CHAPTER XVII 



CASES IN WHICH THE RESULTS OF FUNCTIONAL 

 ANALYSIS ARE TRANSPORTABLE OUT OF THE 

 BODY SERUMTHERAPY 



So far junction, as we have defined it for the needs of the 

 analysis of biological phenomena, seems only a convenient 

 manner of speech. But an altogether unexpected dis- 

 covery, which is bound to have vast influence in science, 

 shows cases where the decomposition into functions is some- 

 thing more than a form of words. 



Take, for example, a rabbit, into whose peritoneum has 

 been injected cow's milk ; the milk is assimilated and the 

 rabbit is none the worse for it. Yet he has undergone a 

 change with respect to cow's milk a fundamental observa- 

 tion made by J. Bordet. The serum of this rabbit which 

 has assimilated cow's milk will henceforward give in vitro a 

 precipitate with cow's milk and with cow's milk only. 



Thus we are sure of two things. The injection of cow's 

 milk into a rabbit gives the rabbit a specific modification with 

 regard to cow's milk and this we might foresee by analogy 

 with injections of toxins and venoms. Secondly, a result 

 of this specific modification can be transported in vitro 

 with the serum, which is a dead colloid extracted from the 

 rabbit. The function (Rabbit x Cow's Milk) is no longer a 

 mere matter of words ; we can carry about its result in a 

 bottle in the form of a serum ; and this serum enables 



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