96 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



decompounding of the normal proteins of the blood serum 

 (globulins and albumins). These are decompounding to make 

 fuel (including a large proportion of glycogen) to supply energy 

 to the body-cells, and notably (1) to the digestive apparatus, or 

 (2) to those most important dispensers of energy, the muscle 

 cells. 



*"I have suggested that the activity of the muscle cell is con- 

 ditioned on an increase of osmotic pressure due to a decom- 

 pounding of the protein within the cell. This is necessarily 

 accompanied by loss of energy, expended as mechanical energy 

 and as heat. The physical contents of the cell are for the most 

 part not wasted, but they cannot be recompounded into proteins 

 except through the agency of energy supplied from without. 

 The molecules of serum protein, suspended in blood stream and 

 tissue fluids, are decompounded to supply this energy. And, 

 according to the present view, the lymphocyte is the agent (or at 

 least one of the agents) supplying the enzymes that inaugurate 

 this process of decompounding. 



"Hence the urgent necessity for an increased supply of these 

 leucocytes in times when the muscles are called upon to undergo 

 excessive contraction for prolonged periods. 



"Hence, also, the necessity for an increase of lymphocytes 

 after the ingestion of food, to aid in the decompounding of serum 

 proteins to supply fuel for the activities of the glands of stom- 

 ach and pancreas and upper intestines. It is to meet this need 

 that the lymphocytes are observed (as we have seen) to be sent 

 out in greatly increased numbers during digestion. The supply 

 of digestive ferments cannot be made out of nothing. The cells 

 of the digestive apparatus cannot keep up their activities un- 

 less they are supplied with energy from without. It is the 

 province of the serum proteins to supply this energy, in part 

 at least, here as in the case of the muscles and other tissues ; 

 and the lymphocytes, according to the present view, have a 

 share in bringing about the decompounding of the serum pro- 

 teins, through which their energy is liberated and made available. 



"Should the numbers of the lymphocytes seem inadequate for 

 such a task, it may be pointed out that their work is the rela- 

 tively simple one of tearing to pieces an unstable molecule. Pos- 

 sibly nothing more is required than to seize on a single group 

 containing the protein molecule's three sulphur atoms to send 

 the entire structure, with its thousands of carbon hydrogen, oxy- 

 gen, and nitrogen atoms, tumbling. 



"Incidentally, attention may be called to the curious interest 

 that attaches to the observation of the cyclic co-ordination of 

 parts evident in the observed fact that the lymphocytes which 

 (in this view) aid indirectly in the production of the digestive 



