The Reticulo-Endothelial System in Relation to Antibody Formation

There is no more important, more considered and less conclusively settled question in immunology than the place of antibody formation in the animal body. Ehrlich has asserted, and it has been rather generally assumed, that each of the innumerable and characteristic chemical groupings in cells has specific affinity for some foreign substance, nutritive or toxic, that may enter the body. And again, Ehrlich assumed that the cell or part of a cell that unites with any particular foreign protein is the potential antibody-former for that antigen (receptor hypothesis). The general lines of inquiry to determine the seat of antibody formation have been to seek the tissue in which a given antigen is fixed; to determine the locality where the corresponding antibody may first be detected; or to prevent the formation of the antibody either by specific injury (benzene [C 6 H 6 ] roentgen ray), or by extirpation of an organ.