248 THE PROTEAL TREATMENT OF CANCER 



the words quoted, however, that in my own mind the matter was 

 perfectly clear. To me it seemed that the Proteomorphic theory 

 offered through basis for interpretation of the observed phe- 

 nomena. It has been observed that, following the hypodermic 

 injections, in cases of inoperable cancer, pain was modified or 

 annulled, the malodor disappeared, and in many cases the cancer 

 mass itself was modified in character or progressively decreased 

 in size. 



I had not only observed these clinical changes at first hand, 

 but had gathered statistical data regarding them (published in 

 detail in a subsequent article in the New York Medical Journal 

 of November 13, 1915). As to the facts, there could be no doubt. 

 The explanation of the facts seemed to me equally unequivocal. 

 Scientific caution led me to concede that some other constituent 

 of the plant extract employed for example, chlorophyll, lipoids, 

 or chromophyl might in a measure be operative. But the chief 

 action I ascribed unhesitatingly to the protein content; and the 

 explanation was given in terms of the Proteomorphic theory, in 

 part as follows : 



It is well known that foreign proteins of whatever character, 

 when introduced into the parenteral system, constitute antigens 

 that stimulate the body to the producion of defensive enzymes, 

 that tend to proteolyze the antigen itself and to neutralize its 

 toxic products. According to the Proteomorphic theory, the chief 

 agents in the production of these proteolytic and antidotal 

 enzymes are the white and red blood corpuscles, the latter being 

 concerned with the end products of the polypeptid order. Ac- 

 cording to the theory, large numbers of the red corpuscles them- 

 selves are destroyed in the liver, in the process of eliminating the 

 toxic end products of protein metabolism from the system. This 

 explains, for example, the pernicious anaemia that may result 

 from the absorption of toxins of protein origin, as in bothrio- 

 cephalus poisoning. 



Similar destruction of the red corpuscles, in their attempt to 

 rid the body of toxins, explains, according to the present thesis, 

 the pernicious anaemia that generally accompanies malignant neo- 

 plasms. The animal protein cell does not break down without the 

 production of toxic molecules, and wherever animal proteins of 

 any type are being split up parenterally, such destruction of the 

 red corpuscles must occur, with the result that the cytogenic 

 apparatus may finally be overtaxed and find itself unable to keep 

 up the supply. 



It seems probable, however, that vegetable proteins, notwith- 

 standing their chemical similarity to animal proteins, are less 

 likely to produce toxic by-products during disintegration. It is a 

 familiar doctrine that animal proteins rather than vegetable are 



