IMMUNOLOGY AND SELF-SAVING CATALYSTS 149 



contrary effect seems to be produced by colchicine, which causes 

 chromosome doubling or polyploidy, apparently by interfering with 

 spindle formation during mitosis. 



On the other hand C. C. Lindegren and C. B. Bridges 18 advanced 

 the hypothesis that the surface of each chromosome (not necessarily 

 the gene surface), may stimulate the protoplasm to form specific anti- 

 bodies, which on being specifically adsorbed at the chromomere inter- 

 face, renders it capable of adhering specifically to its partner chromo- 

 mere in synapsis. Any two allelic chromomeres happening to touch 

 "would be cemented together by the antibody junctions specific to 

 themselves. The chromomeres which are on each side of the already 

 agglutinated ones would then be more likely to touch and fuse, so 

 that synapsis would proceed, zipper-like, from the first points of the 

 homologous contact throughout the entire length of the chromo- 

 somes. 



In this connection, it is interesting to consider the concept of 

 "cohesive colloids." W. W. C. Topley, J. Wilson, and J. T. Duncan 19 

 found that when a heterogeneous mixture of bacteria is agglutinated 

 by a heterogeneous mixture of specific antisera, each cluster of bacteria 

 is homogeneous. Apparently each kind of bacterium becomes coated 

 by a layer of its own specific antibody, and the bacteria are so 

 specifically conditioned that each kind forms a lattice or clump of 

 identical unions through the adsorbed antibodies. The submicro- 

 scopic particles containing glycogen isolated by fractional ultra- 

 centrifugation by A. Lazarow 20 from finely dispersed liver, appear to 

 be aggregates of smaller glycogen particles held together by about 

 1 per cent of protein, a coacervating agent which "seems to parallel 

 the action of insulin, because insulin is known to lower blood sugar 

 and facilitate glycogen storage in the liver." 



The Nature of Antigen-Antibody Reactions 



"Out of the efforts to explain the diverse and often confusing 

 phenomena appearing in immunological reactions, there arose an 

 unfounded and totally unnecessary antagonism between those who 

 attempted to explain all of them on the basis of simplified con- 

 cepts of colloid chemistry and those who could see nothing in 

 them but applications of the stoichiometric laws of classical chem- 

 istry, which had been developed from observations on the be- 

 havior and reactions of relatively simple substances. Nature does 

 not order the interrelations of particulate units to meet the peda- 

 gogical necessities of propagandists of this or that school. The 

 simple phenomena have both chemical and physical aspects, and 

 part of the whole truth lies in each aspect." 21 



