498 INFECTION AND RESISTANCE 



Early in the study of poliomyelitis it was found that one at- 

 tack protected and that the serum of a human being or monkey 

 that had recovered from the disease was capable of neutralizing the 

 virus. In consequence extensive studies have been made by Flex- 

 ner, Amoss, and Chesney, Draper, Zingher 106 and others in which 

 the serum taken from recently recovered cases was injected intra- 

 spinously into children suffering from the disease for therapeutic 

 purposes. The work on this problem is not yet complete, but it 

 seems, especially from the studies of Amoss and Chesney, 107 that 

 when injected early in the disease a very definite favorable influence 

 can be expected. 



The serum should be taken from cases which have recovered as 

 recently as possible and collected with ordinary precautions of 

 asepsis. It should then be injected best in quantities not less than 

 50 c.c., part of which is given intraspinously, and the rest intra- 

 venously, to neutralize any circulating virus. 



IMMUNITY IN SYPHILIS 



Until relatively recent years there seems to have been little ques- 

 tion in the mind of clinicians regarding the existence of true im- 

 munity in syphilis. It was stated uncompromisingly by Ricord 108 

 that "an individual who had once acquired syphilis was thereafter 

 protected against reinfection." This opinion acquired wide accep- 

 tance and was shared by most of his contemporaries. Baumler 109 in 

 1875 summarizing the authoritative opinions of that period stated 

 that "One who has once had small-pox, scarlet fever, typhus, etc., 

 is, as a rule, not liable to these diseases again for the rest of his life. 

 The same is true of syphilis." However, even at the time Baumler 

 wrote this, exceptions to the supposed rule were accumulating and 

 he appends, to the positive statement given above, references to 

 observed instances of second infection reported by Bidenkap, 110 H. 

 Lee, 111 Diday, 112 Kober, 113 Zeissl, 114 and others. 



The conception of the existence of a true acquired immunity was 

 also expressed and widely accepted in the so-called "laws" of Colles 

 and Profeta. The former, first enunciated by Beaumes and later, 



106 Zingher. Jour. Amer. Med. Assn., March, 1917. 



107 Amoss and Chesney. Jour. Exp. Med., April, 1917. 



108 Ricord. Eecherches sur le Chancre, Paris, 1858, cited from Baumler. 



109 Baumler. Ziemssen's Cyclop, of Pract. Med., Amer. Ed., Wm. Wood 

 and Co., N. Y., 1875, iii. 



110 Bidenkap. Wien. med. Wchnschr., 1865, cited from Baumler. 



111 Lee, H. Lecture on Syphilis, London, 1863. 



112 Diday. Arch, gener., 1862, ii, cited from Baumler. 



113 Kober. Berl. klin. Wchnschr., 1872, No. 46. 



114 Zeissl. Ztsclir. d. K. K. Gesell. d. Aertze in Wien., 1858. 





