FIXATION OF COMPLEMENT 153 



COCCUS pyogenes, the Micrococcus albus and aureus, 

 the Colon bacillus, and the Cory neb act erium, pseudo- 

 diphtheria'. 



From these later studies we have deduced the fol- 

 lowing facts ; ( 1 ) In no case have polyvalent antigens 

 prepared from meningococci, pneumococci, strepto- 

 cocci, staphylococci, colon bacilli, or corynebacteria 

 sufficed to fix complement, thereby not jeopardizing 

 the specificity of the gonococcus antigen. ( 2 ) In ten 

 per cent, of sera examined a weakly positive result was 

 obtained with polyvalent Micrococcus catarrhalis anti- 

 gen ; in these cases the reaction was much more marked 

 with the various gonococcic antigens. Thus it may be 

 inferred that the relation between the gonococcus and 

 the Micrococcus catarrhalis is not positively and abso- 

 lutely defined and it is not unlikely, on the one hand, 

 that a culture of the M, catarrhalis is occasionally in- 

 cluded in a supposedly specific polyvalent gonococcus 

 antigen, while, on the other hand, it is undoubtedly 

 true that a mixed infection often due to the M, catar- 

 rhalis exists in patients suffering from gonorrhoea and 

 its complications. 



Serum Diagnosis of Echinococcus Disease 



Echinococcus disease is rare in this country in the 

 human being, and therefore serum diagnosis is seldom 

 called for. Results with the complement-fixation test. 



