The study of the streptococci associated with various diseases, in which these organisms seem to play some part, has thus far led to no very definite conclusions concerning their importance in etiology. One reason for this is that the methods of study so far applied to the streptococcus are not specific enough to distinguish the various strains of the organism.
It is the object of this communication to present the results of a study of several streptococci by means of the complement-fixation, and the conglutination reaction, and incidentally, the agglutination reaction.
The extensive application of the Wassermann reaction for the diagnosis of syphilis has led to a general understanding of the principles of the fixation reaction. It is, therefore, rather surprising that it has not been used more extensively in the study of other infections.
Seven years ago Besredka1 applied the reaction to the study of horses which