762 INTERNAL SECRETIONS AND PRESERVATION OF LIFE. 



2. Precisely as is the case with drugs, so are the different 

 toxins endowed with specific attributes, each toxin reacting prima- 

 rily upon the anterior pituitary body in its characteristic way. 



3. The various sera introduced, including antitoxin, are all 

 similar in the sense that they contain the same constituents, the 

 dominant active principle in all being trypsin. 



Still, the use of the many sera introduced has shown that 

 they differ from one another symptomatically, and in a way 

 which trypsin, alone, in the light of our statements, could not 

 explain. Even a cursory review of these effects will show, how- 

 ever, that we are dealing with symptoms that denote a mere 

 increase in dosage of certain secondary constituents a feature 

 which accounts for our use of the word "dominant" in respect 

 to trypsin as an active principle. Which are these secondary 

 constituents? "We have emphasized the fact that an increased 

 production of trypsin was caused when a toxin or any other 

 poison in the blood-stream enhanced the functional activity of 

 the adrenal system, because that of the spleen and pancreas 

 was also enhanced, though secondarily. That the functions of 

 the thyroid gland, under these circumstances are likewise raised 

 to inordinate activity is self-evident. The use of a specific 

 toxin, therefore, must indirectly cause this organ to supply the 

 blood with a proportion of thyro-iodine commensurate with its 

 ability to stimulate the adrenal system. It seems clear to us, 

 therefore, that: 



4. The various antitoxic sera are more or less active in pro- 

 portion as the quantity of thyro-iodine contained in them is great. 



5. The proportion of thyro-iodine in a given serum is com- 

 mensurate with the degree of stimulation to which the adrenal 

 system of the supply-animal is subjected by the toxin employed to 

 obtain this serum. 



But this introduces another factor: i.e., the part played 

 in the effects of the serum by the agencies added to it to insure 

 its preservation, i.e., carbolic acid (Behring), camphor (Roux), 

 trikresol (Aronson), etc. They are all adrenal stimulants, fort- 

 unately, and can only, therefore, enhance its effectiveness. 

 Still, they are all capable of giving rise to phenomena that 

 may suggest specific qualities quite foreign to the serum itself, 

 and which drugs, judiciously handled, can replace with advan- 



