166 THE PROTEOMORPHIC THEORY AND THE NEW MEDICINE 



tein remedies refers, as is well known, to the use of the bodies 

 or toxins of definite character of pathogenic bacteria to combat 

 conditions associated with the activities of the same type of 

 bacteria. The use of anti-typhoid vaccine either as a preventive 

 against typhoid fever or as a curative agent when typhoid fever 

 has actually developed, is the classical illustration of the specific 

 use of a specific protein remedy. 



But the same vaccine may be used, and in point of fact has 

 been used with apparent effectiveness in the treatment of rheuma- 

 toid conditions; and in such a case the vaccine is used non- 

 specifically. In the latter case the response evoked or desired 

 has no association with the typhoid bacillus, but is a general 

 protein response. Doubtless there is a specific response also, but 

 this is purely incidental and does not enter into the calculations 

 of the therapeutist. 



When vegetable proteins extracted from the seeds or sub- 

 stances of higher plants are used there is obviously no chance 

 for a specific response in the sense in which the word has just 

 been defined. Observation shows that there are certain very 

 characteristic modifications of the blood that occur in response 

 to the parenteral introduction of any of these foreign proteins, 

 and that similar modifications are brought about by the intro- 

 duction of various animal proteins, for example, sheep serum. In 

 the practical use of the Proteals it has been found possible to 

 substitute one for another, the selection of the particular type 

 of protein to be used in beginning treatment of a given case 

 being to a considerable extent a matter of indifference. I early 

 observed, however, that some types of vegetable proteins pro- 

 duced a very much more pronounced anaphylactic response than 

 others, and I soon found myself selecting one protein or another 

 with definite reference to the observed condition or suspected 

 idiosyncrasies of the particular patient. 



This obviously implies a recognition of specific differences 

 among the vegetable proteins used non-specifically. 



Further proof of such differences were found in the fact that 

 an individual patient sometimes responded much more actively to 

 one type of protein than another. An injection of alfalfa pro- 

 teins, for example, might cause a marked local reaction, whereas 

 when mustard seed or rape seed protein was substituted no reac- 

 tion occurred. Further proof of the specific action in the usual 

 sense of the word was given when it was found that the patient 

 who had become in a measure immunized to the effect of one 

 protein showed new response on exhibition of another protein. 



Reasoning from analogy, we may suppose that the relative 

 non-toxicity of proteins from food plants will be shared in some 

 measure by proteins from botanically related species of plants. 



