Adventures among Viruses

Abstract

DURING the past sixteen years influenza has been, I imagine, the virus that has received most study and attention in the laboratory, though poliomyelitis must run it very close. It has been studied by workers trained in very different disciplines and approaching it from many angles. Perhaps most novel and exciting is the work based on Hirst's¹ discovery of the power of the virus to agglutinate red cells of fowls. Directly deriving from this finding is the demonstration that influenza virus, or a part of it, has an enzyme-like action upon a carbohydrate-containing protein; this protein is present in serum . . .