ANIMAL TOXINS. 55 



mission by the general circulation to the nervous 

 centers. 



However, it is not only in the leucocytes that 

 we meet with these toxic digestive ferments; it 

 appears quite probable, and has even been partially 

 demonstrated, that they occur in a large number of 

 other cellular elements. 



It is not necessary here to dwell upon the forma- 

 tion of the antibodies of this group of active sub- 

 stances. The animal toxins are animal diastases, 

 and we have seen in the preceding paragraph that 

 these substances yield specific antibodies with 

 great facility. For the rest, we will dwell more 

 fully on these antibodies of the animal toxins in 

 another volume of this collection, specially devoted 

 to the study of these substances, and entitled 

 "Les Serums Immunisants" to which we refer 

 the reader who is desirous of obtaining more 

 complete details than he can obtain in the present 

 volume. 



Alimentary Intoxications. - - What we have 

 already stated permits us to understand the 

 phenomena of indigestion and botulism. The toxic 

 substances form within the digestive tract when 

 the nervous conditions modify the composition of 

 the gastric juice, and arrest the flow of hydro- 

 chloric acid, the presence of which normally checks 

 the development of the microbial flora, so rich 

 within the stomach. The result is the production, 



