Serum Sickness.

This excellent monograph is a translation by Dr. Bela Schick of "Die Serumkrankheit," the classic by von Pirquet and Schick published in 1905. The translation is an excellent one and is particularly valuable because of the unusual circumstance that the translator is one of the original authors. This monograph is striking testimony to the value of clear and careful clinical observation. Although there is some laboratory testing of precipitins, the major conclusions are based on the simple but painstaking analysis of cases of serum sickness observed after the introduction of diphtheria and scarlet fever antitoxins.

Von Pirquet and Schick's new thesis was that the serum sickness was due to the antigen-antibody reaction and could be modified if previous injections of serum had been given. This work is a cornerstone in the building of the edifice of allergy and is as timely today as it was in 1905. Many of the