XXIII. THE PHENOMENA OF ADSORPTION AND THE 

 CONGLUTININ OF BOVINE SERUM * 



BY DRS. J. BORDET AND OSWALD STRENG. 



One of us has suggested and maintained for some time the 

 opinion that the phenomena of union of antigens with antibodies in 

 serum belong rather in the category of phenomena of molecular 

 adhesion than among chemical reactions, properly speaking; in 

 other words, they are apparently adsorption phenomena. 



That the modifications on certain cells brought about by specific 

 serum frequently resemble phenomena which have no relation to a 

 chemical reaction both in their general appearance and in their 

 course, is undoubted. Ten years ago one of us brought out the 

 fact that hemolysis by an active serum obtained by immunizing 

 animals against the blood of a foreign species resembles in certain 

 respects the hemolysis produced by distilled water; in both instances 

 the stromata persist and the hemoglobin is unaltered; when oval 

 corpuscles are affected they become spherical and swell up before 

 losing their coloring matter. A still more striking analogy was 

 noted shortly afterward: the agglutination of bacteria by normal 

 serum or specific serum takes place only in presence of a salt; and 

 the flocculation which this electrolyte brings about in bacteria 

 that have been previously treated with serum is very comparable to 

 the effect produced by the same electrolyte on a suspension of 

 clay or colloidal emulsions like mastic. This fact gave rise to the 

 idea that we should doubtless be able to obtain, by immunizing 

 animals, sera capable of flocculating finely suspended organic 

 substances, or albuminoid substances like casein, and led to the 

 discovery of "lactoserum," that is, the immune serum of animals 

 that have been treated with injections of milk.f 



* Les ph6nom6nes d'absorption et la conglutinine du srum de bceuf. Cen- 

 tralhlatt fur Bakteriologie, 1st Abt. Orig. Vol. 49, 1909, p. 260. 

 t Bordet, p. 155. 



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