APPLICATIONS OF RESULTS OF RESEARCHES. 



3G3 



individual-types. This last statement already has sup 

 port in the results of collateral lines of research which 

 bear upon the specificities of enzymes, anaphylaxis, pre- 

 cipitin reactions, immune sera, etc. 



From the foregoing data u -inns obvious that the 

 complex organic substances which may be assumed to 

 constitute the essential, fundamental constituents of 

 protoplasm and the immediate complex synthetic prod- 

 ucts of protoplasmic activity may exist in exceedingly 

 nun/emus- or even countless stereoisomeric forms, each 

 form being peculiarly and specifically modified in rela- 

 tion to genus, species, variety, race, sex, individual, or 

 even part of an individual. 



Pbotoplasm a Complex Steeeoisomeeic System. 



The next logical step in our investigation is mani- 

 festly the study of the bearings of these stereoisomers, as 

 such and in their variable combinations and associations, 

 upon the structure, processes, and products of proto- 

 plasm. Protoplasm, according to the modern develop- 

 ments of biochemistry, is to he regarded as being in the 

 nature of an extremely complex, labile aggregate of pro- 

 teins, fats, carbohydrates, and other substances that are 

 peculiarly associated to constitute a physico-chemical 

 mechanism. The possible number of " phases " in which 

 such a system can exist varies with the forms of the 

 stereoisomerides and in general with the number and in- 

 dependent variability of the components. In such a 

 mechanism we conceive that the number of variables is 

 inconceivably great. From analogy we believe that such 

 mechanisms are so extremely sensitive that the proper- 

 ties and processes may be modified by even so slight a 

 change as the substitution of one form of stereoisomeride 

 for another of the same prototype. Were it practicable 

 to examine all of the most complex of the organic struc- 

 tural components of protoplasm, it doubtless would be 

 found that every one exists in a form peculiar to the 

 individual and his position in classification. Moreover, 

 we must conceive that the components of protoplasm 

 are as specific in relation to the form of protoplasm as 

 are the peculiar forms of stereoisomers, so that differ- 

 ent forms of protoplasm are characterized physico-chemi- 

 cally (1) by the peculiarities of the stereoisomerides, and 

 (2) by the peculiarities of the kinds, combinations, 

 associations, and arrangements of the components in 

 the three dimensions of space. 



In accordance with the foregoing the human organ- 

 ism may be regarded as beinu r a highly organized com- 

 posite of heterogeneous physico-chemical systems that 

 are composed of a vast number of parts, each such part 

 representing a particular "phase" of tin' system and 

 being physically, mechanically, chemically, and func- 

 tionally an individual interacting unit of the aggregate. 

 Hence, it follows that the sum or totality of these pecu- 

 liarly modified stereoisomers per se, and of their arrange- 

 ments with the associated components, constitutes a 

 " stereochemic system" peculiar to the cell; that the 

 sum of the cell-systems is peculiar to the tissue : that the 

 sum of the tissue-systems is peculiar to the organ; and 

 that the sum of the organ-systems is peculiar to the 

 individual. 



While the living organism had been for years recog- 

 nized as being in the nature of an exceedingly complex 

 physico-chemical aggregate of interacting independent 



and interdependent part- thi tute a .-ingle work- 



ing unit m only recent years have the mechanism 



■ peral •■ actn itiee of tin 



been made clear. The governing influences of the ner- 

 vous system were found inadequate even in the In 

 organisms, not to speak of forms of life in which such 

 actions occur, but in which then arently a total 



absence of nervous matter. A- an a i the ner- 



vous system, and doubtless far antedating it in organic 

 evolution, i- a correlative mechanism of a chemical char- 

 acter of the greatest importance, and doubtle - equally 

 so throughout the whole range of living organism- from 

 the lowest to the highest. Every living cell, whether 

 it be in the form of a unicellular organism or a com 



I cut of a multicellular organism, is undoubtedly in 



the nature of a heterogeneous stereochemic systi m, each 

 of the component parts ol : stem forming substances 



which may affect directly or indirectly the activitii 

 the processes of the other parts; likewise, • I of a 



multicellular organism is not only in itself a hetero- 

 geneous system, but a part of a number of associated 

 heterogeneous systems and which by virtue of certain 

 of its products, with or without the agency of the blood- 

 vascular or lymph-vascular systems. ma\ exeri l-e in- 

 fluences upon other structures, which structures may 

 have or seemingly not have either structural or physio- 

 logical relationship. Thus we find that a secretin formed 

 in the pyloric glands of the gastne mucosa may excite 

 the glands of the cardia : that growth is determined by 

 some product or products of the pituitary body that are 

 carried to the various structures; that the liver, pan- 

 creas and intestinal glands are excited to seen tory activ- 

 ity by a peculiar substance formed in the duodenal and 

 jejunal mucosae; that carbohydrate metabolism in the 

 liver and muscles is influenced to a profound degree by 

 hormones that are formed in the pancreas; that lactation 

 is determined essentially by substam es -I. rived from the 

 corpus luteum, placenta, and involuting womb: that the 

 periods of ovulation and menstruation are inhibited by 

 secretions of the corpus luteum; that vitally important 

 states of activity of the generative organs are directly a--' >- 

 ciated with functions of the adrenal and other glands: and 

 that normal development, especially of - ndary sexual 

 characters, is intimately related to the ovaries and tes- 

 ticles. To these extraordinary correlations might be 

 addeil many others. Some of the bodily structures are 

 in this way so definitely associated in their activities as 

 to constitute co-operating or interacting .-_-. i that 



the tissue products are complementary, supplementary, 

 synergistic, or antagonistic in their influences upon 

 given structures. Sucl ons must be, for per- 



fectly obvious reasons, one of the most primitive forms 

 of interprotoplasmic correlation, and we are justi 

 upon the basis of our present knowledge, in the con- 

 clusion that each active part of a cell, each cell, 

 tissue and each organ contributes products which may 

 affect the activities of functionally related or unrelated 

 parts. Hence would follow the dictum that not only is 

 every part of a ry cell, every tissue, and every 



organ an individualized stereochemic unit, but also that 

 its operations, and hence the nature of its products, must 

 be subject directly nr indirectly to the influence of every 

 oilier active part of the organism, however different the 

 structures and function* may be. 



