THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
MARCH,  igoj. 
THE  MODERN  THEORIES  OF  THE  NATURE  AND 
ACTION  OF  TOXINS. 
By  Torai^d  Soixmann,  M.D. 
From  the  Pharmacological  Laboratory  of  Western  Reserve  University, 
Cleveland,  O. 
The  experimental  study  of  the  action  and  production  of  toxins 
and  antitoxins,  which  has  been  so  actively  pursued  Jn  the  last 
decade,  has  brought  to  light  a  large  number  of  results  which  have 
a  very  wide,  one  might  say  startling,  significance.  These  called 
loudly  for  an  explanation  which  would  render  them  intelligible.  To 
furnish  this  explanation,  a  complicated  structure  of  brilliant  hypoth- 
eses has  been  involved,  mainly  by  Ehrlich.  These  fulfil  admi- 
rably the  purposes  of  working  hypotheses,  in  that  they  furnish  a 
guide  in  experimentation  and  aid  in  grasping  the  facts.  They  have 
in  this  way  proved  themselves  very  useful.  A  clear  understanding 
of  them  is  therefore  very  important  to  every  one  who  aims  to  keep 
in  touch  with  the  progress  of  natural  science. 
These  theories  attribute  to  the  toxins  and  antitoxins  proper- 
ties which  are  familiar  in  ordinary  chemical  molecules,  and  the 
theories  are  most  easily  understood  if  they  are  treated  and  illustrated 
as  chemical  theories.  This  I  have  attempted  in  the  present  article, 
In  its  preparation  I  have  availed  myself  very  freely  of  the  Huxley 
Lecture,  delivered  in  1902  by  Prof.  Wm.  H.  Welsh.1  This  gives  a 
most  comprehensive  exposition,  from  the  standpoint  of  pathology, 
of  the  overwhelming  literature  which  has  appeared  on  this  subject. 
1  Published  in  the  Bulletin  of  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  13  :  285. 
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