448 



Br. G. Sims Woodhead 

 Table VII. 



[Feb. 8, 



It Las been said, however, and said very truly, that statistics may 

 be made to prove anything, and I have heard it said that the observa- 

 tion of a few cases of diphtheria under the antitoxic treatment is 

 worth all the statistics that could be brought together for the purpose 

 of convincing a man of the value of the antitoxic serum treatment. 



A distinguished physician, who has had charge of diphtheria 

 wards for some time, informs me that the patients he now sees wear 

 an entirely different aspect from those he saw before the serum treat- 

 ment was adopted. Instead of being struck by the stupor, the pain, 

 the difficulty of breathing, and the other distressing symptoms that so 

 frequently manifest themselves during the course of this treacherous 

 disease, he observes children with patches of membrane in the throat 

 sitting up and playing with their toys. There is little of that 

 distress of breathing, very little of the anxious look, and the wards 

 altogether present a much more pleasant and genial appearance 

 than he has ever before noticed. The other day I received a short 

 note from another colleague, who has been going over the German 

 hospitals to study this question, in view of taking out with him to 

 the colonies a supply of antitoxic serum; he also states that this 

 difference in the appearance of the diphtheria wards has impressed 

 him far more than any statistics he has yet come across. 



It has been said that most unfavourable symptoms have followed 

 the exhibition of this serum. There can be no doubt of the fact ; 

 but after a careful study of the cases reported, I am thoroughly con- 

 vinced that a very large proportion of them, at any rate, are merely 

 post hoc, and not propter hoc. There can be no doubt that a kind of 

 nettle-rash makes its appearance during the course of treatment, and 

 that this may be accompanied by pains in the joints. Both these 

 conditions, however, are usually quite transient, and seldom give 

 rise to permanent ill effects. Albuminuria has also been ascribed 

 to this treatment ; but any one who has had to deal with children 

 not only suffering from diphtheria, but from any form of disease, 



