254 ABSTRACTS 



in the control cases. The period of convalescence as well as the period 

 of acute illness was shortened, and in no cases were there any untoward 

 results.— M. W. C. 



Treatment of Rheumatic Fever. Beverley Robinson. Medical 



Record, 1916, 89, 11. 



In discussing methods of treatment of rheumatic fever, the author 

 mentions the use of vaccines and serums. Serums have proved to be 

 without success and the advantages of vaccine treatment are still ques- 

 tionable. Whenever tried, vaccines should be used with great caution. 

 Polyvalent vaccines should not be administered, as there is too great 

 a risk of overburdening the system with non-specific antibodies. A 

 further difficulty in the way of vaccine treatment is the fact that in the 

 acute stage of the disease, the only time when bacteria can be isolated 

 from the joints, vaccines do the least amount of good and their use is 

 accompanied by greater local and general reactions than at a later 

 period.— M. W. C. 



Antiblastic Immunity. A. R. Dochez and 0. T. Avery. Jour. Exp. 



Med., 1916, 23, 61-68. 



Ehrlich's side-chain theory, comprehensive as it is, fails to account 

 for certain phenomena observed in immunological studies. Its author 

 postulated a "third factor" to cover this decrepancy. Dochez and 

 Avery now find that antipneumococcus serum possesses the power 

 not only of inhibiting for a certain period the multiplication of pneu- 

 mococci but also of inhibiting in varying degree their proteolytic and 

 glycolytic functions. This power is present to a limited extent in the 

 sera of certain normal animals, and, inhuman serum during the course of 

 lobar pneumonia it appears or increases markedly at the critical period 

 of the disease. The hypothesis that this retardation of bacterial growth 

 is dependent upon the inhibition of metabolic function due to the pres- 

 ence of anti-enzymotic substances in antipneumococcus serum offers a 

 possible explanation of the so-called "third factor" as well as a promis- 

 ing suggestion for further investigation. — B. W. 



The Complement Fixation Reactions of the Bordet-Gengou Bacillus. M. 



P. Olmstead and O. R. Povitzky. Jour. Med. Res., 1916, 33, 379- 



392. 



Testing fourteen typical and four atypical strains of Bacillus per- 

 tussis, and nine strains of strictly hemoglobinophilic bacilli, by means 

 of complement fixation, the authors report further confirmatory evi- 

 dence of the individuality of B. pertussis, particularly their ability to 

 differentiate between it and Bacillus influenzae. No differences in 

 ability to bind complement were observed among twelve typical per- 

 tussis strains. Some cross reaction, although weak, was observed in 

 two atypical strains and two strains of hemoglobinophilic bacilli. 



The work was done with immune sera produced by the inoculation 

 of rabbits with live cultures of the various organisms. The original 



