FREDERICK P. GAY 885 



extract of the bacterial cell. This "antivirus" turns at once to the receptive cells in 

 the body which rapidly become saturated with it and thereby desensitized from the 

 further toxic action of the corresponding virus. This process would be essentially 

 similar to desensitization by a small amount of foreign serum in animals that have 

 been rendered susceptible to anaphylactic shock by previous injection of the same 

 protein — in other words, it is analogous to the condition of "anti-anaphylaxis." 



When animals are hyperimmunized by repeated doses of a virus as when they are 

 treated to produce an immune serum, the original desensitization of the susceptible 

 cells is followed by an accumulation of the antivirus which is mixed in the serum with 

 the antibodies that have begun to form. The success following the passive transfer 

 of the serum of such immunized animals is due, first, to the tropinizing or lytic effect, 

 already well recognized, of the antibodies on the specific micro-organism. In addition, 

 according to Besredka, passive serum immunity is in no small part due to the vac- 

 cinating or desensitizing effect of the antivirus, likewise present in the immune serum, 

 on the susceptible cells of the host. 



This interesting and important new concept of immunity, which I have endeav- 

 ored to present succinctly in its latest expression, has been evolved by Besredka from 

 a series of animal experiments and their clinical application extending over a number 

 of years. The clinical results, which are both preventive and curative in nature, are 

 in themselves increasingly impressive. I do not believe, however, that clinical data 

 in general, and particularly in their initial groupings, are of great value in proving 

 the accuracy of any particular hypothesis that has led to their accumulation. The 

 experimental iindings that Besredka has furnished are concerned particularly with 

 bacteria whose pathogenic localization, as he considers them, is either in the skin or 

 in the intestinal canal. The particular bacteria most fully studied have been B. 

 anthracis, streptococci, staphylococci, B. typhosus, and B. dysenteriae. The salient 

 features of each of these experimental studies should be rapidly sketched in order to 

 understand their implication. 



Anthrax. — Under natural conditions cattle are infected with anthrax through 

 ingestion of anthrax spores. According to Sobernheim,' a considerable number of 

 these spores is necessary. In the guinea pig or rabbit when a few anthrax spores are 

 introduced per os they are destroyed by the gastric juice. When sufficient numbers 

 are given they soon reach the blood where they may be phagocyted and remain harm- 

 less though living. Boquet has found that if the infected blood in such an animal is 

 withdrawn by inserting a needle through the skin, the latter is readily infected and 

 leads to a fatal infection. This proves the relatively great susceptibility of the skin to 

 anthrax infection. If a vegetative or non-encapsulated culture of anthrax is intro- 

 duced into the guinea-pig peritoneum and great precaution taken to avoid contami- 

 nating the skin, the animal recovers. The skin, however, is by no means the only 

 susceptible organ, as Besredka has claimed; the testicle,' the brain,^ and the muscles^ 



■ Sobernheim, G. : Kolle iind Wassennanns Handbuch der Pathogen. Mikroorganism, 3, 583. 1913. 



^Sani, L.: CZJw. z'e/., p. 485. 1925. 



3 Adelheim, R., and Kaktin, A.: Klin. Wchnschr., 3, 1721. 1924; Cernainu, C, and Suhatzanu, 

 C. S.: Compt. rend. Soc. de bioL, 90, 869. 1924. 



■» Basset, J.: ibid., 93, 413. 1925. 



