Lectures on auto-intoxication in disease, or, Self-poisoning of the individual / by Ch. Bouchard ; tr., with a preface and new chapters added, by Thomas Oliver.

  • Bouchard, Ch. (Charles), 1837-1915.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on auto-intoxication in disease, or, Self-poisoning of the individual / by Ch. Bouchard ; tr., with a preface and new chapters added, by Thomas Oliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    normal assimilation, the term 'haptophore group' being applied to the group of atoms by which either the toxin molecule or the nutritive protrid molecule becomes attached to the receiving group or 'receptors' of the cells. The resemblance between the physiological assimilation of proteid and the union of cell re- ceptors with toxins is illustrated by the fact that both nutritive proteids and toxins are capable of inducing the formation of 'anti-bodies' which stand in a specific relation to the stimulating agent. . . . The introduction of a toxin is followed by an excessive production of receptors which are finally thrown off into the circulation as unused ballast. The free circulating re- ceptors are the antitoxin (Herter, Lectures on Chemical Pathology, page 11). The side chain theory of immunity enunciated by Ehrlich seeks to explain the formation of anti- toxin by a chemical affinity established between poisons and cer- tain constituents of cells. Chemical compounds possess not only a central group of atoms, but lateral groups as well, and it is these that are more liable to be attacked by the toxin, the central group perhaps not suffering at all. A close union is established between the toxins and side chains of protoplasmic molecules which may or may not interfere with the vitality of the cells. On the other hand, the cells are stimulated to produce fresh side chains which, becoming detached, circulate in the blood as anti- toxins. As might be expected, there have been many objections raised to this interesting side chain theory of Ehrlich. Metchnikoff fails to see in the chemical theory any satisfactory explanation of immunity. In the leucocytes and their phagocytic action is to be found, according to him, those biological processes that create immunity. There is much to support the contention, that it is from healthy living cells and not from those that are diseased or injured that antitoxins are formed, since there are normally present in the blood of certain animals specific antitoxic bodies. It is the function of the gastro-intestinal juices, aided by the movements of the stomach and intestine, to convert foods into such soluble forms that they can be utilized in the economy. Landois and Stirling show how undigested proteids and their derivatives may be acted upon by fungi. Many fission fungi—•