VIII. THE AGGLUTINATION AND DISSOLUTION OF RED 

 BLOOD CELLS BY SERUM.* (SECOND MEMOIR.) 



BY DR. JULES BORDET. 



In the present article we shall offer certain facts in addition to 

 those recently published.! In our preceding memoir we enum- 

 erated the properties found in serum of guinea-pigs that have 

 received several injections of defibrinated rabbit blood and we in- 

 sisted on the close analogy between the properties of such a serum 

 and those of an antimicrobial serum like cholera serum. 



We shall now consider, first, whether the cellulicidal property is 

 the sole characteristic of antihematic sera or whether there are, 

 in addition, certain antitoxic properties. We shall then endeavor 

 to draw a still further comparison between antihematic sera and 

 antimicrobial sera. For example, we shall consider whether an 

 antihematic serum injected into a normal animal endows its fluids 

 with a cellulicidal property, for we know that the injection of cholera 

 serum into an animal gives rise in the serum of the recipient to an 

 intense bactericidal power. 



A comparison must be drawn between the important properties 

 of these different sera. It does not suffice simply to compare anti- 

 hematic sera with antimicrobial sera. We must still further con- 

 sider whether normal sera and specific sera have any characters 

 in common, and whether the active properties which develop and 

 are specialized as a result of immunizing injections are present in 

 a primitive form in normal animals. It is already known that the 

 majority of normal sera have a faculty of agglutinating and destroy- 

 ing alien red blood cells and also certain bacteria in some degree. 

 These evident analogies must be carefully outlined. 



* Agglutination et dissolution des globules rouges par le se>um. Annales de 

 Tlnstitut Pasteur, 1899, XIII, p. 273. 

 t See article, page 134. 



165 



