ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION 



of the disease, as seen in the test-tube, for both tuberculin 

 and mallein are prepared by making glycerin-extracts of 

 the bodies of the bacteria grown in pure culture. Their 

 use is, therefore, an example of the employment of the 

 chemical products of the bodies of the bacteria, and not 

 the vital activity of the bacteria, as a means for fighting 

 the diseases against which they are directed. 



Finally we have the antitoxins of tetanus and diph- 

 theria, the former not so successful clinically as was hoped, 

 because the disease is so slow in becoming clearly defined 

 that treatment is too long delayed ; the latter, the final 

 triumph of the scientific method of laboratory study as ap- 

 plied to the actual treatment of disease. How this triumph 

 has been carried out to its extreme in our own community 

 the statistics of the South Department of the Boston City 

 Hospital will tell more eloquently than any words of mine 

 could possibly do. 



So far as it is possible in a statement here to allay any 

 disturbance in regard to the diphtheria antitoxin that may 

 have arisen from the recent reports in regard to the occur- 

 rence of tetanus after the use of this material, I desire to 

 do so. 



The antitoxin of diphtheria is contained in the blood- 

 serum of a horse that has been immunized to the toxin of 

 the diphtheria bacillus. When properly prepared and 

 cared for there is absolutely no danger from its use, and no 

 untoward results have ever been shown to occur under such 

 conditions. It is true that such results have been said to 

 occur, but upon investigation they have invariably been 

 shown to be due to faulty preparation or administration of 

 the material. 



Therefore, if it should turn out that the newspaper re- 

 ports of the occurrence of tetanus in patients upon whom 

 the antitoxin of diphtheria had been used arc true, it 

 will as certainly turn out, if all the facts can be reached, 



