THE SCIENCE AND ART OF PROTEAL THERAPY 159 



largely by the duration of time and the frequency with which 

 that organism has been subjected to their presence. 



This principle was held to apply to the proteins that serve 

 for food, and it was suggested that the reason why vegetable 

 proteins in the foodstuffs are in general less toxic than animal 

 proteins is that our primitive ancestors doubtless were vege- 

 tarians for many thousands of generations before they became 

 flesh eaters. Making a somewhat more elaborate analysis, it is 

 possible to make the application to many familiar foodstuffs. We 

 are thus provided, for example, with an explanation of the 

 familiar clinical fact that patients suffering from intestinal tox- 

 aemia, with its attendant sequels, may advantageously be placed 

 on a vegetable diet, and that if animal proteins are allowed milk 

 and cheese are more wholesome than red meat. It is a familiar 

 practice with clinicians to permit invalids and convalescents to 

 partake of these animal proteins, followed in due course by eggs, 

 fish, and fowl, before permitting the use of beef or mutton ; and 

 it would appear that this clinical formula finds a certain measure 

 of support in an analysis of the probable food habits of our 

 prehistoric ancestors in successive evolutionary eras. 



This point of view is recalled in the present connection to 

 emphasize the fact that I have not overlooked the question of 

 the toxicity of proteins in the inauguration and elaboration of 

 the principle of non-specific protein therapy. From the outset, 

 I have recognized that foreign proteins of every type are toxic 

 and must be handled with discretion. But I have found them 

 also to be agents having unique therapeutic possibilities when 

 administered in proper dosage. And it is hardly necessary to 

 point out that an element of toxicity is no barrier to the use 

 of pharmaceutical agents ; else we must forego the use of most 

 of the best-accredited drugs in our equipment, from opium, bella- 

 donna, and digitalis to diphtheria antitoxin, typhoid vaccine, and 

 salvarsan. 



Nevertheless, the question of relative toxicity of different pro- 

 teins is a highly important one. My experience shows that there 

 is marked difference in the reaction obtained from the use of 

 vegetable proteins, none of which could be considered toxic ex- 

 cept in the general sense above outlined. Mustard seed proteins 

 and rape seed proteins, for example, produce a much less severe 

 reaction (when using the unbroken molecule) than the proteins 

 of alfalfa seed and millet seed. It does not follow, however, that 

 the former are the more valuable agents in therapeutics. Cases 

 may arise in which it is desirable to produce the more powerful 

 stimulus of the proteins to which the system has been less fa- 

 miliarized by past usage. In point of fact, in the case in ques- 

 tion, the alfalfa and millet seed proteins have, according to my 



