REACTIONS OF RABBITS TO INTRACUTANEOUS INJECTIONS OF PNEUMOCOCCI AND THEIR PRODUCTS : III. REACTIONS AT THE SITE OF INJECTION

1. Following repeated intracutaneous injections of heat-killed pneumococci rabbits acquire an increased skin reactivity. 2. The increased skin reactivity reaches a maximum after 4 to 6 injections have been made, after which it becomes greatly diminished. 3. The relationship of increased skin reactivity to active resistance to infection by Pneumococcus, and to the presence of species-specific antibodies in the blood, is still obscure. 4. The increased skin reactivity is not transferable by serum from a highly reactive to a normal rabbit. 5. After regression of the reaction to the first injection of Pneumococcus into the skin, there frequently follows a recrudescence, or exacerbation, of the reaction. 6. The increased skin reactivity and secondary reactions are incited alike by all types and all forms of Pneumococcus.