ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF IMMUNE SERA. 99 



soon after being drawn, the immune body and especially the 

 complement are preserved longer. Among the advantages of 

 dried immune sera may be mentioned: the lack of deterioration, 

 the cheapness of manufacture; the convenience of carrying about 

 in the medicine case; and the possible administration of immune 

 substances by the mouth. Undoubtedly these products will 

 prove to be of considerable value and are not to be lost sight of. 



ORAL ADMINISTRATION OF IMMUNE SERUM. 



In 1SU2 P^hrlich discovered that ricin anti-toxins can be ab- 

 sorbed by the intestinal canal. In 1893 Wernicke, working with 

 Behring, established the fact that anti -toxic substances in the 

 body fluids of diphtheria-immune animals are absorbed by the 

 digestive tract; thus, dogs fed on the meat of diphtheria-immune 

 sheep obtain some immunity to diphtheria. The possibility of 

 oral administration of anti-toxic sera has been recently advanced 

 by McClintock and King. These investigators have found that 

 the best results by oral administration of diphtheria anti -toxin 

 are obtained by the following method: "One half -hour before 

 administering the serum the child is given one glass of one per 

 cent sodium bicarbonate solution. When the anti -toxin is given 

 there is added one minim Fl. Ext. Opii and from four to ten 

 minims of saturated solution of salol in chloroform. When pos- 

 sible no food should be given for at least four hours before ad- 

 ministering the serum." This method is adopted to inhibit the 

 digestion of the anti-toxin so as to make the absorption of the 

 unchanged anti-toxin possible. Dried diphtheria anti-toxic globu- 

 lins were found to give satisfactory results. By oral adminis- 

 tration of diphtheria anti-toxin neither serum sickness nor 

 anaphylaxis was observed. At present this method is still of 

 questionable value and requires further investigation. 



ANTI-TOXIC SERA. 



It was stated earlier that sera containing bodies which neu- 

 tralized toxin are called anti-toxic sera. The immune bodies 

 are receptors of the first order of Ehrlich (see p. 16), which have 

 been thrown off as a result of overproduction of certain receptors. 



