When we sense lipopolysaccharide, we are
likely to to turn on every defense at our
disposal; we will bomb,defoliate, blockade,
seal off, and destroy all the tissues in the
area..... All this seems unnecessary, panic-
driven. There is nothing intrinsically
poisonous about endotoxin, but it must look
awful, or feel awful, when sensed by cells.
Lewis Thomas
Germs, 1974