344 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



coccus catarrhalis and the staphylococcus. In one laboratory 

 there has been no difficulty in isolating the Pfeiffer bacillus 

 from the throats of influenza patients; in another this organ- 

 ism has not been found and good reason is furnished to sup- 

 port the belief that the disease is of purely streptococcic origin. 

 These differences of opinion with respect to the initial cause 

 of the infection have existed to a like degree in the case of 

 the pneumococcic organisms which have been recovered from 

 the throats of the sick. One camp reports more of one type 

 of pneumococcus than another. There is agreement merely 

 in the excessive numbers of type four, but we must remember 

 that this is only a " waste basket " group. Pneumococci which 

 do not respond to reactions characteristic of type one, two, 

 or three are placed in group four. It follows, therefore, that 

 the information that type four has prevailed during the epi- 

 demic is not altogether satisfactory. 



In the face of these contradictory reports, not only from 

 army camps but from civilian laboratories as well, we are handi- 

 capped in determining the true cause of the disease. Basing 

 our opinion on the information at hand, we make the following 

 tentative statements : 



1. Influenza is an acute, highly infectious disease of unknown 

 origin, characterized by the production of a marked leuco- 

 penia which results in withdrawal of the natural defenses of 

 the body and the opening up of the paths of invasion for other 

 pathogenic organisms which may be present. .< 



2. We are of the opinion that one reason for the variation 

 in the manfestations and course of the disease in different com- 

 munities has been due to difference in the combinations of 

 organisms which have worked symbiotically with the specific 

 cause of influenza. This accounts for the finding of one 

 organism prevalent in one place and another organism domi- 

 nant in another. 



3. We are of the opinion that the epidemic of influenza which 

 occurred in the fall of 1918 was not a new entity but a recur- 

 rence or reappearance in a more virulent form of a disease 



