CHAPTER XIII 



TOXINS AND ANTITOXINS 



The Toxin-Antitoxin Reaction. Apart from the therapeutic pos- 

 sibilities disclosed by the discovery of antitoxins, new light of in- 

 estimable value was thrown by these observations upon the biological 

 processes involved in immunization. The most vital problem, of 

 course, which immediately thrust itself upon all workers in this 

 field, was the question as to the nature of the reaction in which toxin 

 was rendered innocuous by antitoxin. 



The simplest conception of this process would be an actual 

 destruction of the toxin by its specific antitoxin, and it is not un- 

 natural, therefore, that this was the view which, for a short time, 

 found favor with some observers. Roux, and more particularly 

 Buchner, 1 however, under the sway of cellular pathology, advanced 

 the opinion that the antitoxins in some way influenced the tissue 

 cells, rendering them more resistant against the toxins. Antitoxin, 

 according to this theory, did not act directly upon toxin, but affected 

 it indirectly through the mediation of tissue cells. Ehrlich, 2 on the 

 other hand, conceived that the reaction of toxin and antitoxin was 

 a direct union, analogous to the chemical neutralization of an acid 

 by a base an opinion in which Behring soon joined him. 



The conception of toxin destruction received unanswerable 

 refutation by the experiments of Calmette. 3 This observer, working 

 with snake poison, found that the poison itself (unlike most other 

 toxins) possessed the property of resisting heat even to 100 C., 

 while its specific antitoxin, like other antitoxins, was delicately 

 thermolabile. He noted, furthermore, that non-toxic mixtures of 

 the two substances, when subjected to heat, regained their toxic 

 properties. The natural inference from these observations could 



1 Buchner, ' ' Schutzimpfung, " etc., in Penzoldt u. Stinzing, "Handbuch d. 

 spez. Therap. d. Inf ektkrank., ' ' 1894. 



2 Ehrlich, Deut. med. Woch., 1891. 



3 Calmette, Ann. de Pinst. Past., 1895. 



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