370 COLLECTED STUDIES IN IMMUNITY. 



toxoids, which lack the toxophore group, are still capable of exciting 

 the production of typical antitoxins, and (2) that toxins whose 

 haptophore group is preoccupied by antitoxins lose, as a result of 

 this procedure, their power to produce antitoxins. Now in order to 

 understand the essential role played by the haptophore group in the 

 formation of antitoxins and of the antibodies in general, it is neces- 

 sary above all to study the other side of this question, namely, the 

 functions of the living organism in the formation of antibodies. 



The demonstration that it is the haptophore group of the toxin 

 molecule that excites the production of immunity leads us at once 

 to regard the process of assimilation of the living cells as most im- 

 portant in our study. Since the beginning ot medicine it has been, 

 and still is, generally accepted that chemical substances can act only 

 on those organs with which they are capable of entering into closer 

 chemical relations. In his "Cellular Pathology," Virchow expressed 

 this view in his usual clear and forcible manner: "Just as the single 

 cell of a fungus or an alga abstracts from the fluid in which it lives 

 as much and the kind of material as it needs for its vital processes, 

 so also the tissue cell within a compound organism possesses elective 

 properties by virtue of which it disregards certain substances and 

 takes up and utilizes others." 



"We also know that there are a number of substances which have 

 a special attraction for the nervous system when introduced into the 

 body; that even among this group there are substances which pos- 

 sess intimate relations to certain particular parts of the nervous 

 system, some to the brain, others to the spinal cord or to the sym- 

 pathetic ganglia, a few to certain special parts of the brain, cord, etc. 

 1 may mention morphine, atropine, curare, strychnine, digitalin. On 

 the other hand we know that certain substances are intimately 

 related to certain organs of secretion, that they permeate these 

 secreting organs with a certain selective action, that they are ex- 

 creted by them, and that when supplied in excess such substances 

 cause an irritation in these organs." 



It is remarkable that this axiom was not re-echoed in the develop- 

 ment of scientific pharmacology, and that only within the last ten 

 years, thanks to the labors of Hofmeister, Overton, Spiro, Hans 

 Meyer and myself, an improvement has taken place in this respect. 



According to these newer researches there is not the least doubt 

 that the causes of this elective lodgment in certain cell domains are 

 not all of the same nature. In general the modern pharmacological 



