﻿342 
  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  192 
  9 
  

  

  has 
  many 
  exceptions. 
  The 
  lens 
  of 
  the 
  rabbit's 
  eye 
  is 
  antigenic 
  to 
  

   the 
  rabbit 
  and 
  in 
  common 
  with 
  such 
  proteids 
  as 
  casein 
  and 
  egg 
  

   albumin 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  species 
  specific; 
  a 
  mother 
  reacts 
  to 
  the 
  blood 
  cor- 
  

   puscles 
  of 
  her 
  foetus 
  if 
  they 
  happen 
  to 
  belong 
  to 
  a 
  different 
  blood 
  

   group; 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  one 
  tar 
  cancer 
  makes 
  all 
  the 
  rest 
  of 
  a 
  

   mouse's 
  skin 
  refractory 
  to 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  another, 
  though 
  

   whether 
  the 
  resistance 
  is 
  to 
  the 
  mouse's 
  own 
  malignant 
  tissues 
  or 
  

   to 
  a 
  virus 
  which 
  has 
  developed 
  in 
  them 
  we 
  do 
  not 
  know. 
  One 
  can 
  

   hardly, 
  then, 
  I 
  think, 
  be 
  sure 
  that 
  a 
  virus 
  has 
  an 
  extraneous 
  origin 
  

   because 
  an 
  animal 
  treats 
  it 
  as 
  an 
  antigen. 
  

  

  Whatever 
  filtrable 
  virus 
  we 
  look 
  at 
  we 
  meet 
  with 
  the 
  same 
  difficul- 
  

   ties. 
  A 
  good 
  many 
  people 
  are 
  willing 
  to 
  believe 
  that 
  the 
  bacteriophage 
  

   is 
  generated 
  by 
  its 
  bacillus 
  — 
  which 
  is 
  probably 
  the 
  truth. 
  And 
  they 
  

   would 
  explain 
  the 
  way 
  in 
  which 
  each 
  bacteriophage 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  fits 
  its 
  

   own 
  bacillus 
  by 
  its 
  having 
  originated 
  from 
  that 
  bacUlus. 
  Others 
  see 
  in 
  

   their 
  multiphcity 
  evidence 
  that 
  bacteriophages 
  are 
  really 
  live 
  organ- 
  

   isms 
  with 
  the 
  characteristic 
  variability 
  and 
  adaptability. 
  It 
  is 
  perhaps 
  

   more 
  than 
  a 
  coincidence 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  in 
  another 
  group 
  of 
  plants 
  that 
  the 
  

   same 
  difficulty 
  has 
  arisen: 
  the 
  agents 
  of 
  plant 
  mosaic 
  diseases 
  have 
  

   never 
  been 
  found 
  apart 
  from 
  affected 
  plants; 
  they 
  have 
  not 
  been 
  

   cultivated; 
  no 
  one 
  can 
  be 
  sure 
  whether 
  there 
  is 
  one 
  virus 
  or 
  many 
  

   viruses. 
  Lysozyme 
  is 
  another 
  phenomenon 
  about 
  which 
  one 
  would 
  

   like 
  to 
  know 
  more. 
  It 
  is 
  widely 
  distributed 
  in 
  animals 
  and 
  plants 
  and 
  

   is 
  abundant 
  in 
  egg 
  white; 
  withstands 
  drying, 
  alcohol, 
  chloroform, 
  

   etc.; 
  acts 
  on 
  dead 
  as 
  well 
  as 
  live 
  bacteria, 
  and 
  would 
  pass 
  for 
  an 
  

   enzyme 
  were 
  it 
  not 
  increased 
  in 
  amount 
  by 
  dissolving 
  Micrococcus 
  

   lysodeikticus. 
  Such 
  multiplication 
  during 
  the 
  exhibition 
  of 
  its 
  activity 
  

   seems 
  to 
  connect 
  it 
  with 
  the 
  viruses, 
  but 
  Fleming 
  says 
  that 
  it 
  can 
  not 
  

   be 
  carried 
  on 
  by 
  serial 
  cultures. 
  

  

  If 
  viruses 
  do 
  originate 
  in 
  tissue 
  cells, 
  what 
  are 
  we 
  to 
  imagine 
  that 
  

   they 
  are? 
  Bechamp's 
  ghost 
  would 
  answer 
  "microzymes, 
  as 
  I 
  told 
  you 
  

   70 
  years 
  ago." 
  Altmann 
  would 
  say 
  bioblasts, 
  others 
  micellae 
  and 
  even 
  

   mitochondria, 
  and 
  all 
  the 
  people 
  who 
  have 
  imagined 
  that 
  cells 
  are 
  

   made 
  up 
  of 
  much 
  smaller 
  essential 
  elementary 
  live 
  particles 
  would 
  see 
  

   in 
  the 
  present 
  development 
  the 
  fulfillment 
  of 
  their 
  prophecies. 
  They 
  

   can 
  not 
  all 
  have 
  been 
  exactly 
  right; 
  bioblasts 
  are 
  quite 
  big, 
  and 
  mito- 
  

   chondria 
  (which 
  some 
  have 
  supposed 
  to 
  be 
  symbiotic 
  organisms) 
  are 
  

   also 
  visible, 
  and 
  not 
  only 
  to 
  the 
  elect. 
  But 
  it 
  may 
  well 
  be 
  that 
  they 
  

   were 
  making 
  as 
  shrewd 
  guesses 
  at 
  the 
  truth 
  as 
  Prout 
  did 
  when 
  he 
  

   suggested 
  that 
  all 
  elements 
  were 
  ultimately 
  compounded 
  of 
  hydrogen. 
  

   Till 
  Harrison 
  did 
  it 
  we 
  had 
  not 
  suspected 
  that 
  the 
  cells 
  of 
  warm-blooded 
  

   animals 
  could 
  be 
  cultivated 
  in 
  vitro. 
  If 
  they 
  can 
  live 
  and 
  multiply, 
  

   divorced 
  from 
  their 
  proper 
  community, 
  is 
  it 
  altogether 
  impossible 
  that 
  

   parts 
  of 
  cells 
  might 
  have 
  something 
  of 
  a 
  separate 
  existence 
  also 
  just 
  as 
  

   electrons 
  may 
  operate 
  apart 
  from 
  atoms? 
  Granting 
  that 
  they 
  might 
  

  

  