CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN LIFE 



all the bacteria are found in the deposit. The 

 substance responsible for this reaction, the so- 

 called Agglutination of Bacteria, is destroyed by 

 heat and has the properties of a protein-body. 

 Substances of this kind we call Agglutinins. Even 

 this reaction is a strictly specific one. The 

 agglutinin produced by injection of a certain 

 species of bacteria gives to the blood serum the 

 specific agglutinating action on these bacteria. 

 Agglutination effects occur even in other toxins. 

 The toxin substance from the seeds of the castor 

 oil plant strongly agglutinates the red blood 

 cells, and so does the Jequirity toxin. There is no 

 doubt that the agglutinin acts on certain sub- 

 stances in the bacteria-cells or other agglutinable 

 cells. These substances are probably transformed 

 into a gelatinous state, which is seen in the clinging 

 together of the cells. The agglutinin is entirely con- 

 sumed in this reaction. It may therefore rather be 

 compared to a neutralisation than to an enzyme 

 action. 



The most successful study of the alterations 

 which occur in the blood of animals, after in- 

 travenous injections of pathogenic bacteria and 

 their products, showed far more substances formed 

 which serve for the protection of the organism 

 than we have here mentioned. But all these 

 substances, such as opsonines, bacteriolysins, 

 and, further, the bacterial substances, such as 

 aggressines and others, which assist parasites 

 134 



