Physiology. — “On Adsorption of Poisons by Constituents of the 
Animal Body. 1. The adsorbent power of serum and brain- 
substance for Cocain”. By L. BERLAND and W. Srorm van 
Leeuwen. (Communicated by Prof. R. Magnus). 
(Communicated at the meeting of January 31, 1920). 
In a previous paper’) STORM VAN LEEUWEN has shown that in 
the sernm and the tissues of rabbits there are substances capable 
of inactivating pilocarpin. At the same time he was able to demon- 
strate that this does not happen by destroying pilocarpin, but through 
a physical adsorption of pilocarpin by certain components of the 
serum, whose nature could not be determined thus far. From quan- 
titative investigations it also became evident that this physical adsorp- 
tion proceeds according to the same laws that hold for the adsorption 
of dyes by animal charcoal. 
In the paper alluded to just now, STORM VAN LEEUWEN has already 
pointed out that the adsorption of pilocarpin by rabbit’s serum is 
not the only case of the kind, since many facts, described in the 
literature, render it highly probable that many similar adsorptions 
appear in the animal body. We know, for instance, that many poisons 
such as digitalis, atropin, cocain, strychnin ete. may be rendered 
inactive by animal tissue. This inactivation is commonly conceived 
to be a decomposition of the poison; we, however, believe that in 
many of those cases adsorption comes into play. True, in numerous 
cases poisons in the body are inactivated chemically, but we believe 
that this chemical action is in many cases preceded by a physical 
adsorption. The reason why we attach great importance to the 
question whether poisons are rendered inactive along the chemical 
path, or through adsorption, is that the great difference in the 
sensitivity of various individuals to poisons that bring about a very 
quick, acute poisoning process, can be accounted for by an adsorption, 
not by a chemical process. 
The following example may serve to illustrate this: 
h W. Storm van Leeuwen. Sur l'existence dans le corps des animaux de 
substances fixant les alcaloides. Arch. Neerl, de Physiol. Tome 2 p. 650 1918. 
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Proceedings Royal Acad. Amsterdam. Vol. XXII, 
