Vice-President’s Address. 143 
there is a still further reaching aspect of the question. The 
immunity is not, as it were, confined to the blood, it is more 
or less possessed by all the tissues and organs. This is 
proved by the fact that the milk of an animal rendered 
refractory to a toxin, is to a degree capable of conferring 
immunity upon another. Not only this, but the young born 
of an immunised parent are also more or less immune. This 
shows that the influence is a very far-reaching one, and that 
it really comes to be a vital modification of every cell, and 
capable of transmission to new generations of cells. This 
heredity of immunity has been shown to exist even in regard 
to snake venom, and it has been proved in regard to other 
and as deadly poisons. 
It may not be out of place here to recall to you the 
powerful story of Hisie Venner, whose mother’s life had been 
prolonged after she was bitten by a rattlesnake, while the 
daughter with impunity dwelt amongst and presented mental 
traits suggestive of those dangerous reptiles. 
I must say that to my mind this aspect of heredity, or 
the suggestiveness of the facts in relation to heredity, give 
to heredity a very curious and a very real importance. 
And what heightens the curiousness of the facts is, that 
this hereditary immunity can be acquired by the parent 
being rendered immune through the stomach—this is true 
of serpent venom for instance, but is not true of all toxines, 
for some are destroyed by the digestive process when intro- 
duced into the stomach. 
I, at the outset, indicated to you the importance of the 
thyroid secretion, and that it could be introduced through 
the stomach. I also dwelt upon its importance for the due 
performance of brain function and the manifestation of mind. 
I do not seek to push the analogy, for it would probably 
break down, and would probably be false, but one may be 
allowed to indulge the humorous and curious possibilities 
which the analogy suggests, without being called upon to 
defend them scientifically. 
