Abstract
Because of its theoretical and practical significance the mechanism of the neutralization of toxins by antitoxins is one of the most extensively investigated problems of immunology. According to Arrhenius and Madsen the toxin-antitoxin neutralization may be a chemical reaction governed by the law of mass action. On the other hand Bordet thinks that it does not follow the quantitative laws of simple chemical reactions but is an adsorption phenomenon controlled by the electrical charge of the toxins and antitoxins. 1
It seems probable that the recent progress in the study of physico-chemical aspects of the antigen-antibody reactions 2 particularly those of agglutination, precipitation and phagocytosis is due to the circumstance that these reactions can be studied on the surface of particulate matter. Similarly it seems desirable to investigate the phenomenon of the neutralization of toxins by antitoxins on the surface of simple particles.
Loeb and his associates, Northrop, Hitchcock and Kunitz, 3 have shown that the adsorption of proteins by collodion particles makes possible the use of certain physico-chemical methods that can not be applied to proteins in solution. The possibility of studying immunological reactions on the surface of collodion particles occurred to me in connection with a study of physico-chemical aspects of the agglutination of tubercle bacillus. 4 In that work it was observed that collodion particles are acid-fast when stained by the Ziehl-Neelsen method and that they remain acid-fast even if they are coated with protein.
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