DISCOVERY OF PROTEIN PRINCIPLE IN THERAPEUTICS 111 



not occur to me until later although the idea lies so near to 

 hand that, looking back, it would seem that it must inevitably 

 occur to any one who grasps the fundamental features of the 

 Proteomorphic Theory. But here, as so often elsewhere in the 

 field of discovery, the retrospectively obvious may not be obvious 

 to all from the contemporaneous standpoint. 



Nevertheless the idea was apparently very close to the sur- 

 face of my mind, for it came into clear view, as a vivid reality, 

 a little later, and was given concrete and tangible expression in 

 the paper that I published in the New York Medical Journal, 

 October 2, 1915 just a year after the original publication of 

 the Proteomorphic Theory. 



The specific observations that led to the clear realization and 

 application of the Proteomorphic principle had to do with a 

 series of cases of cancer, part of which had come under my 

 direct personal observation, and the remainder under observa- 

 tion at second hand, so to speak, through personal correspond- 

 ence with the physicians who treated them. The treatment con- 

 sisted of the hypodermic injection of a vegetable extract, the 

 nature of which was not at first very clearly divulged, but which 

 was ultimately known to be produced by macerating a dozen 

 powdered plant substances in salt solution or in alcohol. The 

 substances in question, as ultimately revealed, were the follow- 

 ing: Menyanthes trifoliata, buckbean (leaves); Melilotus offici- 

 nalis, sweet clover (leaves) ; Mentha crispa, mint (leaves) ; Bras- 

 sica alba, mustard (seed) ; Anemone hepatica, liver leaf (leaves) ; 

 Viola tricolor, pansy (flowers and leaves) ; Anthemis nobilis, 

 camomile (leaves); Citrullus Colocynthis, colocynth (fruit); 

 Quassia amara, quassia (wood) ; Urtica diocia, nettle (whole 

 plant except root) ; Rheum officinale, rhubarb (root) ; and Hys- 

 sopus officinalis, hedge hyssop (whole plant except root). 



The formula for this bizarre compound, of unrevealed origin 

 (and now having only historical interest), had been brought to 

 this country by a Hungarian layman and used originally as a 

 poultice in the treatment of superficial epitheliomas and carci- 

 nomas. The extract in question, made at the instance of some 

 New York physicians who became interested in the matter, was 

 used hypodermically, and at first injected directly into the can- 

 cer mass, the observed effect being supposed to be local. 



My attention was called to the matter in February, 1915, soon 

 after I had observed at first hand the effects of radium in the 

 treatment of cancer in Dr. Kelly's sanitorium as above related, 

 and at a time when my mind was actively engaged in consid- 

 ering various aspects of the cancer problem, and of the pos- 

 sible application of the Proteomorphic Theory. It is speaking 

 within bounds to say that I was profoundly impressed with what 

 I saw of cases under treatment with the vegetable extract at 



