116 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. 
cases where the serum acted generally in the sense of a hyper-sensitiveness towards — 
specific substances of the horse-albumin, which also found expression when normal 
horse-serum was introduced. Such symptoms are in.the habit of manifesting them- 
selves after repeated administration of serum from the same species of animal, as for 
example after repeated injections of diphtheria horse-serum. They are known as serum- 
disease. As such symptoms also occur in normal subjects treated with normal serum, 
and outside the hay-fever season, it is evident that their appearance is not limited to 
Pollantin as such, or to hay-fever patients, but that they are of a general character. 
In such cases relief can be afforded by using a diluted Pollantin (Pollantin “R’’), or in 
obstinate cases by the employment of an antitoxic serum from rabbits, goats, &c., 
instead of from horses, although such a serum is not at present commercially obtain- 
able. But it must be borne in mind that if such serums are applied repeatedly it is 
possible for the patient to become hyper-sensitive towards them also. It is entirely 
within the choice of the patient what particular species of Pollantin he will use; the 
serum in powder-form is recommended for the nose, the liquid form for the eyes; the 
Pollantin-ointment serves for both these organs, especially in hyper-sensitive cases 
such as described above. For the asthma which declares itself in many patients in 
the later stages of the complaint, Prausnitz, in view of the certainty that as a result 
of the stoppage of the nasal passages, pollen is bound to penetrate into the mouth, 
recommends preventive measures of the nature mentioned above. His statement, made 
in a footnote, concerning the use of Pollantin-tablets for asthma which we have 
recently prepared at the suggestion of Dunbar, we may amplify by explaining that 
Prof. Dunbar has been successful, in the majority of cases, in overcoming this most 
troublesome symptom by the administration of such tablets*). The tablets are simply 
allowed to dissolve in the mouth. 
Prausnitz quotes extracts from the publications of Dunbar and from the Heligolads 
Hay-Fever League relating to the percentage-proportions of patients cured and relieved, 
as well as to those with whom the treatment is alleged to have failed. He points 
out that Dunbar’s statistics embrace by far the largest number of cases. He also 
makes particular mention of the fact that various authorities have observed the gradual 
annual diminution of the severity of the attacks, and that in certain cases there has 
been a complete disappearance of hay-fever. 
In conclusion, Prausnitz deals with the method of active immunisation described 
by Noon and Freeman’), based upon the injection of gradually increasing doses of 
pollen-extracts. He expresses a favourable opinion of the results of this treatment so 
far as they have gone. The question whether in these cases a true active immunisation 
has been achieved or whether an anti-anaphylactic condition has been created must, 
however, remain in abeyance. Prausnitz thinks that the difficulty of preparing really 
germ-free, sterile pollen-substance, such as is absolutely essential for subcutaneous 
injections in human subjects, is a question of practical importance. 
Kammann and Gaehtgens*) oppose the endotoxin-theory of hay-fever poison set 
forth in the passage quoted above, and accepted by Prausnitz as a result of the 
abnormal conditions of combination between toxin and antitoxin observed by him’). 
The two authors in question point out that at the time when Prausnitz made his 
1) The following figures indicate the frequency of hay-fever asthma: Of 44 patients treated in the year 
1912 ten, according to their own statements, suffered from asthma, but of 37 treated in the year 1913, 13. — 
2) Comp. Report April 1918, 119. — 8) Ztschr. f. Immunitdtsf. u. exp. Ther. 4 (1912), 647. From a reprint 
kindly sent to us. — 4) Comp. Habilitationsschrift. Published by Gustav Fischer, Jena. 1912. 
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