63 
authors  point  out  that  Bordet  had  demonstrated  the  existence  of 
‘  substance  antisensibilisatrice  ’  (anti-immune  body)  for  red  blood  cells, 
and  Metchnikoff  for  spermatoxine,  while  Besredka  has  shown  that 
red  blood  cells  remain  preserved  in  their  own  serum  in  consequence 
of  the  inhibitory  action  of  the  substance  ‘  antisensibilisatrice  ’  upon 
the  ‘  sensibilisatrice  ’  usually  present.  The  authors  have  come  to  the 
concluson  that  the  haemolysis  in  vitro  obtained  by  Donath  and 
Landsteiner  is  due  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  substance  ‘  antisensi¬ 
bilisatrice.’  They  appear  to  base  their  conclusion  upon  the  effect  of 
an  ‘antisensibilisatrice’  serum,  which  they  prepared,  one  drop  of 
which  inactivated  ten  drops  of  the  plasma  of  a  patient  suffering  from 
paroxysmal  haemoglobinuria,  to  which  three  drops  of  human  red 
cells  were  added.  The  antiserum  was  prepared  by  injecting,  three 
or  four  times,  massive  doses  of  the  serum  of  a  haemoglobinuric 
patient  into  animals.  The  authors  used  this  serum  with  complete 
success  to  arrest  haemoglobimiria  when  cold  was  applied  to  the 
patient’s  hands,  but  with  only  partial  success  when  the  test  was 
made  in  vitro. 
In  view  of  the  above  facts,  we  decided  to  ascertain  if  the  blood 
plasma  in  blackwater  fever  possessed  a  similar  haemolytic  property. 
Method.  Our  own  experiments  were  conducted  as  follows:  — 
The  patient’s  finger,  having  been  cleansed,  was  pricked  and  about 
ten  drops  (o'S  c.cm.)  of  blood  were  allowed  to  flow  into  a  small 
collecting  tube  containing  i  c.cm.  of  a  i  per  cent,  solution  of  potassium 
oxalate.  The  oxalated  blood  was  then  transferred  by  means  of  a 
fine  pointed  pipette  to  a  small  centrifugal  tube.  After  centrifugalisa- 
tion  the  plasma  was  pipetted  off  and  put  into  another  tube.  The 
red  cells  were  then  made  up  into  a  2' 5  per  cent,  emulsion  in  O’Q  per 
cent,  sodium  chloride  solution,  and  of  this  one  part  was  added  to 
nineteen  parts  of  the  oxalated  plasma,  so  that  the  ratio  of  the  weights 
of  the  wet  red  cells  and  plasma  respectively  would  be  one  to  seven 
hundred  and  fifty.  In  some  of  the  experiments,  as  Tables  29  and  30 
show,  human  red  cells  not  taken  from  the  patient  were  employed. 
In  some  of  the  later  experiments  also  red  blood  cells  were  added  in 
such  an  amount  as  to  produce  a  thin  emulsion,  without  reference  to 
the  exact  proportion  of  red  cells  present.  The  tube  containing  the 
plasma  and  red  cells  was  then  put  into  a  freezing  mixture  obtained 
by  adding  solid  ammonium  nitrate  to  water  contained  in  a  beaker. 
