BACTERIOLYSINS AND" 



Antihaemolysins : their Nature Anti-comple- 

 ment or Anti-immune Body? A further step in 

 the study of haemolysins was brought about by Ehr- 

 lich and Morgenroth who announced the production 

 of an anti-haemolysin. A specific haemolysin, one, 

 for example, specific for rabbit blood, derived by 

 treating a guinea pig with rabbit red cells, is highly 

 toxic to rabbits. Injected into the animals intra- 

 venously in doses of 5 cc. it kills the animals acutely, 

 causing intra vitam a solution of the red cells. Such 

 a haemolytic serum, then, acts the same as a bacterial 

 poison, and it is possible to immunize against this just 

 as well as against a bacterial poison. For example, 

 to keep to our illustration, rabbits are injected first 

 with very small doses of this specific haemolytic serum. 

 The dose is gradually increased until it is found that 

 the animal tolerates amounts that would be absolutely 

 fatal to animals not so treated. If some of the 

 serum of this animal is now abstracted and added 

 to the specific haemolytic serum, it is found that the 

 power of the latter will be inhibited. According to 

 Ehrlich an antih&molysin has been formed. Bordet l 

 on the other hand was able to show that an anti- 

 haemolytic serum could be produced by injecting the 

 serum of untreated animals just as well as by the 

 injection of the serum of treated animals. 



Ehrlich and Sachs 2 later admitted the correctness 



1 Annales de 1'Inst. Pasteur, Vol. 18, 1904, p. 593. 



2 Berliner Klin. Woch., No. 19, 1905. 



