256 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



has been said that therapeutic inoculation of bacterial vaccines 

 has a very wide range of applicability; it has been indicated 

 that this range is extending as our knowledge of disease in- 

 creases, and it has been suggested that more diseases will come 

 under its scope in the near future. From the nature of things 

 such a method cannot always be successful. Some cases will 

 not respond to inoculation, and although it is possible by 

 vaccination to produce in them a negative phase, the desired 

 positive phase does not follow. Further, it must not be thought 

 that a high opsonic power of the blood necessarily spells " cure," 

 for a patient may actually die with a high index. This is more 

 especially the case in the septicaemias, the action of the bacterial 

 poison on the tissue elements, the heart, and central nervous 

 system causing death by disturbance of a vital function ; in 

 these cases a blood rich in protective substances will naturally 

 be of little avail. In some cases the cause of failure of thera- 

 peutic inoculation is quite obscure ; in others, Wright has 

 suggested that one of the obstacles to success lies in a deficient 

 blood and lymph supply to the affected part. 



The methods of combating these causes of failure must now 

 be inquired into. 



The production of a local hyperasmia — " drawing the blood 

 to the part " — by means of hot fomentations has been the staple 

 treatment for local bacterial infections from time immemorial, 

 and its efficacy, which has stood the test of time, is doubtless due 

 to the fact that the protective substances of the blood are thus 

 brought to bear against the invading organisms. The X-rays, 

 massage, radiant light, etc., are more modern methods of 

 accomplishing the same thing. Bier * has for several years been 

 treating local bacterial infections with great success. His method 

 consists in producing a passive hyperasmia at the site of infection 

 for a certain time, then allowing the blood thus confined to the 

 affected spot to flow on, and imprisoning a further supply of 

 fresh blood for another period. By this means of "intermittent" 

 hyperasmia the protective substances of the blood are enabled to 

 exert their effect upon the bacteria in more concentrated form. 

 Further, the same surgeon uses various devices, such as suction 

 pumps, to draw the blood to the surface of the skin, and instead 

 of widely lancing boils, etc., he punctures them and inter- 

 mittently draws blood to the surface by means of these pumps. 



1 Hyfteriimie ah Heilmittcl, 1906. 



