1909.] Absorption" of Specific Agglutinins hy Bacteria, etc. 173 



24-hour reading is in nearly all cases the one to which the greatest attention 

 should be paid, because such irregularities as are found in the two-hour 

 reading in the same serum in the same dilution (being caused by some slight 

 difference in the physical condition under which the clumping of the bacteria 

 takes place, time reaction, etc.) will generally totally vanish in the 24-hour 

 reading. This absence of irregularities is of the utmost importance where 

 great accuracy is essential, as, for instance, in absorption experiments. The 

 following figures (Table II) clearly illustrate the advantage of the 20- to 

 24-hour reading. 



Table II. — -Figures (reduced to terms of a 100 in all cases for ease of 

 comparison) showing the advantage of examining the tubes 20 to 

 24 hours after, instead of immediately after they had been taken from 

 the water bath. The series recorded in each different experiment were 

 made up in an exactly similar manner. 



Experiment. 



Date. 



Series. 



After 2 houi 

 Coarse reading. 



•s at 37° C. 

 Pine reading. 



After a further 

 20 to 24 hours 



at room 

 temperature. 



A 



30.4.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



130 



112 



100 



B 



4.5.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



121 



132 



97 



C 



7.5.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



116 



102 



100 



D 



18.5.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



111 



109 



103-5 







3 



111 



109 



103-5 



E 



2.6.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



108 



100 



100 







3 



108 



104 



100 -6 



F 



12.6.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



108 



108 



101 







3 



122 



112 



101 



a 



23.8.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



100 



106 



103 -5 







3 



112 



111 



100 



H 



1.10.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



120 



131 



102 







3 



137 



129 



102 







4 



122 



120 



100 



K 



21.10.07 



1 



100 



100 



100 







2 



128 



113 



99 







3 



112 



106 



101 



