IMMUNIZING MEDICATION. 771 



mercury with the view to aborting scarlatina, diphtheria, mea- 

 sles, variola, varicella, pertussis, parotitis, typhoid fever, typhus, 

 dengue, relapsing fever, pyaemia, puerperal fever, syphilis, lep- 

 rosy, the plague, hydrophobia, and yellow fever. In keeping 

 with some of the views that prevailed at the time, the author 

 ascribes infectious processes "to the exhausting depredations 

 of the germs more rapidly and extensively exerted than ordi- 

 narily upon the oxygen of the corpuscles of the blood"; he also 

 considers the salt as "germicidal and ha3matinic." While this 

 interpretation of the nature of the morbid and curative proc- 

 esses is not in accord with our own, the fact remains that 

 Illingworth is sustained by our views as regards the legitimacy 

 of his results. In other words, while he witnessed the results, 

 we show that such results can be reached, and how they are 

 reached. Indeed, we will see in another volume that the 

 biniodide of mercury occupies a high position among the stim- 

 ulants of the adrenal system, owing mainly to its haloid con- 

 stituent. The feature that we wish to emphasize by referring 

 to Illingworth's observations is the efficacy of stimulation of 

 the adrenal system in arresting incipient morbid processes. 



"Abortive treatment" is a familiar expression, and its ap- 

 plicability is not only exemplified by the experience of the few 

 authors we have named, but by that of a multitude of them. 

 The multiplicity of ailments in which a single drug may be 

 used attests to this. It is, therefore, entitled to a prominent 

 position in therapeutics, precisely as is, it seems to us, "im- 

 munizing treatment," an expression which seems to us appli- 

 cable to the scientific use of remedies for the purpose of pre- 

 venting disease. 



Sera, we have seen, are at best only able to supply two 

 constituents, i.e., the trypsin and fibrinogen, while appropriate 

 remedies, by enhancing the functions of the adrenal system, 

 awaken all the resources of the organism to inordinate activity. 



Indeed, in the light of our views, nothing in our pharma- 

 copeia approaches antitoxin in value in the treatment of diph- 

 theria, simply because it supplies exactly the missing plasmatic 

 constituent: i.e.., trypsin. It is probable that the use of fresh 

 horse-serum will not be found inferior in the treatment of ty- 

 phoid fever to antitoxin in that of diphtheria, simply because 



49 



