158 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



If I have dwelt rather longer on this aspect of the subject 

 than might have been expected in a chapter ostensibly dealing 

 with practicalities, it is because I would reiterate and emphasize 

 my belief that protein therapy can be carried out to best advan- 

 tage only with the aid of the microscope, and with a clear under- 

 standing of the underlying principles involved. The Proteals 

 may indeed be administered empirically, by rule of thumb, and 

 with only clinical results as a guide; but they may be admin- 

 istered to far better advantage if the clinical findings are checked 

 day by day or week by week with microscopic observations of 

 the blood. 



RELATIVE NON-TOXICITY OF THE PROTEALS 



Let us turn now to matters that to the average reader may 

 seem of greater interest or at least of more directly practical 

 character. First and foremost, there is the matter of safety of 

 administration implied doubtless in the foregoing pages, but 

 not hitherto dealt with explicitly and in detail. 



The experiments in the administration of proteins to dogs and 

 guinea pigs are of interest in this connection. It has been re- 

 ported by independent workers that very small doses of bac- 

 terial toxins, including Coley's fluid, bring about a condition of 

 toxicity, with notable cachexia, in the dog, that make it impos- 

 sible to continue the administration for a considerable length of 

 time without disastrous consequences. But, on the other hand, 

 it is possible to administer the vegetable protein edestin in large 

 doses without producing unpleasant symptoms of any kind, be- 

 yond a temporary slight chill and rise in temperature. 



I have administered various vegetable proteins (extracted from 

 more than a score of plant species in the aggregate) to guinea 

 pigs week after week, while the animals maintained perfect health 

 and normal growth ; the dosage employed relative to the weight 

 of the animals being from fifty to one hundred times the max- 

 imum Proteal dose employed therapeutically. 



These laboratory observations are obviously in accord with 

 my experience and that of many scores of associated physicians 

 who have administered proteals to patients for long periods of 

 time ; and who have observed, in the vast majority of instances, 

 a marked improvement in general health, and the disappearance 

 rather than the onset of cachexia. Let us, however, examine this 

 vital aspect of the subject somewhat more at length. 



In the original presentation of the Proteomorphic theory, as 

 reproduced in the present book, the idea was elaborated that all 

 foreign proteins are primarily toxic, and that their relative tox- 

 icity, in their effect on any particular organism, is determined 



