214 



NATURE 



[August 19, 1Q09 



STUDIES O.V IMMLMiy. 

 Studies on Immunity. By Prof. Robert Muir, in 

 collaboration with Drs. Carl H. Browning, Alex- 

 ander R. Ferguson, and William B. M. Martin. 

 Pp. xi+2i6. (London : Henry Frowde, and Hodder 

 and Stoughton, 1909.) Price 75. 6d. net. 



THIS book contains a record of original work on 

 the theory of immunity carried out during the 

 past six years by Prof. Muir, of Glasgow University, 

 in collaboration with his colleagues. Dr. Browning, 

 Dr. Ferguson, and Dr. Martin. Eleven original 

 papers, all of which have already appeared in various 

 scientific journals, are incorporated in the present 

 volume, but, by judicious alterations and additions, 

 the author has endeavoured to knit the subject-matter 

 of these papers into one continuous whole, so that 

 the volume serves as a connected account of the par- 

 ticular immunity processes (hemolysis and opsonic 

 action) with which the author deals. 



A work which treats in strictly scientific fashion of 

 questions so difificult and complicated as those of 

 haemolysis and opsonic action must of necessity appeal 

 only to the expert, and it is unfortunate that Prof. 

 Muir has not seen fit to bring the subject up to date 

 by the inclusion of references to papers which have 

 appeared since the publication of the authors' original 

 researches. Had he done so, the book would have 

 appealed far more forcibly to the present-day worker, 

 who, one may presume, has been for some time 

 familiar with these highly important researches of 

 Prof. Muir and his collaborators. 



The volume opens with an interesting chapter on 

 the properties of hremolytic sera generally, and the 

 technique usually employed in the investigation of 

 hasmolytic phenomena. There follow chapters on the 

 mode of union of the immune body with the red cor- 

 puscle, and the relation of this union to complement 

 action. With regard to this latter question. Prof. 

 Muir finds himself in agreement with Bordet, whose 

 view is that there is no direct union of immune 

 body with complement, as Ehrlich supposed, but that 

 the complement unites with the cell receptor, which 

 has, so to speak, been sensitised by the immune 

 body. " A complementophile group in the ambo- 

 ceptor is not proved, and the use of the term ' ambo- 

 ceptor ' does not appear to be justified." Certain 

 interesting filtration experiments performed by Prof. 

 Muir and his colleagues showed very convincingly 

 that at 37° C. a direct union of immune body with 

 complement was highly improbable. The question of 

 complementoids is discussed in great detail, and the 

 author believes that Ehrlich "s views with regard to 

 these bodies have been completely confirmed. 



Some interesting researches are described showing 

 that complement may act as an agglutinin. Thus, if 

 a certain amount of immune body (obtained by im- 

 munising an animal with the red cells of the ox) be 

 added to ox corpuscles in the presence of ox com- 

 plement, scarcely any lysis occurs, but marked agglu- 

 tination of the red cells takes place. If guinea-pig's 

 complement is employed, lysis, of course, occurs, and 

 if the ox serum be now added, the stromata floccu- 

 late as before. Like complement, this agglutinating 

 body in ox serum is therniolabile, and acts only in 

 XO. 2077, VOL. 81] 



cooperation with immune body. \A'hether this agglutin- 

 ating complement and the ordinary lytic complement 

 are one and the same, further research must determine. 



Anti-immune bodies and anti-complements are 

 treated at great length, and a considerable amount 

 of space is devoted to the question of the deviation- 

 of complement, a process which forms the basis of 

 numerous diagnostic methods of great practical im- 

 portance. The delicacy of this reaction is compared' 

 with that of the precipitin method as a test for the 

 presence of protein of human origin. 



The concluding chapters of the book deal with the 

 authors' experiments on the opsonic action of normal 

 and immune sera. In view of their finding that the 

 opsonic action of a normal serum could be almost 

 entirely removed bv saturating it with sensitised red' 

 cells or other combinations which absorb complement, 

 they came to the conclusion that the opsonins of 

 normal serum belong to the group of complements. 

 This view, which attributes to complement an entirely 

 novel propertv of acting alone, and takes no account 

 of the presence of normal amboceptors, has not met 

 with general acceptance, and a considerable amount 

 of evidence has accumulated in the last two years,, 

 showing that in normal serum, as well as in immune 

 serum, amboceptors cooperate with complement to 

 produce an opsonic effect. One cannot 3'et say, how- 

 ever, that the question whether the opsonic action of 

 normal sera is strictly analogous to that of immune 

 sera is definitely settled, and in the last chapter of 

 the book Prof. Muir brings forward evidence that \n 

 some cases normal bactericidal action may differ from- 

 that which takes place through the medium of an 

 artificial immune body. Normal bactericidal action- 

 may, in fact, follow from the direct union of comple- 

 ment with the bacterium, and not necessarily from 

 an indirect union through the medium of a natural! 

 amboceptor. All workers interested in these questions 

 will find Prof. Muir's book worthy of careful perusal. 



THE SCIEXCE OF EDUCATIOX. 

 Psychologic dc I'Enjant ct Pedagogic expirimentalc. 

 By Dr. Ed. Claparede. Second edition. Pp. \\n+ 

 283. (Geneva : Librairie Kundig, 1909.) Price 

 3.50 francs. 



THE second appearance of Dr. Claparede's book in- 

 a greatly enlarged form is an excellent indica- 

 tion of the interest which has been aroused by the 

 effort of recent years to give a scientific basis to the 

 practice of education. If further evidence were 

 wanted, it will be found in the opening chapter, which 

 gives a brief account of the development of the 'move- 

 ment and of the literature of the subject. Child-study 

 societies and child-study journals have an almost 

 world-wide currency — from Japan in the Far East tor 

 California in the Far West. No doubt there is more 

 zeal than science in much of the published" work, but 

 the critic is already at work, and we may hope that 

 science will follow in his wake. 



Dr. Claparede is a psychologist, and the interest of 

 the book is mainly psychological. As a justification 

 for the subtitle he makes certain pedagogic deduc- 

 tions, not, however, as tentative hypotheses upon, 

 which experimental inquiry may be founded, but rather 



