536 Chapter XVI 



from the alexin. I need not here insist at any length on this theory, 

 because it has already been sufficiently explained during the course 

 of this work. 



The data on the restricted part played by Pfeiffer's phenomenon 

 and on its mechanism, above summarised, have been attacked by 

 Pfeiffer and by several other observers, but they have received 

 general confirmation, so that their accuracy can no longer be in doubt. 

 Objections were also raised to Bordet's view of the mechanism of 

 bacteriolysis. Thus, Abel has criticised it in the following argument 1 : 

 "In spite of the soundness and the boldness of the majority of Bordet's 

 statements on the importance of the various factors, and especially 

 of the leucocytes in immunity, it cannot be doubted that later 

 researches will modify and correct his interpretations which we, in 

 Germany, do not accept in their full extension. Up to the present, 

 the victory in the various rounds has always been with Pfeiffer, whose 

 researches, solid and exempt from bias, have made him, to use a 

 sporting expression, the 'favourite' with all those who follow atten- 

 [560]tively the international contest in the arena of the problem of 

 immunity." Abel is certainly a highly esteemed bacteriologist, but 

 he is not a good prophet, and he assumes a mistaken attitude in 

 looking at the subject from a " national " point of view 2 . In Germany 

 much interest is taken in scientific movements and, very naturally, 

 original and new theories are there criticised and discussed. But 

 that does not justify one in putting forward against an opinion the 

 statement that it is not accepted in Germany. In this country, so 

 rich in scientific work, we find partisans of the most opposite views. 

 In any case, in the conflict between Pfeiffer on the one hand, and 

 Bordet and myself on the other, things have not turned out as Abel 

 predicted. The two substances which act in the destruction of the 

 micro-organisms are now accepted by the whole world. The intimate 

 relations between the alexins and the leucocytes are equally recognised 



1 Centralblf. Bakteriol u. Parasitenk., Jena, 1896, I te Abt., Bd. xx, S. 766. 



2 It would clearly be wrong to take one's stand, in a purely scientific question, 

 on a national point of view. But it is a still greater mistake to look at matters, in the 

 investigation of problems which concern science only, from a personal point of view. 

 This, however, is what has happened several times in the discussion of phagocytosis. 

 Certain discontented students have attempted to avenge themselves by publishing 

 works and criticisms directed against the theory of phagocytosis. Having no doubt 

 as to the motive for these publications I consider myself fully justified in not 

 referring to them in this book, in which I have taken an exclusively scientific point 

 of view, and in which I have endeavoured to weigh as carefully as possible all 

 criticisms and objections that have been directed against me. 



