218 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



aimed at through excision, but it is obvious that a 

 strongly proteoclastic organism which is non-toxic 

 presents greater possibilities for the removal of dead 

 cells than the surgeon can ever hope to rival. It can 

 dissect cell from cell, and removes practically all the 

 devitalized tissue in a few days, destroying the hold 

 of the pathogenic organisms without inflicting any 

 fresh injury which might in its turn become the gate- 

 way of renewed infection. The important thing is 

 that the products of its proteolysis, evil though they 

 appear to our senses, are, chemically speaking, simple 

 and non-injurious to the tissues, so that by the time 

 the salt packs are removed the body has been almost 

 completely relieved of the strain of the toxin infiltra- 

 tion, and the dead tissue is reduced to a mere shred 

 or two, which may be detached at once. Thus all the 

 forces of repair are enabled to work unembarrassed, 

 and strong granulations rapidly form. Proteolysis, 

 then, is to be regarded as the foundation of the method, 

 and towards its furtherance investigation should be 

 directed. Not that this is the only time that proteo- 

 lysis has been urged as a satisfactory method of 

 ridding the wound of dead tissue. It has been 

 strongly advocated by Morgan, Saner, and Schle- 

 singer as the result of practical experience in France, 

 and we understand that the Germans also have used 

 some peptonizing ferment as a wound dressing; but 

 a method which makes the wound itself the focus of 

 enzyme production, and thus avoids any trouble of 

 renewal or possible imperfection of application has an 

 intrinsic superiority. 1 



1 It is interesting to remember that the leaves of the Butterwort (Pinguicula 

 vulgaris}, which secrete a peptonizing enzyme, have been immemorially used 

 by the shepherds of the Alps as a cure for ulcers on the udders of cows. It is 

 possible that many seemingly irrational beliefs in folk-medicine, such as cow- 

 dung therapy, may find an explanation in the activities of proteolytic organ- 

 isms, as in our present case. 



