CHAPTER XXIV. 



SERUM DIAGNOSIS. 



The discovery of the complement in normal blood serum 

 and the various bodies such as agglutinins and precipitins re- 

 sulting from stimulation of the tissues by alien proteid sub- 

 stances has led to the development of methods for utilizing 

 these bodies in making specific diagnoses. The recognition of 

 the existence of these bodies was accompanied by the work of 

 Bordet and Gengou 1 who found that the red blood corpuscles 

 of animals when put in contact with many different substances 

 are so altered that their hemoglobin is set free. This phe- 

 nomenon of solution is now generally known as hemolysis. 

 The first utilization of this knowledge as a sero- diagnostic 

 agent was made in 1906 by Wassermann 2 who used it in the 

 "complement fixation" method to detect the presence or ab- 

 sence of syphilis. His method has been modified somewhat by 

 Noguchi 3 and other workers. Schiitz and Schubert 4 applied 

 this method of serum diagnosis to glanders and in this country 

 Mohler and Eichhorn 5 have reported good results from its 

 use. The method that is followed in this laboratory for diag- 

 nosing glanders and which was taken from Mohler and Eich- 

 horn and Noguchi with slight modifications made by Dr. C. P. 

 Fitch is giving very good results. It is as follows : 



The diagnosis of glanders by the complement fixation 

 method. The test requires five different substances: (1) 

 washed red blood* corpuscles of a sheep, (2) hemolytic ambo- 



1 Bordet and Gengou. Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur, Vol. XV (1901) p. 

 289. 



2 Wassermann and Bruck. Klin. Med., 1905. 



3 Noguchi. Serum diagnosis of syphilis, 1911. 



4 Schiitz and Schubert. Arch. f. wissenschaftliche und praktische 

 Tierheilkunde, Bd. XXXV (1909) p. 44. 



5 Mohler and Eichhorn. Bulletin No. 136, B. A. I., U. S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture, 1911. 



