Page:Defensive Ferments of the Animal Organism (3rd edition).djvu/109

 certain nucleo-proteids as well as nucleins, to excite anaphylactic phenomena of a very specific character. Experiments on guinea-pigs, which were made in collaboration with Kashiwado, showed that a second injection of the same substance as was used in the first instance produced specific cramps of the muscles of the neck and of the jaw. Moreover, an increased peristalsis was regularly present, the animals excreting faeces continuously. Symptoms of lameness soon set in, and a marked fall of temperature always took place. We injected, for instance, nucleo-proteids, nuclein substances which had been obtained from the thymus, and finally nucleo-proteids from the blood corpuscles of a goose; the reaction was in all cases a strictly specific one. In the case of nucleic acids we were unable to get definite results, and it would appear that these cannot produce anaphylactic phenomena. It may be that, in the nucleo-proteids and in the nucleins, their albuminous components are the deciding factor. A systematic study of the nuclear structure of the various cells of the same individual may enable us to determine the question, whether albumens that are in harmony with the nucleus take part in its construction, or whether the nucleus plays a part, in the cellular metabolism, which is repeated in an identical manner in the various cells of the same individual.

So long as purely chemical research is unable to