CONCLUSIONS 273 



confirmed by the observation that severe shock and 

 death could be induced in intact animals by the injec- 

 tion of aqueous extracts of homologous tissues w^hich 

 had been permitted to undergo sterile autolysis in 

 vitro, while aqueous extracts of freshly excised tis- 

 sue, when injected similarly, did not cause the animals 

 any apparent inconvenience. 



These results clearly substantiated the author's 

 conclusion that shock was of toxic origin, and, since 

 the World War, others, to whom reference has al- 

 ready been made, have reached essentially similar 

 conclusions. 



Since the extract of autolyzed tissue proved to be 

 such a highly toxic substance when introduced into 

 the circulation of an animal, it became of interest to 

 investigate the effects of sublethal quantities of cytost. 

 So far as could be determined, the injection in a single 

 dose of a minute quantity of cytost does not as a rule 

 lead to any distinct or definite reaction. However, 

 when such injections were repeated every few days 

 for a protracted period of time, it was found that tem- 

 porarily the injected animals gained in weight more 

 rapidly than control animals of the same age under 

 the same conditions. Furthermore, as far as could 

 be judged from external observation, during the 

 period of rapid gain in weight the injected animals 

 appeared to be more active and in better health than 

 the controls. As the injections were continued, the 

 animals lost this advantage, and after a period during 

 which they lost considerable weight, they rapidly be- 

 came ill, and died. 



At autopsy, such animals were found to have suf- 

 fered marked degenerative changes in the organs of 



