from the uterus of the mother by Caesarian section, could with sterile
air digest well and assimilate sterile food (milk and crackers) in the
complete absence of bacteria in the intestine, and developed normally
and increased in weight. Schottelius 2
has arrived at other results
by experiments with hens. The chickens, hatched under sterile con-
ditions, kept in sterile rooms and fed with sterile food, had continuous
hunger and ate abundantly, but soon died, in about the same time as a
starving chicken. On mixing with the food, at the proper time, a vari-
ety of bacteria from hen feces, they gained weight again and recovered.
The bacterial action in the intestinal canal is, at least in certain cases,
as with food rich in cellulose, necessary, and it acts in the interest of the
organism. This action may, by the formation of further cleavage prod-
ucts, involve a loss of valuable material to the organism, and it is there-
fore important that putrefaction in the intestine be kept within certain
limits. If an animal is killed while digestion in the intestine is going
on, the contents of the small intestine give out a peculiar but not putres-
cent odor. Also the odor of the contents of the large intestine is far less
offensive than a putrefying pancreas infusion or a putrefying mixture
rich in protein. From this one may conclude that putrefaction in the
intestine is ordinarily not nearly so intense as outside of the organism.
1
Berlin, klin. Wochenschr., 1887.
2
Nuttal and Thierfelder, Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem., 21 and 22; Schottelius, Arch,
f. Hygiene, 34, 42, and 67.
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