12 ANAPHYLAXIS AND ANTI-ANAPHYLAXIS 



hypersensitiveness was established it was capable of 

 lasting for months. 



Rosenau and Anderson stated that they succeeded 

 in sensitising the guinea-pigs to horse serum by giving 

 them horse-flesh or serum to eat. 



Like Otto, they also obtained a clear idea of the 

 specificity of the anaphylactic reaction. 



With the object of depriving the serum of its 

 toxicity at the time of the second injection, they 

 attempted to treat it with different reagents either of 

 a physical or chemical nature, but without success. 

 Only heating the serum to ioo° C. had any effect on 

 this toxicity; we shall return to this point in detail 

 later on. 



As regards the internal mechanism of anaphylaxis, 

 these scientists have sought to discover it in the pro- 

 duction of an antibody. According to their views, 

 at the time of the second injection the toxic sub- 

 stance of the serum enters into combination with the 

 antibody in question, and gives rise to the symptoms 

 with which we are now familiar. 



Like Otto, they, too, have sought to establish a 

 connexion between the anaphylaxis of guinea-pigs and 

 the symptoms occurring in man. 



The facts estabhshed by Otto, Rosenau and Ander- 

 son may therefore be summed up as follows : ( i ) The 

 injection of a weak dose of horse serum (o-oooooi to 

 0-004 c.c.) sets up a state of hypersensitiveness or 

 anaphylaxis in the guinea-pig; (2) the addition of 

 diphtheria toxin, without being indispensable, renders 

 this state more pronounced; (3) an interval of at 

 least ten to twelve days is necessary between the 

 " sensitising " injection (weak dose of serum) and the 

 " toxic " injection (5 c.c. of serum) made intraperi- 

 toneally; (4) when the interval between the two in- 

 jections is shorter, and the toxic injection is made 

 before the expiration of the interval of ten to twelve 



