The evening times., 1898-11-02
TOXINS.

When II was first discovered that GER
tain maladies to which man is subject
are due TO the presence OF bacteria in the
system. it was supposed that th~se mi
scropic organisms performed their bale
full work by direct action upon the tissues,
In time, however, il became known that
the operation was indirect. The bacteria
secrete a poison called a toxin, and the
latter produces the observed symptoms Of
the disease How powerful a thing bac-
terial poison is may be inferred from a
single statement made by DR.. Fraser be-
fore the British Medical Association last
month. After reviewing the history of
bacteriology and giving some account Of
the toxic origin OF disease, he remarked
that at least one tOxin-that of tetanuS-
could Kill 6GOee0, 060 its own weight OF iv
ing tissue. And yet for nearly every kind
OF toxin a specific antitoXin has been dis
covered in most cases being the serum or
an animal rendered proof against the
maiady by a long. carefully graduated Sc
ries of subcutaneous injections of the
toxin.
Two questions have naturally suggested
themselves since these facts have come TO
light: What is the composition and nat
I ure of toxins and antit oxins? and. How
do the latter act on the former Both OF
these nave received much attention. but
the first of them has not yet been solved
satisfactorily. In paper submitted 20
the Royal Society last June II was an
nounced that Drs. c. ]. Martin and I. q.
BroGie find that both toxins and anti
toxins have a high molecular weight, but
the molecules of toxin seem TO be smaller
than those OF antitoXin, inasmuch as Trey
will go through certain filters that pre-
I vent the passage of antitoxins.
Regarding the nature of the autagonism
+ between these two substances, TWO the
/. cries have been entertained. Behring,
( the discoverer of the antitOxin OF diph-
/ iberia: Ehrlich. Kanthack and Brodie
! have been disposed to think that anita
gonism is of chemical nature, something
/ like that between an acid and alkali-
/ Buchuer CametIe, who has worked
| largely with snake venom; Matchnikoff
I and others hold that the action is iudi-
| rect.
( Here is an experiment which Calmette
has tried with cobra poison. The venom
may be raised To temperature OF l57
I degrees Fahrenheit and kept there for ten
minutes without suffering any loss OF pow
/ er. But the aniitoxin for snake BIKE IS
| ruined by such treatment Now toxin and
I antitoxin were mixed and kept cool, and
( a dose was injected into q rabbi, without
| producing any unpleasant effect Bu'
( when the mixture had been heated to the
degree lust named and the temperature
had been maintained for ten minutes
dose of the same size as before Wooit
nroye fatal. In other words the heat hat
spoiled the autitOx1a without destroying
the yirulent nature of the toxin Hence
II Is argued that the antagouism must b'
unlike that between acid and alkdi FOL
YOU cannot leave the latter in con1ar
FOR ten minutes withJUt one nsutraliZiHl
the other.
However. this experiment was not con
sidered conclusive by the adherents OF tn
chemical theory, because they though
that enough time hsd not been aAoWe'
for the antit0Xin 10 act on the toxin D'
Martin who has already been referre'
10, ana DR. T. Cherry. coliaboEator. uif
dertcak 10 carry TINS invention siei
further.
They prepared = solution coniainln;
about enough poison 70 Kill thirty-t"'
guinea pigs and mixed il with enough
antitoxtn more than % Offset it. Tn
stuff stood AT a temperature OF So degree:
for two full hours. and then was titerv'
with apparatus that had previously show
that it would take ont aEtiJoNiH- ~
substance which came through was the!
used TO inoculate guinea pigs Ire am
mails suffered no Inconvenience, ana there
fore the toxin had been rendered iHnOcu
Gus before it was filtered. II would ap
pear. then, that if enough time is given l.
tests at a temperature slightly below tina
of the human body, an antitoNin WI
sometimes. If not always, neu,ralize
toxin merely by contact. And If this re
suit can he secured IN laboratory tests
ii seems reasonable to suppose that IN
side the human body. where the tempera
ture is about %, anutoXins Will Kill loX
ins by a kind af direct action akin 10
chemical process.