206 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



Klemperer, who has pointed out that immune fowls lay eggs 

 which contain antitoxins only in the yolk, the surround- 

 ing albumin being only a cell-envelope has no antitoxic 

 power. If the cells of the organism react, and a develop- 

 ment of antitoxin is the expression of this, protective 

 bodies of the same nature might conceivably arise in re- 

 sponse to stimuli other than specific toxin. This may 

 be a partial solution of the therapeutic effects which follow 

 injection of antitoxic serum in cases of diphtheria. The 

 material introduced does not act directly upon the toxin, but 

 indirectly does so by operating as a stimulus to the cells of 

 the organism, which are then capable of producing chemical 

 bodies which destroy the toxin, and such substances may 

 be antitoxic in character. This conception is largely due 

 to Roux, and under his direction Ca.lmette, Phisalix and 

 Bertrand have shown that no specific action can be claimed 

 for antitoxic serum. These observers have discovered 

 that the serum of animals which have been rendered im- 

 mune against cobra poison is antitoxic both in the body and 

 in vitro. In the latter case, on warming the mixture to 70 , 

 the antitoxin is destroyed, the toxin remaining unaltered, 

 from which it may be concluded that the toxin remains 

 active side by side with the antitoxin. Moreover, the 

 serum of animals immune to rabies or tetanus is powerfully 

 antitoxic to cobra venom. From these observations the 

 products of cell activity which accumulate in the blood of 

 animals immune to tetanus, diphtheria, or cobra poison, are 

 all of an antitoxic character similar in nature, and the view 

 that antitoxic serum is specific for a definite bacillus or 

 its products must be modified. 



The practical results of serum as a therapeutic agent in 

 diphtheria have exceeded the most sanguine expectations. 

 Every civilised country has already established institutes 

 from which supplies of serum can be obtained for the treat- 

 ment of this disease. Not only diphtheria, but also trau- 

 matic tetanus, which formerly was without exception fatal, 

 has been successfully treated with antitoxic serum, and 

 more than a hundred cases have been collected in which 

 there is a large percentage of recovery. Enthusiasts regard 



