Presidential Address to the M.S.S.V.D. Systemic disease and the biological false positive reaction.

During the past decade, one of the most rapid and important developments in medicine has been in immunology, and the greatest progress has been made in the isolation, characterization, and demon- stration of antibodies. As a result of these advances insight has been gained into those immune reactions which may cause tissue destruction. The ability of the human immune system to distinguish between 'self' and 'not self' is important not only as a defence against invading micro-organisms, but also in distin- guishing transformed host cells that may have become malignant.