IMMUNITY AND SUSCEPTIBILITY. 127 



non of that state. It is also of great importance in con- 

 sidering the origin of the antitoxin. 



Concerning the origin of the antitoxins, we must at 

 once dismiss from our minds the thought that bacteria 

 have anything to do with their formation other than 

 through the toxins they generate. The immunization 

 of animals to feebly toxic cultures, or to bacteria washed 

 of their toxins, produces immunity, but immunity 

 without antitoxic activity produces the antimicrobic 

 power of the blood presenting itself in these cases. 

 It is, therefore, the poison alone that is responsible for 

 the phenomenon, and a moment's reflection upon the 

 anti-bodies produced by immunization to ricin, abrin, 

 venom, eel's blood, etc. will clearly establish this fact. 

 How does the poison produce the antitoxin? 



A. Theory that the antitoxin is the toxin in a changed 

 condition. — This thought presented itself early in the 

 study of the subject, and doubtless suggested itself because 

 in the forced immunity which is the foundation of anti- 

 toxin formation the administration of large quantities 

 of toxin was necessary, and it was only after large quan- 

 tities had been administered that antitoxin was formed. 

 Buchner is emphatic in his assertion that the antitoxin 

 is "entgiftete" or changed products of the bacterial 

 cells. The fact that the toxin met with a speedy elimi- 

 nation seems not to have been taken into account, 

 although evidences of the rapidity of this process are not 

 wanting. I have seen horses covered with sweat a few 

 minutes after toxin administration, and have observed 

 diarrhea shortly after the injections. Various observers 

 have found the unchanged toxin in the excretions. 

 Smirnow, 1 Kriiger, 2 D' Arsonval and Charrin, 3 Bolton and 

 Pease, 4 and others have, however, found that when diph- 

 theria cultures are placed in a V-shaped tube and subjected 



1 Berliner klin. IVochenschrift, 1895, Nos. 30 and 31, and Zeitschrift fur 

 klin. Med , Bd. xxii., Nos. 1 and 2. 



* Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, 1895, No. 31. 



3 La mid. Moderne, 1896, p. 71. 



; Journal of Experimental Medicine. 



