THE MANUFACTURE OF ANTISERA 751 



usually follow. The thermal reaction is very similar to that produced 

 in tuberculous animals by the injection of tuberculin. The local swell- 

 ing caused by mallein treatment is considered by some to be quite as 

 diagnostic as the temperature reaction. 



The ophthalmic mallein test, a comparatively recent method, which 

 was first used by Choromansky, appears to be attaining considerable 

 recognition as a valuable aid in diagnosis. The test consists in the 

 application of concentrated mallein to the inner canthus of the eye. 

 A drop of the concentrated mallein in liquid form or a small bit of the 

 same in desiccated condition may be used. In a positive case, 

 hyperemia and swelling of the conjunctiva and a purulent exudate at 

 the inner canthus of the eye will appear from four to six hours after the 

 instillation of the mallein. 



Goodall* advocates the use of the intrapalpebral mallein test which 

 involves the injection of a small dose of mallein under the skin of the 

 eyelid. 



The stock culture of the glanders organism used in the preparation 

 of mallein should be one which possesses known virulent properties. 

 It is grown at a temperature of 37 for three months in flasks of glycerin 

 bouillon having a chemical reaction of about three points acid to 

 phenolphthalein. When the cultures are removed from the incubator 

 they are heated in streaming steam, passed through a Berkefeld filter 

 and the filtrate is concentrated, preserved and distributed in labeled 

 vials. 



SUSPENSIONS FOR THE AGGLUTINATION TESTS 



Agglutinins are hypothetical bodies existing in the blood and possi- 

 bly other body tissues, of an individual affected with, or convales- 

 cent from, a specific infectious disease. The bodies possess the power 

 of "clumping" and precipitating the specific bacteria which are the 

 cause of the disease in question. Thus, if a dilution of blood serum from 

 a typhoid fever patient is mixed with living typhoid organisms, the 

 specific agglutinins present in the serum will cause the organisms to 

 cease their motion and agglutinate or clump together in irregular 

 masses. Normal human blood serum placed under the same conditions 

 will fail to cause the agglutination of the organisms in similar dilutions. 

 The agglutination reaction may, therefore, be used in the diagnosis of 



* Goodall, Jour. Comp. Path, and Therap., 1915, Vol. 28, p. 281. 



