IDENTITY OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH SPOROTRICHOSIS 125 
used. He concluded that these organisms are identical so ‘far 
as this test is concerned. 
Bloch** in 1909 was the first to obtain a positive skin re- 
action in a case of sporotrichosis though some work had been 
done along this line by de Beurmann and Gougerot in 1906 
without definite results. Bloch used a ‘‘sporotrichosine’’ ex- 
tracted from a broth culture. The reaction was very definite. 
French workers, especially de Beurmann, and Gougerot and 
Chopin, about the same time took up this work, using in- 
tracutaneous injections of extracts of the killed organisms in 
salt solution and obtained positive results. The reaction, 
however, was shown by them not to be absolutely specific. 
Other mycoses (actinomycosis, oosporosis, saccharomycosis, ex- 
ascosis, at times tuberculosis) responded so that the method 
was useful according to them only for the differentiation of a 
rather large group. From their data, one would conclude 
that this method could have no value for differentiating 
closely related organisms belonging to the genus sporotricha. 
Recently Moore and the writer tested a human case of 
typical sporotrichosis with a sporotrichosine consisting of 
killed sporothrix in salt solution. The patient was tested both 
when receiving and not receiving potassium iodide. A very 
distinct skin reaction was obtained with the sporotrichosine 
made from the original Sporotrichum schencku and also from 
a strain of Sporotrichum beurmanni obtained from Gougerot. 
No differences were noted in these reactions which were very 
definite and measured 5 to 7 centimeters across. Controls 
with ‘“‘blastomycine’’ made in exactly the same way from 
a blastomycecte isolated from a typical case of blastomycosis 
did not give a positive reaction in this patient. Sporotricho- 
sine injected into the skin of the patient with blastomycosis 
gave no reaction; nor did he react to his own blastomycine. 
Agar alone in 1% per cent suspension injected into persons 
when taking potassium iodide (t. i. d. 10 grains) gave a 
definite reaction but was not nearly as pronounced as that 
given by the ‘‘sporotrichosine’’. Normal persons receiving 
potassium iodide (t. i. d. 10 grains) reacted no stronger to 
 Beihefte zur Med. Klinik, Basel, 8, p. 179, 1909. 
