SPECIFIC BACTERIAL PRODUCTS 445 



toxins. The large amount of work that has been done on this 

 subject has pointed to but not fully explained certain funda- 

 mental laws underlying the production of antitoxins and anti- 

 bodies of various kinds. Thus it has been shown that the 

 body cells in adapting themselves to alien substances of proto- 

 plasmic origin may elaborate specific substances (antibodies or 

 antitoxins, cytolysins and agglutinins) which tend to neutral- 

 ize or destroy the alien substance causing their production. 

 This is illustrated with tetanus. By the injection of an animal 

 (guinea pig or horse) with a non-lethal dose of the toxin of the 

 tetanus bacillus (i. e. filtered bouillon culture) and repeating 

 the injection with steadily increasing quantities, the condition 

 will be reached where the blood serum of the injected animal 

 will neutralize the poisonous effect of the tetanus toxin. The 

 substance given off by the cells of the body that neutralizes or 

 renders the tetanus toxin harmless is known as tetanus anti- 

 toxin. A similar result is obtained with the bacterium of 

 diphtheria. The early works of Roux and Yersin 5 and v. 

 Behring on diphtheria and Kitasato's 7 experiments with 

 toxins. should be read in further explanation of this subject. 

 Bordet 8 and others found that by the injection of the blood 

 corpuscles of an animal of one species (A) into an animal of 

 another species (B) the blood serum of (B) will acquire the 

 ability to dissolve the red blood corpuscles of (A). That is, 

 the action of the corpuscles of (A) upon the body cells of (B) 

 causes the throwing off of a substance (hemolysin) into the 

 serum which will dissolve the corpuscles of (A). The solution 

 of the red "blood corpuscles is known as hemolysis. 



Other tissues are capable of producing antibodies that will 

 cause lysis. These are termed cytolysins and the process of 

 dissolving the cells is known as cytolysis. When applied to 

 endothelial cells for example the process is referred to as 

 endotheliolysis. 



5 Roux and Yersin. Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur, Vol. II (1888) p. 629. 

 6 V. Behring. Deut. med. Woch., Bd. XVI (1890) p. 1113. 



7 Kitasato. Zeit. f. Hyg., Bd. X (1891) p. 267. 



8 Bordet. Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur. Vol. XII (1898) p. 688. Ibid., 

 Vol. XIII (1899) p. 273. 



