TOXIN AND ANTITOXIN 527 



We see therefore that Gruber-Pirquet assume that pure water 

 possesses a high osmotic pressure and that salt diminishes this. The 

 very foundation of the doctrine of osmotic tension, however, is the 

 fact that water as such possesses NO osmotic pressure, and that 

 such pressure is produced by salts dissolved in the water. I can- 

 not refrain from pointing out this woful ignorance of the most ele- 

 mentary principles on the part of authors who do not hesitate to 

 accuse me of " complete lack of insight into chemistry," although 

 for years I have endeavored, and not unsuccessfully, to apply the 

 great discoveries in chemistry to medicine. 



The solution of erythrocytes by means of water is one of the 

 best studied subjects in medicine. It is generally recognized that 

 the water as such is no poison whatever, but that its action is due 

 to the fact that water abstracts the salts and other soluble substances 

 from all living cells, including, of course, the red blood-cells. These 

 substances are abstracted in such considerable amounts that this 

 alone suffices to bring about the death of the cell. The swelling 

 of the red blood-cells is due to the penetration of water and this 

 again depends on the permeability of the limiting membrane on 

 the one hand and the power of the water to abstract water on the 

 other. 



With the same right that Gruber regards water as a poison one 

 could call nitrogen a poison and oxygen as the counter poison for 

 the nitrogen, for animals die in pure nitrogen, but live if oxygen is 

 added. At any rate nitrogen poison can be recommended to Dr. 

 Phantasus for extended study. Perhaps some day he will also work 

 out its spectrum for us. 



Despite the fact that the premises from which their experiment 

 proceeds are based on a complete misconception of the idea of poison, 

 I have repeated the experiments of Gruber and Pirquet. The results 

 show that their statements concerning the experiment are entirely 

 incorrect. I first determined the concentration of salt and of sugar, 

 in which the ox blood-cells remained completely intact; for NaCl 

 this was found to be 0.63%, for cane sugar 6.4%. By diluting 

 with water, various degrees of this isotonicity (1/10, 2/10, etc.) 

 were produced. Each tube contained altogether 2 cc. of fluid and 

 one drop of defibrinated ox blood. The result is shown in the form 

 of a '' spectrum," which may be compared to that obtained by 

 Gruber in his experiments. 



This comparison shows us that Gruber's experiments are abso- 



