viii PREFACE 



were published relating to it. Though this plethora 

 of publications has opened up some interesting facts 

 to us, it has nevertheless introduced some confusion 

 into the subject. It is common to see the term 

 " anaphylaxis " applied to symptoms that can lay no 

 claim to it. It is necessary before everything else to 

 set this mass of research in proper order; this is the 

 task Dr. Besredka has accomphshed in the present 

 work which I have the pleasure of introducing to 

 biologists. Dr. Besredka is in possession of a special 

 quaUfication for the fulfilment of this task, since we 

 are indebted to him for some of the most valuable 

 advances in our knowledge of anaphylaxis. 



The author takes anaphylaxis in the guinea-pig 

 as typical, because anaphjdactic phenomena are re- 

 produced in this animal with a regularity and pre- 

 cision met with in no other subject. The state of 

 anaphylaxis is brought about after the animal has 

 received a preliminary injection, and at a definite 

 point of time after the reception of this injection. 

 Preliminary injection and consecutive incubation are 

 the conditions necessary for anaphylaxis. As the 

 result of a second or " exciting " injection, a condi- 

 tion is produced which, owing to the violent symp- 

 toms of sudden onset, has rightly been compared to 

 shock. Once acquired, the anaphylactic state per- 

 sists for a long while, probably during the whole life 

 of the animal. Moreover, anaphylaxis is specific — 

 that is to say, the substance which has served for 

 sensitisation is alone capable of setting up the ana- 

 phylactic shock. The dose which causes the death 

 of the animal when it is injected at one time, whether 

 intravenously or by way of the nervous centres, is 

 shown to be harmless if it is introduced by fractional 

 and intermittent injections. The animal which has 

 received it in this fashion becomes like a new being ; 

 it is desensitised, and, without suffering any harm, 



