404 PROTEIN POISONS 



thus obtained we have induced fevers similar to those 

 already described in this chapter. 



We have made many experiments on the production of 

 fever with non-protein bodies, giving special attention to 

 the amino-acids, the xanthin group, inorganic salts of 

 ammonia, and certain carbohydrates, but a report upon 

 these findings must be postponed. 



General Conclusions. Protein fever, and this includes 

 the great majority of clinical fevers, results from the paren- 

 teral digestion of proteins. Bouillaud 1 was practically 

 right when he said: "La fievre est une maladie, dont la 

 nature est toujours la meme." Proteins, living and dead, 

 occasionally find their way into the body. They may come 

 from without or from within. Crushed bone, muscle, or 

 other tissue, on being deprived of its vitality or detached 

 from its normal surroundings, becomes foreign material 

 and must be broken up preparatory to its elimination. 

 Under certain conditions proteins taken into the alimentary 

 canal escape enteral digestion and are in part absorbed 

 unbroken. When this happens, they are disposed of by 

 parenteral digestion. In a finely divided form, as in the 

 pollen of plants, proteins are absorbed from the respiratory 

 tract and give rise to the condition designated as hay or 

 rose fever. But in the great majority of instances proteins 

 gain entrance to the body in unbroken form, as living 

 proteins, bacteria, or protozoa. The parenteral proteo- 

 lytic ferments are of two kinds, non-specific and specific. 

 The former are normally present in the blood and tissues, 

 especially in the former, of all animals. They differ in 

 kind in different species and in amount and efficiency in 

 individuals. Their purpose is to break up foreign proteins 

 that find their way into the blood and tissues. They are, 

 within limits, general proteolytic ferments, as are those 

 of the alimentary canal; though the variety of proteins 

 upon which they can act is more limited. They constitute 

 the most important factor in racial and individual immunity. 



1 Traite clinique et experimentale des Fi6vries, 1826. 



