456 Pneumonia 



animals infected with virulent cultures. When applied to human 

 medicine, the serum failed to do good. 



The treatment of pneumonia by the injection of blood-serum 

 from convalescent patients, tried by Hughes and Carter,* has been 

 abandoned as useless and dangerous. 



Antipneumococcic sera have been experimentally investigated by 

 De Renzi,t Washbourn, J and Pane. 



Washbourn prepared an antipneumococcus serum that protected 

 rabbits, against ten times the fatal dose of live pneumococci, 

 in doses of 0.3 cc. In general, the lines upon which he oper- 

 ated were those of Behring, Marmorek's work with the streptococcus 

 furnishing most of the details. Two cases of human pneumonia 

 seem to have derived some benefit from large doses of this serum. 

 The sera of Pane and De Renzi were not so powerful as those of 

 Washbourn, requiring about i cc. to protect a rabbit. 



McFarland and Lincoln|| succeeded in immunizing a horse against 

 large doses of a virulent culture of the pneumococcus, and obtained a 

 serum of which 0.5 to 0.25 cc. protected rabbits from many times the 

 fatal dose. 



The experiments by Passler** showed some gain over the earlier 

 work. 



The antipneumococcic sera thus far produced have given disap- 

 pointing results in clinical application. 



A leukocytic extract prepared by Hiss and Zinsserff from an 

 aleuronat exudation in the rabbit's pleura has led to results suf- 

 ficiently encouraging in the treatment of pneumonia in man to war- 

 rant further investigation along similar lines. 



Rosenow|J found that pneumococci suspended in sodium chlorid 

 solutions autolyse rapidly. By means of this autolysis it is possible 

 to separate, at least to a large degree, the toxic from the antigenic 

 parts of the pneumococcus, as the toxic part goes into solution. The 

 injection of the non-toxic and, as it appears, antigenic portion auto- 

 lyzed pneumococci causes a marked increase in the immunity curve 

 as measured by the specific increase in pneumococcus opsonin. 

 The injection of such autolyzed pneumococci into 25 patients with 

 lobar pneumonia seemed to have a marked beneficial effect. 



Sanitation. Pneumonia is undoubtedly a transmissible disease. 

 Exactly how infection takes place is not known, but seeing that the 

 infectious agent is in the respiratory tract, from which it is easily 

 discharged into the atmosphere during cough, etc., and the facility 



* "Therapeutic Gazette," Oct. 15, 1892. 

 t "II Policlinic," Oct. 31, 1896, Supplement. 

 : "Brit. Med. Jour.," Feb. 27, 1897, p. 510. 



"Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," May 29,1897, xxi, 17 and i8,p. 664. 

 |] "Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc.," Dec. 16, 1899, p. 1534. 



"Deutsches Archiv fur klin. Med.," Bd. 1905; LXXXII, Nos. 3, 4, "Jour. 

 Amer. Med. Assoc.," May 13, 1905, p. 1538. 

 ("t "Jour. Med. Research," 1908, xrx, 323. 

 jt "Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc.," June 10, LIV, No. 24, p. 1943. 



