NORMAL SERUM THERAPY 267 



to use the blood serum of syphilitics who have been brought as 

 near to a cure as possible, and in whom notable quantities of anti- 

 bodies of the Ehrlich type are demonstrable by the complement- 

 fixation method with spirochete extracts as antigen. Such sera would 

 be comparatively rich in protective antibodies and could be com- 

 bined with salvarsan or neosalvarsan, as in the method of Swift 

 and Ellis. 



NORMAL SERUM THERAPY. 



Under various pathological conditions normal serum also has been 

 injected for curative purposes and favorable results have been 

 observed in many instances. A number of investigators thus report 

 a remarkable influence upon certain toxicoses of pregnancy. Mayer 

 mentions several cases of various types of dermatoses (herpes, 

 urticaria, pruritus) besides a case of eclampsia, and one of acro- 

 paresthesia of the finger tips, in which excellent results followed 

 the injection of serum from a normal case of pregnancy. He con- 

 cluded that the serum of the patients in question was deficient 

 in normal protective substances against the poisons which are 

 absorbed from the developing embryo, and that these substances 

 are specific in their nature. Freund, on the other hand, while con- 

 firming the beneficial effects of the serum of normally pregnant 

 women upon the toxicoses referred to, obtained equally satisfactory 

 results with normal serum from non-pregnant women, as also from 

 men, horses, etc. Corresponding observations have since been 

 published by others. 



Favorable results have also been observed by many investigators, 

 following the injection of normal serum or of defibrinated blood, 

 in various hemorrhagic conditions. Weil thus found that the subcu- 

 taneous injection of 30 c.c., or the intravenous injection of 15 c.c. of 

 fresh human or animal serum has a markedly beneficial effect upon 

 the bleeding of hemophiliacs. Leary reports several cases in which 

 following a preliminary injection of 30 c.c. of normal rabbit serum 

 operations could be carried on without subsequent bleeding of note. 

 Welch cites twelve cases of hemophilia neonatorum, all of which 

 recovered after the subcutaneous injection of fresh human serum 

 (average, 80 c.c. in 10 c.c. doses, distributed over four days). 



Other observers obtained favorable results in cases of rheumatic 

 purpura with intestinal hemorrhages, in uterine bleeding, in intes- 



