Abstract
The recent European epidemic of malignant diphtheria<sup>1</sup>("diphtheria gravis"), a specific infection refractory to even massive doses of diphtheria antitoxin, has turned the attention of German bacteriologists to the present lack of knowledge of the local non-serologic buccal defenses against this disease. Contrary to conventional theories of immunity, Hermann Dold<sup>2</sup>of Tübingen found that normal human saliva contains enzymic factors that will not only inhibit the multiplication of diphtheria bacilli in vitro but often kill these micro-organisms within a few hours. Virulent diphtheria bacilli not killed by contact with this normal salivary antiseptic are almost invariably transformed into avirulent types. Weigmann and Koehn<sup>3</sup>found that these transformed "mutants" will breed true as apparently true pseudodiphtheria bacilli for at least ten transplants in ordinary culture mediums. The presence of these "inhibins," or "bacteria-transforming enzymes," in normal saliva has been confirmed by a study of salivary inhibitions and transformations
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