602 BIOLOGY OF PNEUMOCOCCUS 



rum administered in the late stages of the disease may be harmful to 

 the patient. 



3. The dosage of serum to be given will depend on the potency of the 

 preparation, the type of organism involved, the severity of the infec- 

 tion, and the presence of complications such as pregnancy. 



Reliable directions for testing the patient for hypersensitiveness 

 to serum protein, for the technique used in the actual administra- 

 tion of serum, and the details of the many clinical attentions to be 

 accorded the pneumonia sufferer are to be found in Lord and Heff- 

 ron's Lobar Pneumonia and Serum Therapy. 827 



In the array of experiences already reported in the literature, 

 the foregoing conditions presumably have not always been ful- 

 filled. Serum of low potency or of heterologous type has been em- 

 ployed; the dosage has been sometimes insufficient and at other 

 times excessive; injections have often been delayed beyond the 

 most favorable time in the course of the disease; and it is con- 

 ceivable that the bedside care has not always been ideal. Other 

 derogatory conditions may obscure the true value of serum treat- 

 ment. Nevertheless, the accumulated statistics taken as a whole, 

 and especially those culled from selected series of cases in which 

 serum therapy has been applied with proper regard for the many 

 contributing circumstances, prove the value of antipneumococcic 

 serum as a remedial agent in some of the infections caused by 

 Pneumococcus. 



In the above summary, only those data have been selected that 

 bear evidence of the past and present status of serum therapy. 

 The ensuing discussion is borrowed entire from Lord and Heff ron's 

 Lobar Pneumonia and Serum Therapy, Chapter X, Results of Se- 

 rum Treatment. The numbers given to bibliographical references 

 have been changed to correspond with those in the present volume. 



The Results of Serum Therapy 



For the continued and productive study of lobar pneumonia and 

 the early, persistent, and successful application of serum therapy, 

 we are largely indebted to Cole and his associates at the Hospital 



