ment was destructive to a number of species of micro-organisms, among which was included the gonococcus. Flexner2 demonstrated that the vitality of the meningococcus was very materially lessened and the germs themselves partially dissolved when they were allowed to remain in suspension in salt solution. He found the products of the disintegration to be detrimental to a luxuriant development of that organism on the medium upon which they had grown and on a fresh medium to which some of the products of disintegration had been transferred. A biological comparison of the gonococcus and M. intracellularis by Martha Wollstein3 substantiates Flexner's earlier work and indicates that a ferment of decided activity is present in or about the micrococcus of gonorrhea. In producing an antigen Torrey4 suspended a large and luxuriant growth of the gonococcus (in salt solution) and after submitting this suspension to a constant agitation for a number of hours, he filtered. The resulting clear filtrate was decidedly toxic. The work of Wollstein, Torrey, and others indicates that a cell destruction occurs in cultures of the gonococcus when placed under certain conditions, the most important of which are temperature, concentration of medium, and age of culture. With the supposition well established that autolysis of the gonococcus occurs under certain conditions it was the object of our work: (1) To test the results obtained by others; (2) to measure the extent of autolysis and amount of autolytic ferment present; (3) to determine the effect of autolysate on the growth of the gonococcus