ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF ANAPHYLAXIS 85 



rigorously defined. Does bacterial anaphylaxis 

 comply with this postulate ? 



Kraus and Doerr, who have experimented with 

 typhoid and dysentery bacilli and with the cholera 

 vibrio, maintain that the reaction is rigidly specific. 

 According to them, guinea-pigs sensitised with a 

 typhoid culture only respond to the second injection 

 of typhoid ; on the other hand, they remain unaffected 

 by the injection of paratyphoid or cholera toxin. 



Delanoe,^ who has observed guinea-pigs sensitised 

 with typhoid cultures reacting to the injection of 

 paratyphoid A and B bacilli and even of B. coli, 

 holds the opposite opinion. The reaction is most 

 certainly less violent, according to this author, than 

 when the homologous extract is injected ; but it is 

 none the less real in cases of injection of heterologous 

 bacterial extracts. 



In the opinion of Holobuth,^ the cause of this 

 divergence resides in the technique employed by these 

 authors. With a view to unifying the results, 

 Holobuth proposes his own technique. This consists 

 in sensitising guinea-pigs subcutaneously with weak 

 doses of bacteria (x^ of a loopful of bacilli heated 

 to 70° C.) repeated during the next ten days. The 

 test injection should be carried out intravenously. 

 According to this author's directions, it should be 

 made, three weeks after the last subcutaneous injec- 

 tion, with a massive dose (0-5 c.c. of bouillon 

 culture in 10 to 15 c.c. decinormal soda). If this 

 technique be strictly adhered to, in Holobuth 's 

 opinion, bacterial anaphylaxis, with all the known 

 characters, even with a fatal issue, can with certainty 

 be obtained in the majority of cases. 



In the opinion of this author bacterial anaphylaxis 

 is specific. In some cases, however, he has seen 



1 Comptes rend. Soc. de Biol., Ixvi., pp. 207, 252, 248, 389, 1909. 



2 Zeiischr. f. Immunit'dtsf., I. Grig., iii,, p. 639, 1909. 



