The Takata Reaction on the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid in Syphilis of the Nervous System

The Takata reaction (1) consists in the production of a flocculation or opacity in fluids on the addition of alkaline mercuric chloride solution. It has been modified and applied to the cerebro-spinal fluid (Takata-Ara (2)), and found to be positive mainly in cases of syphilis of the nervous system. Various modifications in the technique have been described, e.g., Jezler (3) and Ginkel (4), but in the following investigations on 177 specimens of cerebrospinal fluid Ucko's (5) modification of the reaction on serum, whereby the reaction time is reduced from 24 hours to 90 minutes, has been further modified by the author to permit of its application to the cerebro-spinal fluid.