The ancestry of allergy: being an account of the original experimental induction of hypersensitivity recognizing the contribution of Paul Portier

Abstract

The Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology for 1913 was awarded to Charles Richet, French physiologist, for studies of "anaphylaxis." The earliest articles on what was actually the original experimental induction of hypersensitivity were the result of collaborative studies of Paul Portier and Charles Richet. This article presents an account of the discovery based on an extensive examination of original sources with attention to the particulars of the contributions of each of the codiscoverers. An unusually complete and intimate story of the unfolding of the discovery could be pieced together from the findings in the original sources. The contributions of Paul Portier in the experiments leading to the recognition of a relationship between hypersensitivity and immunity earned him a more prominent position in the ancestry of allergy.