XIII 



FIXATION OF COMPLEMENT (Continued) 



GONOCOCCUS COMPLEMENT-FIXATION TEST— SERUM DIAG- 

 NOSIS OF ECHINOCOCCUS DISEASE— COMPLEMENT-FIXA- 

 TION REACTION IN TYPHOID FEVER— COMPLEMENT- 

 FIXATION REACTION IN TUBERCULOSIS— THE COMPLE- 

 MENT-FIXATION REACTION AS APPLIED IN PROTEIN 

 DIFFERENTIATION (NEISSER-SACHS REACTION) 



The Gonococcus Complement-fixation Test 

 In recognition of the recent admirable work by 

 Schwartz and McNeil on the complement-fixation 

 test in gonococcic infections, the fact must not be over- 

 looked that Miiller and Oppenheim, in 1906, were the 

 first to apply this reaction to a gonorrhoeal affection 

 and consequently are entitled to the distinction of 

 being termed the originators. The present popularity 

 of this test has been the outgrowth of the suggestion 

 made by Schwartz and McNeil — namely, that of the 

 employment of a polyvalent antigen. As a result of 

 their labors, these workers contend, and seem to have 

 proved conclusively, through animal experimentation : 

 (1) "that the different strains of the gonococcus 

 differ markedly one from another — so much so that 

 the antibodies produced in the body by the toxin of one 

 strain will in many instances not bind the comple- 

 ment in the presence of an antigen prepared from 

 another strain. Therefore, if only one strain is used 

 in the preparation of the antigen, a great many nega- 



141 



