PROTEIN SENSITIZATION OR ANAPHYLAXIS 267 



Not all the German authorities have used the term 

 "antibody" in indicating the substance elaborated in the 

 organism in the development of the anaphylactic state. 

 Otto calls it the "reaction-body," and to this there can be 

 no objection. V. Pirquet, as we have seen, used "allergy," 

 meaning altered reaction instead of anaphylaxis, and 

 "allergin" for the substance which reacts with the foreign 

 protein on reinjection. Besredka calls the sensitizing agent 

 sensibilisinogen, and the substance developed under its 

 influence, sensibilisin. Nicolle uses the term, albumino- 

 lysin and Richet the word toxogen. All of these are free 

 from the objections which we have urged to the term 

 "antibody." We have adopted Richet's term, but this 

 does not imply condemnation of the others. Indeed, the 

 word "toxogen" needs some explanation in order to prevent 

 error following its use. As we shall see later, the anaphyl- 

 actic poison is not a toxin. The word "toxogen" is used 

 by us as meaning a generator of poisons, and these poisons- 

 are not toxins, inasmuch as they do not lead to the elabora- 

 tion of antitoxins when introduced into the animal body. 

 The toxogen is a ferment. 



Pfeift'er 1 long before the word anaphylaxis had been 

 coined really discovered the fundamental fact which later 

 research has confirmed. This is known as Pfeiffer's phe- 

 nomenon. He found that when cholera vibrios are injected 

 into the abdominal cavity of a guinea-pig, which has pre- 

 viously been immunized by repeated injections of non-fatal 

 doses of the living culture, they are dissolved like sugar 

 or salt in water. This destruction of the vibrios can be 

 demonstrated by microscopic study, but notwithstanding 

 the destruction of the bacteria, the animal is poisoned, and 

 dies. In fact the more powerful the lytic serum and the 

 more rapid and complete the destruction of the bacteria, 

 the more certain and prompt is death. Later, it was shown 

 by Bordet that with fresh lytic serum the vibrios may be 

 dissolved in vitro. Furthermore, it was shown by Pfeiffer 



1 Zeitsch. f. Hygiene, lOO.'i. 



