The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-25
"H He, battles OF the European war.
amazing as they have been
and sim may be. will affect

Fought and won In the laboratory Of
ne bacterlologist.
Call 1t inspiration. or the product
Of patient plodding. the work Of Or.
Harry Plotz is no less potentially spec
tacular. About year ago this young
physician isolated the germ of typhus.
In doing that he Identified the enemy
that is ravagng Scrvia to-day, as II
has carried off hundreds of thousands
OF human beings in he past. The
battle Is not won by discovering the
foe, hut at least something Is gained,
for then the contender knows better
the force with which he must measure
strength. Having discovered the ty-
phus bacillus. then Dr. Piotz. as others
before him have done. set himself to
flnd the serum. or vaccine. which
would halt the hitherto triumphant
march OF the dread disease.
Apparently success has crowned his
efforts and stricken Servia Is In a
fair way 10 he saved because OF the
work of this young man OF % years
and the aid generously given him at
the pathological laboratory of Mount
Sinai Hospital here in this city.
Immunity against disease is one OF
the modern marvels. All OF us are
hosts for dreaded germs. and yet rela-
lively few of US are victims. This
fact would have puzzled even the
physicians a few years back but
for the amazing discoveries OF DR..
Almroth e. Wright, now Sir Alnroth
Wright.
Our physical body may be likened
TO q great municipality; II harbors
both the good and the bad. but 1t enc
pioys agents for the guarding OF the
good through the suppression or the
restraint Of the evilly disposed. The
great stream OF municipal life. like the
blood In our bodies. circulates through
all OF the arteries OF the city and
brings back through Its veins. the
channels OF regeneration, the tainted
food OF rehabilitation. In sense
each little group of human beings rep
resents more or less discordant inter-
ests. and the good ones battle with
the bad ones. Now drop of b.ood Is
singularly akin to this complex or
warning state of affairs among human
kind. and the dominance of the health
full determines our welfare. But weird
as IT may sound the beneficent element
is too elusive for the scrutinizing eye
of the microscope, and yet Sir Aim
roth proved its existence,
When we went to school We learned
something about the makeup or the
blood. We were told in glib sort OF
way how there were red corpuscles
and white corpusclcs and a certain
pale LIQUID which was called serum. In
broad terms, we were led to suppose
that the red corpuscles nourished the
body substance and that the white
corpuscles did battle with disease or
germs. In short, Il seemed that the
white corpuscles alone did all OF the
policing and the fighting in the body's
behalf. This Is not exact or true.
In the serum. or the watery, color
less plasma of the blood. many other
substances OF wonderfully minute
character exist which exert potent in
fluences upon the life chemistry OF
our organizations. and among these
unseen but Identified elements are
what the bacteriologist or the man of
medicine is pleased to term 'opsonins.
The discovery Of these opsonins has
laid the broad foundation upon which
all immunity by miCrobe incubation
IL based.
Now the word opsonin Is from the
Latin "opsono," meaning, II prepare
the banquet" and we shall see pres
entity that the opsonins constitute a
sort Of sauce piquant by which the
white corpuscles, technically termed
leucocytes. are spurred on to do their
duty in gobbling up the baneful ba-
GILL. In other words, the microbes arc
made more tempting to the faded appe-
tites OF the white corpuscles
It would be Of interest to recount
how Wright and his associate, Doug
las, succeeded in proving the existence
Of the invisible opsonins, but that is
impossible here. They established.
however, that the leucocytes would not
do their duty, in fact would associate
on friendly terms with microbes, un-
less those microbes were made appe-
tizing by the chemical action OF the
opsonins.
In brief. It represents bodily coun-
terpart OF making olives palatable by
soaking them in brine. The white cor
puscles would not do their duty with
out the opsonic stimulant and to show
that this was SO OF white corpuscles
from either man or beast, those from
a dog were tried and were found To be
equally voracous when the germs in
the human blood were affected by the
opsonins in mans serum. This Incl
dentally showed how experiments with
animals were Of value in the SUISSE
Quent treatment OF intelligent beings.
But how do opsonins play a part in
guarding us from disease or in curing
us when We are So afflicted? Without
celebrating upon DR. Wright's invcsti-
gational work he proved that in
man physically At, as against spe-
cific miCrobe, there was a sufficient
to make each leucocyte absorb or
devour a given number of the threat
en!ng germs. BY counting these under
the microscope he established what he
termed the "opsonic index" and any
falling from this standard showed
Just how far a mans blood was lacking
in it's powers of resistance. This dis
covery was truly wonderful fer upon
1t rests the great advance which has
been made in THE cure Of disease and
the prevention by means of inOcula-
ton. When the blood Ia found lack
Ing or deficient in opsonins then the
object is to build the system up so that
this invisible chemical shall be present
in sufficient force 10 provide the need
sul immunity.