118 COLLECTED STUDIES IN IMMUNITY. 



would seem to indicate that our therapeutic efforts be directed primarily 

 to exciting the greatest production of the organism's own complements. 1 

 The production of these complements can surely be increased by 

 means of artificial procedures ; and this is borne out by a few experi- 

 ences in this direction. Thus Nolf, by injecting certain foreign sera, 

 and P. Miiller, by injecting pepton, have succeeded, in animal experi- 

 ments, in increasing the production of complement. This increase 

 may perhaps be referable to a hyperleucocytosis in accordance with 

 the views held by Metchnikoff and Buchner. We are certain that 

 at least the complements orginally peculiar to the organism will be able 

 to act when fitting complementophile groups present themselves ; this 

 need not necessarily be the case, however, when foreign complements 

 are introduced. In this question it is of no consequence whether 

 the absence of complement action is due to destruction, to com- 

 plementoid formation, or to a combination in the organism such 

 as has been demonstrated by the ready binding of anticomple- 

 ments. 2 The question raised by Donitz, relative to the provision 

 of really plentiful sources of complement, has not thus far been 

 solved. It still remains to be seen whether the interesting in- 

 vestigations of Wassermann 3 on the completion of typhoid im- 

 mune bodies with ox serum will lead to results which can be 

 practically utilized. The amount of complement contained in 

 the serum of the larger laboratory animals is not, as a rule, great 

 enough to make the employment of these sera applicable for human 

 therapeutic purposes. Wassermann, for example, found that with 

 a method of procedure which excluded the above-mentioned diminu- 

 tion of complements (since he injected bacteria, immune body, and 

 complement mixed together into the peritoneal cavity) it required 

 4 cc. ox serum to achieve curative results. This amount of serum 

 in itself causes severe injury to the animals experimented upon. 



Such being the case, it seems that in the matter of supplying com- 

 plements, the method suggested by us, namely, the employment of 



1 In his recent study (Zeitschrift fiir Hygiene, No. 37) Wassermann also 

 lays great stress on the increase of the individual's own complements. We 

 were especially gratified to see that in regard to the multiplicity of the comple- 

 ments Wassermann accepts our view completely. 



2 This is also supported by certain experiments of von Dungern (Miinch. 

 medi/in. Wochenschrift) concerning the binding of complement by certain cells 

 in vitro. 



3 Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift, 1900, No. 18. 



