all other foods are rejected. In cases
of neurasthenia and gout it has also proved of value, and in the
"run-down" condition which is so common in middle life. Chronic
diarrhoea and certain forms of constipation have in numerous instances
yielded to the treatment, the whey culture being usually found the most
suitable. Then, in some forms of anaemia, the lactic acid cultures have
proved most successful, and, as a means of rendering the
gastro-intestinal track aseptic previous to operations, they have proved
of considerable value.

If all this has been accomplished in a year or two, what may not we look
forward to in the future when more extended use and experiment shall
have more fully exhausted the possibilities of the cure? But if we
follow the example of the different nations who have so long used
soured milk as a regular article of diet, does it not seem probable that
we may eliminate some, at least, of the causes of ill-health that call
for the intervention of the doctor?

The human organism is by no means perfect; we have within us many
defective parts, and some organs whose working seems to be against the
welfare of the economy. It has now been clearly shown that one of the
chief of these is the large intestine, as to the use of which only vague
and unsatisfactory theories have been formed. There can be no doubt as
to the damage which it frequently inflicts on the system, and, thanks to
the researches of Professor Metchnikoff and other investigators, we seem
to be in possession of a natural remedy which is sufficient to deal with
the evils it produces.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Discoveries in Nineveh and Babylon_, by Layard, chap.
xiii.

[2] Ex. xviii. and xxiii.; Lev. ii. and xi.

[3] _Encyclo. Biblica._

[4] Burckhardt and Doughty.

[5] _Annals of Dairying in Europe_, by Loudon M. Douglas.

[6] Burckhardt, _Bedouins_.

[7] This word is spelt in a great many ways by different
writers: _Yoghourt_ would seem to be the one most
favoured.--AUTHOR.

[8] _Damascus and Palmyra_, by Chas. G. Addison, 1838.

[9] _Travels in Syria and the Holy Land_, by Burckhardt,
1822.

[10] _Lands of the Saracens_, by B. Taylor.

[11] _Travels through Sweden, Finland, and Lapland and to
the North Cape in the years 1798 and 1799_, by Joseph
Acerbi, 1802.

[12] Letter to the author, from Mr. H. Cavendish Venables,
British Vice-Consul at Varna.

[13] _One Hundred and Twenty Year