128 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



to electrolysis a peculiar change takes place by which 

 the bacteria and toxin collect at one pole, while fluid 

 containing a protective substance collects at the other. 

 It was supposed that this was an evidence that the toxin 

 had been changed into antitoxin, and that an analogous 

 process to that which takes place in the body had been 

 produced by the electrolysis. It may, however, have 

 been the expression of another process. 



The calculation of antitoxin strength given above 

 ought to be sufficient proof that the antitoxin is some- 

 thing more than changed toxin, for in the blood of the 

 horse given as an example we found 327 times as much 

 antitoxin as it had received toxin, and in all of the 

 electrolysis and other experiments that have been made 

 there was but a small relative amount of protection re- 

 sulting from the electrolysis of considerable culture. 



Vaillard opposes Buchner's view by showing that from 

 an immunized rabbit ' ' a volume of blood equal to the 

 entire amount that circulates in its body may be with- 

 drawn without diminishing in an appreciable manner 

 the antitoxic power of its serum." Roux also points out 

 that the antitoxic power of the blood depends upon the 

 method of immunization adopted rather than upon the 

 quantity of toxin used, a few large doses producing a far 

 less satisfactory result than many small ones. He found 

 that the serum of an animal immunized by thirty-three 

 small doses was capable of neutralizing in vitro 150 parts 

 of toxin, while that of an animal which received the 

 same amount in only nine doses neutralized only 25 parts 

 of the same toxin. 



Several accidents that have occurred in the administra- 

 tion of antitoxin have influenced some writers toward 

 the conclusion that the antitoxin is altered toxin. Thus, 

 Buschka, 1 having accidentally inoculated himself with 

 matter supposed to contain tetanus virus, gave himself a 

 prophylactic injection of antitetanus serum and thereafter 

 suffered from tetanus-like convulsions. -Marcuse 2 ob- 



1 Quoted by Hueppe in the Principles of Bacteriology. * Ibid. 



