210 COLLOIDS IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



This view, still held by FRIEDBERGER, regards the appearance of the 

 anaphylactic poison as the result of a fermentation of antigen by 

 the degradation action of complement resulting from antibody 

 fixation. 



It was a surprise to find that the anaphylatoxin might be prepared 

 even without antibodies as when guinea-pig serum was digested with 

 bacteria; and even by digestion with colloidal carbohydrates (agar, 

 starches, starch paste, pectin and inulm). 1 [The work of VAUGHAN 

 and NOVY on the protein poisoning should be mentioned as well as 

 that of R. WEIL on the mechanism of anaphylaxis. Tr.] 



H. SACHS and E. NATHAN demonstrated that the physical state of 

 the poison-producing substances was a determining factor. They 

 employed inulin as absorbent. This carbohydrate is practically 

 insoluble in cold water though it forms a clear solution without 

 pasting in warm water. Upon mixing guinea-pig serum with a 5 per 

 cent suspension of inulin, a serum was obtained which produced the 

 severest anaphylactic shock when injected into guinea pigs, though 

 no toxic substance resulted from the mixture with inulin solution. 

 Pastes have a very extensive surface development, consequently, 

 anaphylatoxin is formed best with starch paste. H. SACHS and E. 

 NATHAN find in these experiments decisive confirmation of the 

 physical theory of anaphylaxis first proposed by H. SACHS and RITZ. 

 According to them, antigen is not the mother substance of anaphyla- 

 toxin, which is not newly formed, but which exists preformed in 

 normal serum. This poison becomes active by the adsorption 

 (separation) of a substance as yet undetermined. In the case of 

 artificial anaphylatoxins, bacteria and carbohydrates serve; in true 

 anaphylaxis, the products of antigen and immune body act as ad- 

 sorbents. The specificity of anaphylaxis is thus explained since only 

 the specific antibody formed causes a precipitate with the antigen. 



Protective Ferment. 



The remarkable relation between immunity reactions and pro- 

 tective ferments should be mentioned here. E. ABDERHALDEN con- 

 siders under this term the ferments which destroy and render 

 innocuous species-foreign proteins, entering the organism parent- 

 ally. Since the connection between protective ferments and colloid 

 research is still unestablished we shall merely refer to the work of 



E. ABDERHALDEN. 2 



1 It is not yet definitely established that anaphylatoxin may be made by 

 shaking inorganic suspension with normal guinea-pig serum. 



2 [D. VAN SLYKE has thoroughly discredited the Abderhalden reaction with his 

 nitrous acid method for the quantitative determination of amino acids. Harvey 

 Lectures, 1915-16, p. 170, Lippincott, N. Y. Tr.] 



