The discovery by von Pirquet of the cutaneous reaction, by Calmette and Wolff-Eisner of the ophthalmic, and by Moro of the percutaneous, have been hailed with joy and satisfaction. In reporting on them, men of wide experience and learning have been careful to observe that the usefulness of the tests is not fully established, but almost every one has expressed great satisfaction that they give no alarming general symptoms and that they are perfectly harmless.
Together with others, I have been enthusiastic over them and applied them in several cases, before resorting to the old method of injecting T. O., and I had the opportunity to observe two specific reactions after the application of the von Pirquet test. In both cases there was also the specific reaction in the foci of the disease. I, therefore, call them "focal reactions." Following is the history of the two cases: