?6 IMMUNE SERA - 



ments of Ehrlich and Morgenroth show us four 

 substances, viz., two inter-bodies and two comple- 

 ments. This at once makes clear the opposing 

 views of these authorities. But the number of 

 active substances in normal serum is still greater, 

 for in the experiments of the last-named authors 

 it often happens that a specific inter-body shows 

 itself to be made up of several inter-bodies, all, to 

 be sure, fitting the same specific red cell, but dif- 

 fering from each other by their behavior toward 

 different complements. Ehrlich, therefore, regards 

 the substances concerned in haemolysis which occur 

 in normal serum to be of great number and variety. 

 Buchner and Bordet, on the other hand, assume 

 that only one substance is concerned. 



Difference between a Normal and a Specific 

 Immune Serum. Practical Application. Return- 

 ing now to the question of the difference between a 

 specific immune serum and a normal one, we find 

 this to be as follows : Normal serum contains a great 

 variety of inter-bodies, in very small amounts, and a 

 considerable amount of complements. In immune 

 serum, on the other hand, the amount of a specific 

 inter-body, the one which fits the haptophore group 

 of a certain cell, is enormously increased. This 

 specifically increased inter-body, it will be remem- 

 bered, is called the immune body. The comple- 

 ment, as shown by v. Dungern, Bordet, Ehrlich, 

 and Morgenroth and Wassermann, is in no way 



