There has been an increasingly widespread use of the various precipitation tests for the diagnosis of syphilis, because these tests are simple in technic and are as accurate as the complement-fixation reactions. Of the various precipitation tests, the microscopic slide test developed by Kline1 has been found by many to be very accurate and simple in technic. Littman2 reviewed 147,250 Kline tests performed in 16 clinics in various parts of the country and found them consistent with the clinical findings in from 96.52 to 99.18 per cent of the cases. He found the Kline test to be more sensitive than the Kahn, Wassermann or Hinton tests in various stages and types of syphilis.
For years the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has hoped for the development of a method for the detection of syphilis in which the blood could be obtained in small amounts from a simple puncture of