HAT FEVER 147 



muscarine and lielvellic acid, are non-protein substances, of known cliemical com- 

 position, wliich are discussed elsewlierc; but the Amanita phailoidcn, tlie most 

 important of the tiiree, owes its toxic properties to at least two poisonous con- 

 stituents. One is powerfully hemolytic, is destroyed by heatinff tliirty minutes at 

 65°, and acts directly upon red corpuscles without the presence of s(!runi.'^" 



The studies of Ford'-' aiul his associates have shown that this hemolysin is a 

 glucoside, yielding on hydrolysis pentose and volatile bases, and yet capable of 

 acting as an antigen, since actively antihemolytic sera can be produced by im- 

 munizing animals. This substance corresponds to the phallin of Koljcrt. 

 Probably this hemolytic poison is not the important agent in poisoning 

 by Amanita, as it is easily destroyed by heat and the digestive fluids. The ther- 

 mostable poison, Amanita- toxin, gives no reactions for either glucosides or pro- 

 teins,^o and does not confer any considerable antitoxic property on the blood of 

 immunized animals. The toxin kills acutely, the animals dying in 24-48 hours, 

 and show'ing no changes beyond a fatty degeneration of the internal organs. Tlie 

 hemolysin kills slowly in .VI days, causing local edema aiul liemoglobinuria. 



Amanita muscaria contains a heat-resistant agglutinin which also seems to be a 

 glucoside, but it is not toxic nor antigenic. 



An extensive study of many fungi by Ford n led him to classify the toxic action 

 in three groups: (1) nerve poisons, e. g., muscarine; (2) those causing struc- 

 tural changes in the viscera, e. g., A. phalloides. causing fatty degeneration; (3) 

 gastro-intestinal irritants, e. g., Lactarius torminosits. 



The poison of Rhus toxicodendron has also been found by Aeree and Syme 12 to 

 be a glucoside,i2a and the same is true of the poison oak, Rhus diversiloha, which 

 has no antigenic properties. is 



HAY-FEVER 



In 1902 Dunbar i* demonstrated conclusively that typical hay-fever, in its 

 several various forms, is due to pollen of various sources, in all, twenty-five 

 varieties of grass and seven varieties of plants of other sorts being found whose 

 pollen, when placed upon the nasal or conjunctival mucous membranes of hay- 

 fever patients, causes a typical attack of the disease. In Germany the disease 

 seems to come chiefly from pollen of the grasses and grains (rye pollen being 

 most active), whereas in America the most important pollen seems to come from 

 members of the Ambrosia (rag-weed) and SoUdago (goldenrod) .i*a Dunbar also 

 found tliat tlie toxic constituent could be dissolved from the pollen in salt solu- 

 tion, and seemed to be a protein. The protein constituents of the pollen of rye 

 have been studied further by Kammann,io who found three proteins, one of which, 

 an albumin, was found to contain all the active matter. This constitutes about 

 5.5 per cent, of tlie entire weight of the pollen, is weakened but little by heating 

 to 80'°, and is not destroyed bv boiling; it is but partly destroyed by pepsin and 



1 



trypsin, and resists acids but not alkalies. A solution containing • milligram 



120 

 of pollen protein, which amount is contained in two or three pollen grains, pro- 

 duces a reaction in susceptible individuals, but large amovmts have no effect on 

 normal persons. Dunbar has manufactured an antitoxic seriun by immunizing 

 horses against the pollen, although by no means all observers are agi-eed as to 

 its efficacy. 



8a The hemagglutinin of Agaricus campestris is precipitated at a H-ion concen- 

 tration of 2.6 X 10-* (Brossa, Arch. sci. med., 1915 (39), 241). 

 9 See Jour, of Pharm., 1910 (2), 145; 1913 (4), 235, 241 and 321. 

 loRabe (Zeit. exp. Path., 1911 (9), 352) considers it to be an alkaloid. 



11 Jour, of Pharm., 1911 (2), 285. 



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



12a Questioned by McNair, Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 1916 (38), 1417. 



13 Adelung, Arch. Int. Med., 1913 (11), 148. 



14 Full review of subject and literature given by Prausnitz, KoUe and Wasser- 

 mann's Handbuch, 1913 (2), 1469; Koessler, Forchheimer's Therapeutics, 1914 

 (5), 671. 



14a See Cooke and Van der Veer, Jour. Immunol., 1916 (1), 201; Goodale, Bos- 

 ton Med. Surg. Jour., 1914 (171), 695. 



15 Hofmeister's Beitr., 1904 (5), 346; Biochem. Zeit., 1912 (46), 151. 



