A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST OLD AGE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 8

A PRESERVATIVE AGAINST OLD AGE.

PROFESSOR METCHNIKOFF'S RESEARCHES. The Pane newspapers give an account of a' lecture delivered by Professor Metchnikoff before the Academy of Sciences on tho subject of intestinal outo-intosica-tion, to which he has devoted many .years of research. Professor MotcUnikoff eaid that the part played by tho poisons of the- intestinal flora consisted largely in tho production of lesions in the liver, kidneys, brain, and arteries, tho effect of which was virtually the, same as that of old age. He argued that senility must bo caused to a prrent. extent by. lesions due to intestinal bacteria. As sugary substances give rise to almost none of these poisons, Professor Metclinikoff and his collaborator, Professor Woollman, have been searching for means to create a sugar-producing centre in tho lnrge intestine through tho activity of a certiiin microbe discovered in the intestines of the dog, thereby neutralising tlie effect of the fecal poison which penetrates the tissues so easily. This microbe, which lie hai named srlycobnctu, has been found to destroy nirtol and phenol in tho rat. as well as other poisons causing -senile decay in man. These latter have been destroyed to a greater extent than previously observed by tho use of n. daily diet comprising 120 grammes of meat and MO friyimnKS of sour milk, with vegetables, fruit, and farinaceous substances, to which have boon added cultures, nf the canine bacillus. Professor Mctchnikoff declared that the foregoing wns but (he first stet), and that ho honed (o render the flora harmless instead of harmful, us it is now, to its host.