22 THE BODY AT WORK 



because they secrete an antibody which prevents the develop- 

 ment of the activity of trypsin. It is not in this case, strictly 

 speaking, antitrypsin. It is antikinase, a substance which, 

 if extracted from the bodies of tapeworms and added to pan- 

 creatic juice, renders it incapable of digesting albumin. The 

 antikinase does not destroy trypsin, but destroys kinase, the 

 co-operation of which is essential to its activity. 



Not only has protoplasm the power of meeting with an 

 antiferment any ferment which might prove prejudicial to its 

 own integrity ; but after it has been once attacked it continues 

 to defend the vulnerable spot. Its tactics are, it must be con- 

 fessed, somewhat like those of the dusky warrior who, during 

 his first lessons in the art of boxing, made a point of covering 

 with his fist the place where he had just been hit ; but even 

 its power of remembering its last injury is of supreme value to 

 the human race. Before the age of sanitary science, and even, 

 in certain backward communities, in these days of its beneficent 

 rule, conditions producing disease were not necessarily set 

 right as soon as the epidemic was over. The close-packed 

 inhabitants of a ghetto were continuously exposed to germs 

 of typhoid fever, small-pox, whooping-cough. But after their 

 protoplasm had once responded to the need for the production 

 of an antigerm, it either continued for many years to keep 

 a stock in hand, or it kept the recipe within easy reach. The 

 memory of protoplasm is amazing. It is commonly said that 

 vaccination is an absolute protection for seven years. There is 

 no doubt but that the immunity from small-pox which it 

 induces, if gradually lessening, lasts for life. The disease, if 

 it attacks a person who has been vaccinated in infancy, is 

 relatively harmless. 



Inoculation, vaccination, is the boxing-master's method of 

 utilizing the self-protective instinct of the dusky warrior. 

 Knowing that his pupil will for a long while continue to cover 

 an injured spot, he asks himself : " Where is he most likely, 

 when it comes to a serious contest, to be hit ?" Then he gives 

 him a gentle tap in that particular place. Does he need to 

 know how to defend himself against small-pox ? Give him 

 cow-pox. Is he likely to receive a knock-down blow from 

 typhoid fever ? Just show him what it feels like to have a 

 gentle shake. Educate his protoplasm to make antityphoid 



