Nonspecific defense mechanisms, the curative ability of certain fevers, and the general ability of the body to combat a variety of infectious diseases comprise a classic problem in medical thinking which has been temporarily pushed into the background by the obvious successes in the field of specific therapy.
Methodology in nonspecific therapy, however, still plays an important role in modern medical practice.
Recent advances in the preparation of lipopolysaccharides, and their use in experimental fever; the discovery of the properdin system, which has permitted the postulation of a theoretical basis for certain types of natural bacteriolysis, and other recent findings have provided a new perspective in the consideration of nonspecific fever therapy.
The author has spent some 30 years working in the general area of nonspecific therapy and more recently has used the facilities of his clinic for the investigation of the properdin system and related phenomena.
He gives a