The Energy Metabolism of Parturient Women. 17 



0.1 cubic centimeter of guinea-pig's serum was added. To a 

 second tube similarly prepared, besides complement, " syphilitic 

 antigen " was added at the same time. In a third tube, 0.02 cubic 

 centimeter of syphilitic serum, o. 1 cubic centimeter of complement 

 and " syphilitic antigen " were put together. A fourth tube simi- 

 lar to the third but without " antigen " was also prepared as 

 control. These were incubated for one hour at 37 0 C. and then 

 one cubic centimeter of a one per cent, suspension of washed 

 human corpuscles and two units of anti-human amboceptor (rabbit) 

 were put into each tube. After further incubation hemolysis was 

 observed in all but the third tube. A further analysis revealed 

 that the precipitate formed by syphilitic sera and anti-syphilitic 

 serum fixes the same amount of complement as that by a normal 

 precipitate, but the complement-binding property of the syphilitic 

 serum in the presence of " syphilitic antigen " disappears after pre- 

 cipitin reaction takes place. This phenomenon was found to be 

 non-specific, as the antiserum for normal or leprous serum also 

 caused a similar phenomenon. A positive reacting leprous serum 

 could be made negative by any of the antisera in the same manner. 

 No differentiation could, therefore, be made by the use of specific 

 antisera between syphilitic and leprous sera both giving positive 

 Wassermann reactions. 



There is a close relation between the precipitin reaction and the 

 disappearance of the Wassermann reaction in syphilitic and leprous 

 sera. A precipitin-containing serum for human serum should not 

 be employed as amboceptor in doing the Wassermann reaction by 

 my system. To insure against this danger, the amboceptor should 

 be produced by injecting rabbits with thoroughly washed human 

 corpuscles. 



12 (422) 



The energy metabolism of parturient women. 



By THORNE M. CARPENTER and JOHN R. MURLIN. 



[From the Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, Boston, Mass.~\ 

 Experiments designed to compare the energy metabolism of 

 mother and child just previous to and immediately following par- 

 turition were carried out with the bed calorimeter. Three subjects 



