284 
Scientific  Abstracts. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(      April,  1921. 
must  be  ingested  by  persons  who  are  peculiarly  susceptible.  This 
doubtless  serves  to  explain  the  comparative  rarity  of  cases  of  severe 
intoxication  caused  by  this  element  in  clinical  experience.  Inci- 
dentally, it  may  be  noted  that  manganese  is  far  more  widely  dis- 
tributed in  traces  in  nature  than  is  commonly  supposed,  so  that  it 
has  even  been  rated  by  some  as  being  among  the  essential  com- 
ponents of  living  matter. 
SCIENTIFIC  AND  TECHNICAL 
ABSTRACTS 
Nature  and  Origin  of  Antibodies. — Sahli  rejects  Ehrlich's 
side-chain  theory  of  the  formation  of  antibodies,  except  that  it  is 
based  on  the  sound  principle  that  the  organism  is  capable  of  respond- 
ing to  extra  demands  with  extra  performance,  not  only  in  the  nerve 
and  muscle  systems  but  also  in  the  purely  chemical  sphere.  But 
Sahli  does  not  locate  the  site  of  this  extra  performance  in  the  cell 
protoplasm,  as  Ehrlich  did,  but  in  the  blood  and  tissue  fluids.  The 
cells  produce  the  antibodies  physiologically,  in  response  to  the 
demands  of  the  blood  and  tissue  fluids,  and  these  demands  fluctuate 
according  to  conditions  at  the  moment.  The  ability  of  a  substance 
to  act  as  an  antigen  is  dependent  on  the  property  of  the  organism 
receiving  it  to  be  capable  of  forming  the  corresponding  antibody, 
that  is,  it  must  already  possess  a  little  of  the  antibody,  already 
formed.  The  introduction  of  antigen  merely  increases  the  amount 
formed.  Diphtheria  antitoxin,  for  example,  may  be  found  in  the 
blood  of  persons  and  horses  who  have  never  been  infected  with 
diphtheria,  and  the  antibodies  in  these  and  similar  cases  seem  to  be 
identical  with  the  antigen-antibodies,  as  also  with  the  anti-antibodies 
induced  in  other  species.  For  instance,  an  antibody  for  sea  urchin 
spermatozoa  is  found  in  normal  rabbit  serum.  The  absolutely 
infinite  variety  of  colloidal-chemical  combinations  in  the  blood  tissue 
fluids  and  lymph,  explains  the  large  number  of  antibodies  already 
existent.  The  artificial  enrichment  of  any  antibody  occurs  accord- 
ing to  the  well-known  laws  that  more  is  secreted  to  make  up  a 
deficit,  and  that  this  secretion  is  always  carried  to  an  excess  beyond 
