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 Years of Life_, by Reinhardt; _The Secret of Longevity_, by an F.R.M.S. [14] _Foods, their Composition and Analysis_, by A. W. Blyth. [15] _Dictionary of Applied Chemistry_, by T. E. Thorpe, C.B. [16] _Koumiss or Fermented Mares' Milk and its Uses, and the Treatment and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption and Other Diseases_, by L. Carrick, M.D., 1881. [17] _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, vol. i. [18] Clarke's _Travels_, 1810. [19] 1845. [20] _Dictionary of Applied Chemistry_, by Thorpe. [21] A leathern bottle. [22] "I have brought forward Tchembulatof's receipt, which differs from Bogoyavlensky's in the use of a larger quantity of millet-flour, and in the boiling of the latter apart from the milk. Dr. Postnikof's plan is the following: Half a pound of millet-flour and a quarter of a pound of malt are mixed with a sufficient quantity of honey to form a paste, which is put into a clean jar, covered with a linen cloth, and placed on a warm stove. The mass soon begins to rise, and is then taken out, wrapped in a piece of muslin, and dropped into a clean earthenware vessel, containing about a quart of new mares' milk, which is placed in the same temperature that the paste was kept in. As soon as signs of fermentation begin to show themselves in the fluid, the paste must be removed, while the milk, after being stirred, should be left in the same temperature till bubbles appear (only in very small quantities) on its surface. The ferment is then ready."