THE ADRENAL SYSTEM AND ANTITOXIC SERUM. 645 



centimeters; V 6 cubic centimeter against 45 cubic centimeters; 

 and 1 cubic centimeter against 9 cubic centimeters of the toxin. 

 If each cubic centimeter of the serum of this horse is capable 

 of destroying the toxic effect of 9 cubic centimeters of toxin, 

 the total toxin-annulling capacity is 9 X 15,000 cubic centime- 

 ters of serum in the horse's blood = 135,000 cubic centimeters 

 of toxin. 



"We must next see how much toxin has been received by 

 the horse during his immunization. The following doses, the 

 figures referring to cubic centimeters of toxin, probably repre- 

 sent an average careful manipulation extending over a period 

 of about three months: Y 10 , V 4 , V 2 , 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8; 10, 15, 20, 

 25, 50, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 500, 500, 500, 500, making 

 a total of about 42 QO cubic centimeters of diphtheria toxin. 

 Now observe that the total quantity of toxin consumed by the 

 horse is 4200 cubic centimeters, but his protective energy is 

 135,000 cubic centimeters of toxin, so that the blood of this 

 horse, if drawn from his body, would furnish enough protection 

 to save 32 VT horses from doses of toxin as large as the total 

 amount administered to him during the entire course of his 

 treatment. 



"This illustration is not only extremely instructive in 

 showing the paradoxic nature of the condition of hypersensi- 

 tivity, but certainly proves that the antitoxicity of the blood 

 is not the cause of immunity, but a phenomenon of that state. 

 It is also of great importance in considering the origin of the 

 antitoxin. 



"Concerning the origin of the antitoxins, we must at once 

 dismiss from our minds the thought that bacteria have any- 

 thing to do with their formation other than through the toxins 

 they generate. The immunization of animals to feebly toxic 

 cultures, or to bacteria washed of their toxins, produces im- 

 munity; but immunity without antitoxic activity produces the 

 antimicrobic power of the blood presenting itself in these cases. 

 It is, therefore, the poison alone that is responsible for the 

 phenomenon, and a moment's reflection upon the anti-bodies 

 produced by immunization to ricin, abrin, venom, eel's blood, 

 etc., will clearly establish this fact. How does the poison 

 produce the antitoxin?" 



