Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  19 18. 
Diphtheria  Antitoxin. 
781 
to  9  per  cent.;  while  the  pseudoglobulin  fell  to  50  per  cent,  from  a 
normal  of  78  per  cent.,  and  the  normal  10  per  cent,  of  euglobulins 
increased  to  41  per  cent.  Banzhaf  believed  the  pseudoglobulin  was 
converted  to  euglobulin.  As  all  the  antitoxin,  save  7  per  cent,  lost 
in  heating,  is  in  the  pseudoglobulin,  the  pseudoglobulin  is  not  neces- 
sarily antitoxin  and  Banzhaf  argued  that  a  separation  of  antitoxin 
and  pseudoglobulin  could  thus  be  partially  affected  by  heat.125a 
Heinemann  claims  that  pseudoglobulins  may  be  split  into  fractions, 
some  of  which  do  not  contain  antitoxin. 
By  refractometer  determinations  Homer  finds  that  the  pseudo- 
globulins  are  not  diminished  by  the  Banzhof  method,  and  claims 
there  is  not  a  conversion  of  pseudoglobulin  into  euglobulin,  "but 
rather  a  more  simple  physical  process  involving  the  agglutination 
of  the  particles  of  the  euglobulin  already  thrown  out  of  emulsoid 
suspension  by  the  ammonium  sulphate.  This  agglutination  permits 
of  easy  separation  of  the  euglobulin  by  filtration  through  paper."126 
Heat  denaturation  in  alkali  sera  slowly  occurs. 
It  would  seem  that  a  simple  method  of  proving  whether  the 
diphtheria  antitoxin  was  a  protein  or  not,  would  be  to  find  whether 
it  occurred  in  secretions  which  contained  little  or  no  protein,  or  a 
protein  which  could  be  easily  removed.127 
Milk  of  immune  animals  has  been  studied.  Ammonium  sulphates 
(27—30  per  cent.)  precipitation  from  goat's  milk  gives  an  antitoxin; 
preparation  400  to  600  times  as  powerful  as  the  original  milk.12i!J 
This  precipitate  contains  14  per  cent,  ammonium  sulphate,  but  this 
method  has  shown  no  further  results. 
According  to  D'Arsonval  and  Charrin,  the  constant  current  de- 
stroys the  diphtheria  toxin,129  while  the  high-frequency  current 
causes  molecular  changes  in  the  toxin,  but  they  were  unable  to  make 
diphtheria  antitoxin  by  this  method.  Bonome  and  Viola,  using  this 
method,  claim  to  produce  an  antitoxin  to  streptococci.130 
According  to  Ostromisslenski131  all  antitoxins  are  globulins.  The 
125a  Journ.  Infect.  Dis.,  p.  438,  Vol.  19,  1916. 
126  Homer,  A.,  Biochem.  Journ.,  Vol.  10,  p.  292,  1916 ;  Vol.  11,  p.  21,  1917. 
127  Wassermann,  A.,  Zeits.  f.  Hyg.,  Vol.  18,  p.  235,  1894;  Brieger,  L.,  and 
Ehrlich,  P.,  Zeits.  f.  Hyg.,  Vol.  13,  p.  336,  1903. 
128  Brieger  and  Ehrlich. 
129  d'Arsonval  and  Charrin,  Comp.  rend.  hebd.  Soc.  de  Biol.,  Vol.  3,  3  s., 
1896,  pp.  96,  121,  153,  719. 
130  Bonome,  A.,  and  Viola,  G.,  Cent.  f.Bakter.,  Vol.  19,  1896,  p.  849. 
131  Ostromisslenski,  I.  I.,  Journ.  Russ.  Phys.  Chem.  Soc.,  1915,  Vol.  47, 
PP-  263,  301.    From  Journ.  Chem.  Soc,  Vols.  107-108,  p.  751,  1915. 
