The Wassermann Test. 



73 



lying free or within phagocyte cells, and it seems probable that 

 it is excreted chiefly, if not entirely, in these cells. Bleeding from 

 the surface of the ulcers is not responsible for the presence of the 

 dye in the stomach contents. The dye is first present in demon- 

 strable amounts from forty-five minutes to one hour after injection, 

 and may be found as long as three hours or more thereafter. The 

 optimum time for withdrawal of the contents is probably about 

 one and one half hours. The diagnostic value of the method in 

 ulcerated conditions of the gastric mucosa is a subject which is 

 being further studied, and which will require a very considerable 

 series of examinations to determine finally. From the limited 

 number of cases yet examined, it is impossible to draw any con- 

 clusions further than that in the pathological conditions above 

 mentioned the dye is frequently present in considerable amount in 

 the contents. It is possible that other conditions, such as chronic 

 gastritis or congestion, may permit of the excretion of the dye in a 

 similar manner and in comparable amounts, but we have not as 

 yet found this to be the case. As regards the excretion of the 

 dye in the duodenum, we are not in a position to make any report. 

 The fact that the dye is normally excreted in the bile in solution 

 presents certain difficulties in the study of this problem. 



46 (1224) 



A comparative test of different antigens and of different temper- 

 atures of incubation in the Wassermann test. 



By J. Wheeler Smith, Jr., and W. J. MacNeal. 



[From the Laboratories of the New York Post-Graduate Medical 

 School and Hospital.] 



Tests were performed by six different methods upon 500 

 identical specimens from 457 patients. Three antigens were 

 employed, cholesterinized alcoholic extract of beef heart, simple 

 alcoholic extract of beef heart and the acetone-insoluble lipoid 

 fraction of alcoholic extract of beef heart, prepared according to 

 the method of Noguchi. Each of these antigens was used at two 

 different incubation temperatures for fixation of the complement, 



