ANAPHYLAXIS. 497 
cause pronounced nerve depression. The actual cause of death 
was doubtless the paralysis of the lungs, owing to the poisoning 
of the nerve centre in the medulla oblongata which controls 
their action. 
G. 
ANAPHYLAXIS. 
It has recently been shown by several French scientists 
(see “ L. Anaphylaxie,’ by Dr. Armand-Delille, and others) 
that the various antitoxic sera prepared from the serum of horses 
cannot in all cases be freely injected into animals with impunity. 
Horse serum injected into animals for the first time, in nearly 
all cases produced no toxic or poisonous effects, but if an interval 
of twelve or more days be allowed to elapse before a second 
injection was made, certain toxic effects were produced. This 
caused some alarm, for the reason that various anti-toxic sera 
are used in the treatment of several diseases, such for instance as 
diphtheria, cholera, and tetanus. However, after careful study 
of the experiments by these French scientists, and the statistics 
of the cases of human beings treated with anti-toxic sera for 
diphtheria, cholera, tetanus, &c., in certain large hospitals, and 
those injected with anti-venene serum for the treatment of snake 
bite, we may safely conclude there is no real cause for alarm. 
In the great majority of individuals, the first injection of borse 
serum is admirably tolerated without reactionary phenomena 
of any kind, either immediate or late. However, if horse serum 
is injected a second time, three weeks or more after the first 
injection, various toxic effects are produced, but which are 
invariably so slight as not to cause alarm. These toxic effects 
have been termed “serum sickness.’’ Any form of animal 
proteid will produce the same symptoms. 
Something like 80 per cent. of people re-injected with horse 
serum show slight toxic symptoms. The usual symptom is a 
form of urticaria or nettle-rash which is purely local, and in- 
variably arises at the sites of the injections of the serum. 
Occasionally there is slight fever and pains in the joints. On 
rare occasions it is found that an individual is extremely sensitive 
to horse serum, and his body reacts strongly, but such phenomena 
2K 
