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Preliminary observations (1) on serums from cases of acute hepatitis following yellow fever vaccination have indicated the existence of an "antigen" in acute-phase serums which precipitates with an "antibody" in serums obtained during convalescence? This phenomenon resembles in its general aspects the serum antigen-antibody reaction which was observed by Hughes (2) in yellow fever. Since the latter author attributed the reaction to a product of liver damage rather than to a specific antigenic component of the causative virus, it seemed likely that a similar liver damage reaction might occur in acute infective hepatitis. In view of this possibility, complement fixation tests were done with various samples of fiver tissue. The investigation showed that serums from certain cases of acute hepatitis fixed complement with saline extracts of liver from fatal cases of this disease, but that positive reactions of equal intensity and frequency were obtained when the same serums were tested with normal human liver tissue.Another aspect of serological reactions in acute hepatitis was suggested by the observations that serums from these cases often showed slightly higher titers of agglutinins for sheep ceils than did normal serums. 2 The possibility of a heterophile reaction analogous to that found in infectious mononucleosis (3) was considered. Heterogenetic antibodies have also been described in serum sickness (8), and the occurrence of urticaria and arthralgia in certain cases of acute hepatitis suggested the possible association of immunological * The studies and observations reported in this paper were initiated

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