TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND KAHN TESTS COMPARED WITH THE WASSERMANN

A laboratory test for syphilis requires much critical study. In spite of the fact that it is frequently emphasized that such a test should be employed only as a clue to syphilis, to be corroborated by clinical evidence or a history of infection, many physicians consider a positive laboratory reaction as diagnostic of this disease. Therefore, any laboratory method that is to be of permanent value to the clinician must be capable of giving reactions of the highest degree of dependability. In view of the numerous shortcomings of the Wassermann test, the question arose whether any of the precipitation tests possessed superior features. In 1920 an attempt was made in these laboratories to modify the Sachs-Georgi reaction so as to render its application more practical. 1 Soon after that Kahn published a description of his original precipitation method and gradually so perfected it as to make it apparently a reliable