NON-PROTEIN ANTIGENS 161 



been absorbed by the blood proteins, whereas Liebermann'^ suggests 

 that they are altered, liquefied portions of the cells which the antigens 

 have attacked. 



It has been shown by Gay and Robertson'* that if the non-anti- 

 genic cleavage products of casein are resynthesized by the reverse 

 action of pepsin, into a protein resembling paranuclein, this synthetic 

 protein is capable of acting as an antigen. Protamins and globin, they 

 found, were not antigenic,'" although globin when combined with casein 

 forms a compound which engenders an antibody that gives complement 

 fixation reactions with globin. Schmidt also found that protamin 

 edestinatc is antigenic for edestin and for itself, but not for protamins, 

 whereas a compound protein, both elements of which were non-anti- 

 genic (globin-albumose), was not antigenic."' 



NON-PROTEIN ANTIGENS 



Among the many accounts of what the authors interpret as the 

 successful production of specific antibodies as a reaction to non-pro- 

 tein antigens, are the following: 



Ford'" found that rabbits can be immunized to extracts of Aman- 

 ita phaUoides, and that the serum of such rabbits will neutralize five 

 to eight times the lethal dose for guinea-pigs, and is anti-hemolytic 

 for the hemolysin of amanita when diluted to 1-1000. As he and 

 Abel"-^ had found this hemolytic poison of Amanita to be a glucoside, 

 this observation is to be interpreted as a successful production of an 

 antibod}^ for a non-protein poison, a glucoside. This work was fur- 

 ther supported by successfully immunizing rabbits to extracts of 

 Rhus toxicodendron, and finding that their serum in doses of 1 cc. 

 will protect guinea-pigs from 5-6 lethal doses of the poison, which 

 was found by Acree and Sjane^^ to be a glucoside. Subsequent work 

 by the same author confirms the main point, showing that an active 

 hemolysin can be obtained free from demonstrable protein, and that 

 immunization with this protein-free hemolysin will result in strongly 

 active (1-1000) antihemolytic serum.^o The antihemolysin unites 

 with the hemolysin in simple multiple proportions. ^^ Another, non- 

 hemolytic poison from Amanita, which Ford designates as Amanita 

 toxin, was found to contain neither protein nor glucoside, and no 

 antitoxic serum or definite artificial immunit}' can be obtained for it. 



Jacoby believed that he had obtained the phytotoxin ricin free from 



"/Wd., 1918 (91), 46. 

 ;7 1^ Jour. Biol. Chem., 1912 (12), 233. 



IS Jour. Exp. Med., 1912 (16), 479; 1913 17), 535. 



" Univ. of Calif. Publ., Pathol., 1916 (2), 157. Review and bibliography on 

 specificity. 



" Jour. Infec. Dis., 1907 (4), 541. 

 " Jour. Biol. Chem., 1907 (2), 273. 



19 Jour. Biol. Chem., 1907 (2), 547. 



20 Jour. Pharmacol., 1910 (2), 145. 

 " Jour. Pharmacol., 1913 (4), 235. 



11 



