94 PROTEIN THERAPY 



esses and immunity there are essentially two factors at work; ferment pro- 

 duction by the infecting organism for the purpose of preparing the food 

 on which it lives, with the incidental destructive influence on the involved 

 tissues; and tissue produced ferments which have a destructive influence 

 on the invading organisms and their poisonous products. The application 

 of the word ferment is well understood and by pointing out that infection 

 is sustained and immunization established by ferment action, the difficulty 

 of conveying thought through the use of new words is avoided. The sub- 

 stances known as agglutinins, precipitins, lysins, opsonins, etc., may all 

 be regarded on this basis as cell produced ferments exerting varying de- 

 structive influences on the invading organisms. This power of cells to 

 produce germ destroying ferments would conform to what Wright calls 

 phylactic power. Kataphylaxis would designate a condition in which 

 cell secreted protective ferments are freely conveyed to the infected area; 

 anti-kataphylaxis would indicate the reverse condition and epiphylaxis 

 applies to an augmented immunizing activity by calling into operation 

 some reserve immunizing force. Whether these newly coined words will 

 more clearly convey a fixed comprehension of the immunizing process 

 than the terms heretofore employed remains to be seen. 



In the application of vaccines much emphasis is laid on the importance 

 of creating conditions by which the immunizing substances are conveyed 

 to the infected area; contending that therapeutic immunization will less 

 frequently fail through faulty conveyance to the infected area than through 

 inefficient antibody formation. This is accomplished by efficient drainage, 

 removing necrotic tissue, instilling hypertonic salt solution, irritating ap- 

 plications, hot fomentations, etc. 



Wright's experimental work showing that the bacillus of gas gangrene 

 and tetanus bacilli will not grow in freshly supplied blood serum but will 

 grow freely where the serum is contaminated with streptococci or staphy- 

 lococci, while streptococci will grow in unaltered serum, is most interesting 

 and shows the importance of removing necrotic tissues and inducing a free 

 flow of blood plasma in these infections. Since streptococci and staphylo- 

 cocci grow freely in blood serum, he calls these organisms serophites. That 

 these organisms are destroyed by leukocytes is most cleverly demonstrated 

 by his glass lath experiment. Here he shows that when the leukocytes are 

 washed with serum, bacterial destruction takes place by phagocytosis, 

 whereas when the leukocytes are washed with normal salt solution, the 

 organisms are destroyed by the mere presence of the leukocyte. Where 

 destruction takes place by phagocytic action it is clearly accomplished by 

 a digestive process and where bacteria are destroyed or inhibited in their 

 growth by the near proximity of the washed leukocytes, this action is 

 necessarily due to some ferment action by the leukocyte. That bacteria 

 destroying properties develop when killed staphylococci or streptococci are 

 added in proper numbers to normal blood, either in vitro or in vivo, is 

 clearly demonstrated and it is found that this germ destroying power ia 

 both specific and nonspecific. This, he contends, conforms to clinical ex- 

 perience and furnishes a scientific basis for obtaining therapeutic results 

 from vaccines aside from their specific immunizing action. This non- 

 specific action of vaccines also explains the fact that often better results 

 are obtained from the use of stock vaccines than from autogenous prepa- 



