330 TEAGUB. 



The hypothesis advanced to explain this action was as follows : The 

 leprosy bacilli contain the same fat as "nastin," or a similar one, and 

 it is to this fat that the bacilli owe their resistance to the protective 

 forces of the body. By spaced injections with nastin an active immunity 

 is produced against the resistant fatty substance of the bacilli, so that 

 these latter m-e destroyed. 



This hypothesis is not in accord with our ideas with regard to im- 

 munity; for with the exception of the glucosjdes of Ford of Johns 

 Hopkins Univei'sity, immunization has not been produced with a sub- 

 stance knoAvn to be of non-protein nature. It is, to say the least, highly 

 improbable that immunization could be effected against a chemically 

 pure fat. In his lecture ^ delivered at the London School of Tropical 

 Medicine, Professor Deyeke makes no further mention of this hypothesis 

 but advances another one to explain the destruction of the leprosy bacilli 

 by the Nastin treatment. He had found that benzoyl chloride dissolves 

 out the fatty substances from tubercle bacilli much more readily than 

 the ordinary fat solvents, such as ether and chloroform. On mixing 

 benzoyl chloride with his Nastin he obtained much more constant re- 

 actions than Avith the Nastin alone. The nastin now on the market 

 consists of such a mixture in the proportions which he found to yield 

 the best results. He believes — to use his own words — that — 



"The nastin is carried to the leprosy bacilli, to which, owing to its near 

 chemical and phj'sical relation, it attaches itself, and then benzoyl can fully 

 display its anti-bacterial action in the fat-removing sense. When deprived of 

 fat the leprosy bacilli seem to be doomed; the human organism then effects with 

 comparative ease the further dissolution and ultimately the complete destruction 

 of the bacterial nuclei." 



Although we did not agree with Professor Deycke's theoretical con- 

 siderations, nevertheless in view of the favorable results reported by him, 

 at Doctor Strong's suggestion I determined to give the method a trial. 

 Four patients were selected at San Lazaro Hospital. Two were well- 

 marked cases of the nodular type in young boys of ten years, both free 

 from ulcerations ; the other two were male patients of about twenty years 

 of age, one with very slight lesions in which only comparatively few 

 leprosy bacilli were found ; the other was a well-marked case having both 

 nodules and ulcers. 



The injections were begun on the 8th of September, 1908, and have been 

 continued up to the present time, being given at about seven-day in- 

 tervals except for two slight interruptions due to delay in receiving the 

 nastin from Europe. 



A general febrile reaction was observed only once and then in one of the 

 well-marked cases. About twenty-four hours after the fifth injection 



'Brit. Med. Journ. (1908), I, 802. 



