THE PROTEOLYTIC MECHANISM IN OPERATION 101 



only is the course of the disease favorably influenced," he says, 

 "but the condition of the patient is vastly improved." 



And these recent observations are, after all, only confirmatory 

 of experiments conducted by Von Hosslin more than thirty years 

 ago, which showed the value of a liberal diet in ordinary fevers. 



If we ask why a liberal diet, including proteins, is essential 

 in the treatment of fever, the answer is not far to seek. Accord- 

 ing to theory, the leucocytes and red corpuscles fight the invad- 

 ing proteins and enzymes by constantly putting out chemical com- 

 pounds that antagonize them by cleaving their complex molecules 

 on one hand and by combining them into new and harmless asso- 

 ciations on the other. But this constructive work on the part 

 of the corpuscle implies the expenditure not merely of energy, 

 but of matter. And material for this expenditure must in some 

 way be found to make up for the constant depletion. 



The corpuscles can no more be expected to perform their 

 work without being supplied with fuel than can any other 

 machine. 



Nor can new corpuscles be developed to fill the constantly 

 decimated ranks without drawing on an unfailing supply of 

 proteins. And unless this material is supplied in the pabulum 

 that comes from the outside world, usually through the medium 

 of the intestinal canal, it must be found elsewhere. And ob- 

 viously the only other source is the body tissues themselves. So 

 if the defending hosts are not supplied with food pabulum from 

 without, they must draw on the tissues of the body, with a 

 weakening effect. Hence the rapidly emaciating effect of fevers, 

 with attendant weakness; an effect largely avoided through use 

 of a liberal diet. 



It will be understood, of course, that the catabolic activities of 

 the leucocyte and red corpuscles, in which complex protein mole- 

 cules are constantly cleaved to smaller molecules and arranged 

 in new combinations, must be attended by a constant liberation 

 of heat. So the fever itself is in part an evidence of the activ- 

 ities of the corpuscles. And liberal feeding, provided the food 

 is assimilated, may unquestionably tend to enhance the fever. 



But the modern clinician does not regard fever as in itself 

 necessarily disadvantageous to the patient. On the contrary, 

 he associates it with the immunizing and curative processes in 

 the body. So he does not regard a rise in temperature as neces- 

 sarily an evil. He knows that the phagocytic activities of the 

 leucocytes are greatly accelerated when the temperature is high; 

 the leucocytes have been observed at increased temperatures to 

 "dart about like bees around a hive." It may reasonably be 

 inferred that the chemical activities of all the immunizing agents 

 are correspondingly accelerated. 



