This volume incorporates a concise exposition of the theory and principles of bacterial vaccination and of Wright's method of estimating the opsonic value of serums. Chapters are devoted to the "Determination of the Opsonic Index," "Preparation of the Vaccine," "The Opsonic Index in Health and Disease; Its Value in Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment," followed by a series of chapters on certain of the infectious diseases.
The whole work suffers greatly in authority from the consideration which Dr. Allen gives to the Bacillus paralyticans as the cause of general paralysis of the insane, and to the Micrococcus neoformans as a cause of malignant tumors. In regard to the latter the humor of the situation is shown by the following paragraph (p. 209): "Successful treatment by means of a vaccine was recorded by Wright in a case of cancer of the larynx. Death, however, ensued in about six months, and was found