INFLUENCE OF CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM 111 



thus depends upon the time during which the intracellular 

 reactions are allowed to take place and anesthesia has no 

 other role than to prolong the duration of the reactions. 

 By anesthetizing the nerve cells the transmission of the 

 excitation to the nerve centers and to the particular tissues 

 is impeded. 



The combination between antigen and antibody in excess 

 takes place in spite of narcosis, because the animal is vac- 

 cinated by the dose, but the pathologic effect of the reaction 

 between the two substances is lessened either because the 

 duration of the reaction is longer, or better, because the 

 hypersensitiveness of important nerve cells has prevented 

 organs of tissues from reacting pathologically. We can 

 explain this better by a somewhat exaggerated comparison: 



When a stone engages in a gall-duct or in the urethra the 

 walls of the canal contract as if they were trying to hinder 

 the passage of the foreign body. Local or general anesthesia 

 will prevent the contraction (and the pain at the same time) 

 so that if the dimensions of the stone do not exceed the 

 capacity for expansion of the canal, the stone will continue 

 on its way without pathologic manifestations. 



Experiences have shown that certain nervous excitations 

 may produce pathologic manifestations, analogous to those 

 which characterize anaphylactic shock, and that anesthesia 

 of the nerve centers may hinder these manifestations by 

 moderating the resulting reactions and especially by hinder- 

 ing the secondary reaction of the organism.' 



We know only two sorts of nervous influences but it is 

 very probable that there are many others and that their 

 eftects may be different, either good or bad for the organism. 

 We suspect, for example, that when in an infectious disease 

 (typhoid fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc.) nervous symp- 

 toms are predominant, the process of immunization does 

 not take place or takes place incompletely and the prognosis 

 is, therefore, always grave. We also know that in antitoxic 

 immunization, the production of antibodies is all the more 

 rapid and abundant when the nervous sensibility of the 

 treated animal is better protected against intoxication. 



Thus, the guinea-pig is much more easily immunized against 



