228 
ABDERHALDEN’S REACTION AND ITS APPLICA¬ 
TION IN CERTAIN PROTOZOAL INFECTIONS. 
By EDWARD KINDLE AND LAJOS GOZONY. 
{From the QuicJc Laboratory, Cambridge.) 
Introduction. 
It has been known for some time that the injection of various 
albuminoid materials into the circulation of experimental animals, is - 
followed by the production of antibodies in their blood, which have a 
neutralizing, coagulating, or dissolving action upon the material, or 
materials, which called forth their production. The applications of 
this discovery have been of the highest importance in the prevention 
of disease, for by the injection of certain species of bacteria into the 
blood-stream, antibodies can be produced, which are able to protect 
the body against the attacks of these organisms, as they are dissolved 
as soon as they enter the system. On the other hand, the antibodies 
do not always completely dissolve the substances against which they 
have been formed, and in this way partially destroyed substances may 
be produced in the blood-stream, and these sometimes have a toxic 
action upon the organism. This phenomenon is well known under the 
term anaphylaxis. 
Not only bacteria, and other cells foreign to any particular verte¬ 
brate, are able to cause the formation of antibodies, but also the cells 
of its own body, if they are introduced into the blood circulation. 
Weichardt (1902) has shown that in cases of eclampsia the blood- 
serum contains antibodies which dissolve syncitium cells. Moreover, 
he interpreted the symptoms of eclampsia as the result of the contents 
of these cells being liberated and having a toxic effect upon the body. 
Naturally is it not the cells themselves, but the albumin of the cells, 
which is the antigen that causes the formation of antibodies. 
Five years ago one of the authors (Gozony, 1909) showed that the 
serum of women suffering from eclampsia is toxic, and that this serum 
