No. 642] 



SEROLOGICAL REACTIONS 



93 



quently find it necessary to remove a severely injured 

 eye to prevent the " sympathetic" degeneration of the 

 other eye. I am told by competent oculists that the ex- 

 tension of the degenerative influence involves more than 

 the atrophic effects which might result through direct 

 nerve connections. Does it not seem probable that here, 

 too, the disintegrative influence which comes to operate 

 on the uninjured eye is cytotoxic or cytolytic in nature! 

 And if it can operate on the tissues of the noimal eye, 

 why not on the corresponding protein constituents in the 

 germ, the prototypes of those which were originally in- 

 cited to form the ocular tissues? 



It may be, it probably is true that there is sufficient dif- 

 ference between these factors of the germinal protoplasm 

 and those of the finished organ to render the former less 

 susceptible to such agents. It is not improbable that even 

 if some of the numerous germ-cells were affected many 

 others might not be. But any new organism which 

 sprang from such an affected germ would have its own 

 germ-cells similarly modified, since these would all be 

 derived from the same zygote. Even so, the defects 

 might not be manifested in offspring because of the prob- 

 ability of dominance by the corresponding factors from 

 their partner in fertilization. 



The only way to settle the matter, of course, is through 

 experiment. I know of no existing experimental evidence 

 on this point. In my own laboratory, however, an in- 

 vestigator lias an experiment in progress which I hope 

 will ultimately throw some light on the matter. 



There are many bits of evidence to show that an or- 

 ganism may react against the tissue? of otlier individuals 

 of its own species. Thus Bradley and Sansum," em])loy- 

 ing anaphylactic reactions, found that guinea pigs in- 

 jected with various guinea-pig tissues such as heart, 

 liver, muscle, testicle, and kidney developed immunity 

 reactions. Moreover, certain changes in the blood of the 

 mother during pre,£nianey, n]>)inrontly indncod bv coll* or 

 cell-products set free fi-cni llic Tiowly forniiiiu- plncrnta, 

 seem to be of the nature of antibody foi-nintiou. Ilien 

 again Turck'° has shown that products of \hv Iniiu- ii-iie 

 of the cat, autolysed under sterile conditions in / '// ". pro- 



9 Jour, Biol Chem., Vol. 18, 1914. 



10 Med. Bee., 1919, 95, pp. 719-21. 



