ANAPHYLAXIS 



of the somatic cells, a condition has arrived when 

 the cells, if suddenly presented with a large 

 amount of horse serum, are overwhelmed in the 

 exercise of their assimilating functions, and func- 

 tional equilibrium is so disturbed that local or 

 general death may follow." According to this view 

 the intoxication caused by the second injection 

 depends upon constituents of the serum eliminable 

 by the animal body. 



Allergy. It is apparent that what has been said 

 concerning the production of anaphylaxis in re- 

 sponse to serum injections will apply also to bac- 

 terial infections, for in these the body is injected, 

 as it were, with bacterial proteids. The phenomena 

 of anaphylaxis are therefore of general application in 

 immunity. This is well expressed by von Pirquet, 1 

 who calls attention to the fact that the main differ- 

 ence between a normal and an immune individual 

 is one relating to the alteration in the latter's re- 

 activity. He speaks of this alteration as "allergy" : 

 from ergeia, reactivity, and allos, altered, meaning 

 thereby a changed reactivity as a clinical conception 

 unprejudiced by bacteriological, pathological or 

 biological findings. This alteration may relate to 

 the quality and quantity of the symptoms and to 

 their rate of development. Allergy seems to be 

 associated more with some infections than with 

 others. Experimentally it can best be studied by 



1 C. E. von Pirquet, Archives of Internal Medicine, Feb., 191 r. 



