CYTOST IN MEDICINE 269 



decrease resistance to cytost and consequently are pre- 

 disposing causes of disease. 



During and following the Great War, large num- 

 bers of various European populations were forced to 

 subsist upon rations little short of actual starvation. 

 In consequence, it is not surprising that many Euro- 

 peans, particularly children, developed many obscure 

 and rather ill-defined ailments indicative of a general 

 lack of body tone and diminished resistance com- 

 parable to that found in animals as a result of partial 

 inanition. In animals, as we have shown, this leads 

 to cytost intoxication and the degeneration of various 

 tissues. It seems highly probable therefore that in 

 many instances the poorly defined ailments of the war 

 refugees may have been due to a similar cause. 



In this same class we may place those who suffered 

 shock from the severe wounds of war but did not fully 

 regain their health upon recovery from the primary 

 injuries. Such individuals were frequently found to 

 be suffering from various ill defined chronic com- 

 plaints whose very nature suggested that they were 

 basically due to a more or less chronic cytost intoxica- 

 tion. 



With this in mind the physicians of the Russian 

 Red Cross have at the writer's suggestion treated such 

 individuals with a view to increasing their resistance 

 to cytost. In order to obtain comparative data such 

 patients were divided into two groups. Both groups 

 were well fed and housed and given whatever general 

 medical treatment was indicated in particular cases. 

 The members of one group were given injections of 

 chloroform, such as have been described earlier in 

 the chapter, with a view towards raising their resis- 



