IDIOSYNCRASIES 577 



far more dangerous to give serum intravenously to those injected on a former 

 occasion; in these instances the physician wilt do well to give his injections 

 intramuscularly or subcutaneously , when, if symptoms develop, they will 

 not be explosive nor so dangerous. Since rectal injections are usually 

 refused, the serum may be administered very slowly subcutaneously. 

 Friedberger and Mita have advocated the slow intravenous infusion of 

 serum a drop at a time. 



The Treatment of Serum Disease. In the majority of instances no 

 treatment is necessary. Calcium chlorid and lactate, in doses of from 

 3 to 5 grains, have been advocated as a prophylactic and as a cure, but 

 they are of doubtful utility. Soothing lotions, a brisk cathartic, and 

 sedatives are indicated, and occasionally an opiate is advisable. 



In the rare acute attacks marked by extreme dyspnea or rapid and 

 shallow breathing with rapid and feeble pulse, atropin and caffein should 

 be administered hypodermically. 



IDIOSYNCRASIES 



Studies in anaphylaxis have also offered an explanation of many, if 

 not of all, of those peculiar instances in which the inhalation of some 

 animal effluvium or of the pollen of certain plants or the ingestion of 

 certain food-stuffs and drugs is followed by a train of symptoms, among 

 which asthma and an urticarial rash are usually quite prominent. 

 Hitherto these manifestations have not been understood, and were 

 simply classed as idiosyncrasies a term that is correct if we can make it 

 mean hyper sensitiveness, for experimental investigation leaves little 

 doubt but that in these persons antibodies for the substances in question 

 are present which attack the particular protein when it gains access to 

 the body, liberating the poison responsible for the symptoms. One 

 remarkable feature of these instances of idiosyncrasy, however, is the 

 extreme hypersensitiveness of the body-cells, especially in those cases 

 where the inhalation of such infinitesimal quantities of protein as are 

 contained in the air will bring on a typical asthmatic attack in a person 

 hypersensitive to horse protein. 



Examples of idiosyncrasy are relatively common. Susceptible per- 

 sons learn to know that the ingestion of this or that substance is sure to 

 be followed by various distressing symptoms. How and when these 

 persons became hypersensitive are usually not known. In some in- 

 stances the condition is found in one or both parents and in several 

 members of the same family, making it appear to be hereditary. It is 

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