HYPERSUSCEPTIBILITY 223 



tates liberates the toxic substance of complement. This theory omits 

 consideration of the cellular participation and needs further elaboration 

 to be acceptable. Of more significance is the fact demonstrated by 

 Jobling, Petersen and Eggstein that anaphylactic shock " is accom- 

 panied by (a) the instantaneous mobilization of a large amount of 

 non-specific protease, (b) a decrease of antiferment, (c) an increase 

 in non-coagulable nitrogen of the serum, (d) an increase in amino- 

 acids, (e) a primary decrease in serum proteoses." They conclude that 

 the " intoxication is brought about by the cleavage of serum proteins 

 (and proteoses) through the pepton stage by a non-specific protease" 

 and that " the specific elements lie in the rapid mobilization of this 

 ferment and the colloidal serum changes which bring about the change 

 in antiferment titer." From our discussion of the cellular participa- 

 tion in anaphylaxis the conception of Jobling cannot be accepted as 

 entirely satisfactory, but it has more ground in demonstrated fact than 

 any of the other physical theories. Support for Jobling's conception 

 is furnished by Bronfenbrenner and others. Bronfenbrenner finds, 

 however, that the state of dispersion of the colloids is important in 

 maintaining the ferment-antiferment balance and that simply bubbling 

 ether through serum decreases the antitryptic activity probably because 

 of an increased dispersion of colloidal particles. A similar decrease 

 of antitryptic activity of the blood follows a mixture of antibodies and* 

 antigen. This theory may be applied to desensitization by assuming 

 that the small intoxicating dose inhibits antiferment, that the proteases 

 then operate and that the split products act as antitrypsin, thus prevent- 

 ing the toxic effects of subsequent injections. Danysz hypothesizes that 

 anaphylaxis is an intracellular or intravascular disturbance of digestion 

 or a combination of the two. The disturbance of digestion consists in an 

 inability of the organism rapidly to transform the colloid antigen into 

 crystalloids. The symptoms are produced by a sudden alteration of 

 equilibrium between the sol. and gel. state of the colloids which enter 

 into the composition of the cells and of the blood. His conclusion that 

 acute anaphylaxis is due to intravascular changes in the animal is in 

 contradiction to what we believe to be well demonstrated facts. Krits- 

 chewsky found that the sap of a certain plant, cotyledon scheideckeri, 

 precipitates blood proteins, agglutinates and hemolyzes erythrocytes. 

 Symptoms in animals following injections into the circulation or sub- 

 cutaneously resemble anaphylaxis and are due, Kritschewsky believes, to 

 a change in degree of disperseness of the plasma colloids, and he 

 therefore assumes that anaphylaxis is of the same nature. We do not 

 concede that Kritschewsky worked with true anaphylactic shock, as 

 the pathological findings in his animals lack the uniformity of those 

 seen in true anaphylaxis. Similarly we object to the experiments of 

 Doerr and Moldovan who produced toxic symptoms by the injection 

 of water colloidal solutions of silicic acid, also of nucleinic acid and 

 of dialyzed iron hydroxid. Kopaczewski found that the injection of 

 serum rendered toxic by addition of bacterial suspension or colloidal 

 gels., when injected into animals reduces the surface tension of their 



