TOXIN
\tˈɒksɪn], \tˈɒksɪn], \t_ˈɒ_k_s_ɪ_n]\
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By William Dodge Lewis, Edgar Arthur Singer
By William R. Warner
By Willam Alexander Newman Dorland
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Asa general term the word includes toxins produced by such bacteria as the diphtheria and tetanus bacilli; other vegetable toxins, such as abrin and resin, and many animal poisons, such as snake venom and eel serum. They may be obtained in an impure form by precipitation of the proteids, but active toxins can be produced by purification methods which are not of a proteid nature. They resemble enzymes in their action and are usually destroyed by a temperature of 80 C.
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A poisonous principle produced by certain pathogenic microorganisms. The poisons are soluble and by synthetic processes are secreted into the surrounding medium. They are capable of producing all the symptoms except the local reactions that are produced by the bacteria.
By Smith Ely Jelliffe
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