ON SPECIFIC THERAPEUTICS. 15 



by the addition of a large number of receptors 

 of the needed description, we cannot release 

 the toxin from the union. We see, then, the 

 limitations of antitoxic treatment, which is, in 

 the true sense of the term, a distributive treat- 

 ment ; the antitoxins are really specific drugs 

 by using which we run no risk of harming the 

 component parts of the organism, but which, 

 thanks to their specific monotropism, influence 

 the toxic agent alone. The relations which exist 

 between constitution and action are therefore in 

 no sense influenced by the action of the anti- 

 toxins. The toxin molecule, which is anchored 

 by the antitoxin, still possesses a toxophoric 

 group, which, if it could but obtain a suitable 

 localisation, would immediately develop its 

 characteristic action. 



I have always held the view that the anti- 

 toxins do not in any way destroy the toxin, but 

 that they merely limit its sphere of action by 

 combining with it. If further proof of the 

 correctness of this view be required, we have it 

 in the researches carried out by Morgenroth, 

 who showed that in suitable cases the toxin 

 may be entirely regained from a perfectly neu- 

 tral union of toxin and antitoxin, just as glu- 

 cosides may by suitable treatment be resolved 



