﻿128 
  

  

  Dr. 
  H. 
  H. 
  Dale. 
  

  

  realised 
  its 
  meaning 
  and 
  importance. 
  Its 
  relation 
  to 
  certain 
  conditions 
  seen 
  

   in 
  man 
  began 
  also 
  to 
  be 
  recognised 
  — 
  asthma 
  provoked 
  by 
  the 
  exhalations 
  

   of 
  certain 
  animals, 
  hay 
  fever, 
  and 
  analogous 
  idiosyncrasies. 
  In 
  1905 
  

   v. 
  Pirquet 
  and 
  Schick* 
  had 
  described 
  the 
  accelerated 
  and 
  intensified 
  reaction 
  

   to 
  horse 
  serum 
  in 
  patients 
  receiving 
  a 
  second 
  therapeutic 
  injection. 
  Eichet's 
  

   further 
  experiments, 
  and 
  others 
  in 
  America 
  and 
  Germany 
  following 
  

   Theobald 
  Smith's 
  discovery, 
  quickly 
  established 
  the 
  main 
  characteristics 
  of 
  

   the 
  condition. 
  An 
  interval 
  of 
  one 
  to 
  several 
  weeks, 
  varying 
  with 
  the 
  

   substance 
  and 
  the 
  animal, 
  must 
  elapse 
  after 
  the 
  first 
  injection 
  before 
  a 
  second 
  

   would 
  produce 
  the 
  abnormal 
  reaction 
  ; 
  an 
  additive 
  or 
  cumulative 
  effect 
  was 
  

   therefore 
  out 
  of 
  the 
  question. 
  The 
  sensitiveness 
  was 
  highly 
  specific 
  ; 
  if 
  an 
  

   animal 
  received 
  a 
  first 
  injection 
  of 
  horse 
  serum, 
  for 
  example, 
  it 
  became 
  

   anaphylactic 
  to 
  that 
  serum 
  only, 
  and 
  not 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  a 
  sheep 
  or 
  a 
  man. 
  If 
  

   blood 
  or 
  serum 
  from 
  an 
  animal 
  which 
  had 
  been 
  rendered 
  sensitive 
  was 
  

   injected 
  into 
  a 
  normal 
  animal, 
  the 
  specific 
  sensitiveness 
  was 
  transmitted 
  to 
  

   the 
  latter, 
  which 
  was 
  rendered 
  " 
  passively 
  anaphylactic." 
  

  

  In 
  all 
  these 
  respects 
  anaphylaxis 
  closely 
  resembles 
  immunity. 
  To 
  use 
  the 
  

   terms 
  of 
  immunology, 
  the 
  substance 
  in 
  the 
  preparatory 
  injection 
  acts 
  as 
  an 
  

   " 
  antigen," 
  evoking 
  the 
  appearance 
  of 
  some 
  new 
  constituent 
  or 
  " 
  antibody 
  " 
  

   in 
  the 
  blood 
  or 
  tissues 
  of 
  the 
  subject 
  ; 
  on 
  the 
  presence 
  of 
  this 
  " 
  antibody 
  " 
  

   depends 
  the 
  abnormal 
  reaction 
  to 
  the 
  second 
  injection, 
  and 
  its 
  transfer 
  to 
  a 
  

   normal 
  animal 
  conveys 
  the 
  specific 
  sensitiveness. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  nature 
  of 
  the 
  substances 
  producing 
  it, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  limits 
  of 
  its 
  

   specificity, 
  anaphylaxis 
  shows, 
  moreover, 
  a 
  very 
  striking 
  resemblance 
  to 
  a 
  

   particular 
  type 
  of 
  immunity, 
  associated 
  with 
  the 
  production 
  of 
  a 
  particular 
  

   type 
  of 
  antibody. 
  The 
  typical 
  anaphylactic 
  antigens 
  are 
  the 
  natural, 
  large- 
  

   moleculed 
  proteins 
  of 
  cell-protoplasm, 
  and 
  of 
  body-fluids 
  such 
  as 
  blood 
  or 
  

   lymph. 
  Attempts 
  to 
  demonstrate 
  anaphylaxis 
  to 
  naturally 
  occurring 
  lipoid 
  

   substances 
  have 
  provided 
  no 
  convincing 
  evidence. 
  The 
  guinea-pig 
  is 
  the 
  

   animal 
  which 
  has 
  formed 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  experiments 
  on 
  this 
  

   point. 
  It 
  occupies, 
  as 
  we 
  shall 
  see, 
  a 
  peculiar 
  position 
  in 
  the 
  ease 
  and 
  

   regularity 
  with 
  which 
  it 
  can 
  be 
  rendered 
  anaphylactic, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  dramatic 
  

   intensity 
  with 
  which 
  it 
  reacts 
  to 
  a 
  further 
  injection 
  of 
  the 
  antigen. 
  The 
  traces 
  

   of 
  protein 
  which 
  suffice 
  to 
  produce 
  anaphylaxis 
  in 
  this 
  species 
  are 
  so 
  minute, 
  

   that 
  it 
  is 
  practically 
  impossible 
  to 
  exclude 
  them 
  from 
  lipoidal 
  extracts 
  of 
  

   tissues. 
  Carbohydrates 
  have 
  certainly 
  no 
  power 
  of 
  producing 
  anaphylaxis. 
  

  

  I 
  mentioned 
  the 
  native 
  proteins 
  as 
  the 
  typical 
  anaphylactic 
  antigens. 
  

   Purification, 
  however, 
  does 
  not 
  diminish 
  their 
  activity 
  in 
  this 
  direction. 
  

  

  * 
  v. 
  Pirquet 
  und 
  Schick, 
  ' 
  Die 
  Serumkrankheit,' 
  Vienna, 
  1905. 
  

  

  