Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1895 — MICROBES AND DIGESTION. [ARTICLE]

MICROBES AND DIGESTION.

Germs Now Said to Be Absolutely Necessary to Proper Assimilation. The übiquitous microbe Is known to present two sides or phases to its character. One is that of a diseaseproducing organism, the other that of the benefleient remover of decaying matter, writes Dr. Andrew Wilson, and of actually assisting the animal body to perform certain of its ordinary vital functions—digestion, to wit. To what extent the animalmay be dependent on microbes for its actual welfare is an open question, but if certain researches undertaken by Dr. J. Ivijanizin, of the University of Ivieff, are to be credited, there may indeed exist a closer alliance between germs and their hosts than has hitherto been deemed possible. This investigator experimented upon animals, feeding them on food which has practically been sterilized, and giving them air which had been rendered wholly germless. One result of this regimen was to limit the assimilation of nltrogenpus matter; the idea here being tbftt _tlie presence of microbes in the digestive tract is necessary to effect this desirable end of nutrition. The microbes left in the intestine, or originally present there, no doubt accomplished so much of the work; but the conclusion is that the microbes received with the food constitute an essential feature of healthy assimilation. Death was the not uncommon fate of many of the animals supplied with the sterilized food and air. This result may, perchance, arise from processes of self-poisoning such as the microbes, naturally present in air and food, obviate and prevent. What strikes me as specially interesting, however, is the new analogy' which Dr. experiments reveal between the animal and the plant worlds. Certain plants can only assimilate nitrogen through the action and aid ,of the microbes.which live in nodules on their roots. In the absence of these friendly germs no assimilation of nitrogen is possible. Therefore the case of the plant would seem to be closely related to that-of tlie animal, if it be proved that the nutrition of the latter cannot proceed naturally without the aid of the helpful microbes.