WASSERMANN REACTION. 285 







of the suspected case and after the addition of 

 complement,, the mixture was incubated an hour. 

 Sheep's corpuscles with specific amboceptor were 

 then added and the mixture again incubated. In 

 case the syphilitic antibody was present, comple- 

 ment became bound and no hemolysis took place 

 upon second incubation. Through a large number 

 of tests the Wassermann reaction has been proved 

 to be characteristic for syphilis. 



The idea of Wassermann that the complement Nature of 



, . T , p . , , .. the Antigen 



binding was due to extract 01 spirocnetes as anti- of w 

 gen and specific amboceptor, soon found opposi- 

 tion. Landsteiner, Miiller and Poetzl, Levaditi 

 and others showed by the use of alcoholic extracts 

 of normal organs that a substance could be ob- 

 tained which acted as antigen and could be 

 substituted for the extract of syphilitic liver with- 

 out changing the results of the reaction. Finally 

 it has been shown that mixtures of lipoid sub- 

 stances or crude tissue lecithin could be used as 

 antigen. Wassermann pointed out that whereas 

 his aqueous extract of syphilitic tissues was ther- 

 molabile at boiling, the alcoholic extract of normal 

 organs was thermostabile : further that the aqueous 

 extracts of normal organs do not act as substitutes 

 for aqueous extracts of syphilitic organs. He 

 therefore regarded his original ideas as to the 

 specificity of antigen as correct and held that 

 aqueous extract of syphilitic liver was the only 

 extract which could be used without chance for 

 error. 



Seligmann and Pinkus have made a study of 

 the various extracts and conclude that the differ- 

 ence in heating aqueous and alcoholic extracts is 



