Kahn Standard Antigen - For Use in the Precipitation Test for Syphilis - 10cc., Bio. 104
date: label: date made
content: ca 1938
name: label: maker
content: Parke, Davis and Company
notes: label: Description
content: Glass vial with paper label that reads in part “KAHN STANDARD / ANTIGEN / FOR USE IN THE PRECIPITATION / TEST FOR SYPHILIS” and “PARKE, DAVIS & CO., Detroit, Mich., U.S.A.” Parke, Davis was selling the Kahn antigen by 1926. It donated this example to the Smithsonian in 1938.
label: Description
content: Reuben Leon Kahn (1887-1979) was born in Lithuania, came to the U.S. as a child, earned a bacteriology Ph.D. from New York University, and joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. Moving to the Midwest at the end of World War I, Dr. Kahn worked as an immunologist at the Michigan State Department of Health. There, in 1923, Dr. Kahn developed a precipitation test for syphilis that yielded quicker and better results than the Wasserman. Dr. Kahn later found that this test could indicate the presence of the agents of tuberculosis, malaria or leprosy. Dr. Kahn was appointed director of laboratories of the University Hospitals at the University of Michigan in 1928; he also became professor of bacteriology and, later, professor of serology. In 1933 he won the annual $1,000 prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his discovery that blood is not the only means of developing immunity; rather, the whole body plays a role. In 1956, he became involved in research on irradiation and tissue localization. He was also actively concerned with civil rights.
label: Description
content: Ref: “R. L. Kahn Wins Prize for Paper on Immunizing,” Chicago Tribune (Jan. 1, 1934), p. 34.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Michigan, Detroit
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: The Antibody Initiative
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Antibody Initiative: Diagnostics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Parke, Davis & Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-04680
label: catalog number
content: M-04680
label: accession number
content: 147292
objectType: label: Object Name
content: biological
label: Object Name
content: diagnostic, syphilis
label: Other Terms
content: Kahn Standard Antigen for Syphilis; Diagnostic Medicine; Biologicals; Drugs
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall, vial: 3 1/2 in x 1 5/8 in; 8.89 cm x 4.1275 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, vial: 2 1/2 in x 7/8 in; 6.35 cm x 2.2225 cm