June 3, 1918 



Destruction of Tetanus Antitoxin 



473 



other investigations. Subsequent confirmation or contradiction of their 

 work was not found, but practically all workers before them found that 

 immunization by administration per as was not practicable. The immune 

 bodies were destroyed or neutralized ; most probably they were destroyed 

 by the acid, the alkali, and the proteolytic enzyms of the digestive 

 tract acting singly or in combination. 



Table I. — Summary of results of previous investigations on the action of proteolytic 



enzyms on antitoxins 



Investigation. 



Belfanti and Carbone (2) 

 diphtheria serum and 

 diphtheria antitoxin. 



Carriere (4) tetanus serum 



Dzierzgowsld (j) diph- 

 theria serum. 



Nicolas and Arloing (/z) 

 diphtheria serum. 



Pick (12) diphtheria 

 senmi. 



McClintock and King (q) 

 diphtheria serum and 

 tetanus serum. 



Mellanby (10) diphtheria 

 senmi. 



Digestive tract. 



Destroyed . 



Not destroyed. 



Pepsin- 

 hydrochloric acid. 



Destroyed , 



Not affected in 24 

 hours. 



Destroyed almost 

 completely in 10 

 hours. 



Destroyed . 



Hydrochloric add. 



Destroyed by o.i 

 per cent hydro- 

 chloric acid in a 

 few hours. 



Destroyed almost 

 completely by 

 0.5 per cent hy- 

 drochloric acid 

 in 24 hours. 



Not affected by 

 0.25 per cent hy- 

 drochloric acid 

 (time not stated) 



Trypsin. 



Destroyed. 



Destroyed appreci- 

 ably in 24 hours. 

 Alkali absent. 



Not destroyed by 

 pancreatic juice 

 in 12 hours. 



Destroyed two- 

 thirds by trypsin- 

 alkali in 9 days. 



Destroyed slowly 

 in 9 days. 



If it be assumed that McClintock and King actually immunized animals 

 and man by per as administration and detected the antitoxin in the 

 blood of individuals who had swallowed antitoxin, it does not follow 

 that the antitoxin resisted digestion. It may have been absorbed from 

 the digestive tract before the antitoxin had been destroyed. 



Carriere (4) found that tetanus serum in pepsin-hydrochloric acid lest 

 none of its immunizing power in 24 hours, a finding that is undoubtedly 

 erroneous. He correctly found that trypsin appreciably destroyed the 

 antitoxic properties in 24 hours. 



On account of the many properties common to both diphtheria and tet- 

 anus serums, some of the results on diphtheria were included in Table I 

 because they undoubtedly thrown light upon one another. This table 

 speaks for itself. It shows that in general the antibodies present in 

 tetanus and diphtheria serums, or in globulin concentrates obtained 

 from them, do not resist the action of the chemical agents present in the 

 digestive tract. There are slight inconsistencies, but these do not invali- 

 date the above generalization. Thus, Dzierzgowski (5) in 1S99 con- 

 cluded that diphtheria serum does not lose any of its immunizing power 

 when mixed for 12 hours with active pancreatic juice (/>. 350). The 

 recently discovered antitrypsin (7, p. i2j) present in normal and patho- 



