28 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



pects of the same subject corresponding respectively to the "pas- 

 sive phase" and the "active phase" of Wright's "opsonic index." 



10. The activities of the cytogenic system, leading to an in- 

 crease in the number of blood corpuscles and a stimulus to the 

 activities of the individual corpuscles ; and through these to com- 

 pleted protein assimilation and immunization, are governed in 

 part by hormonic stimuli ; the internal secretions actively engaged 

 including those of the adreno-thyroid system and secretin from 

 the duodenum. 



11. The cytogenic system (including the bone marrow, the 

 spleen, and the lymphatic glands) is a highly important member 

 of the endocrinous system ; the detached blood corpuscles are 

 to be regarded as still a part of that system; and the study of 

 the system as a whole offers a fruitful field for discovery of 

 new methods in immunization and the treatment of infectious 

 diseases. 



The hypothesis of immunization thus summarized, being based 

 on the activities of the cells, might appropriately enough be termed 

 the Cytoclastic theory, were it not that the term seems too 

 general and not sufficiently explicative. It might be termed the 

 Corpuscular theory, in token of the role ascribed to both types 

 of blood corpuscles, were it not that physical science has already 

 usurped that term. To call it the Leucocytic theory would be 

 quite inadequate, as it would credit only one member of the! 

 triumvirate, and would, moreover, signalize the least original por- 

 tion of the theory itself. The term Erythrocytic theory would 

 have somewhat greater propriety, as pointing out what is con- 

 ceived to be the most important single agent in the immunizing 

 process, and also as signalizing the most novel feature of the 

 theory. But this term also is condemned by its obvious inade- 

 quacy. 



On the whole, the term Proteomorphic theory is the most com- 

 prehensive and explicative one that suggests itself; inasmuch 

 as the theory at all stages, and in its widest implications, has to 

 do with the metamorphoses (mainly hydrolytic) of protein 

 compounds. 



It was through study of proteoclasis, mainly in connection of 

 course with the fairly wide survey of a good many allied fields 

 that the theory itself was elaborated. But for the data supplied 

 by study of proteolytic activities, in connection with the meta- 

 bolic processes of normal and abnormal digestion and assimila- 

 tion, the theory could not have been conceived. So the word 

 proteomorphic may be used to designate it with peculiar propriety. 



It will appear in the course of the following exposition that 

 a good many other laboratory and clinical observations, hitherto 



