BACTERIOLYSINS AND HMMOLYSINS 71 



Ehrlich, as a result of his experimental work 

 with Morgenroth, claims that the latter is the case ; 

 namely, that it takes a different complement to fit 

 the immune body specifically haemolytic for guinea 

 pig blood than it does to fit that specific for chicken 

 blood. 



Bordet, on the other hand, assuming that the 

 immune body plays the role of mordant, believes 

 that there is but one single complement in the 

 serum. According to him, this complement is 

 able to dissolve blood cells as well as bacteria after 

 these have been sensitized by their specific immune 

 body. Each of these authors supports his claims 

 by means of ingenious experiments, for the details 

 of which, however, we must refer to the original 

 articles, as they require the knowledge of a specialist 

 for their comprehension. We shall, however, give 

 one of Bordet 's l experiments on this point in some 

 detail, since it has found extensive application in 

 another direction. 



The Bordet-Gengou Phenomenon. Bordet sensi- 

 tized blood corpuscles with appropriate amboceptors, 

 and then exposed them to the action of a freshly drawn 

 normal serum. If now he waited for the occurrence 

 of haemolysis and then added sensitized cells (bacteria 

 or blood corpuscles of a different species), the latter re- 

 mained entirely unchanged, although the serum that had 

 been used as complement was capable in its original con- 



1 Bordet and Gengou, Annal. Inst. Pasteur. Vol. xv, 1901. 



