130 PROTEIN POISONS 



there was considerable fluid in the peritoneal cavity, and 

 the vessels of the mesentery were markedly congested. 

 The omentum was particularly injected and a few minute 

 hemorrhages could be made out. The most plausible explan- 

 ation of the above facts is found in the theory that the 

 poison has not been destroyed in the alkaline solution, but 

 rather has entered into chemical combination with the 

 alkali and that we are again dealing with it in a combined 

 instead of in a free state. The fact that the same amount 

 will not cause a fatal result is thus readily explained, since 

 the outcome depends largely on the rapidity with which 

 the poison acts. If it is present in a state of combination 

 which must be broken up before it can exert its deleterious 

 action on the body, and if this combination is only slowly 

 decomposed, the nerve cells, for which it apparently has a 

 special affinity, are not subjected to an overwhelming dose 

 at one time, as in the case of the intraperitoneal injection 

 of the free poison. 



The* results obtained in animals Nos. 5 and 6, Table V, 

 are very interesting. In these instances there were two 

 distinct illnesses, the first becoming manifest within from 

 twenty to thirty minutes after the injection and corre- 

 sponding in all respects to that following a non-fatal dose 

 of what we have for convenience termed the free poison. 

 The animals were decidedly in better condition at the end 

 of an hour; however, they then began to show symptoms 

 similar to those noticed after the injection of the crude 

 cell substance, i. e., roughening of the coat, stupor, and 

 slight convulsive movements. Recovery from this state 

 did not occur until after the lapse of from five to six hours. 

 It is evident that here the first signs of illness were due 

 to some of the poison which had not as yet combined with 

 the alkali, and hence still existed in the free state, whereas 

 the later symptoms were due to the effects of the slow 

 liberation of the same poison from its combination. In this 

 connection it is interesting to note that the combination 

 between the poison and the alkali which apparently takes 

 place in decidedly alkaline solutions is not an immediate 



