Wassermann substance

The Wassermann substance17 is prepared by extracting various animal organs, particularly beef heart, with alcohol, and its lipidal nature was early recognized. Pangborn174 described the preparation of a new phospholipid termed cardiolipin from beef heart and claimed that it was the essential constituent of the Wassermann substance. On hydrolysis it gave a fatty acid and a phosphorylated polysaccharide. In a later communication17 however, the carbohydrate constituent is stated... 

It should be noted, fast of all, that in all these fixation procedures, we can substitute, for bacterial bodies the extracts of these substances or toxins, as antigen. Thus tuberculin permits the examination of the antibodies contained in the serum of tuberculous subjects. Likewise for syphilis, the extracts of syphilitic organs can be used as antigens, and in the presence of the antibodies contained in the serum of infected individuals, will produce the fixation. Since the publication of the work of Wassermann, there have been numerous modifications introduced... 

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