LECTURES ON THE GENERAL PROPERTIES 

 OF IMMUNITY 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTION 



RECENTLY the so-called antibodies that are produced in 

 animals after the injection of certain more or less poison- 

 ous substances have acquired a very great importance, and 

 the chemical behaviour of these antibodies has been the 

 object of a large number of investigations. Some of these 

 have led to the idea that the reactions of these substances 

 are incomplete and follow the law of Guldberg and Waage. 

 It is of these researches, carried out chiefly by the Direc- 

 tor of the Danish State Serum Institute, Dr. Thorwald 

 Madsen, and myself, that I wish to give a short review in 

 the following lectures. 



For only a few poisons have the corresponding anti- 

 bodies been prepared. These poisons are termed toxins. 

 They are all of organic derivation. Bashf ord l and Bes- 

 redka 2 have tried in vain to prepare antitoxins to solanin 

 and saponin by the injection of these substances into rab- 

 bits and guinea-pigs. And the so-called antimorphine has 

 proved to be a failure. 3 Solanin, saponin, and morphin 



1 Bashford: "Uber Blutimmunitat," Arch, intern, dc pharmacodynamie et 

 de therapie, T. 8. 101 et 9. 451 (1901). 



2 Metschnikoff : " L'immunite," Paris, 1901, p. 410. 



8 Morgenroth: Berl. klin. Wochenschrift, 1903, No. 21. 



