THE WASSERMANN REACTION IN ITS RELATION TO DISEASES OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Neurologists will appreciate the importance of a method which will enable them to state positively whether or not a suspicion of syphilis is justified, or whether every thought of syphilitic disease may be eliminated from the consideration of a given case. Just such service as this the complement-fixation test of Wassermann has promised to render. It seemed well worth while to become thoroughly conversant with the method, the details of which will be described by others, and during a period of very nearly one year to submit to this test as many patients as possible suffering from nervous disease, so as to determine whether or not it would be of service in the diagnosis and treatment of nervous and mental disorders. Shortly after the publication of the investigations of Wassermann, Plaut, Bruck, Neisser, Georg Meier, Porges, Taylor, Citron and others, the inference was drawn that the Wassermann reaction would