SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1044 



diate practical results of this work are seen most 

 clearly perhaps in the standardization of diph- 

 theria antitoxin, as Ehrlich's method is used 

 exclusively everywhere, but the influence of 

 the work may be said to dominate in large 

 measure every department of investigation of 

 immunity and every branch of the practical 

 application of the knowledge and principles 

 derived therefrom. 



The third section (three articles) considers 

 Ehrlich's work on cancer, which forms a sort 

 of interlude between the period of intensely 

 active investigation of problems in immunity 

 and the latest phase of his remarkable activ- 

 ity, namely the development of experimental 

 chemotherapy. The principal outcome of the 

 work of cancer is pointed out to be the demon- 

 stration that the cancer cell increases in power 

 of growth on passage from animal to animal, 

 and the formulation of the view that resistance 

 to the growth of cancer cells, often observed 

 in experimental inoculation, depends on the 

 lack of available food-particles for the cancer 

 cells (atreptic immunity). 



The two remaining sections of eleven articles 

 deal with Ehrlich's contributions to chemis- 

 try and his chemotherapy of syphilis and cer- 

 tain other spirochetal infections. The devel- 

 opment through a long series of systematic 

 biochemical experiments, based on original 

 conceptions of the affinities of cellular consti- 

 tuents, of a successful chemotherapy of impor- 

 tant human infections, by direct attack on 

 the parasites by substances specially built up 

 for that purpose and introduced from without, 

 is emphasized, and properly so, as the logical 

 culmination of a unique investigative activ- 

 ity of the highest order. Even now Ehrlich's 

 results fully justify Huxley's prediction in 

 1881 that through discoveries in therapeutics 

 it would become possible " to introduce into 

 the economy a molecular mechanism which 

 like a cunningly contrived torpedo shall find 

 its way to some particular group of living ele- 

 ments and cause an explosion among them, 

 leaving the rest untouched." 



Most of the articles are written by men who 

 have worked under Ehrlich, and every now 



and then we catch interesting glimpses of his 

 picturesque and genial personality as well as 

 hints to his methods of work. Naturally the 

 many articles are not of the same merit and 

 interest, but altogether they give us a very 

 good and comprehensive idea of the tremen- 

 dous achievements of Paul Ehrlich. 



LuDviG Hektoen 



Infection and Besistance. By Dr. Hans 

 Zinsser, Professor of Bacteriology at the 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons, Colum- 

 bia University, New York. The Macmillan 

 Company, 1914. 



The purpose of Dr. Zinsser's book of 546 

 pages is to render easily accessible the knowl- 

 edge that has accumulated especially from 

 laboratory work in regard to the intimate 

 mechanisms of infection and immunity. There 

 are twenty-one chapters: infection and the 

 problem of virulence ; bacterial poisons ; immu- 

 nity in general, natural and artificial; the me- 

 chanism of natural immunity, and the phe- 

 nomena following on active immunization; 

 toxin and antitoxin; bactericidal properties of 

 serum and cytolysis; complement fixation (two 

 chapters) ; agglutination ; precipitation ; phago- 

 cytosis (five chapters) ; anaphylaxis (five 

 cha;f)ters) ; therapeutic immunization in man ; 

 protective ferments; colloids. The last chap- 

 ter, on colloids, which is very useful in view 

 of the many allusions in the other chapters 

 to the analogies between colloidal reactions and 

 the reactions between the substances concerned 

 in the phenomena of immunity, is written by 

 Professor Stewart W. Young. As each chap- 

 ter so far as possible has been prepared as a 

 separate unit, more or less repetition could 

 not be avoided, but as compensation there is 

 increased clearness in the presentation of each 

 subject. We are told in the preface that the 

 book is intended primarily for the under- 

 graduate medical student, and the author re- 

 plies to anticipated criticism of his treatment 

 as being too difficult and too technical for the 

 student by saying that his experience in teach- 

 ing does not indicate such to be the case. 

 Herein the reviewer is inclined to agree with 



