316 BIOLOGY OF PNEUMOCOCCUS 



tered in attempting to produce enzyme preparations of uniformly high 

 therapeutic activity and purity. The different lots of enzyme have, as a 

 result, been inconstant in both these respects. In some instances toxic 

 effects, attributable to impurities in the material, have been noted in 

 animals after the administration of enzyme. These impurities may in- 

 duce a febrile reaction and a decrease in the white blood count of the 

 animal. At other times, when the animal is extremely ill with subnormal 

 temperature and a marked leukopenia, the administration of impure 

 preparations may produce a further depression of temperature and of 

 the leukocytes. 



The results of the present study indicate that the specific enzyme, 

 even in its present state of purity, exerts a favorable therapeutic effect 

 upon the course and outcome of experimental Type III pneumococcus 

 pneumonia in monkeys. Nevertheless, the present study again empha- 

 sizes the therapeutic limitations of the enzyme. The action of the en- 

 zyme is known to be exerted upon the capsular polysaccharide of Type 

 III Pneumococcus. By being deprived of its capsule, the bacterium is 

 made susceptible to phagocytosis by the cells of the animal body. How- 

 ever, when the disease process is of extreme severity and the entire cel- 

 lular mechanism of the body is markedly depressed, the animal may no 

 longer possess the capacity to dispose of the organisms rendered vul- 

 nerable by the specific action of the enzyme. 



ISOLATION AND STUDY OF OTHER POLYSACCHAREDE-SPLITTING 

 ENZYMES 



In 1933, Sickles and Shaw 1281 discovered microorganisms, other 

 than the SILT bacillus of Avery and Dubos, capable of decompos- 

 ing the capsular polysaccharide of Type III Pneumococcus and, 

 furthermore, succeeded in obtaining from soil another organism 

 possessing an enzymatic action on the capsular polysaccharide of 

 Type II Pneumococcus. From decaying vegetable matter from dif- 

 ferent localities, Sickles and Shaw isolated in pure culture three 

 strains of sporulating bacilli, which in morphology and some of 

 their other characters differed from one another and from the SHI 

 bacillus. The organisms were all aerobic, Gram-negative, motile 

 rods with peritrichous flagellae, and formed oval spores wider than 

 the vegetative cells. On beef-extract agar the organisms grew in 



