ON SPECIFIC THERAPEUTICS. 33 



We have a small beginning in this direction, 

 I think, in the research which I carried out 

 with Wechsberg ; we compared the behaviour 

 of human blood-serum towards the trypanoso- 

 mata in the case of healthy and diseased indi- 

 viduals, and we found that in cases of liver 

 disease the amount of trypanosomicidal sub- 

 stances in the serum is markedly decreased, as 

 will be seen from the subsequent table. 



After Laveran had by his researches shown 

 that the serum of man and of a few species of 

 monkeys had a trypanosomicidal influence which 

 was not possessed by the sera of other animals, 

 it appeared worth while to pursue these re- 

 searches further, and to study this action quan- 

 titatively, and when influenced by various 

 conditions. For this purpose we employed a 

 strain of the trypanosoma of mat de caderas, two 

 or three control animals being also employed in 

 each case, which succumbed at the latest on 

 the fifth, and generally on the fourth day. The 

 animals were injected with equal quantities in 

 a similar manner, and as soon as the parasites 

 appeared in the blood (on the second day) the 

 curative serum was injected. By this means 

 we obtained a titration of a number of human 

 sera, regarding which I shall only give the 



D 



