Letter from Michael Heidelberger to Simon Flexner, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

Letter from Michael Heidelberger to Simon Flexner, Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

Contributor(s):
Heidelberger, Michael
Flexner, Simon
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
Publication:
Produced: 21 April 1932
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Precipitin Tests
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Letters (correspondence)
Abstract:
In this letter to his former boss, Heidelberger critically reviewed experimental evidence on the use of antiserum to type III pneumococcus presented by Hugh K. Ward, an immunologist at Harvard University Medical School, in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 55 (1932). Ward had argued that type III antipneumococcus serum, after absorption with the specific carbohydrate of the pneumococcal capsule, no longer formed a precipitate with the carbohydrate, but nonetheless retained a definite, though diminished bactericidal effect on virulent pneumococci in a bactericidal test. He asserted that this carbohydrate neutralization test was a much more delicate method for detecting the anticarbohydrate antibody (precipitin) than the precipitin test, the type of test Heidelberger and Kendall had used in their quantitative studies of antibody-antigen reactions. Heidelberger charged that Ward's conclusions resulted from methodological and mathematical errors.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
Extent:
2 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584940X93 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
DHBBGM
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X93
Archival Collection:
The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)