DEFENSIVE FERMENTS OF THE ANIMAL ORGANISM 2$ 



structure, and further, that every cell with special 

 functions is formed of specially constructed com- 

 ponents, is very often met with doubt. How is it 

 possible for the animal and plant worlds to produce 

 such an enormous number of different compounds ? 

 There would have to be formed millions and millions 



of different substances. Only think of the enormous 



j 



amount of animal and plant species, and just put 

 against this the fact that in general always the same 

 and similar components reappear ! In each cell 

 we meet with carbohydrates, fatty substances, and 

 albuminous particles. If these compounds are de- 

 composed into their units, we find the same com- 

 pounds resulting. All the albumens give, for in- 

 stance, with very few exceptions, the same, that is, 

 some twenty amino-acids. This obvious contra- 

 diction on one side cell constituents based on 

 similar elements, and on the other the idea of speci- 

 fically constructed cells disappears immediately we 

 begin to make a calculation. Suppose we synthesize 

 three elements A, B, and C; we at once obtain, by 

 merely altering the sequence of the particular com- 

 binations, the following six different products :- 



A B C B A C C A B. 



A C B B C A C B A 



If we start with four different elements we get 



o 



twenty-four different compounds, while five elements 



