104 BIOLOGY OF PNEUMOCOCCUS 



Griffon who announced that from the standpoint of agglutination 

 there existed several races of pneumococci that behaved serologi- 

 cally as though they were different microbes. 



At about the same time, Mennes (1897), 893 with a highly potent 

 serum prepared by the immunization of goats and horses with a 

 single strain of Pneumococcus, was able to demonstrate wide 

 agglutinative coverage for other strains irrespective of their origin, 

 whether from cases of pneumonia or from normal mouths. Kind- 

 borg* took the view that pneumococcal antibodies, whether agglu- 

 tinins or protective antibodies, were strictly strain-specific. Two 

 years later, Eyre and Washbourn 376 confirmed Bezancon and Grif- 

 fon's discovery by means of another immunological reaction. When 

 they tested the protective action of a specific immune serum 

 against five strains of pneumococci, they obtained excellent pro- 

 tection in mice against four of the strains, but none against the 

 fifth. From the experience, the authors concluded, "There exist va- 

 rieties of pneumococci which at present are only distinguished by 

 the action of antipneumococcic serum." 



In the next year, Bezancon and Griffon, 113 continuing their 

 study of the agglutination reaction, noted that the serum of a 

 pneumonia patient was most active against the particular strain 

 causing the infection. Among the experimental data was included 

 the description of a strain that must have been a Type III pneu- 

 mococcus, since its unusually large capsule and the white, viscous 

 peritoneal exudate it caused in white mice were characteristic of 

 that type. The authors said that the strain was also distinctive in 

 its serum reactions, but unfortunately did not specify in what re- 

 spect. In a separate paper a year later (1901), Eyre 371 reported 

 that agglutinability of pneumococci depended upon an optimal re- 

 action of the medium in which the organisms were grown. This ob- 

 servation was partly confirmed by Yoshioka 1564 in 1923. 



The contribution of Collins (1905) 270 to the serological differ- 

 entiation of pneumococci seems to have been overlooked by some 



* Quoted by Neufeld and Schnitzer. 



