CHAPTER V 



THE BACTERIOPHAGOUS ANTISERUM I 



Complexity of the Antibodies. Antibodies to the Bacteria. Antibodies 

 to the Bacterial Toxins. Antibodies to the Bacteriophagous Ultrami- 

 crobes. Antibodies to the Lysins. Incidental Conditions Resulting from 

 the Existence of the Bacteriophage. 



COMPLEXITY OF THE ANTIBODIES 



The phenomena here involved are exceedingly complex. It 

 is known that when the body is injected with a bacterial culture 

 it responds with the production of diverse principles which are 

 grouped under the name "antibodies." Some of these act upon 

 the bacterial bodies: the agglutinins, amboceptors, opsonins; 

 others, the antitoxins and antiferments, neutralize the secretory 

 products of the bacteria formed in the culture fluid injected. 

 When a mixture of two bacterial cultures is injected, the body 

 responds with a duplicate series of antibodies. This takes place 

 when a culture of the bacteriophage is injected. 



A culture of the bacteriophage is composed, as we know, of a 

 culture or a suspension of a bacterium lysed by the action of the 

 bacteriophage directed against and endowed with virulence for 

 this bacterium. The bacteriophagous germs inoculated have 

 multiplied at the expense of the bacterial bodies found there 

 and when lysis is terminated the bacterial substance is dissolved 

 in the medium. A culture of the bacteriophage is, then, a com- 

 plex medium which contains: 



a. The substance of the bacterial bodies in a dissolved state. 



6. The bacterial toxins (exo- or endotoxins). 



c. The bacteriophagous ultramicrobes which have developed 

 at the expense of the bacteria. 



1 The experiments performed on the bacteriophagous antiserum have 

 been made in collaboration with G. Eliava. 



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