288 APPLIED IMMUNOLOGY 



fifty per cent, of patients susceptible to diphtheria 

 and that the immunity conferred lasts not more than a 

 year or two. An important conclusion of their work 

 is that the Schick test will demonstrate the futility 

 of immunization in approximately two-thirds of those 

 exposed to diphtheria. 



Respecting the value of treatment of so-called 

 " diphtheria carriers " by bacterins, opinion is divided. 

 Some remarkable results have been reported and the 

 procedure deserves further trial before conclusions 

 are drawn. 



Scarlet Fever, — Opinion has grown to the effect 

 that if the streptococcus is not the cause of, it is ma- 

 terially concerned in the pathogenicity of the com- 

 plications of scarlatina. Experience has shown that 

 bacterins of the Streptococcus conglomeratus, what- 

 ever may be their effect curatively in the acute course 

 of the disease, have unquestionably favorably in- 

 fluenced the complications, as angina, suppurative 

 rhinitis, lymphadenitis, nephritis, otitis, mastoiditis 

 and arthritis. INIost remarkable are the prophylactic 

 inoculations used by Gabritchewsky in Russia, where 

 in thousands of cases specific immunity has been se- 

 cured on the average for eighteen months. Donilow 

 states that only 1.1 per cent, of inoculated persons 

 contracted the disease, including those already in the 

 incubation stage; furthermore, that the mortality 



