Abstract

IN NATURE of December 7, p. 748, there is a brief note on the report of the international inquiry into the assay of gas-gangrene antitoxin (perfringens)1. In this report, Prigge's2 notation is used, in which the lethal factor is described as zeta toxin and the more hæmolytic factor as alpha toxin. The use of this notation is unfortunate and likely to lead to considerable confusion. The lethal factor called zeta toxin by Prigge is identical with that which Glenny and his co-workers3 named alpha toxin in 1933, so that this usage had priority over that of Prigge by three years. During the interval, and since, a large literature has accumulated in which Glenny's nomenclature is used. It is therefore desirable to adhere to the English notation.

References

1. Ipsen, J., Llewellyn Smith, M., and Sordelli, A., League of Nations, Bulletin of the Health Organisation, 8, 797 (1939).
2. Prigge, R., Z. Immunforsch., 89. 477 (1936).
3. Glenny, A. T., Barr, M., Llewellyn Jones, M., Dalling, T., and Ross, H. E., J. Path, and Bact., 37, 53 (1933).