SIGNIFICANCE OF PHENOMENON 367 



wood and Baldridge, 1927; Irish and Reynolds, 1933; Tumpeer, 

 1933; Ross, 1934; and Maroney, 1934) . The course of events in 

 hemorrhagic and necrotic lesions of extreme severity in the human 

 may be illustrated by the follo^ving quoted description of cases. 

 Case of Irish and Reynolds: 



A boy aged t^venty-eight months, deli^■ered normally, had jatni- 

 dice dining the first week of life with "spasm of the stomach" 

 and projectile vomiting. He ^vas breast fed for seven months. 

 He had nuurips, sore throat and otitis media at six months, the 

 cerxical glands remaining enlarged. At eleven months he had 

 three injections of diphtheria toxin-antitoxin. He gave no record 

 of eczema, hives, rash of any kind, hay fever, or asthma. At one 

 year he ^vas vaccinated. According to his mother, he became 

 violently nauseated and vomited at the sight or smell of certain 

 foods. 



March 17, 1931, he became ill ^vith fever, vomiting, sore throat, 

 and headache. He developed a painfid rigidity of one side of the 

 neck "which A\as interpreted as meningitis. April 1st, without a 

 diagnostic limibar piuictme, meningococcic serinn was injected 

 into the right buttock (quantity unknown by parents) . April 

 2nd, the injection was repeated in the opposite buttock and the 

 following day he was reinjected into the right buttock. No ana- 

 phylactic reactions ^vere observed. 



An injection in the left buttock on April 7th was followed by 

 blanching of the skin at the injection site. AV^ithin one hour mti- 

 caria appeared o\'er the entire body with edema of the face. The 

 child became irrational with a fever of 103° F. This condition 

 j)ersisted for about 3 days ^vhen he became rigid for 15 miniUes 

 and complained of severe cramps in the abdomen. On the same 

 day (April 7th) he was reinjected in the left biutock, after which 

 blanching and soreness were almost immediately noted. Within 

 one hour the site became purple; on the following day a fifth 

 injection was given in the right buttock with a similar reaction 

 in an hoin\ 



These areas continued increasingly purple and tender. By 

 April 13th the swelling had extended over and around the left 

 side of the abdomen. Fever varied from 99 to 103. The swelling 

 had increased by April 14th, but the general condition appeared 

 improved. Several large blebs (about 38 mms.) appeared over 

 both buttocks, ^vith pmple discoloration over the right anterior 

 thigh. Two days later the areas became dark and the swelling 



