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Work reported by Duran-Reynals (1) has shown the existence in certain organs of a substance which we shall call, for purposes of abbreviation, the Reynals factor (2), capable of enhancing to an extraordinary degree vaccinal and staphylococcus infections.The Reynals factor is not species specific and is present in the testicle, the extracts of which, together with the extracts of epididymis, are by far the most active in this respect of any organ. Extracts of kidney, skin, brain and placenta share the property only to a certain extent. Extracts from retina, muscle and ovary do not modify the infection, whereas those of blood, spleen and bone marrow never enhance and sometimes interfere with, and even suppress the activity of the infectious agent.As the earlier work on the Reynals factor included observations on only two strains of staphylococci (3), it was thought of interest to try many strains and kinds of bacteria and to test the constancy of the factor and whether its action is widespread. MethodsFor the sake of convenience, the method of preparing testicle extract is described again in this paper. Fresh testicle is removed from an anesthetized or freshly killed animal, stripped of its membranes and the glandular tissue is ground in a sterile mortar with an equal quantity by weight of sterile Ringer's solution. It is then centrifuged, and the supernatant fluid is used for the experiments. To this supernatant fluid is mixed varying amounts of a 24 hour broth culture of active bacteria. The type of broth culture and its pH are, within limits, negligible.

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