680 CHARLES W. HOOPER 



that human beings with serum sickness not infrequently show low blood 

 pressure, and diminished coagulability of the blood. Guinea pigs also give 

 evidence of diminished coagulability,, indicating hepatic involvement in 

 the anaphylactic response. The author also infers that the results intro- 

 duce a new function of the liver, namely, its participation in the immune 

 reaction. 



Pearce and Eisenbrey (1910) demonstrated conclusively that anaphy- 

 lactic sensitization is manifested mainly in the tissue cells, rather than in 

 the circulating blood. They found that a sensitized dog, transfused with 

 normal blood, exhibits immediate anaphylactic shock when the antigen is 

 injected; whereas a non-sensitized dog transfused with sensitized blood, 

 shows no immediate effect when the antigen is injected. It is also proved 

 by the experiments of Schultz (1910), Dale (1912) and Weil (a) (1914), 

 that excised and blood-free organs of sensitized animals exhibit a high 

 specific response to the sensitizing protein. According to Weil (1917), 

 the site of the cellular reaction in dogs is the hepatic parenchyma. Other 

 tissues may participate, but at present there is nothing to indicate that this 

 is the case. In the guinea pig the chief site of the cellular reaction is the 

 smooth muscle tissue. The fact that in both species the fundamental 

 mechanism is a cellular reaction, even though different tissues are in- 

 volved, furnishes the basis for a uniform theory of anaphylaxis. The fact 

 that peptone affects the liver in very much the same manner as does a 

 specific antigen to which the organ is sensitized, may serve to explain the 

 therapeutic effects observed after the injection of this substance in cer- 

 tain infections, such as typhoid fever. 



It is well established that the coagulability of the blood is markedly 

 diminished during anaphylactic shock in 'the dog. Coagulation may be 

 only delayed, or it may be completely abolished. According to Weil, a 

 similar change, though slighter in degree, characterizes the blood of rab- 

 bits in anaphylaxis and of guinea pigs in case the shock is protracted. 



Antithrombin as a Hepatic Internal Secretion 



Delezenne (1898), Popielski (1913), and others, have shown that 

 peptonization in the dog causes a notable augmentation of the antithrom- 

 bin in the blood and state that it is produced in the liver. This conclusion 

 is corroborated by the experiments of Denny and M.inot (1915). Long 

 stasis of blood in the liver, as well as perfusion of the organ, was accom- 

 panied by a distinct increase in the antithrombin content, results which 

 are not obtained from other organs. Destruction of liver tissue, as in 

 phosphorus poisoning, occasions on the contrary a marked decrease in 

 antithrombin. 



Howell (a.) (1914) devised an accurate method for testing the relative 



