12 DEFENSIVE FERMENTS OF THE ANIMAL ORGANISM 



are in communication with the outer world. They alone 

 know, so to speak, what food is ingested. Even these 

 have no direct relation with the ingested material, 

 seeing that the latter, before being taken up by the 

 cells of the gut, has been subjected to the action of 

 the ferments poured into the alimentary canal, and 

 been disintegrated into simpler and indifferent par- 

 ticles. All nutriment of a composite nature is dissolved 

 in stages, until finally products of decomposition 

 result which no longer exhibit any special characters. 

 Generally speaking, food supplies the material for 

 the building up of the cell, and we must remember 

 that w r e are dealing with the complicated tissues of 

 animals and plants. Each cell has a specific fabric 

 of its own, which is dependent on the nature of its 

 separate units, and on the manner in which they 

 combine together. We must not look upon this 

 from a purely chemical point of view alone, but 

 should pay attention to its physical aspects as 

 well. The sum of the properties resulting from 

 the special structure of the cell conditions its special 

 functions. When such cells, with their specific 

 structure and functions, are taken in by an individual 

 organism, the latter can at first do nothing with 

 the material supplied. The special character of the 

 different products that make up the particular cells 

 must first be destroyed. Unit must be separated 

 from unit, so as to leave only a mixture of simple 



