256 PROTEIN POISONS 



Doerr and Russ 1 attempted to measure the antibody 

 in sera by the following methods: (1) A series of guinea- 

 pigs received intraperitoneally 1 c.c. of antiserum and 

 twenty-four hours later decreasing amounts of the antigen 

 intravenously. By this method they determined the 

 smallest amount of antigen necessary to induce sudden 

 death. (2) A series of guinea-pigs received intraperitoneally 

 decreasing doses of the antiserum, and twenty-four hours 

 later a constant dose (0.01 to 1 c.c.) of the antigen intra- 

 venously. In this way they determined the smallest amount 

 of serum necessary to induce sudden death. In our opinion 

 these experiments, while of great value, do not give results 

 which justify standardization of the so-called antibodies. 

 Anaphylactic shock is not determined, at least wholly, by 

 the amount of antigen given, nor yet by the amount of 

 antibody in the animal, but by the proportion between 

 the two. 



We have stated that Gay and Southard were the first 

 to discover passive anaphylaxis, and that their work was 

 done with guinea-pigs as both donors and recipients. Our 

 French confreres generally credit Maurice Nicolle 2 with 

 this discovery, and in his work rabbits served both as 

 donors and recipients. It seems that the work of Nicolle 

 was done before that of Gay and Southard, but not pub- 

 lished until after the work of the Americans appeared in 

 print. This is the statement made by Levaditi. 3 However, 

 the work done in one country was quite independent of that 

 done in the other, and Nicolle showed that rabbits which 

 were being treated daily by intraperitoneal or intravenous 

 injections of 1 c.c. of horse serum furnished a serum which, 

 when injected into the peritoneal cavity of a fresh rabbit, 

 sensitized the latter, as was demonstrated by the subcu- 

 taneous injection twenty-four hours later of 1 c.c. of horse 

 serum, this injection giving rise to an inflammatory edema 

 the Arthus phenomenon (see p. 262). When the reinjection 



1 Zeitsch. f. Immunitiitsforschung, iii, 181. 



2 Ann. de 1'Institut Pasteur, 1907, xxi, 128. 



3 Jahresb. u. d. Ergeb. d. Immunitatsforschung, 1907, iii, 40. 



