24 ANAPHYLAXIS AND ANTI-ANAPHYLAXIS 



for any length of time. Having had occasion to keep 

 guinea-pigs thus treated for over a year, we have 

 been able to make certain that the anaphylactic state 

 after injection with egg-albumen persists quite as 

 well as with serum injection. We have been led to 

 believe that this state when once acquired only dis- 

 appears with the death of the animal. 



Let us note by the way this curious feature in 

 specificity with egg-albumen. Guinea-pigs sensitised 

 with egg-albumen heated to ioo°C. appear extremely 

 sensitive to reinjection of this substance. Now, as 

 we shall see later, heated egg-albumen has no action 

 on guinea-pigs sensitised under normal conditions — 

 that is to say, on guinea-pigs that have been sensi- 

 tised with the raw substance. It therefore appears 

 that from the point of view of its biochemical con- 

 stitution there exists between heated and non-heated 

 egg-albumen a difference as profound as that between 

 proteins derived from different species of animals > 

 That 'is an extremely curious fact which deserves the 

 attention of chemists . For details of a biological nature 

 we refer the reader to a paper which we devoted to 

 the study of anaphylaxis produced by egg-albumen. 



Passive Anaphylaxis. — So far, for the purposes of 

 sensitisation, whether with serum, milk, or egg- 

 albumen, we have seen that it is sufficient to inject a 

 small quantity of one of these substances in any part 

 of the animal's body. We then wait eight to ten 

 days, experience having shewn us that this is the 

 minimum interval to be allowed for the anaphylactic 

 state to make its appearance. 



But there is another means of creating the state of 

 hypersensibility, a method just as certain and ex- 

 tremely rapid . By that we mean passive anaphylaxis. 

 Just in the same way as with passive immunity, this 

 anaphylaxis is conferred on the fresh animal by means 

 of antibodies manufactured by another animal actively 

 sensitised. 



