Intestinal Flora in New-Born Infants

Following our first article on the bacterial flora of first passage specimens of meconium from fifty new-born infants1we studied the daily microbial changes in the feces of ten normal breast-fed infants up to the tenth day, when they left the hospital. HISTORICAL REVIEW The early invasion of the intestinal tracts of new-born infants by bacteria, either ascending or descending, often within ten hours after birth and before feeding, first observed microscopically by Breslau2in 1866, was confirmed by Billroth3in 1874 and by Nothnagel4in 1881. Using iodine as a stain, Nothnagel assumed to identify Saccharomyces ellipsoideus, Bacillus subtilis and the so-called clostridium of Prazmowski, which he regarded as identical with Bacillus amylobacter of Trecul and van Tieghem and the "vibrion septique" of Pasteur; but we feel that even now, with greatly improved methods of staining, identification of any of these is impossible. Nothnagel was