78 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



the proteolysis of those polypeptids which I have all along likened 

 to the toxins. 



Of course, the specific antitoxins developed by the red blood 

 corpuscles would, in the nature of things, be liberated into the 

 blood plasma. But there would doubtless be a good many com- 

 pounds formed that could not advantageously be thus disposed 

 of; and possibly it is to meet the complications thus introduced 

 that the body has developed the custom of destroying vast quan- 

 tities of the red blood corpuscles constantly in the liver, where 

 the refuse matter they contain may be promptly eliminated in the 

 form of bile. It may be doubted whether any other hypothesis 

 hitherto presented more plausibly accounts for the constant de- 

 struction of red blood corpuscles (estimated to represent about 

 three per cent, of the entire corpuscular supply daily), which, 

 at first blush, seems to set at defiance the usual bodily custom 

 of conserving materials. 



In this view, then, the red blood corpuscles have an immuniz- 

 ing function strictly complementary to that of the white blood 

 corpuscles, and no less important. One legion of cells co-operates 

 with the other, each having its own special field. The white 

 corpuscle deals with all formed bodies and full-sized protein 

 molecules of foreign type that make their way into the blood 

 .stream. The red blood corpuscle deals with the later cleavage 

 products of protoplasmic activity. In carrying out their respec- 

 tive tasks, the leucocyte supplements the work of the ferments 

 of the digestive tract; the red corpuscle supplements the work 

 of the leucocyte and relieves the ultimate tissues in considerable 

 measure of the task of protecting themselves against small- 

 moleculed nitrogenous end products that might prove harmful. 



Interpreting the work in the words of the bacteriologist and 

 pathologist, we may say that the leucocyte, in the pursuance of 

 its general scavengering function, produces "complement" that is 

 a digestive ferment somewhat of the order of trypsin; and 

 "antibodies" of the types known as bactericides, bacteriolysins, 

 opsonins, and precipitins; also antitoxins to neutralize the of- 

 fensive or defensive toxins put forth by the living bacterium. 

 Meantime the red blood corpuscles, aided and supported on occa- 

 sion by various and sundry of the specialized tissues liver, kid- 

 ney, muscle, brain produce complements of a different order 

 from those produced by the leucocyte, capable of dealing only 

 with partially hydrolyzed protein products ; and produce also 

 specific antitoxins that chemically neutralize bacterial toxins and 

 in particular the final by-products of bacterial decompounding, 

 but do not attack the bacteria themselves. It is not unlikely 

 that hemolysis also falls within the scope of the erythrocytic 

 activities. 



