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
Theology of the Body In addition to the importance of power over nature, Descartes (like Bacon) insisted upon dismissing final cause, stating that “the entire class of causes which people customarily derive from a thing’s ‘end,’ I judge to be utterly useless”. Descartes’ practical philosophy also proposed a dualism between the mind and the physical body, based on the belief that they are two distinct substances. The body is matter that is spatially extended, whereas the mind is the substance that thinks and contains the rational soul. Pope John Paul II responded to this dualism in his "Letter to Families" in 1994: “It is