94 ANAPHYLAXIS AND ANTI-ANAPHYLAXIS 



expressed our opinion on the subject as follows r 

 " Having in view the great specificity of the ana- 

 phylactic reaction on the one hand and the minimal 

 dose required to sensitise the guinea-pig on the other, 

 there is every reason for hoping that this reaction will 

 prove of service in medico-legal practice, in the same 

 way as the precipitin reaction and the reaction which 

 is based on deviation of the complement."^ 



A Httle later (December, 1908) Uhlenhuth ex- 

 pressed the same opinion, adding that the anaphy- 

 lactic reaction could be utihsed in cases in which the 

 precipitating reaction failed, particularly in cases of 

 heated albumens ; he laid special stress on our earlier 

 experiments dealing with the thermostability of sensi- 

 biligen — that is to say, on the property of albumens 

 exhibited in sensitising the guinea-pig, even after 

 the albumens had been brought to boiling-point. 



The anaphylactic reaction has enabled us to deter- 

 mine the human or animal nature of mummies many 

 thousands of years old. We may remark that the 

 precipitin reaction as well as that of fixation of 

 complement proved ineffectual in these cases. 



What is of more direct utility is the fact that the 

 anaphjdactic reaction can be employed with success 

 in the examination of the products of secretion and 

 excretion, such as milk, egg-albumen, haemoglobin, 

 gastric juice, sweat, oils, etc. 



In certain cases it supplies information as to 

 specificity where precipitins fail; in that of crystallins, 

 for example. 



Karl Schern^ has employed the anaphylactic 

 reaction to discover adulteration of earth-nut oil- 

 cakes with rice grains, field mustard, etc. 



Minet and Leclercq® have carried out interesting 



1 Bull, de Vlnstitut Pasteur, March 15, 1908, vi., p. 236. 



2 Berlin, thier'drztl. Wochenschr., February 16, 191 1, p. 113. 



3 Comptes rend. Soc. de Biol., Ixxii., p. 602, 1912. 



