Allergy and the Acid-Base Balance

In presenting at this time the hypothesis that there is an intimate connection between the state of allergy and the acid-base balance in the body, I do not wish in the least to disparage the sensitization theory and the work of desensitization that has been built upon it. These things are of immense value; indeed, they constitute the greatest advance that has been made in the understanding and treatment of the allergic ailments. For instance, it is nowadays known that a normal non-allergic individual can be passively sensitized locally by the intracutaneous injection of serum taken from an allergic individual, and that if the recipient then takes an article of food that affects the donor the locally sensitized area responds by reaction; this is undoubted proof of the existence of such a thing as sensitization. Furthermore, it is known that carefully performed skin tests will sometimes make it possible to