As has been stated in several connections, a diet which conforms to the true nutritive requirements of the body must necessarily lead toward vegetable foods. In no other satisfactory way can excess of proteid be avoided, and at the same time the proper calorific value be obtained. This, however, does not mean vegetarianism, but simply a greater reliance upon foods from the plant kingdom, with a corresponding diminution in the typical animal foods. This raises the question of the possible relation of diet to the bacterial processes of the intestine, knowing, as we do, that the latter are of primary importance in the causation of certain forms of auto-intoxication, etc. Recent studies have indicated that the bacterial flora of carnivorous animals is quite different from that of herbivorous animals, and this being so, it is easy to see how a predominance of vegetable or animal food may modify the bacterial conditions of the intestinal tract in man. Dr. Herter[82] has reported the presence in the intestines of cats, dogs, tigers, lion, and wolf of many spore-holding bacilli, as well as free spores and vegetative forms of anærobic organisms; some of which at least are decidedly pathogenic when injected into the subcutaneous connective tissue, leading to serious and even fatal results within twenty-four hours. With herbivorous animals, on the other hand, such as the buffalo, goat, horse, elephant, etc., the predominating organisms are of a different order from those found in the intestines of the carnivora; proving practically non-pathogenic, or only slightly so, when injected subcutaneously, and less disposed to produce putrefactive changes or other chemical decompositions. [82] C. A. Herter: Character of the Bacterial Flora of Carnivorous and Herbivorous Animals. Science, December 28, 1906, p. 859.