CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN LIFE 



actions are observed in living protoplasm when 

 other cells and their products, not only an inorganic 

 poison, are the injuring part. We may be reminded 

 of the interesting phenomenon with which we 

 became acquainted in the formation of anti- 

 enzymes. In the animal which has had an enzyme 

 solution injected into its veins, a substance is 

 formed which is able to hinder the action of this 

 but of no other enzyme. Such phenomena are 

 widely spread and are most important for the 

 study of chemical processes in cells. In studies on 

 pathogenic bacteria it has been shown that many 

 of them produce substances which are most 

 poisonous even in the smallest quantity, but differ 

 from other poisons by their albuminoid character 

 and their instability when heated. By boiling they 

 may be easily destroyed. Such poisons are formed 

 only by living cells. We call them Cytotoxins. 

 Such cytotoxins have become known not only 

 from bacteria, but even from higher plants and 

 animals. The fly-agaric and some of its relations, 

 the seed of the castor oil plant and of Croton, 

 as well as the seed of Abrus precatorius, the 

 Jequirity plant, contain toxins of exceedingly 

 strong action. Cytotoxins, further, are found in 

 snakes, toads, the blood of the eel and some other 

 fish. If we consider the characteristics of cyto- 

 toxins we feel very much reminded of the proper- 

 ties of enzymes. The resemblance increases when 

 we learn that cytotoxins, quite in the same way as 

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