REACTION IN DEMENTIA PRÆCOX TO THE INTRAVENOUS ADMINISTRATION OF NON-SPECIFIC PROTEIN

It seems, in the dementia præcox cases constituting this series, that no amelioration in psychiatric status was effected as a result of the intravenous administration of non-specific bacterial protein, and that the general constitutional reaction, in these cases, closely approximated that reported as characteristic of non-psychotic individuals, save, that in the former, there seems to have been, additionally, evidence of transient weight-loss, a preliminary leucocytosis period, a late leucopenic period, and a marked persistent reduction in the erythrocyte count with a tendency for increased fragility changes, all of which, upon further study, may be found to be typical of non-psychotic cases as well.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Dr. F. C. Potter, Pathologist, for assistance rendered in the blood and urine determinations, and to Dr. H. Ostrander, Med. Superintendent, for permission to study these cases.