THE PROTEIN RESPONSE INTERPRETED 247 



fore, I have wished to show that the protein method is one that is 

 in no wise dependent upon the operation of any individual or com- 

 pany of individuals. I wish to show that any physician can 

 utilize the method and get initial results. I wish also, however, 

 to emphasize the fact that the initial results will not be maintained 

 in the vast majority of cases, if a single protein is adhered to, 

 and that it is necessary to follow up the method along scientific 

 lines, guided by results not only clinical but microscopical (with 

 especial reference to the relative status of the corpuscles) ; and 

 to point out that this opinion is not the result merely of my own 

 experience, wide though that be, but is fortified by the experience 

 of other workers with proteins, including those who had no 

 definite idea as to the real character of the work they were 

 carrying out. 



SECTION VI. 

 THE PROTEIN RESPONSE INTERPRETED 



The paper of October 2, 1915, which announced to the medi- 

 cal profession the introduction of a fundamentally new method 

 in therapeutics, namely, the use of non-specific protein antigens 

 as such, as interpreted in the light of the Proteomorphic 

 theory, had to do specifically with the interpretation of the action 

 of non-toxic vegetable proteins in their relation to malignant neo- 

 plasms, but clear intimations were given that the therapeutic prin- 

 ciple believed to be involved had much wider application. The 

 action of the extract was explained as chiefly due to its protein 

 content (the relatively non-toxic vegetable proteins acting as anti- 

 gens to stimulate the enzymic activities of the corpuscles and new 

 corpuscle-production by the cytogenic apparatus), and the con- 

 clusion was expressly stated that the remedy "is not merely a 

 cancer redemy ; it is a remedy against all protein infections." 



I further stated the belief that in the attempt to explain the 

 rationale of the action through which the vegetable proteins bring 

 about a beneficent increase in the armies of leucocytes and ery- 

 throcytes, "we shall gain glimpses of an entirely new field of 

 therapeutics, and shall be enabled to give at least a proximal ex- 

 planation of the exact manner of action of a remedy, the intro- 

 duction of which, I believe, constitutes the inauguration of a 

 method that must in future rank with serum therapy and vaccine 

 therapy if, indeed, it does not altogether outstrip or totally sup- 

 plant both these relatively new additions to the equipment of the 

 practical physician." 



I have elsewhere referred to the sceptical attitude of the pro- 

 fession toward this confident prophecy. It will be obvious from 



