ANAPHYLAXIS 373 



specificity is the further discovery by Uhlenhuth and Haendel 42 

 that animals can be sensitized with their own lens protein, a fact 

 which opens the possibility of other forms of "autosensitization" and 

 consequently of much opportunity for clinical speculation. Kosenau 

 and Anderson, 43 indeed, have found that guinea pigs can be sensi- 

 tized by means of extracts of guinea pig placenta. They have applied 

 this to the possible explanation of eclampsia, and similar reasoning, 

 as we shall see, has been utilized in many other conditions. At- 

 tempts have also been made to show, by the anaphylactic reaction, 

 that the tissue of malignant tumors possesses such "tissue-specific" or 

 "organ-specific" qualities. Yamanouchi, 44 indeed, claims to have 

 shown this, but his results were not confirmed by Apolant, 45 and the 

 writer has carried out a series of entirely negative experiments upon 

 the same subject. However, in view of the great difficulty of obtain- 

 ing any kind of anaphylactic reaction in mice, the animals in which 

 the tumor experiments were carried out, there is little information to 

 be obtained from negative results of this kind. 



The delicate quantitative method of studying problems of speci- 

 ficity, which the reaction of anaphylaxis supplies, has further served 

 to revive the unsettled question of the "organ-specific" properties of 

 the tissues of such organs as the liver, spleen, kidney, blood, etc. 

 Indeed, Pfeiffer 46 has published results which would seem to en- 

 courage the belief of the existence of such specificity. However, 

 Ranzi 47 had previously obtained entirely negative results, and 

 Pearce, Karsner, and Eisenbrey 48 have recently made a careful 

 inquiry into the same problem with similar failure to determine such 

 organ-specificity. 



In this, then, as well as in other respects, the substances by which 

 animals may be sensitized are entirely similar to antigens in general. 



The substances which sensitize, therefore, are those which have 

 the property of antibody formation, a statement self-evident from 

 what has been said before, but wilich is again emphasized because of 

 its very important bearing upon later theoretical considerations. 



As in antibody production, variations in experimental anaphy- 

 laxis are, to some extent, dependent upon the manner in which the 

 antigen is introduced into the body. It is now well known that 

 sensitization may be accomplished by a first injection given subcu- 

 taneously, intravenously, intraperitoneally, or intrapleurally. At 

 the second or toxogenic administration shock may probably be best 



42 Uhlenhuth and Haendel. Zeitschr. f. Immunitatsforschung, 4, 1910. 

 43 Rosenau and Anderson. U. S. Pub. Health and M. H. S. Hyg. Lab. 

 Bull. 45. 



44 Yamanouchi. C. E. de la Soc. Biol., Vol. 66, 1909, p. 754. 



45 Apolant. Zeitschr. f. Immunitatsforschung, Vol. 3, 1909. 

 48 Pfeiffer. Zeitschr. f. Immunitatsforschung, Vol. 8, 1910. 



47 Ranzi. Zeitschr. f. Immunitatsforschung, Vol. 2, 1909. 



48 Pearce, Karsner, and Eisenbrey. Jour. Exp. Med., Vol. 14, 1911. 



