PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

BACTERIOLOGICAL examination of the faccal flora of four catatonic dementia praecox patients was repeated monthly for four months. The hydrogen ion concentration, total bacterial count, predominant aerobes and anaerobes, all fell within the limits of variation with the normal. The incidence of B. acidophilus was less than normal, but the character of the flora was fermentative rather than putrefactive. No unusual microbe was isolated with sufficient consistency to indicate that the bacterial flora might be causally related to the mental disease process. C. S. R.