CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS 267 



could be boiled for the same period of time without losing its ac- 

 tivity. In both acid and alkaline solution, autoclaving for one hour 

 at fifteen pounds pressure practically destroyed its effectiveness. 

 The second character was its resistance to pepsin-hydrochloric acid 

 mixture. The preparation probably resisted also the digestive ac- 

 tion of trypsin, but the presence of alkali in such a substrate, by 

 itself, tended to destroy the substance and therefore interfered 

 with any accurate determination of its digestibility. 



Enders 359 extended the investigation to embrace the carbohy- 

 drates of Type II and III pneumococci and, in addition to precipi- 

 tative and anaphylactic methods, employed the agglutination and 

 agglutinin-absorption reactions for a further comparison of his 

 new antigen with the specific polysaccharide. He reported that 

 type-specific agglutination of Type I, II, and III pneumococci oc- 

 curred in homologous antiserum from both rabbit and horse to ap- 

 proximately the same titer after the antibody reacting with the 

 purified specific carbohydrate had been removed. This fact sug- 

 gested that in pneumococci there exists a type-specific agglutino- 

 gen which was to be distinguished from the specific carbohydrate. 

 A side comment of Enders was that the presence of a specific 

 agglutinogen in Pneumococcus Type II unrelated to the specific 

 carbohydrate would account for the failure of this organism to re- 

 move agglutinins from B. Friedldnderi Type B antiserum, and 

 would add additional evidence pointing to dissimilarity of the A 

 substance and the soluble specific substance as well as to the lack 

 of serological identity of Pneumococcus II and Friedlander bacilli 

 of the B type. 



An effect analogous to that described by Enders was reported 

 by Ward 1483 in 1932. In a five-day broth culture of Type III Pneu- 

 mococcus he found a type-specific substance with a powerful anti- 

 bactericidal action. In comparison with the soluble specific carbo- 

 hydrate, its precipitating action was far greater, requiring a much 

 larger amount of antipneumococcic serum for neutralization. A 

 similar substance, but in higher concentration, was also found in 



