26 TOXINES AND ANTITOXINES. 



when thus introduced into the system than when injected sub- 

 cutaneously or into the veins. Degenerative changes also take 

 place in the kidneys. 



Alterations of the blood (hcemoglobincemia) and vascular system 

 are, in like manner, of frequent occurrence. Many toxines appear 

 to have a solvent action upon the blood-corpuscles. According 

 to KAEFUNKEL, 1 they reduce the alkalinity of the blood, but 

 this effect can be partially prevented by the application of 

 artificial heat. Lastly, the nervous system and, in particular, 

 its central organ are usually attacked, but in very different 

 ways ; this will be dealt with more fully in the special part. 



CoNSiGLio 2 states that he has observed a peculiar charac- 

 teristic of diphtheria toxine. He has found that in small 

 doses it stimulates the process of fermentation, but in larger 

 doses checks it ; whilst, on the other hand, it has invariably a 

 very injurious influence on the germination process of seeds. 



Toxoids and Toxones. According to the side-chain theory, 

 we must regard toxines as bodies that possess two distinct 

 stereo groups the haptoplwre group and the toxophore group. 

 Assuming, now, that under certain conditions the toxophore 

 group may be so changed as to lose its characteristic activity 

 while the haptophore group remains unaltered, new substances 

 will be formed which still have the power of attaching them- 

 selves to receptors whether free (antitoxines) or combined (body 

 cells), but without being poisonous. EHRLICH has investigated 

 substances of this kind in the case of diphtheria toxine, and has 

 established their great influence upon the toxicity of solutions 

 of poisons and in the preparation of curative sera, with which 

 we shall deal at length in the next chapter. These "toxoids," 

 then, are non-poisonous, but are still haptones with specific powers 

 of combination. When they are secondary decomposition pro- 

 ducts of true toxines they are termed " toxoids," in the narrower 

 sense of the word ; but there are also primary bacterial products, 

 which are able to seize upon the same haptophore group as the 

 toxine, but which have a different and much weaker toxophore 

 group, capable of producing slight characteristic effects of its 

 own, as has been demonstrated by EHRLICH and MADSEN in 

 the case of diphtheria. These primary substances, which thus 

 represent a second secretion product of the bacteria, are known as 

 "toxones" 



1 Karf unkel, ' ' Schwankungen des Blutalkaleszenzgehaltes nach Einver- 

 leibung von Toxinen, &c.," Zeit. f. Hyg., xxxii., 149, 1899. 



2 Consiglio, " Azione di alcune tossine, &c.," Arch, di Farm., vi., No. 3, 

 1898; MalysJb., 1898,634. 



