1. Cohn EJ: The history of plasma fractionation. In Advances in Military Medicine, Vol. 1. Edited by Andrus EC, Bronk DW, Carden GA Jr, et al. Boston: Little, Brown and Company; 1948:364–443. An excellent history of the scientific and clinical advances achieved in the “Harvard Crash Program,” which led to the production of albumin for WW II and the other Cohn fractions. Summarizes 23 papers on this subject by Cohn et al. in the July 1944 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation (vol. 23, no. 4).
2. Oncley JL, Melin M, Richert DA, et al.: The separation of the antibodies, isoagglutinins, prothrombin, plasminogen and _1-lipoprotein into subfractions of human plasma. J Am Chem Soc 1949, 71:541–550. Summarizes the development of schemes for the further purification of gammaglobulin, including “cookbook” techniques that are still used today.
3. Janeway CA: The development of clinical uses of immunoglobulins: a review. In Immunoglobulins. Edited by Merler E. Washington, DC; National Academy of Sciences: 1970:3–14. A first-hand account of the early clinical development of gamma globulin, including the first attempts at IV infusion.
4. Martin NH: Recognition of the Hypogammaglobulinaemia Syndrome. In Hypogammaglobulinaemia in the United Kingdom. Edited by MRC Working Party on Hypogammaglobulinaemia. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1971:1–3.
5. MRC Working Party on Hypogammaglobulinaemia: Hypogammaglobulinaemia in the United Kingdom. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1971. An excellent review of the natural history of antibody deficiency syndromes in the 1950s and early 1960s, including more than 200 individual case descriptions and initial studies of the effects of different dosages of IM treatment.