MECHANISM OF HEMOLYSIS. 263 



prepare the lock for the action of the second key, 

 complement, the latter being the one which really 

 opens it. 



Metchnikoff applies the name fixator to the 

 thermostabile body, having in mind the action of 

 a mordant in preparing tissues or other substances 

 for the reception of a dye; this differs little from 

 preparator, the word used by Gruber. 



The idea of Ehrlich, however, is distinctly at 

 variance with the conceptions mentioned, for he 

 sees in the union of amboceptor with cell nothing 

 more than the introduction of a new chemical 

 affinity, i. e., one which attracts complement, and 

 this new affinity does not lie in the cell itself, but 

 rather in the amboceptor (complementophilous 

 haptophore) after the union has occurred. Hence, 

 the terms intermediary body (ZwiscJierikorper), 

 copula of Muller, and desmon of London, are 

 words which carry with them the meaning that the 

 amboceptor first unites with the cell and then acts 

 as a linking substance through which complement 

 finally is put in relation to the cell. This also is 

 the meaning embodied in the amboceptor of 

 Ehrlich, the word indicating more accurately his 

 conception of the method by which the substance 

 acts as an intermediary body. 



If we consider it established that in the process structure of 

 of cytolysis union occurs between complement and 

 amboceptor we must at the same time assign a 

 haptophorous group to complement. Union would 

 be' impossible without it. Corroborative proof of 

 the existence of this haptophore lies in the fact 

 that immunization with complement results in the 

 formation of anticomplement, a prerequisite for 

 which is union of complement with cell receptors 



