LIFE AND ALKALINITY OF THE BLOOD. 781 



observed the same phenomenon under the use of diphtheria tox- 

 ins. The influence of the adrenal system also becomes evident 

 through the facts (1) that the'increase of alkalinity only showed 

 itself two hours after the poison had been injected; and (2) 

 that it slowly increased until the twentieth hour had been 

 reached, then gradually fell, returning to the normal when a 

 period of three days had elapsed. In another series of experi- 

 ments, performed with the collaboration of Rigler, 114 von Fodor 

 adduced suggestive evidence. In this series he observed that 

 the intensity of the symptoms varied with the dose of toxin 

 injected: moderate doses increasing the alkalinity, while very 

 large doses caused it to decrease. Again, an important clinical 

 feature: while the injection of diphtheria toxin lowered the 

 alkalinity of the blood, injections of antitoxin raised it. Finally, 

 we have shown how clearly leucocytogenesis was dependent 

 upon overactivity of the adrenal system: Lb'wy and Richter, 115 

 in a series of experiments with hemialbumose, spermin, pep- 

 tone, and antitoxin in rabbits, noted that the increase of white 

 cells kept pace with that of alkalinity. It therefore seems clear 

 to us that: 



1. Both leucocytosis and increased alkalinity of the Uood are 

 concomitant results of the enhanced functional activity of the ad- 

 renal system induced by toxics. 



2. It is only when the alkalinity and fluidity of the 'blood- 

 plasma are approximately normal that all cellular elements of the 

 organism, including the adrenal system and the posterior pituitary 

 body, can continue their functions. 



The lethal tendency engendered by a deficiency of salines 

 in the blood during disease is not only due to the fact that 

 cellular metabolism is inhibited through the increased density 

 of fluids and cells, but there is another factor which contributes 

 materially to augment the morbid results of such a condition: 

 i.e., the primary prophylactic process itself. Indeed, in virtue 

 of the principle we now have so frequently emphasized, the 

 various poisons, toxins, toxalbumins, etc., awaken a defensive 

 reaction in the organism by primarily stimulating the adrenal 

 system. But in doing this it augments to an inordinate degree 



114 Rigler: Centralbl. fur Bakter., Feb. 6, 1897. 



118 Lowy and Richter: Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, No. 33, 1897. 



