CYToLVs/s y.v <;i:m:i{m. ■ 241 



^Microscopically, the gaiig'lioii cells showed marked changes in those 

 animals that survived the injection long enough. All the results so 

 far obtained have been with heterogeneous serum.-®"*^ Venoms, par- 

 ticularly that of cobra, possess strong neurolytic substances that are 

 the chief toxic agents in most of the venoms (rattlesnake venom ex- 

 cepted). 



Thyrolytic Serum. — There are but few reports on this sernim, but 

 that of Portis -' indicates that after removal of all hemolysis as a 

 factor there do occur changes, in the nature of excessive absorption 

 of colloid, and proliferation after the order of that seen in thyroid 

 regeneration. However, the clinical picture of thyroidectomy was 

 not produced in any case, and the anatomic changes were not great. 

 ]^y immunizing against nucleoproteins derived from thyroid tissue, 

 Beebe -"* has secured an antiserum to which he ascribes some effect 

 upon diseased thyroids (exophthalmic goiter). MacCallum -" could 

 not get a specific serum for parathyroid tissue. 



Numerous reports may be found indicating attempts, with varying 

 success, to obtain serum toxic for other tissues. Among them may be 

 mentioned epithcliolysin -"^ (for ciliated epithelium), spermatotoxin,^'-'^ 

 hepatolysin, cardioUjsin, splenolysin, and syncytiolysm.^° Special at- 

 tention has been given to the production of specific lysins for cancer 

 cells, without definite success. (See Chapter xvii.) In general it 

 can be said that it has }wt been found possible in this way to throw 

 out of function one particular organ, with or without involvement of 

 other structures. The principles involved in all these experiments are 

 the same, and the results are in no instance altogether satisfactory; 

 therefore no further consideration of these special cytotoxic serums 

 wdll be made here, the reader being referred to other sources for de- 

 tails.''^ It may be said, however, that recent developments indicate 

 that various tissues not only contain proteins which exhibit the species 

 characteristics of the entire animal, but also other proteins or anti- 

 genic radicals which are more or less independent of these and char- 

 acteristic to a certain degree for the tissue from which the antigen 

 was obtained. This being the case, we cannot consider the problem 



2«a An attempt to obtain a specific neurotoxin witli corpus striatum was un- 

 successful. (Lillian Moore, Jour. Immunol., 1916 (1), 525.) 



2" Jour. Infectious Diseases, 1904 (1), 127. 



28 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1906 (46), 484. Not corroborated by Portis and 

 Bach, ibid., 1914 (62), 1884. 



20 Med. News, 1903 (83), 820. 



2"Ja8ee Galli-Valerio, Zcit. Immunitat., 1915 (24), 311. 



20b Taylor (Jour. Biol. Chem., 1908 (5), 311) made the interestiiif; oliservation 

 that no siiermatolytic serum could he obtained by immunizing with isolated 

 nucleic acid, ])r()tamines, or ether extracts of sperm, although immiuiizing with 

 whole sperm jnodiu'cd active sera. 



30 Lake, Jour. Infect. Dis., 1914 (14), 385. 



31 Bioclieniisches Centralblatt, 1903 (1), 57;5, rt sc<j.; also see Sata, Zicgler's 

 Beitr., 1906 (39), 1; and literature cited previously. 



16 



