VACCINE THERAPY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 611 



diseases which are running a normal course towards recovery 

 there is no advantage in inoculation, and in excessive toxaemic 

 conditions the addition of the least overdose of vaccine may 

 lead to disaster ; but in cases of septicaemia which show any 

 sign of becoming chronic, or in desperate cases, it is possible 

 that the introduction of vaccine into the subcutaneous tissue may 

 lead to the elaboration of anti-bodies and clinical improvement. 



The case for inoculation treatment may fairly be con- 

 sidered to be made out ; but theories of exceeding beauty do 

 not always give satisfactory results in practice, and the question 

 that concerns practical people is whether patients really do 

 improve under vaccine therapy or not. The answer is that 

 the results are exceedingly satisfactory. The day has long 

 gone by when there was any need to publish as novelties 

 cases successfully treated by vaccine therapy. When the 

 method was first introduced Wright published several series 

 of cases, and showed particular patients at various societies ; 

 and some of these maybe briefly recalled. In 1904 J a series 

 of twenty cases of acne, furunculosis and sycosis was published 

 in detail ; these had been treated with a staphylococcus 

 vaccine, and had showed marked improvement ; and in 1906 a 

 long list of cases of localised tuberculosis was published in an 

 important paper read before the Royal Medico-Chirurgical 

 Society, and several of the patients were shown. 2 The cases 

 included a large variety of lesions, and several specimens of 

 each lesion. Some cases of lupus were shown, all of which 

 had undergone some improvement, but in only one had a cure 

 been effected. Five cases of tubercular glands were all cured,, 

 seven cases of severe tubercular ulceration of subcutaneous 

 tissues had improved greatly, and five cases of infection of 

 the genito-urinary system all showed marked improvement. 



One case must suffice as a specimen ; that which follows is 

 chosen because the patient's subsequent history is known up 

 to the present time. A man, aged thirty, developed tubercular 

 glands in the neck and an abscess at the point of the shoulder 

 in 1902. In 1903 he was operated on, but the wound did not 

 heal, and five further operations were performed during the 

 year. In December the whole skin from the left ear to the 

 left shoulder was ulcerated, with a deep ulcerated crater below 



1 Wright, B. M.J., May 7, 1904. 



2 Wright, Trans. Roy. Med.-Chi. Soc, 1906. 



