TETANUS TOXINE. 117 



of a guinea-pig could combine with and render non-poisonous 

 a certain quantity of tetanus toxine. It is true that this power 

 of combination is not very considerable ; according to PALTAUF I 

 1 c.c. of the emulsion can combine with 100 lethal doses at 

 most a point which must not be overlooked in attempting to 

 come to a correct conclusion about this question. 



It is the cells of the brain that enter into combination, as was 

 shown by BLUMENTHAL 2 and MiLCHNER, 3 who found that the 

 liquid was free from toxine after being subjected to centrifugal 

 force. 



RANSOM,* too, was able to show that on injection of tetanus 

 poison into the subarachnoid space the nerve substance combines 

 with more poison than can be accounted for by the blood that 

 it contains, but that the combination is not absolute, for a part 

 of the toxine passes into the circulatory system even in this 

 method of injection. On the other hand, MEYER, like BLUMEN- 

 THAL and JACOB 5 before him and ScuuLZE, 6 found the cerebro- 

 spinal fluid to be/ree from toxine. 



WASSERMANN regarded the results of this experiment as a 

 confirmation of the side-chain theory. The receptors that are 

 capable of combining with the poison in the brain substance, 

 and also in the living brain, are the same that circulate in the 

 blood as free receptors, so that WASSERMANN is right in forming 

 his conception of side-chain immunity from these experiments. 



Objections have been raised on various sides, and notably by 

 the school of METSCHNIKOFF r and by BEHRING and KITASHIMA, S 

 against the conclusions drawn from WASSERMANN'S experiments. 

 It would take us too far from our theme to deal thoroughly with 

 the whole subject in dispute ; and so I will content myself with 



1 Paltauf, "Diskussion zu dem Vortrag von Grueber," Wien. klin. Woch., 

 1901, 51. 



2 Blumenthal, " Ueber die Verandergungen des Tetanusgiftes im Tier- 

 korper," Deutsch. med. Woch., 1898, 185. 



3 Milchner, "Nachweis der chemischen Bindung von T. -G. durch Nerven- 

 substanz," BerL klin. Woch., 1898, 369. 



4 Ransom, "Die Injektion von Tetanustoxin bezw. Antitoxin in den 

 subarachnoidalen Raum," Z. f. phys. Chem., xxxi., 282, 1900-01. 



5 Blumenthal and Jacob, " Zur Serumtherapie des Tetanus," Berl. klin. 

 Woch., 1898, 1079. 



6 Schultze, " Spinalpunktion u. Einspritz. v. Antitoxinserum bei Tet. 

 traumaticus," Mitt. Grenzgeb. d. Med, u. Chir., v., 169, 1900. 



7 Metschnikoff, Immunitdt, German ed. by Meyer, Jena, 1902. Also, 

 Metschnikoff, "Influence de I'organisme sur les toxines," Ann. Past., xi., 

 801, 1897; xii., 81, 1898. Marie, "Propriete antite"tanique des centres 

 nerveux.," ibid., xii., 91, 1898. Besredka, "De la fixation de la toxine 

 tet.,"ibid., xvii., 139, 1903. 



8 Behring, Allg. Ther. d. Infekt.-Kr., i., 1033. 



