278 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Defensive ferments of the animal organism, E. Abdeehalden (Abivehrfer- 

 mente des tierischen Organismus. Berlin, 1913, 3. ed., rev. and enl., pp. XV-{- 

 229, pi. 1, figs. 11). — This is the third revised and amplified edition of this work 

 (E. S. R., 30, p. 77) in regard to the ferments which appear in the body and 

 blood plasma as the result of injecting substances foreign to the organism. 

 The diagnostic significance of these factors is discussed in minute detail and 

 the practical application of these principles for the serodiagnosis of pregnancy 

 iind infectious diseases is described. The apparatus used for these purposes is 

 pictured. 



Protective (defensive) ferments and the serodiagnosis of pregnancy, 

 L. W. Fetzer {Amer. Jour. Vet. Med., 9 (1914), Nos. 2, pp. 79, 80, 96, 122; 3, 

 pp. U9, 150, 203, 204, fig. 1; 4, pp. 248-250).— This gives an account of the 

 1-rinciples underlying the elaboration of the protective ferments In the body 

 (see above), with a detailed description of the technique necessary for con- 

 ducting the Abderhalden test for diagnosing pregnancy in man and animals. 

 The apparatus necessary is illustrated and criterions for judging the results of 

 the reaction are included. 



Preliminary communication on a complement deviation reaction exhibited 

 in pregnancy, G. H. S. Clowes, F. C. Goldsborough, and F. West (Ahs. in 

 Proc. Soc. Erpt. Biol, and Med., 10 (1913), Xo. 3, pp. 107, i08).— Both heated 

 and unheated sera of 25 normal pregnant women in which lues could be ex- 

 cluded were examined, also the blood of the infants taken from the umbilical 

 cord at the time of birth. 



The unheated sera invariably contained antibodies capable of causing a well- 

 marked deviation of complement when used in conjunction with an antigen 

 obtained by extracting human blood clots with alcohol. The unheated in- 

 fants' sera tested under the same conditions gave negative results. Other 

 tissues (antigens) gave a less marked reaction with the unheated mothers' sera 

 and no reaction with the infants' sera. 



" The deviation body concerned in this reaction is destroyed by heating for 

 one-half hour at 58° C. The mothers' sera tested after heating were negative 

 to the antigens enumerated above, and those of the infants either negative or 

 very slightly positive, but exhibiting on the whole a somewhat greater capacity 

 to deviate than that possessed by the heated mothers' sera. The deviating ca- 

 pacity of unheated mothers' sera varies greatly, certain cases exhibiting a 

 complete deviation only when employed in concentrations as high as 0.05 to 

 0.075 cc. of serum, others giving a complete deviation when amounts as smaU 

 as 0.001 cc. of serum were employed. . . . 



" Similar nonspecific immune bodies destroyed by heating at 58° have been 

 observed in cancer and other pathological conditions, and to a cei'tain extent in 

 supposedly normal individuals. The entire absence of these bodies in the blood 

 of newborn infants and their invariable occurrence in the blood of pregnant 

 v7omen at term indicates that in this case at least they probably bear some 

 relation to the reaction of the body against detached fetal cells or proteid or 

 enzymatic bodies of fetal origin. The occurrence of this reaction to a marked 

 extent in cancer, particularly in those cases in which tumors are absorbing 

 under treatment, lends further support to this point of view." 



On the antitryptic reaction exhibited in pregnancy, G. H. A. Clowes and 

 F. C. Goldsborough (Abs. in Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol, and Med., 10 (1913), No. S, 

 p. 109). — The antitryptic index was determined in the sera of 25 pregnant 

 women and their infants. " The antitryptic index of the mother's serum was 

 found to range from 1.5 to 2.5, averaging about 2, while that of the infants 

 was found to range from 0.9 to 1.2, averaging slightly over 1. The antitryptic 

 index of a series of cancer cases previously reported shows a range of varia- 



