654 THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS AND IMMUNITY. 



commonplace facts appear so because they are so firmly estab- 

 lished that no one even thinks of disputing them. But this 

 in itself embodies the deduction we wish to reach: i.e., that 

 specificity is a factor of general toxicology (including toxins and 

 venoms) established on so firm a foundation that we would 

 regard all the work submitted in this volume as fallacious did 

 our views conflict with it. And, indeed, the fact that the one 

 organ, the anterior pituitary, is the organism's guardian would 

 tend to suggest an opposite deduction; but even a cursory 

 review of the functions of the adrenal system, as we understand 

 them, confirms the teachings of practical experience. 



Indeed, since the adrenal system, to which we ascribe the 

 primary role in the prophylactic processes involved, is subject 

 to fluctuations of functional activity, and these, in turn, de- 

 pend upon the virulence of the toxic and the dose of the 

 latter, "specificity" must represent, as regards major symptoms, 

 variations of suprarenal activity: a feature which harmonizes 

 perfectly with the effects of the various poisons, venoms, etc., 

 already reviewed. A given toxin under these conditions could 

 only stimulate the adrenal system up to a certain degree, but not 

 beyond. That this conception is not erroneous is suggested by 

 the fact that it accounts for the antitoxin record of the horse 

 referred to by McFarland, which reached 1400 units to the 

 cubic centimeter, then gradually declined to 100 units. While 

 this particular horse's adrenal system could stand stimulation 

 perhaps above this stage, it was the only stage to which diph- 

 theria toxins could bring it. 



The specificity of toxics in general is further shown by the 

 constancy of the effects of a given drug in a normal subject and 

 the dissimilarity of these effects from those of another drug. 

 Quinine, for instance, will give rise to cerebral phenomena, 

 doubtless caused by hyperaemia and engorgement of the capil- 

 laries and if our views are sound of the glia-cells and fibers. 

 This hyperanria the bromides will never produce: simply be- 

 cause they are hardly able to stimulate the adrenal system 

 beyond its normal functional activity before they lower it; and, 

 simultaneously, the oxidation processes of the entire organism. 

 Indeed, when the entire list of drugs is arranged in the order 

 of their inherent potential as regards the reaction they initiate 



