258 THE ACTION OF THE LIVING CELL 



quently employ debridement, cauterization, and elec- 

 trocoagulation as practical means of preventing the 

 onset of shock during the repair of traumatic injuries. 



Our experiments have shown that the continued 

 introduction of sub-shock producing quantities of 

 cytost into animals may result in degenerative changes 

 in the organs of entodermal origin. Clinical experi- 

 ence suggests that an exactly parallel situation may 

 exist in man. For example, individuals who have suf- 

 fered severe burns frequently develop a nephritis 

 which very often proves fatal. It seems clear in such 

 instances that the nephritis is caused solely by toxic 

 substances released from the damaged tissues. While 

 this has long been surmised by pathologists, we wish 

 to make it clear that such kidney damage closely paral- 

 lels that which may be induced in animals by a prop- 

 erly regulated series of cytost injections. 



This is of interest because it indicates that a dis- 

 eased condition of non-bacterial origin may be caused 

 by an individual's own tissue products, or cytost. 

 Since clinical experience with burns justifies this con- 

 clusion in the case of kidney degeneration, it seems 

 entirely logical to extend this concept to other patho- 

 logical conditions involving the organs of entodermal 

 origin. 



There are a number of diseases, sometimes classi- 

 fied as metabolic, whose obscure origin strongly sug- 

 gests that cytost is their causative factor. Among 

 these we may include such chronic ailments as arthri- 

 tis deformans, neuritis, certain types of paralysis, 

 arterial sclerosis, and nephritis. At the outset we wish 

 to make it clear that such diseases may be caused by 

 factors other than cytost, but that, as will be shown 



