THE SPLIT PRODUCTS OF TUBERCLE BACILLUS 181 



Krause concludes the paper from which the above was 

 taken as follows: 



"1. Sensitization of non-tuberculous guinea-pigs with 

 tuberculoprotein does not alter their resistance to experi- 

 mental tuberculous infection. 



"2. Sensitization to tuberculoprotein and relative 

 immunity (increased resistance) to infection can occur 

 coincidently in the same animals. 



"3. Resistance to infection is markedly lowered during 

 the period that a sensitized animal is suffering from symp- 

 toms of anaphy lactic shock." 



The third conclusion is certainly justified from the results 

 of the research, and is what might have been predicted 

 at the start. Whether the first conclusion is in any way 

 contradictory to the previous statement "that the more 

 protein the animal received during preliminary treatment, 

 the less was the resultant infection/' we leave the reader 

 to determine for himself. This line of experimentation 

 should be continued with all the tuberculoprotein prepara- 

 tions and with variations in size and frequency of dosage. 



Thiele and Embleton 1 have reviewed the literature of 

 Sensitization in tuberculosis, and have experimented with 

 reference to both active and passive hypersensitiveness to 

 tubercle bacilli, and the relation to the tuberculin reaction 

 in man. The conclusions reached are stated as follows: 

 (1) Guinea-pigs may be typically sensitized with pow- 

 dered tubercle bacilli. (2) Guinea-pigs may be passively 

 sensitized with the blood or tissues of animals actively 

 sensitized. (3) Guinea-pigs may be sensitized to tuberculin 

 with the blood of tuberculous patients who are highly 

 sensitive to tuberculin. (4) Likewise, guinea-pigs may 

 be sensitized with tuberculous tissue from man, or with 

 that from tuberculous guinea-pigs. (5) By regulating the 

 dose one can induce fever or cause the temperature to 

 fall below the normal in actively sensitized guinea-pigs 

 with tuberculin. (6) The same results can be obtained in 



1 Zeitsch. f. Immunitatsforschung, 1913, xvi, 411. 



