238 SUSCEPTIBILITY AND IMMUNITY. 
serumalbumin, and that it is a purely chemical process.” They 
state that when the germicidal power is neutralized by heat it may 
be restored by the addition of an alkali. Buchner repeated the ex- 
periments of Emmerich and his associates and obtained similar re- 
sults, but interprets them differently. According to him the serum 
does not regain its germicidal power, but after the addition of an 
alkali and subsequent dialyzing the nutritive value of the serum is sO 
diminished that the bacteria do not develop in it. 
Pane (4892) has made experiments which give additional weight 
to the assumption that the alkalinity of the blood is an important 
factor in accounting for immunity. He states that carbonate of 
soda, dissolved in water, in the proportion of 1:3,000, has a de- 
cided germicidal action upon the anthrax bacillus, equal to that of 
the blood serum of the rabbit. And that when rabbit serum is com- 
pletely neutralized it no longer has any injurious action on anthrax 
bacilli. 
Zagari and Innocente (1892) also arrived at the conclusion that 
the diminished resistance to anthrax infection resulting from curare 
poisoning in frogs, and from chloral or alcohol in dogs (Platania), in 
fowls as a result of starvation (Canalis and Morpurgo), in white 
mice asa result of fatigue (Charin and Roger), is, in fact, due to 
diminished alkalinity of the blood, which they found to correspond 
with the increased susceptibility resulting from the causes men- 
tioned. 
Buchner (1892) states that several of the ammonium salts, and 
especially ammonium sulphate, cause an increase in the germicidal 
action of blood serum, and also increase its resistance to the neutral- 
izing effects of heat. The experiments of Pansini and Calabrese 
(1894) show, on the contrary, that the addition of uric acid to blood 
serum diminishes its bactericidal activity, as does also the presence 
of glucose. That certain infectious diseases are especially virulent 
in persons suffering from diabetes is a frequently repeated clinical 
observation. 
Van Fodor has shown by experiment that the injection of an 
alkali into the circulation of a rabbit increases its resistance to 
anthrax infection and the germicidal activity of its blood serum. 
The same bacteriologist has found that when a rabbit is infected 
with anthrax, the alkalinity of its blood is notably increased during 
the first twenty-four hours, when we may suppose that the powers 
of nature are brought to bear to resist the invading parasite, and that 
after this time it rapidly diminishes. Ten hours after infection (by 
subcutaneous inoculation?) the alkalinity of the blood had increased 
21.5 per cent. Shortly before the death of the animal a diminution 
of 26.3 per cent was noted. This diminution was observed in thirty- 
a4 
