1919] VETKUIN'ARY MEDICINE. 481 



gaily parasitic but also of the more special toxlcogenlc activities <>f Che 

 bacteria. 



A further consideration of complement fixation in tuberculosis, V. H Moon 

 (Jour. Amir. Med. Assoc, 11 (WIS), No. //,, pp. 1191 tl8S). The work of 

 various investigators on the complement fixation test for tuberculosis is re- 

 viewed, and reports are given of results obtained by means of the test In 166 

 tuberculous cases, of which 1S3 gave positive testa 



The conclusion is drawn that complement fixation In tuberculosis should be 

 regarded as an established technique, well past the experimental stage, and of 

 particular value as an aid in the early diagnosis of the disease. The author 

 considers that a freshly prepared antigen containing living, virulent bacilli is 

 superior to one containing dried organisms, although the latter will keep In- 

 definitely. 



A contribution to the study of the complement fixation reaction in tuber- 

 culosis, M. A. Wilson (Jour. Immunol., 3 (1918), A'o. 5, pp. S^o-SSO ; ahs. in 

 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 11 (11)18), No. 26, p. 2118).— This is a preliminary re- 

 port, in which are described the author's method of standardizing the comple- 

 ment, the preparation of tuberculosis antigen, and the diagnostic tesl for 

 tuberculosis. 



It is pointed out that not all guinea-pig serums are efficient for tuberculosis 

 complement fixation, and that consequently the serum from each guinea pig 

 should be tested for fixabillty with tuberculosis antigen plus tuberculosis serum 

 before pooling the complement for diagnostic tests. 



Attention is called to the discovery of von Wedel that some serums from 

 active tuberculosis cases gave a negative complement fixation reaction when the 

 test was made on the first day after bleeding and a positive reaction a week 

 later, having been kept in the ice box during the interval. Although this early 

 negative phase was not demonstrated in the serums from all tubercular cases. 

 the percentage was so large that it is considered advisable to make the later 

 test before the tuberculosis antibody content of all serums can be determined. 



The antigen used by the author consists of a suspension of tubercle bacilli 

 killed with heat, extracted with alcohol and ether, and dried. 



A contribution to the study of the complement fixation reaction for tuber- 

 culosis, H. von Weuel (Jour. Immunol., 3 (1918), No. 5, pp. 351-369; abs. in 

 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 11 (1918), No. 26, pp. 2118, 2119).— A brief review is 

 given of some of the more important investigations of the past few years on the 

 complement fixation test for tuberculosis, and results are reported of a study 

 of the test with the use of the perfected Wilson antigen, noted above. 



Data are reported from 1,078 complement fixation tests on litH) specimens of 

 Mood serum taken from cases with no clinical history of tuberculosis and from 

 patients with active, inactive, and primary pulmonary tuberculosis. As a 

 result of this study the following modifications of the original complement 

 fixation tests are recommended : 



"Pooled complement from at least six guinea pigs should be used in making 

 the tests, or the complement from single pigs should be tested for its comple- 

 ment fixation value with known positive sera. Double the original Wassermann 

 amount of patients' serum should be used. No report should be made until the 

 sera have been tested, after having been kept under sterile conditions in the ice 

 chest for from four to six days, preferably six days." 



With these modifications the results seem to Indicate that "100 per cent of 

 nontubercular cases wdll give absolutely negative results, nearly 100 per cent 

 of the primary and active cases will give positive results with the exception of 

 the dying cases, and about 25 per cent of the partially inactive aud inactive 

 cases will give only weak positive results." 



