[113] CHAPTER V 



RESORPTION OF ALBUMINOID FLUIDS. 



Resorption of albuminoid substances. — The precipitins of blood serum which appear 

 as a result of the absorption of serums and of milk. — Absorption of gelatine. — 

 Leucocytic origin of the ferment which digests gelatine. — Antienzymes. — Anti- 

 rennet. — The anticytotoxins, — Antihaemotoxic serums. — Their two constituent 

 parts: anticytase and antifixative. — Action of anticytase. — The antispermo- 

 toxins. — Origin of anticytotoxins. — Ehrhch's theory on this question. — Origin of 

 antihaemotoxins. — Origin of antispermotoxin. — Production of this antibody by 

 castrated males. — The antispermofixative produced when the spermatozoa are 

 excluded.— Distribution of spermotoxin and antispermotoxin in the organism. 



We stated at the beginning of the last chapter that various fluid 

 substances of very complicated chemical composition may be absorbed 

 by the tissues and utilised by the organism without requiring to be 

 modified by the digestive juices of the intestinal canal. We must 

 now describe, exactly, the phenomena observed in these cases and 

 endeavour to establish the mechanism of the absorption of fluids in 

 the living organism. 



We have already cited the examples of blood serum, milk, and 

 white of egg, all of which are readily utilised by the organism which 

 receives them directly into the peritoneal cavity or below the skin. 

 The proof that these substances are modified — digested by the tissues, 

 is furnished by the observation that their injection necessarily 

 brings about appreciable changes in the properties of the blood. 

 Th. Tchistovitch^, in a research carried out in the Pasteur Institute, 

 was the first to demonstrate that the resorption of the blood serums 

 of the eel and horse by the organism of the rabbit, excites in the 

 blood of the latter animal the production of specific precipitates. 

 The blood serum of rabbits that have been vaccinated against the 

 toxic eel's serum gives a precipitate with eel's serum ; the serum of 

 rabbits treated with horse's blood gives a similar precipitate with 

 [114] horse's serum, etc. This property has since been confirmed and 



1 Ann. de VInst. Pasteur , Paris, 1899, t. xiii, p. 413. 



