Kahn Standard Antigen - For Use in the Precipitation Test for Syphilis - 10cc., Bio. 104

Glass vial with paper label that reads in part “KAHN STANDARD / ANTIGEN / FOR USE IN THE PRECIPITATION / TEST FOR SYPHILIS” and “PARKE, DAVIS & CO., Detroit, Mich., U.S.A.” Parke, Davis was selling the Kahn antigen by 1926. It donated this example to the Smithsonian in 1938.

Reuben Leon Kahn (1887-1979) was born in Lithuania, came to the U.S. as a child, earned a bacteriology Ph.D. from New York University, and joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. Moving to the Midwest at the end of World War I, Dr. Kahn worked as an immunologist at the Michigan State Department of Health. There, in 1923, Dr. Kahn developed a precipitation test for syphilis that yielded quicker and better results than the Wasserman. Dr. Kahn later found that this test could indicate the presence of the agents of tuberculosis, malaria or leprosy. Dr. Kahn was appointed director of laboratories of the University Hospitals at the University of Michigan in 1928; he also became professor of bacteriology and, later, professor of serology. In 1933 he won the annual $1,000 prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his discovery that blood is not the only means of developing immunity; rather, the whole body plays a role. In 1956, he became involved in research on irradiation and tissue localization. He was also actively concerned with civil rights.

Ref: “R. L. Kahn Wins Prize for Paper on Immunizing,” Chicago Tribune (Jan. 1, 1934), p. 34.

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