90 f;.v/y.i//;.s' 



iiutriciil iiiciliii. ( 111 tliis way it has liccii iniiiid ])()ssil)le to obtain 

 the intracH'llular toxins of sueli hactt'ria as typlioid and cholera.) 

 Autolysis is not marked so lonj; as tlif bacteria are supplied with 

 nourishment. l)ut wlicii nutrient iiialfiial is laekinjz:, autolytic decom- 

 position is no l()ii«ier repaired aiul tiie bacteria disintegrate. Pre- 

 sumably the (•lian<res are the same in tissue cells, and anemic necrosis 

 may be explained in this way. Tissue enxymes are also capable of 

 di<restin«i: bacteria (Turro 'M. 



Another direction in which the kej^ to the action of these enzymes 

 may l)e sought has been indicated by Jacoby,-'"- who found that to a 

 certain degree the autolytic enzymes of each organ are specific for that 

 organ. Liver extract will not sjilit lung tissue, although it will split 

 the proteoses that are formed in lung autolj'sis, possibly because these 

 proteoses are less specific than tlic proteins from which they arise, or 

 perhaps because of the erepsin the extract contains (Yernon). 

 Leucocytic proteases, however, seem capable of splitting foreign 

 proteins of all sorts. Richet ''^ states that the protease of liver tissue 

 does not attack either muscle tissue or liver tissue that has been 

 coagulated. Anotlici- liy])()thesis has been advanced by Fermi,"'* who 

 suggests that the ])r()to])lasm of living cells is not digested because its 

 structural configuration is sucli that the enzymes cannot unite with it, 

 an attractive but practically undemonstrable idea. 



Lastly, it nuist be considered that at least to some extent the en- 

 zymes exist in the cells in their inactive zymogen form, and per- 

 haps are changed into the active foi-m as needed, and iidiibited 

 or changed back again when their work is temporarily finished. A 

 rhythmical change of this nature might be imagined as occurring and 

 accounting for interaction by the enzymes, particularly since rhythmi- 

 cal changes in metabolism are known to occur (e. g.,) rhythmical pro- 

 duction of carbon dioxide ( Lyon '''•'^ ) . , 



AUTOLYSIS IN PATHOLOGICAL PROCESSES 



All absorption of dead oi- injured tissues, and of organic foreign 

 ))odies, seems to be accom|)lislied by means of digestion by the enzymes 

 of the cells and tissue fluids. AVe nmy distinguish between the diges- 

 tion l)rought about by the enzynu's of the digested tissue itself, or 

 autolysis, and digestion by enzymes from other cells or tissue fluids, 

 or heterohjsis (Jacoby). TIeterolysis is aeconiplislied particularly by 

 the leucocytes, which contain ferments cajiable of digesting not only 

 leucocytic proteins but a])parently every other sort,''** from serum- 



'■' (inf. f. Bakt.. inn2 (.T2), 10."). 

 ■'•- IlofiiK'isfoi'K Bcitr., ino.T (.3). 440. 

 f-iC'oini.l. Itcnd. Sue. lUdl.. inn.1 (f).")). (!.")«. 

 f"" (Viil. f. Hiikt.. 1010 (riC). .->.^). 

 r'-' Scionro. 1004 MO). .'{.^O. 



'•"■Many nulliors snirp'st flint flic jciicocvf cs iiicrclv ciinv oh/mik's from ono 

 orpin, parliciilarly tlic pancreas. f<i anoflicr. aiul lliat tlicsc cii/vnics arc not 



