Antigenic Properties of Bacillus Typhosus. 141 



certain data to employ a polyvalent typhoid vaccine for im- 

 munizing and therapeutic purposes compounded in accordance 

 with these groups as tentatively suggested and which may be 

 confirmed or extended in the future. 



78 (1142) 



Note on " Salt fever." 



By Theo. C. Burnett and Geo. H. Martin, Jr. 



[From the Rudolph Spreckels Physiological Laboratory of the Uni- 

 versity of California.] 



About six years ago one of us 1 published a short account of the 

 rise of temperature which follows the injection of sodium chloride 

 into rabbits, either intravenously or subcutaneously. This fact 

 seems to have been completely overlooked by subsequent inves- 

 tigators, of whom there are many (Bingel, Freund, Samelson, Hort 

 and Penfold, Mcintosh, Fildes and Dearborn, and others). 

 Samelson 2 claims that the rise of temperature is due to bacterial 

 toxins contained in the distilled water, and not to the sodium 

 chloride. The observations were made on nursing children. 

 Freund, 3 on the other hand, maintains that the sodium chloride 

 is the cause of the rise of temperature, at the same time admitting 

 the fact that contaminated water may also cause fever. 



As we wished to make use of this fact in another connection, 

 it became necessary for us to be sure that the rise of temperature 

 was due to the injection of the salt, and to that end we have re- 

 peated the earlier work. Sterile sodium chloride was put in a 

 flask that had been throughly sterilized, and the water, redistilled 

 in glass, was received directly into the flask from the condenser. 

 The mouth of the flask was closed with sterile cotton, and the 

 solution (ra/6 concentration) was used as soon as it had cooled down 

 to the proper temperature. There can be no doubt, therefore, of 

 the purity of the solution as far as bacterial contamination is 

 concerned. Antiseptic precautions were observed in making the 

 injections. 



1 Burnett, Univ. Calif. Publ., Vol. 4, 1910, p. 5. 



2 Samelson, Monatsch. f. Kinderheilk, Vol. 11, p. 3. 



3 Freund, Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Pharm., Vol. 74, 1913, p. 311. 



