264 THE ACTION OF THE LIVING CELL 



As cytost obtained from human tissues is not readily 

 obtainable, we have taken advantage of the fact that 

 an animal may be caused to liberate cytost at v^ill by 

 the simple expedient of causing a small localized tis- 

 sue damage by the subcutaneous injection of chloro- 

 form or ether at selected sites. In the author's experi- 

 ments upon patients it has been customary to inject 

 0.25 cc. of chloroform at one or tw^o points, usually in 

 the lumbar region. This causes the patient no incon- 

 venience, and the small quantity injected causes but 

 little tissue damage, and consequently the release of 

 but a small quantity of cytost. Several such injections 

 spaced several days apart apparently have the same 

 effect as similar injections of human cytost. 



Following such treatment a number of striking 

 "cures" have been obtained both in acute and chronic 

 cases of migraine, arthritis, rheumatism, etc. Some of 

 these have been described elsewhere (Turck, 1919, 

 1921, 1922), and we shall not discuss them here, for 

 the writer well recognizes that general conclusions 

 cannot be drawn from the results obtained with indi- 

 vidual patients. 



Strictly speaking, one can determine the utility of 

 a given method of treatment only when it is applied 

 under more or less constant supervision to a sufficiently 

 large number of patients to allow the deduction of 

 statistically valid conclusions. 



Through the courtesy of L. E. Feldman, director 

 of the Russian Red Cross (old organization) in Bul- 

 garia, such an opportunity was offered at the Hos- 

 pital and Dispensary in Sofia and the Asylum for old 

 people and chronic invalids in Shipka. All diagnoses, 

 treatment, and observations were carried out by the 



