Observations on the Evolution of Immunity in Disease

Abstract

The following experiments constitute an attempt to follow out in detail the stages by which immunity is established, in the course of a generalised bacterial infection (Pseudotuberculosis of rabbits). Two aspects of immunity are considered, firstly the presence, in the circulating fluids, of specific antibacterial substances, and secondly the power of rapidly producing such substances in answer to the specific stimulus. That is to say, attention is directed, not only to the quantity of specific antibodies present on any day of the disease, but also to the response which the animal can make to various doses of bacterial vaccine. For the immune animal is both more vigorous and more sensitive than the normal, in its reaction to a renewed dose of poison (Wassermann and Citron, 1905). Naturally the facts established with regard to one disease only, cannot be predicated at once of other diseases, in other animals. Still it is hoped that the systematic study of one disease may give some help in coordinating the large but somewhat disjointed mass of clinical observation which is already available.