124 BACTERIOLOGY 



At a certain stage of decomposition of protein material 

 poisonous products are formed. The process does not 

 stop here, however, but continues, and the poisonous 

 products are further split up into non-poisonous sub- 

 stances. Should a large amount of such poisonous 

 substances be liberated at one time, they might do great 

 damage to the organism before they could be further 

 decomposed and rendered inert. Practically the same 

 process occurs in gastric and intestinal digestion, but 

 the poisonous products are easily further decomposed 

 and rendered inert before they are absorbed into the 

 circulation. Should anything occur to stop digestion at 

 this point the poisons may be absorbed, and cause 

 a condition of auto-intoxication which may be looked 

 upon as analogous to anaphylaxis. 



It is probable that upon the introduction of the foreign 

 proteins of horse-serum, in antitoxin, for instance, there 

 are but few antibodies for that particular substance 

 present. Its destruction or breaking up takes place 

 slowly and small amounts of the poisonous products of 

 decomposition are liberated at a time, so that they are 

 soon neutralized without having done any injury. 

 During this process or following the introduction of the 

 foreign protein, large amounts of antibodies for the sub- 

 stance are formed. If now, at the height of the develop- 

 ment of these antibodies, usually in about eight to ten 

 days from the first injection, another injection of the 

 same serum be given, it is decomposed so rapidly that a 



