The principles and technique of the Wassermann Reaction and its modifications / Howard Fox.

  • Fox, Howard, 1873-1947.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The principles and technique of the Wassermann Reaction and its modifications / Howard Fox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    that a union actually can occur between the three components of a bacteriolytic system. This reaction depends upon the so-called principle of the fixation (anchoring or binding) of the complement, and is carried out as follows: The three components of a bacteriolytic system, such as typhoid bacilli -f- ty- phoid antibodies (serum of patient to be tested) T complement, are placed in a test tube and incubated at 370 centigrade for a half hour to allow them to unite. To the same tube are then added two of the elements of a hemolytic system, namely, hemolytic amboceptor and sheep’s corpuscles, and the mixture again placed in the incubator. If now there has been an actual union of the first three substances, that is, if the complement has been fixed or used up bv uniting with the other two substances, there will be no complement left to unite with the other two parts of the hemolytic system, and consequently no hemolysis will occur. If, on the other hand, no union of the first three substances had occurred, complement will be available to unite with the other two parts of the hemolytic system, and consequently hemolysis will take place. In other words, the ab- sence of hemolysis denotes a positive reaction, i. e. the antibodies for which we were testing are present. In the case in question, the patient was suffering from typhoid fever. The occurrence of hemolysis, on the other hand, signifies a negative reaction, i. e. the antibodies were not present. In that case the patient was not suffering from typhoid fever. The principle of the fixation of complement can be illustrated by a swinging pendulum, as shown in Fig. i. The pendulum representing the complement swings to one side and completes the bacteriolytic system, or to the other side and completes the hemo-