LYSINS, AGGLUTININS, PRECIPITINS, ETC. 243 



Multiplicity of the Complement. A number of very complicated ex- 

 periments have been carried out by Ehrlich, Morgenroth, 1 Sachs, 2 and 

 others, which seem to show that the same serum may contain a variety 

 of complements. Similar conclusions have been drawn by Wechsberg 3 

 and by Wassermann, 4 who demonstrated separate complements for 

 bactericidal and hemolytic amboceptors in the same serum. Bordet 6 

 and his school, on the other hand, deny the multiplicity of the comple- 

 ment, and, basing their views upon numerous experimental data, contend 

 that any given serum contains but one alexin or complement. Buchner 

 and Gruber share the views of Bordet, and, in the light of recent work, 

 especially with complement fixation (see below), it seems more likely 

 that one and only one alexin exists in any given serum. 



Anticomplements and Antiamboceptors. Antihemolytic Action. 

 There are many agencies which seem to interfere with the activities of a 

 hemolytic system or of any antigen-antibody-alexin complex. The so- 

 called anti-complements are many, complement action being inhibited 

 by many non-specific substances such as bacterial protein, yeast, col- 

 loidal suspensions of acid, colon suspensions, etc. While these are 

 chiefly of theoretical interest, there are other anticomplementary actions 

 which are exerted by lipoids and globulins of the serum. Noguchi has 

 demonstrated a lipoidal substance in many normal sera which directly 

 inhibits the action of complement and is thermostable. Browning, 

 Zinsser and Johnson and others, have shown that anticomplementary 

 action which develops in normal sera on standing is referable to the 

 globulins of the sera but is a thermolabial action which can be 

 removed by inactivation. 



Hemolytic sera, having the power of destroying red blood cells, 

 must necessarily prove in the presence of sufficient complement to be 

 powerful poisons when introduced into animals whose corpuscles they 

 are able to injure. By careful and gradual dosage with such hemolytic 

 sera, Ehrlich and Morgenroth, 6 as well as Bordet, 7 have been able to 

 produce immunity against the hemolytic action. Thus antihemolytic 

 sera have been produced, the action of which may depend either upon 

 the presence of anticomplement or of antiamboceptor. The presence 

 of anticomplement in such sera, it is believed, has been demonstrated 



1 Ehrlich und Morgenroth, Berl. klin. Woch., 1900. 



2 Ehrlich und Sachs, Berl. klin. Woch., 1902. 3 Wechsberg, Zeit. f. Hyg., 1902. 

 4 Wassermann, Zeit. f. Hyg., 1901. 5 Bordet, Ann. de 1'inst. Pasteur, 1900 & 1901. 



6 Ehrlich und Morgenrolh, Berl. klin. Woch., xxxi, 1900. 



7 Bordet, Ann. de 1'inst. Pasteur, t. 14, 1900. 



