ANTITOXINS 39 



has been able to dissociate the two components of 

 a neutral mixture of cobra venom and its antitoxin. 

 But even here we are not dealing with a reversible 

 reaction, for it requires certain manipulations to 

 disrupt the neutral combination. In their work 

 on the toxin of symptomatic anthrax, Grassberger 

 and Schattenfroh found that different mixtures 

 were obtained, depending on whether they mixed 

 the toxin and antitoxin after diluting them, or 

 diluted the toxin-antitoxin mixture. This fact 

 is not in favor of Arrhenius' theory, for according 

 to that, the same state of equilibrium should exist 

 in both instances owing to reversibility, and the 

 same fraction of the toxin of necessity remain 

 free 



Bordet l believes that the neutralization of toxin 

 by antitoxin is an adsorption phenomenon, and 

 compares it with the process of dyeing. The 

 molecules of the toxin would " stain " more or less 

 deeply by the antitoxin molecule, and the com- 

 plexes that result in the various instances would 

 be less toxic in proportion as they contained more 

 antitoxin and less, toxin. If a large piece of filter 

 paper is placed in a certain volume of sufficiently 

 diluted dye, it takes a uniform shade of intensity; 

 if, on the other hand, the same sized piece of paper 

 is cut in pieces and added in fragments, the first 



1 Bordet-Gay, Collected Studies in Immunity, Wiley & Sons, 

 1909. 



