PREFACE 



THIS book has been prepared in the hope that a concise state- 

 ment of the facts and more important hypotheses concerning resist- 

 ance to infection may serve to provide a clear understanding of a 

 subject of the utmost importance in modern diagnosis and treat- 

 ment. Designed primarily for students of medicine and for those 

 practitioners whose duties have made it impossible to digest a large 

 mass of publications on the subject, the scope of the book is 

 restricted to fundamental principles. The plan throughout is to pre- 

 sent on an experimental basis the demonstrated facts and to supple- 

 ment these with brief discussions of the practical and theoretical 

 bearing of the phenomena upon resistance and disease in man. A 

 few illustrations have been inserted, but it must be recognized that 

 technical details can only be fully comprehended on the basis of 

 actual work with the methods. The usual diagrams of the side- 

 chain theory have been omitted because of the belief that they 

 serve to confuse rather than clarify the conception of processes 

 whose fundamental basis lies in the field of physical chemistry. 

 Certain material concerning the practical application of immunology 

 to the prevention and cure of disease has been collected in three 

 appendices. These have been added in order to explain the basis of the 

 practical methods rather than as an exact guide in their application. 



Knowledge progresses from the known to the unknown, from 

 the simple to the complex, and if the brevity of the book serves to 

 implant essentials in such a way that the reader not only grasps the 

 facts, but finds himself stimulated to seek further information and 

 discussion in more comprehensive works, the most compelling aim 

 of this book will have been achieved. For this purpose books 

 which we have used with considerable freedom are recommended: 

 Zinsser, " Infection and Resistance " ; Wells, " Chemical Pathol- 

 ogy " ; Kolmer, " Infection, Immunity, and Specific Therapy " ; 

 Kraus and Levaditi, " Handbuch der Technik und Methodik der 

 Immunitatsforschung " ; Muir, " Studies on Immunity " ; Kolle and 

 Wassermann, "Handbuch der pathogenen Mikroorganismen " ; 

 Metchnikoff, " Immunity in Infective Diseases "; Bordet, " Traite de 

 rimmunite dans les Maladies Infectieuses " ; Besredka, " Anaphy- 

 laxis and Antianaphylaxis " ; Bordet and Gay, " Studies in 

 Immunity " ; Gay, " Typhoid Fever " ; Browning, " Applied Bacteri- 

 ology"; Craig, "The Wassermann Test"; Noguchi, "Serum 

 Diagnosis of Syphilis " ; Zinsser, Hopkins, and Ottenberg, " Lab- 

 oratory Course in Serum Study." The names of those who have 

 contributed to the literature are given in the text, but precise refer- 

 ences have been omitted, since the articles can be found by refer- 

 ence to such bibliographic journals as the Index Medicus, The Index 



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