396 APPLICATION OF METHODS OF BACTERIOLOGY 



factors necessary to complement the action of the serum. 

 His studies furthermore indicate that an essential for a 

 curative serum for pneumonia may, after all, be analogous 

 to that of curative sera for streptococcus infections — that 

 is to say, the animal supplying the serum should have been 

 immunized with a strain of pneumococcus closely related 

 to that with which the patient to be treated is infected. 

 His investigations lead him to several important conclu- 

 sions, among which may be mentioned: Since pneumococci 

 may be divided into several distinct groups, it is necessary 

 to use for curative purposes a serum from an animal immu- 

 nized from a strain of pneumococci belonging to the same 

 group as that with which the patient is infected. In order 

 to be effective antipneumococcus serum must be adminis- 

 tered early and in large doses. With these facts in mind the 

 treatment of human beings suffering from pneumonia with 

 homologous, immune serum has resulted in very low mor- 

 tality. In cases so treated the bacteria in the blood are 

 destroyed and specific immune substances appear in the 

 blood very promptly after the injection of the serum. A 

 part of the action of the immune serum seems to be anti- 

 toxic. V 



INFECTION WITH SARCINA TETRAGENA (GAFFKY), 

 MIGULA, 1900. 



Synonym: Micrococcus tetragenus, Gaffky, 1883. 



Should the death of the animal not occur within the first 

 twenty-eight to thirty hours after inoculation, but be post- 

 poned until between the fourth and eighth day, it may 



1 Cole, Jour. Am. Med. Assoc, 1912, lix, 693 and 1913, xli, 663. 



