Earwax of bacteria. Cerumen has been found to reduce the viability of a wide range of bacteria, including "Haemophilus influenzae", "Staphylococcus aureus", and many variants of "Escherichia coli", sometimes by as much as 99%. The growth of two fungi commonly present in otomycosis was also significantly inhibited by human cerumen. These antimicrobial properties are due principally to the presence of saturated fatty acids, lysozyme and, especially, to the slight acidity of cerumen (pH typically around 6.1 in normal individuals). Conversely, other research has found that cerumen can support microbial growth and some cerumen samples were found to have bacterial counts as
Substance theory which "we can understand nothing else than an entity which "is" in such a way that it need no other entity in order to "be"." Therefore, only God is a substance as "Ens perfectissimus" (most perfect being). Heidegger showed the inextricable relationship between the concept of substance and of subject, which explains why, instead of talking about "man" or "humankind", he speaks about the "Dasein", which is not a simple subject, nor a substance. Alfred North Whitehead has argued that the concept of substance has only a limited applicability in everyday life and that metaphysics should rely upon the concept