PROTEIN SENSITIZATION OR ANAPHYLAXIS 319 



tion the pressure stood at 105 mm. Injection of the poison 

 caused a fall of only 2 or 3 mm. Hg. In this way it was 

 shown that the heart and lungs were not responsible for 

 the fall in pressure observed in the intact animals. 



Isolated organs were perfused with solutions of the 

 poison and a dilatation of the vessels, probably due to 

 paralysis of the vasomotor mechanism, was observed. 

 This paralysis did not disappear after subsequent washing 

 with Ringer's solution, but did so promptly on the use of 

 epinephrin. The perfusion experiments, therefore, indicate 

 a local paralyzing effect upon the vessel walls. 



Edmunds demonstrated by careful experimentation 1 

 that the liver dilates with the fall in blood-pressure. This 

 seems to settle the question of the distribution of the blood 

 as the pressure falls. "The fall is due primarily to a 

 peripheral paralysis of the vasomotors running in the 

 splanchnic nerves." The spleen, kidneys, and intestine 

 do not show increase in volume, as the blood is drained 

 from these organs into the capacious blood channels of the 

 liver. Other vascular areas besides those innervated by 

 the splanchnics are affected. This was shown by the fact 

 that when the poison was injected into white dogs the skin 

 over the thorax and abdomen and down on the legs became 

 bright pink. When the liver was excluded from the circu- 

 lation the fall in blood pressure occurred, but less promptly. 



Respiratory changes in the dog, due to the poison, are 

 not marked. The usual effects are slight acceleration and 

 weakening. With the chest walls open and under artificial 

 respiration, there would be, at times, signs of asphyxiation 

 which were easily relieved by a slightly stronger pressure 

 on the bellows. The most marked change in the blood 

 picture observed was a diminution in the eosinophiles, both 

 relatively and absolutely. 



It has been observed by all who have studied the action 

 of peptone and the protein poison, that after the blood- 



1 The details can be found in Zeitsch. f. Immunitatsforschung, 1913, 

 xvii, 105. 



