118 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



of the procedure as a whole, and assuredly not precluding the 

 possibility of further development along similar lines. 



Therefore I re-entered the laboratory (several years of my ear- 

 lier professional life had been devoted to chemistry and pathology) 

 and took up once more the routine of office practice, and the labo- 

 rious but ever fascinating grind with test tube and microscope. The 

 dominant thought was to test the protein principle as interpreted 

 in terms of the Proteomorphic Theory. My published contention 

 that we had to do with no specific agent, but with a general 

 principle that could be utilized in all kinds of protein infec- 

 tions had found a measure of practical support in the success- 

 ful treatment of a few cases of rheumatoid arthritis and one 

 almost spectacular case of tuberculosis. The modification of the 

 blood in these cases had been characteristic; and similar modi- 

 fications were observed in patients treated with sheep serum. 



My belief that the observed modifications are of the nature 

 of a response to the introduction of a foreign protein, and not 

 to any particular protein, had become a firm conviction. But 

 it required further experimental support. 



An obvious way to test the matter would be to produce pro- 

 tein extracts from a variety of non-toxic vegetable substances, 

 and to observe their effects when used hypodermically. Such 

 extracts were made from alfalfa seed, millet seed, rape seed, 

 hemp seed (and subsequently from numerous other sources), 

 carefully standardized by a nitrogen determination, and clin- 

 ically tested with a variety of patients, most of whom had long 

 been under treatment with the original protein extract, but some 

 of whom had never previously been treated with proteins of 

 any kind. 



The vegetable proteins thus used were at first prepared by 

 macerating the ground seeds in either salt solution or solu- 

 tion of sodium hydroxide. A concentration varying from two 

 to four milligrams of nitrogen to the cubic centimeter was af- 

 fected by the Kjeldahl method, and ultimately a standardization 

 on the basis of three milligrams of nitrogen, or approximately 

 a two per cent, protein solution, was adopted as a satisfactory 

 and convenient compromise. Sometimes the proteins were used 

 in the original solution ; in other cases the protein was precipi- 

 tated from the extract with acetic or hydrochloric acid ; washed, 

 and redissolved in a solution of sodium hydroxide. In any 

 event, the extract was always made slightly alkaline with sodium 

 hydroxide, the slightest degree of acidity rendering it painful 

 on administration. I had early discovered that this was one 

 source of irritation that made the administration of the original 

 extract unpleasant. 



Extracts thus prepared were first employed therapeutically in 



