44 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES 



is that this could only take place if the substances 

 in question were absent ; this is obviously incor- 

 rect. But this hypothesis is not necessary in 

 order to explain such insufficient nutrition of the 

 bacteria ; it suffices to assume that those sub- 

 stances may still be present, but that the 

 parasitic agents in question are incapable of 

 absorbing them ; in other words, that the 

 substances have ceased to be at the disposal of 

 the bacteria. 



This phenomenon, at the time of my can- 

 cer studies, I embodied in the definition of 

 "Atrepsy." I will give you a few examples 

 from my researches which will make clear what 

 I mean by this definition, and I will begin with 

 a fairly simple case, viz., that of the cobra 

 venom. 



This poison produces in the body a num- 

 ber of very different injuries, e.g., it affects 

 the nervous centres, the subcutaneous tissue, 

 the red blood corpuscles, the endothelia, etc. 

 But whilst the manifold pathological condi- 

 tions produced in the body, e.g., by corrosive 

 sublimate or any other well-defined chemi- 

 cal substance, are in every case the effect 

 of one substance on different organs as, for 

 instance, nephritis, inflammation of the salivary 



