VACCINATING INJECTION 75 



extends to the nerve-centres, the brain, and the 

 spinal cord. 



The only feature in common between these two 

 immunities, so diametrically opposed, consists in 

 their specificity. 



It is simply to synthesise in a single word the 

 general effect of characters so curious and so opposed 

 to current ideas on immunity that we have coined 

 the phrase " anti-anaphylaxis." In order not to 

 allow it to be deflected from its proper meaning, it 

 will be necessary to reserve it solely for cases of 

 rapid vaccination, either by a single injection in a 

 weak dose or by a series of graduated small injections 

 following one another at very close intervals. 



It may, perhaps, not be without interest to recall 

 the faet that our conception of anti-anaphylaxis as 

 being a desensitisation and a mere return to the 

 normal state has been strenuously and universally 

 opposed by all those who have given their attention 

 to the question. Various theories, such as absorp- 

 tion of complement or some particular change in 

 condition of the animal, have been brought forward, 

 to combat our way of thinking, which, after all, is 

 based on experiment. In order to demonstrate the 

 small foundation of our conception, our opponents 

 have gone so far as to deny the specific character of 

 anti-anaphylaxis, and to aver that it can be effected 

 by various methods, other than that which consists 

 in emplojang the homologous serum. 



It is needless now to insist farther on the fact that 

 researches made in different directions have had the 

 effect of rallying almost all our opponents on our side. 



Let us quote in evidence of this the comparatively 

 recent experiments carried out by Richard Weil and 

 Arthur Coca.^ We may recall that one of the argu- 

 ments which we adduced in favour of the theory of 

 - Zeitschr. f. Immunitaisf., I. Orig., xvii., p. 141, 1913. 



