62 THE ACTION OF THE LIVING CELL 



operations in the upper abdominal area there is a 

 greater danger from shock than in operations on the 

 lower abdominal area. Even traction on the stomach 

 (i.e, interference with circulation) greatly increases 

 the liability to shock, while exposure to air adds 

 greatly to the danger. If death does not follow, still 

 the toxins formed are detrimental to convalescence, 

 and the future welfare of the patients." (Turck, 

 1902b.) This conclusion, expressed some thirty years 

 ago, has since been confirmed by both clinical obser- 

 vation and laboratory experiments. Indeed the last 

 sentence of the above quotation suggests the investi- 

 gation of the action of small quantities of cytost upon 

 the well-being of the animal. During the last decade 

 this aspect of the problem has been carefully investi- 

 gated in our laboratory and the results obtained are 

 of very considerable interest and will constitute the 

 major portion of the discussion in previous chapters. 

 Individuals suffering from intestinal obstruction 

 frequently suffer from an intense toxemia. At one 

 time it was assumed that this was due to the absorp- 

 tion of bacterial toxins produced by the activity of 

 microorganisms in the stagnant contents of the in- 

 testinal tract. More recently such toxemias have been 

 ascribed to the liberation of toxic products from the 

 cells of the intestine. Roger was forced to this con- 

 clusion by his observation that extracts of the intestinal 

 mucosa were more toxic to animals than extracts of 

 the intestinal contents. This, it should be noted, is in 

 perfect harmony with the results of the writer's ex- 

 periments — in which the presence of bacteria could 

 not have played any significant role. These conclu- 

 sions have furthermore been substantiated in recent 



