456 . MICROBIOLOGY 



creased susceptibility toward this substance instead of im- 

 munizing the dogs against it. Richet applied to this phe- 

 nomenon the term anaphylaxis (am, against, <uAais, protec- 

 tion) in contradistinction to prophylaxis. It has been ob- 

 served that occasionally sudden death has followed the injec- 

 tion of horse serum into animals and into man. In a certain 

 number of cases the injection of horse serum into man is fol- 

 lowed by urticarial eruptions, joint pains, fever, swelling of 

 the lymph nodes, edema and albuminuria. This reaction, 

 which appears after an incubation period of 8 to 13 days, was 

 termed by v. Pirquet and Shick 28 "the serum disease." T. 

 Smith found that guinea pigs injected with diphtheria toxin- 

 anti-toxin mixtures in the course of anti-toxin standardization 

 would succumb after a short interval if they were given a 

 subcutaneous injection of normal horse serum. Otto, 29 in 

 working on this hypersusceptibility, has referred to it as 

 "Theobald Smith's phenomenon." Arthus 30 confirmed the 

 observation of Richet and his observations are frequently re- 

 ferred to as the "phenomenon of Arthus." Rosenau and An- 

 derson 31 confirmed the observations of v. Pirquet, Smith, 

 Richet and others and showed conclusively that the horse serum 

 had no relationship to its toxin or an ti- toxin constituents and 

 that the sensitization of the guinea pigs became more marked 

 after a definite incubation of about 10 days. Vaughan 32 and 

 others showed that the reaction was not limited to animal sera 

 but could be produced by peptone, egg albumen, milk and 

 other proteids. Anaphylaxis may be defined therefore as the 

 result, consisting in restlessness, rapid breathing, often stag- 

 gering and convulsions, and possibly death following in from 

 five minutes to a few hours after the second injection of these 

 proteid substances, when the first injection was made from 



28 v. Pirquet and Shick. Die Serum Krankheit. Wien, 1905. 



29 Otto. Leuthold-Gedenkschrift, Bd. I (1905). 



30 Arthus. Compt. rendu de la Soc. de Biol., Vol. LV (1903) p. 

 817. 



31 Rosenau and Anderson. Public Health and Marine Hospital 

 Service, Bulletin 29 (1906) and 36 (1907). 



32 Vaughan. Assn. of American Physicians (1907). 



