376 BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF RADIATION 



X-rays and Radioactivity. — Miiller (122) claimed to have shown an 

 increase in typhoid agghitinin in irradiated rabbits, but his data are 

 totally inadequate. Lawen (103) found either no effect or an inhibition 

 of subsequent agglutinin formation, which is more clearly evident in the 

 work of Frankel and Schillig (64). Fiorini and Zironi (58, 59) found 

 essentially the same. Nevertheless, it was claimed by Manoukhine (114) 

 and by Lusztig (111) that small X-ray doses (about }i H.E.D.) increased 

 the typhoid and cholera (Manoukhine) and B. pullorum (Lusztig) agglu- 

 tinins of previously immunized animals. Their evidence is not very 

 strong and needs confirmation. 



Irradiation prior to immunization certainly inhibits agglutinin forma- 

 tion as it does that of other antibodies (Hektoen, 82; Hempel, 83), 

 undoubtedly as a result of injury to the reticulo-endothelial system. 



On the clinical side Kaznelson and Lorant (96), like Manoukhine (114) 

 and Lusztig (111), claim to have found that small X-ray doses adminis- 

 tered during the falling phase of typhoid agglutinin titer may lead to a 

 temporary arrest of the fall, or even to an increase. 



This is essentially what was found by Schiitze (144) when he allowed 

 rabbits to breathe radium emanation or injected radium salts in small 

 doses, and also agrees with Lippmann's (106) observation on the effect of 

 injecting thorium X. Frankel and Gumpertz (63) find no effect with 

 small doses of thorium X, and a decrease with large doses. This may be 

 because their thorium X was not administered at the right time. 



On the whole there appears to be reason to suspect that small doses of 

 X-radiation or radioactivity given during the falling phase of agglutinin 

 titer may give rise to a temporary increase. Irradiation before immuniza- 

 tion leads to no change unless the dosage is large, and then only to an 

 inhibition or prevention of agglutinin formation. 



Antitoxins 



Many supposed cases of protection of animals against disease by 

 irradiation have been attributed to effects on antitoxin production. Here 

 again as in the case of bacteriolysis (see above) the mechanism is obscure. 

 Other explanations may be offered, such, for example, as the accelerated 

 inactivation of toxins produced by momentary heating of the blood as it 

 passes through the irradiated region. Sonne (150, 151, 152) regards this 

 as almost certainly the only cause of the protection afforded by visible 

 light when guinea pigs are given a lethal dose of diphtheria toxin and then 

 irradiated. Sonne used a 50-volt, 70-amp. carbon arc, condensing the 

 light and filtering it to eliminate most of the infra-red and ultra-violet 

 light. This, he points out, raises the blood stream to 47 to 48°C. as it 

 passes close to the surface of the body, and he calculates that a 2-hr. 

 irradiation would destroy as much toxin as a whole day of general fever. 



