108 IMMUNITY AND ANAPHYLAXIS 



persistent. In contrast with intracellular reactions, intra- 

 ' vascular reactions may be considered as therapeutic. 



9. The necessity or the production of antibody in excess 

 results from the obligation under which the organism finds 

 itself to transform antigenic colloids, which have penetrated 

 by any way whatever into its blood and tissues, into salts. 



10. The mechanism of this digestion is still unknown but 

 we may suppose following the example of the transformations 

 of arsenobenzenes, that in certain cases (toxins) the antibody 

 is a substance which binds the ties which unite the amines 

 in colloidal granules and thus transforms the colloid into a salt 

 neutral for the organism; and that in every case there is first 

 fixation by the molecules of a colloidal granule of a substance 

 which unites the granules to each other to form a coagulum 

 or a precipitate and finally there is another substance which 

 dissolves the precipitate and destroys the ties of the molecules. 



We may note in passing that the same substance may 

 coagulate or dissolve according to the proportions of the 

 reacting substances. Thus in two words: 



The pathologic state in infectious diseases is due to 

 anaphylaxis. 



Anaphylaxis is an indigestion which may be intracellular 

 or intra vascular or both. 



This indigestion consists in the inability of the organ to 

 rapidly transform colloidal antigens into salts. 



When it is intravascular, the disturbance will be rapid and 

 immediate: anaphylactic shock; when it is intracellular the 

 disturbance and the lesions which result may be more or less 

 delayed and will last for hours, days or dozens of years (tuber- 

 culosis, leprosy, syphilis) : chronic anaphylaxis. 



From the point of view of the evolution of infectious diseases, 

 anaphylaxis ought to be considered as a pathologic reaction of 

 the process of immunity. 



