GENERAL TECHNIC 431 



be said to have been determined. It is probable that the ordinary 

 syphilis reaction is in itself not dependent upon a true antibody, and that 

 the reaction is not an immunity reaction, but due rather to the presence 

 of peculiar tissue products (reagins) altered by the presence and activ- 

 ities of the spirochetes themselves, and that the Wassermann reaction 

 is an expression of this active injury to tissue-cells. In addition to this 

 secondary product there is probably a true syphilis antibody that may 

 yield specific complement fixation with pallidum antigens. 



In so far as the Wassermann reaction is concerned, the true antibody 

 is entirely secondary in importance, and the whole question is intimately 

 concerned with the chemistry of lipoids. While future researches in 

 immunochemistry may reveal the mechanism of the reaction, the prin- 

 ciples are at least well understood at present, so that the syphilis reac- 

 tion is proving of great diagnostic and practical value. 



TECHNIC OF THE WASSERMANN REACTION 

 Glassware for Complement-fixation Reactions. Test-tubes should be 

 of convenient sizes, 12 by 1.5 cm., perfectly clean, free from acids 

 and alkalis, and preferably sterile. They need not be plugged with 

 cotton as it suffices to sterilize them in a wire basket with their mouth- 

 ends downward. Smaller test-tubes, as those used in the Noguchi 

 modification of the Wassermann reaction (8 by 1 cm.), are wrapped in 

 newspaper in bundles of 25 and sterilized. 



Pipets should be perfectly clean and preferably sterile. Three kinds 

 are required: The ordinary 1 c.c. pipet, graduated to 0.01 c.c. and 

 calibrated to the tip; a number of special pipets for the fourth method 

 and the gonococcus fixation test, of about the same length and external 

 diameter as an ordinary 1 c.c. pipet, but of much smaller caliber, so 

 that the pipet will hold 0.2 c.c. ; it should be graduated to 0.01 c.c. and 

 calibrated to the tip; 5 c.c. pipets divided into 0.1 c.c. Care should be 

 exercised in handling pipets to avoid breaking the tips. After use they 

 should be washed free from blood, serum, etc. 



GENERAL TECHNIC 



For testing for the Wassermann syphilis reaction five reagents are 

 used: 



1. The fluid to be tested. 



2. Complement. 



3. Hemolytic amboceptor. 



4. Blood-corpuscles. 



5. Antigen (organic extract). 



