DEFENSIVE FERMENTS OF THE ANIMAL ORGANISM 2Q 



radical reconstruction could make them harmonious 

 therewith. 



That, in an animal organism, the formation of 

 material for definite cells can be effected by the com- 

 ponents of absolutely different cells, we can learn 

 from experiments on the starvation of animals, and 

 particularly from the well-known observations made 

 by the Basle physiologist, Friedrich Miescher, on 

 salmon. This observer was able to prove that the 

 sexual glands of this fish become extraordinarily 

 developed in fresh water at the expense of the 

 muscles. It can be demonstrated microscopically 

 that the components of the muscle tissues are 

 gradually decomposed until they pass into the blood 

 circulation; and Miescher speaks quite plainly of 

 a liquidation of the units of the muscle cells. 

 At the same time it may be observed that the sexual 

 glands gradually begin to grow, without the animal 

 taking anv nourishment. But in the cells of the sexual 



f> J 



glands we do not meet with the specific muscular 

 constituents in an unmodified state; on the contrary, 

 we meet with quite new substances, chiefly albumens 

 in a state in which they are never met with in the 

 muscle cells. We notice in this case that histones 

 appear in place of the muscle albumens. These are 

 albuminous bodies of a basic nature, containing the 

 so-called di-amino-acids in large quantities. Soon 

 we find the histones, the more the sexual organs, and 



