46 TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS. 



Through his researches, Roussy clearly demon- 

 strated,* for the first time, that the fever may 

 cause the formation within the blood of a sub- 

 stance clearly belonging to the class of soluble 

 ferments or zymases. Now, it is well known that 

 within the animal economy there exist many fer- 

 ments of this character ; and experiment has shown 

 that they can, at a given period and under various 

 influences, leaxe the cells in which they are nor- 

 mally localized, pass into the blood plasma, and 

 reach the nervous centers, where they cause seri- 

 ous effects. We have already dwelt upon the 

 mechanism of autointoxication of the organism. 

 The toxic action of certain digestive diastases has 

 been shown by Hildebrandt, who has demonstrated 

 that O.I Gm. of pepsin is capable of killing a 

 rabbit in two or three days. 



II. TOXINS FROM MUSHROOMS. 



Mushrooms are alimentary substances of the 

 highest order, causing a general stimulation of the 

 entire organism. The substances met with belong, 

 according to their composition, to different classes — 

 celluloses, sugars, and amylaceous substances, alco- 

 hols, acids, fats, astringents, essential oils, resins, 



* Roussy: AperQU historique sur les ferments et fermentations . 

 Paris, 1901. J. Rousset, publ. 



