From a consideration of the literature it appears that there is much confusion as to the significance of a cellular response predominantly of plasma cells such as one occasionally encounters in generalized septicemia. The difficulty is in separating or identifying the response of the lymph glands observed in cases of this type, as well as the granulomatous lesions encountered in the other tissues, from malignant conditions on the one hand and malignant lymphomas, particularly Hodgkin's disease, on the other.
The response of the lymph nodes of the body to any stimulus depends on the degree of severity of the stimulus, on the length of time the stimulus continues to act and on the susceptibility to stimulation of the various elements composing the lymph nodes, i. e., the reaction threshold of the components. The degree of severity of the stimulus is dependent on the concentration in which the stimulating agent reaches