Müller's serodiagnostic methods

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Preface To The Second Edition

This collection of the more important methods of serum diagnosis, originally made for the use of my students, may perhaps be welcome to many who dislike the labor of collecting the data scattered through the literature. In accordance with the purely practical purpose which suggested the work, theoretical considerations have been entirely omitted. The chief emphasis has, on the contrary, been laid on making the description of the various methods as exact as possible, and especially on giving a complete and detailed list of the reagents and apparatus required for each test. With a definite purpose in view, certain methods have been included, the permanent worth of which has not yet been demonstrated ; for it is precisely these methods which deserve an especially thorough testing out, under the most varied conditions. Additions to the second edition are: a chapter on the preservation of sera ; the determination of meat adulteration according to the method of Uhlenhuth, Weidanz, and Wedemann; and the floccule forming reactions, especially floccule forming tests for syphilis with lecithin, and with sodium glycocholate, and Klausner's reaction; Moro's alexin test; and finally, of the various vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

modifications of the Wassermann reaction, I have given those of Tage, Hahne, Bauer, and Tschernobugon;.

Absolute mastery of sero-diagnostic methods can, of course, only be acquired by practice and experience. I shall rejoice if this booklet serves to lighten the labor of the beginner in this field.

Paul Th. Muller.

Preface To The Third Edition

The third edition of this booklet, coming as it does, so soon after its predecessor, can of course, differ but slightly from the latter. The following methods have been added : the improved and simplified test for syphilis of Stern, the Much- Holzmann "Psycho-reaction" ; and the estimation of the antitryptic power of the blood according to the method of Miiller and Jochmann (modified by Marcus), and according to the method of Bergmann and Meyer. The entirely proper wish of one of the book's critics, that the methods which have not justified themselves, might be mercilessly eliminated from future editions, cannot yet be complied with, since the experience needed to determine the value of such methods is still all too slight.

Paul Th. Muller.

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