142 ANAPHYLAXIS, ALLERGY OR HYPERSENSITIVENESS 
that the complement in the blood of sensitized animals is reduced in 
amount, or activity, immediately after an anaphylactic reaction is 
suggestive. Keysser and Wassermann^ and, more recently, Jobling 
and Petersen^ have found that serum shaken with kaolin, chloroform, 
and other agents will adsorb substances from the serum, leaving the 
remainder toxic for guinea-pigs; the reaction induced by the injection 
of small amounts of altered serum resembles closely that of anaphylaxis. 
Jobling and Petersen believe that the toxic substance originates not 
from the antigen necessarily, but from serum itself. Under normal 
conditions, anti-enzymes prevent the normal serums from causing 
auto-autolysis; kaolin, bacteria, etc., added to the serum,^ absorb and 
thus remove the anti-enzymes, thus permitting the serum to digest 
itself. In other words, the poisonous substance may originate in the 
serum rather than in the bacteria or other alien protein. Dale and 
Kelloway^ have pointed out that these substances— somewhat am- 
biguously called "anaphylatoxins," derived from blood serum, do not 
owe their action to direct stimulation of plain muscle, as they should in 
any theory connecting them with anaphylaxis. These facts seem to 
emphasize Novy and DeKruif's contention that non-specific anaphy- 
lactic shock differs from true anaphylaxis fundamentally in that only 
in the latter is the substance inducing the reaction formed by the 
interaction of the antigen with its specific antibody. Nevertheless, 
these non-specific reactions are, or may be, quite as deadly as those of 
specific antibody origin. These facts do not necessarily detract from 
Vaughan's theory, and they have not been fully substantiated at the 
present time.^ Until more is known of the entire subject, a final dis- 
cussion of the mechanism of anaphylaxis must be postponed. 
Anaphylaxis in Man.— Natural Hypersensitiveness.— It has long been 
known that the inhalation of organic substances— as the pollen of 
various plants, or emanations from horses or guinea-pigs, of peptone or 
other similar material— may excite acute coryza and that train of symp- 
toms popularly knowai as "hay fever" or "pollen fever" in some, but 
by no means all, individuals. If the specific pollen or dust is rubbed on 
the nasal mucosa of these sensitized individuals a violent reaction will 
take place. Other individuals develop a severe urticaria if they eat 
certain proteins; the flesh of arthropods particularly crabs and lob- 
sters—vegetables, eggs, milk, all are known to excite symptoms in indi- 
viduals who exhibit an "idiosyncrasy" to one or another of these sub- 
stances. This idiosyncrasy to foreign protein may be either congenital 
or postnatal. The phenomena observed in these instances are explained 
on the basis of sensitization with specific protein; a mild anaphylactic 
reaction occurs when the specific dust reaches the nasal mucous 
membrane, or when the specific protein enters the digestive tract. 
1 Ztschr. f. Hyg., 1911, 68, 535; Folia Serologica, vol. 7, Heft. 3. 
2 Jour. Exper. Med., 1914, 19, 480. 
5 See Novy and de Kruif, loc. cit., page 141. 
< Phil. Trans., 1922, series B, 211, 273. 
5 Sn^ith: The Serotoxin of Jobling, Jour. Lab. and Clin. Med., 1916, 1, 584. 
