INFECTION AND IMMUNITY 157 



the size of the dose and the interval between injec- 

 tions. From this he concludes that the diversity 

 of clinical symptoms of various infectious diseases 

 can readily be explained on the assumption of but 

 a single poison. He speaks of it as anaphylatoxin, 

 and regards it as a cleavage product of proteid of 

 whatever origin introduced parenterally. Just as in 

 enteral digestion uniform cleavage products are 

 formed from most diverse proteids, so he believes 

 that in the parenteral proteid decomposition lead- 

 ing to the formation of anaphylatoxin, a uniform 

 poison is produced. Whether or not in addition to 

 the anaphylatoxin there are other specific poisons for 

 the various infectious diseases is entirely immaterial ; 

 their existence has not been proved 1 and the as- 

 sumption of their existence is unnecessary. In con- 

 sidering the diversity of the clinical symptoms of 

 various infectious diseases, it must be remembered 

 that the various species of bacteria differ in their 

 virulence and in their rate of multiplication, and 

 the invaded organisms also differ considerably in 

 their antibody production. All these factors serve 

 to modify the clinical picture. According to Fried- 

 berger the assumption of a common "anaphyla- 

 toxin" is only apparently in contradiction to the 

 well-known law of specificity of the infectious dis- 

 eases. In the infectious diseases it is not the poison 



1 This applies only to the infectious bacteria, not to those pro- 

 ducing extra-cellular toxins. 



