BACTERICIDAL PROPERTIES OF BLOOD SERUM 157 



become active in the given case. Thus, although such a polyceptor, 

 of course, is capable of uniting with the complement which activates 

 the dominant complement, it is capable also 

 of union with a number of other comple- 

 ments which have slight or no functional 

 .action whatever the non-dominant com- 

 plements. This opinion is rendered dia- 

 grammatic by Ehrlich and Marshall 53 in 

 the following way : 



If one carefully considers the reasons 

 advanced for the assumption of the exis- 

 tence of such polyceptors it does not seem 

 that they are sufficiently forcible to lead 

 one to desert the much simpler explanation 

 of Bordet. 



Related to the problems discussed in 

 connection with 

 the production 

 of "anti-ambo- 

 ceptors" or "an- 

 t i se nsitizers" 

 are those which 

 have arisen re- 

 garding the ex- 

 istence of "anti- 

 complement" or 

 "anti - alexins." 



Ehrlich and Morgenroth claimed that, by 

 the injection of active horse serum into a 

 goat, they had obtained substances in the 

 goat serum which neutralized horse com- 

 plement. They believed that the "anti- 

 complements" thus produced neutralized 

 the complement by uniting with its hapto- 

 phore group, thus preventing its combina- 

 tion with the "complementophiie group" 

 of the amboceptor. This was their con- 

 clusion because they found that the "anti- 

 complementary" serum exerted no protec- 

 tive influence upon sensitized cells, when 

 these were exposed to the serum and then 

 removed, but that it protected against 

 hemolysis when added to the cells together 

 with the complement. There was apparently no union of the pro- 

 tective substance with the "complementophiie" group of the ambo- 

 53 Ehrlich and Marshall. Berl. kl. Woch., No. 25, 1902. 



POLYCEPTOR ACCORDING TO 

 EHRLICH AND MARSHALL. 



(a) Eeceptor of the Cell. 



(b) Haptophore Group of 

 the Amboceptor. 



(c) Dominant Complement. 



(d) Secondary Complements. 

 Complementophiie Groups of 



the Amboceptor: 



(1) for the Dominant Com- 

 plement. 



(2) for the Secondary Com- 

 plement. 



(After Ehrlich and Marshall, 

 Berl. klin. Woch., No. 

 25, 1902.) 



EHRLICH AND MORGEN- 

 ROTH 's CONCEPTION OF 

 THE ACTION OF ANTI- 

 COMPLEMENT. 



A. Scheme of Hemolysis. 



B. Action of Anticomple- 

 ment upon Hemolysin. 



b. blood cell, c. = com- 

 plement, i. = immune 

 body, a. = anticomple- 

 ment. 



The complementoids are 

 not included in the 

 scheme, since in this 

 case they are without 

 influence. 



