discussion following Dr. Bagshawe’s paper on ‘ Recent Advances 
in our Knowledge of Sleeping Sickness,’ Breinl remarked that with 
regard to its (auto-agglutination) mechanism he had not, up to the 
present, been able to arrive at any definite conclusions. All his 
attempts to isolate a haemagglutinin had failed, and he had not 
been able to demonstrate either an iso- or an auto-agglutinin. Dr. 
Xierensteint had shown that in trypanosomiasis a definite increase 
of the acidity of the blood occurred. This was most probably due 
to an increase of the amino-acids in the blood, and Breinl and 
Xierenstcin inclined to the view that auto-agglutination was caused 
by this excess of amino-acids. Unfortunately, they had not so far 
been able to find a definite proof of the correctness of this 
conception. 
The results obtained by these investigators are thus somewhat 
conflicting, for whereas Kanthack, Durham, and Blandford found 
an iso-agglutinin in the serum of certain animals infected with 
T. brucei, Breinl was unable to demonstrate the existence of either 
an auto- or an iso-agglutinin. 
EXAMINATION OF SERUM OF INFECTED ANIMALS 
FOR AUTO-AGGLUTININ 
Having under observation a number of animals, the blood of 
which when examined in cover-slip preparations exhibited the 
phenomenon of auto-agglutination to a greater or less degree, it was 
decided to perform experiments with a view to investigating the 
mechanism of its production. 
Technique .—The blood was collected in a solution containing 
i per cent, sodium citrate and o'Q per cent, sodium chloride in 
distilled water. The blood was then centrifugalised and the 
corpuscles washed three times in normal saline solution. A 5 per 
cent, suspension of the washed red cells was then made in normal 
saline. Another sample of the same blood was collected and 
allowed to clot and the serum subsequently freed from the clot by 
centrifugal isation. • 
* Trans. Soc. Trop. Med. and Hygiene, 1909, p. 29. . 
t' Observations on the Acidity and Alkalinity of the Blood in Trypanosome Infectmns. Annals 
of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, iqoS. p. 227 
