210 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



treatment is more adapted for dealing with 

 small amounts of a virulent poison than 

 with larger amounts of a weaker poison, 

 for the excess of vicarious antidote cannot 

 be raised to a high level. Also the less 

 virulent poison of a chronic infectious disease, 

 such as tuberculosis, does not by a violent 

 reaction of the body lead to a heavy produc- 

 tion of anti-toxin, and the anti-toxin produced 

 in response is also not such a deadly negative 

 so far as the invading disease organism is 

 concerned. 



With such a heavy handicap to fight against, 

 it is obvious that tuberculin treatment, 

 which, while differing in detail, is conceived 

 on the same lines, can only be successful 

 when applied very early, and when there is 

 no very massive infection to contend against. 

 This is the reason why it has found more 

 success in joint cases where the infection is 

 more limited. 



Vaccine treatment differs from anti-toxic 

 treatment in that the vicarious animal is 

 dispensed with, and a culture of the organisms 

 of the disease, made if possible from a strain 

 obtained from the actual patient, is first 

 sterilized and then injected. Conspicuous 

 success has followed the vaccine treatment 

 in certain chronically recurring skin affections, 



