RELEASE OF CYTOST 71 



followed. Chloroform or ether was added to serum 

 and after the lapse of two or three hours, the chemi- 

 cals were removed by warming the serum to 45° C. 

 in vacuo. When sera treated in this fashion were ex- 

 amined by the Mett method it was found that they 

 had lost their ability to inhibit the action of prote- 

 olytic enzymes. 



From these results it follows that by lowering anti- 

 ferment action of serum, anesthetics may aid the auto- 

 lytic process. Confirmation of this hypothesis is found 

 in the experiments of Yamakawa (1918) who found 

 that in the presence of various surface active sub- 

 stances such as alcohol and chloroform, the serum 

 proteins undergo auto digestion. The experiments 

 of this investigator are of importance for they demon- 

 strate the fact that autolysis may take place in the 

 serum providing that the activities of the ever present 

 antienzymes are inhibited. It follows therefore that 

 during anesthesia toxic protein fractions may possibly 

 be derived from serum proteins as well as from intra- 

 cellular proteins. 



It therefore seems reasonable to postulate that the 

 shock observed during anesthesia may in part be due 

 to the action of such hydrolytic products of the serum 

 proteins. 



While on the subject of anesthetics it may be well 

 to mention some other observations made at the time 

 (1903) these experiments were conducted. It was 

 noted that after prolonged narcosis the animal's blood 

 coagulated more rapidly than is normally the case. 

 This may be interpreted as indicating the presence 

 within the serum of some substance which hastened 

 coagulation. The various theories of blood coagula- 



