ANTITOXINS 89 



treatment of all the other bacterial infections to which both man and 

 beast are prone, but this was soon doomed to disappointment. Why 

 this should be is now fairly clear to us, since we have become familiar 

 with the offensive mechanism through which the foreign organism 

 seeks to maintain itself in the animal body, and through which the 

 destruction of the host may even be accomplished. We have thus 

 seen that both the diphtheria and the tetanus bacillus are organisms 

 of the lowest grade of infectiousness which cannot possibly maintain 

 themselves in normal tissues and are readily and rapidly destroyed 

 through the activity of both serum and cells, but which kill neverthe- 

 less through the wonderful activity of their specific poisons. Against 

 these, the normal organism either possesses no antitoxin at all or 

 such small amounts that a fatal end only too often occurs even 

 though the infection, as such, has been or is being successfully 

 combated. As a result of the infection, an attempt at antibody 

 (antitoxin) formation is, of course, made (active immunization), 

 but unfortunately the toxin may be able to produce its harmful 

 effect before enough antitoxin is formed to neutralize its action. 

 That under such circumstances the introduction of antitoxin from 

 without (passive immunization) is the logical method of treatment, 

 goes without saying. 



In other infections the conditions are different. Unfortunately, 

 the majority of organisms which are pathogenic for man are either 

 not true toxin producers at all, or, if so, their infectiousness is of a 

 much higher order, so that the mere introduction of an antitoxin, 

 even though it were tuned to the corresponding toxin, so to speak, 

 would not suffice to bring the disease resulting from the infection 

 to a standstill. What is needed in such cases is something that will 

 prevent the continuance of the infection, and that something can 

 scarcely be of the nature of an antitoxin. 



Aside from diphtheria and tetanus, there is actually only one 

 organism, infection with which lends itself to antitoxin treatment, 

 pure and simple, namely, the bacillus botulinus. Of the other patho- 

 genic organisms the bacillus pyocyaneus, the staphylococcus, the 

 typhoid, paratyphoid and dysentery bacillus, the vibrio of cholera 

 Asiatica and related organisms, the plague bacillus, and the bacillus 

 of symptomatic anthrax are known or supposed to form true toxins 

 even though to a limited extent only; but for the reasons just indicated 

 the corresponding antitoxic sera are of little avail in the treatment 

 of the corresponding maladies. 



