THE LIMITS OP SERUM-THERAPY. 761 



tetanic convulsions, but that these should be ascribed to the 

 accumulation of products of metabolism incident upon in- 

 hibited oxidation. Tetanus neonatorum, epilepsy, hydrophobia, 

 eclampsia, etc., are kindred conditions, as we shall see in an- 

 other volume. Care must be taken, however, not to confound 

 the convulsions induced by these various forms of sepsis with 

 those observed in strychnine poisoning. This form of "tetanic" 

 convulsions is due, we have seen, to hyperoxidation. 



Tetanus antitoxin would undoubtedly show far better 

 results than can now be credited to it judging from the litera- 

 ture of the subject, could it be used, not when the convulsions 

 have begun the second stage as is now generally the case, 

 but very soon after the receipt of the injury: i.e., before the 

 adrenal functions are seriously compromised. But how distin- 

 guish the exposed cases when we know that even slight injuries 

 may initiate the morbid process when received in stable-yards, 

 gardens, roads, etc., the bacillus being a common saprophyte 

 found in manure, dust, soil, etc.? Better means may perhaps 

 suggest themselves in the next subdivision of immunity to be 

 considered. 



What shall we say of the multiplicity of other sera that 

 have been introduced from time to time: the antistreptococcic, 

 antipneumococcic, antituberculous, antivenomous, and the 

 more recently introduced sera calculated to combat the plague, 

 dysentery, yellow fever, scarlatina, anthrax, leprosy, glanders, 

 pertussis, syphilis, malaria, and other disorders? Herein lies, 

 it seems to us, the misleading factor which has suggested that 

 specificity could be considered as an element of these various 

 sera. Indeed, all these agents are beneficial because they all 

 stimulate the adrenal system as does any active agency intro- 

 duced into the blood-stream. But they are not specific, if our 

 views are sound; they only differ essentially in the proportion 

 of trypsin they contain: the unused product of the artificially 

 stimulated adrenal system of the purveying animal. 



Briefly the following conclusions seem to be warranted by 

 the foregoing data: 



1. Precisely as is the case with drugs, so do the different 

 toxins stimulate the anterior pituitary body with more or less vigor, 

 or depress its functions. 



