THE PRECIPITIN REACTION BETWEEN TYPE III PNEUMOCOCCUS POLYSACCHARIDE AND HOMOLOGOUS ANTIBODY : III. A QUANTITATIVE STUDY AND A THEORY OF THE REACTION MECHANISM

The precipitin reaction between the specific polysaccharide of Type III pneumococcus and homologous antibody formed in the horse can be accounted for quantitatively by assuming the chemical combination of the components in a bimolecular reaction, followed by a series of competing bimolecular reactions which depend upon the relative proportions of the components. These reactions would lead to the formation of larger and larger aggregates until precipitation ultimately occurred. The mathematical formulation of this theory on the basis of the mass law is described. The derived expressions are shown to be in accord with the experimental findings and the constants used in these expressions are shown to have definite significance. In spite of the wide variation in the properties of individual sera these expressions permit the complete description of the behavior of an unknown serum with S III without an unduly burdensome number of analyses. The quantitative theory presented has been found applicable to other instances of the precipitin reaction, as will be shown in subsequent papers.