In 1937, St. Clair Thomson1 had this to say about the etiology of nasal allergy: "Future researches may show that it is connected with alterations in internal secretions." Developments in this field during the past 10 years have served to point up the brilliance of this observation. The contributions of Selye2 and his associates and of Hench3 and his co-workers are outstanding in this regard.
Within the past five years there has been increasing emphasis on the role of cellular physiology in the development of natural and acquired immunity and allergic sensitization. Godlowski4 published his monograph on An Enzymatic Concept of Anaphylaxis and Allergy in 1953. Three years later Sevag5 proposed a new theory of allergic phenomena with a similar emphasis on the role of enzyme proteins in the cell. What are the implications of these concepts for the inquiring clinician? Let me briefly summarize