C.: Ultrahigh frequency pyretotherapy of neurosyphilis: a preliminary report

IT IS NOW generally agreed that fever is essentially a protective and de-fensive mechanism. It is known that the fever which accompanies infection exerts an adverse influence upon the growth of bacteria, diminishes the potency of toxins, favors phagocytosis, and stimulates the development of immune bodies.1 The gradual abandonment of antipyretic drugs has nat-urally followed the recognition of these facts. More effective physical agents are now utilized to combat extreme hyperpyrexia. The monumental researches of Wagner-Jauregg introduced artificially-induced fever as an important addition to the therapeutic armamentarium against many chronic afebrile diseases. The remarkable results which have been achieved with pyretotherapy in cases of general paresis, tabes dorsalis, diffuse central nervous system syphilis, and asymptomatic neuro-syphilis leave no doubt as to the urgent need for the wider application of this form of treatment, particularly to the early stages of the disease with a view to preventing the late serious consequences. The purpose of the presen