356 IMMUNITY AND CURATIVE INOCULATIONS 



peppered and vinegared " in no time," and then swallowed 

 by the phagocytes by the dozen. This seems almost too 

 comic a view of the deadly struggle of man and higher 

 animals for health and freedom from the swarming pests 

 which everywhere invade him. Yet it is correct, and in- 

 volves a simple and fundamental truth. Our properties 

 and appetites are but the sum of those of the proto- 

 plasmic organisms — the cells — of which we are built up. 

 Our need for a relish with oysters is the same thing as the 

 need of the phagocyte for a relish with its microbes, not 

 something " poetically " compared to it. The story of 

 " the oysters and the carpenter " might be replaced by 

 that of " the microbes and the phagocyte." The saying, 

 " Fine words butter no parsnips," finds a parallel in the 

 remark that " The drinking of drugs does not opsonise 

 microbes." 



Half-way between us and the amceba-like unicellular 

 organisms we find the earth-worm preparing his piece of 

 lettuce (as Darwin showed) with a juice exuded from his 

 mouth, a " relish " reminding one of the Kava drink of the 

 South Sea Islanders. To " opsonize " or render attractive 

 by the application of chemical " relish " is a proceeding 

 which we find in operation in the feeding of the minute 

 colourless corpuscles which engorge the still more minute 

 bacteria — and also in the preparation of their food by 

 various lower animals, and finally in the elaborate flavour- 

 ing and cooking of his food by civilised man ! 



