246 DEFENSE AGAINST NON-ANTIGEMC POISONS 



ing to "specific acquired tolerance."^ According- to Slowtzoff * 

 arsenic is fixed by the nucleus in a very firm combination ; ^° mercury 

 by globulins in a less stable combination; copper by the nucleins, but 

 less firmly than the arsenic. Other poisons, chiefly alkaloids, are 

 probably combined with bile acids. Possibly some poisons combine 

 with glycogen. These compounds are but slowly broken up, and thus 

 the poison reaches the more susceptible and more important tissues 

 in a relatively diluted condition. The bones seem to hold in harmless 

 form poisonous fluorides, and to less extent arsenic, barium, and 

 tungsten, which persist in the bones for a great length of time. Leu- 

 cocytes are possibly important binders of poisons, perhaps through 

 combination with their nucleins,^ ^ but storage in these labile cells 

 is necessarily of relatively brief duration. ]\Iany poisons combine 

 with the inorganic constituents of the tissues ; e. g., barium and various 

 aromatic substances with SO4 ; silver with CI, etc. 



3. Combination with substances formed or contained in the tissues ; 

 the resulting substance being less toxic than the poison alone. Under 

 this heading may be included both chemical combination and physical 

 absorption or solution, such as the deviation of the lipoid-solu^e nar- 

 cotics from the central nervous system by excessive tissue fat'^? or by 

 fats therapeuticallv introduced.^- -^ 



4. Chemical alteration, with or without subsequent combination with 

 other substances, by such means as oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, 

 and neutralization. •". "- 



5. Impaired absorption should also be considered as a m^ans of de- 

 fense against poisons. This may depend upon the injury to the gas- 

 tro-intestinal tract produced either by the poison itself or by some 

 independent pathological condition. Cloetta considers impaired ab- 

 sorption important in acquired immunity to arsenic (see below) and 

 it may also modify the effects of other poisons.^^ 



The chemical reactions employed in defense against simple chemical 

 j>oisons have been particularly considered by E. Fromm,^^ whose out- 

 line is here partially followed, and to which the reader is referred for 

 bibliography. 



INORGANIC POISONS 



Metallic poisons, such as lead, silver, mercury, and arsenic, are 

 made insoluble, particularly by forming compounds with proteins in 



sSantesson, Skand. Arch. Physiol.. 1011 (25), 2S. 



9 Hofmeister's Reitr., 1001 (1), 281; 1002 (2), 307. 



10 Denied by ITeffter (Arch, inteinat. de PharmaPodyn.. 1005 (15), 300). who 

 considers it more a physico-chemical ])rocess. 



11 Stessano, Conipt. kend. Acad. Sci., 1900 (131), 72. 



12 See Graham, .Tour. Inf. Dis., 1011 (8), 147. 



13 V. Lhota, Arch, internal. ])harniacodyn.. 1012 (22), QA . 



14 "Die chemischen R<'hiit/niittel des TierkJirpers hei Vcr<.Mf(iiii<rcn." Strasshnrji, 

 Karl Triibner, lOO:?. See also n'-sunie hv Ellin;:cr. De\it. mod. Wocli., lilOO (2(i), 

 580. 



