THE EFFECTS OF ANIMAL ALKALOIDS 351 



In order to prove this point we now, in the first instance, 

 used these pure alkaloids, choline and cadaverine, 

 added to the extracts, and afterwards we combined 

 them with kreatin and xanthin to induce augmented 

 divisions. 



If a jelly contains 0.01 gramme of choline and 

 10 units of alkali solution, divisions in lymphocytes 

 can be induced if only 0.02 or even 0.01 gramme of 

 kreatin is present (fig. 113). In fact, this alkaloid of 

 putrefaction choline, like atropine, augments the action 

 of auxetics about five-fold. 



Using cadaverine in the strength given above, 

 divisions in lymphocytes w^ere induced if the jelly con- 

 tained only 2 cc. of a 1-per-cent solution of kreatin. 



It has already been mentioned that a mixture of 

 atropine and an auxetic will give rise to asymmetrical 

 mitosis in lymphocytes, and we have also found that 

 these remarkable mitoses also are frequently induced 

 by the augmenting action of choline and cadaverine 

 (figs. 114-16). This point is of great importance, 

 because it is well known that asymmetrical mitoses 

 are frequently seen in cancerous growths. 



So far the augmented divisions had only been 

 induced in lymphocytes. It is true that there is a form 

 of cancer which occurs in the lymphocyte class of 

 cells of the lymphatic glands (lymphadenoma) ; and if 

 it is a criterion that because a lymphocyte divides by 

 an augmented asymmetrical division it is necessarily 

 malignant, 1 then the combination in certain proportion 

 between the causes of the proliferation of healing plus 

 an alkaloid of putrefaction like choline must be a cause 



1 It has not been proved to be a criterion. 



