THE ADRENAL SYSTEM AND ANTITOXIC SERUM. 639 



evident, therefore, that the side-chain theory does not account, 

 in its present form, for the protective phenomena witnessed 

 and that the solution of the problem must be sought elsewhere. 



The properties of the pathogenic agents may furnish a 

 clue. Beginning with organic poisons, it is desirable to fully 

 realize their identity as albuminoid bodies. This is demon- 

 strated by their common tendency to lose their toxic powers 

 when heated to 100 C. 21 likewise a characteristic of snake- 

 venom, as shown by Weir Mitchell and Reichert many years 

 ago. Venom not only responds to all the tests that denote its 

 albuminoid character, but so do toxins and the toxic bodies of 

 plants: ricinus, jequirity, etc. Again, the relationship between 

 these toxalbumins and vaccine substances is very close. Pro- 

 tective inoculation against small-pox may, as shown by Ber- 

 trand and Phisalix, 2 * be imitated for snake-venoms. These facts 

 not only reaffirm that all organic poisons, whatever be their 

 source, must be treated collectively as regards effects, but they 

 also show that they are all vulnerable in the same manner, through 

 the similarity of their molecular structure, to the physical agencies 

 present in the organism that tend to convert them into harmless 

 bodies. 



How are poisons converted into harmless substances? 



A striking feature of the introduction of venom into the 

 circulation is the loss of its identity as such. The poisoned 

 blood may be removed from an animal in the throes of toxic 

 manifestations of poisoning and injected into another, but nor- 

 mal, animal and produce no effect whatever. This was ob- 

 served by Laborde in 1875 and confirmed by Calmette, who 

 found that even an emulsion of the organs of the poisoned ani- 

 mal produced no effect upon a normal animal of the same kind. 

 Similar results were obtained from hypodermic injections of 

 cobra-poisoned blood taken from the heart, spleen, brain, and 

 bulb, into the pigeon, rat, guinea-pig, and rabbit. Bufalini 23 

 injected 30 cubic centimeters of blood, taken from the vena 

 cava of a man who had died as a result of a viper-bite, into 

 the peritoneal cavity of a guinea-pig, but no untoward effects 



21 A. Gautier: "La Chimie de la Cellule vivante." 



**IUd. 



28 Bufalini: Quoted by Romiti, Archives ital. de Biologie, 1884. 



