Page:Defensive Ferments of the Animal Organism (3rd edition).djvu/113

 substances from the outside and digest them, must now be completed by the observation, that ferments can be given off to the exterior, and that therefore digestion may be accomplished outside the cell. We would like for the present to leave the question open, whether any importance can be ascribed, in this connection, to the white blood corpuscles generally, or to any special forms of these. We presume that the red blood corpuscles as well, and very likely also the blood platelets, play an important part in these processes. The presence of ferments in these cells must not, it is true, be unconditionally connected with the formation of defensive ferments, because it is clear that these cell elements must have means of reducing their nutriment to simpler molecules, and constructing their own bodies. In any case, it is extraordinary that, in these kinds of cells, there are such active ferments present, and in such large quantities. According to our experiments, the splitting processes in these cells take place much quicker than in the other cells of the body. It is certain that the red blood corpuscles have, besides the function of transporting the oxygen, other duties to fulfil in the economy of the organism. We further consider it quite possible that the same cells, which give off insufficiently harmonized products to the blood, also supply the ferments which are able to complete the decomposition in the circulation.