THE CONQUEST OF DISEASE 



cord. The identification of this organism was 

 made through experiments upon animals. The 

 serum treatment of cerebro-spinal meningitis 

 has been worked out by Dr. Flexner and his 

 associates in the Rockefeller Institute for 

 Medical Research in New York, and is saving 

 many lives and sparing many children most 

 distressing suffering. The lowest mortality 

 from this disease during any year prior to 1907 

 was 58 per cent. The average mortality has 

 ranged from 70 to 90 per cent. It was 73.5 

 per cent, in 2755 cases reported in New York 

 in 1905. By experimenting upon animals 

 Flexner developed an antiserum which was 

 used by careful observers in hospitals in Bos- 

 ton and New York. Up to January 1, 1909, 

 the mortality in cases treated by the serum 

 was 29.6 per cent. The most recent reports 

 from this serum show a mortality rate of 19 

 per cent., and this report includes the worst 

 possible cases, some of which were moribund 

 when they came under treatment. Prior to 

 the use of the serum, Holt reported 61 cases in 

 children under two years of age in his hospital 

 service, of whom 55 died a mortality of 90 

 per cent. With the serum treatment, he report- 

 ed 11 cases under two years of age, injected 



86 



