776 SERUM THERAPY 



50 c.c. in ampules with the addition of 5 drops of 5 per cent, phenol, and 

 kept on ice. 



Teissier 1 has had favorable results from the subcutaneous and in- 

 travenous administration of serum from smallpox convalescents in the 

 treatment of severe and hemorrhagic smallpox. The injections must be 

 given early in the disease. Improvement in the general symptoms, 

 diminished suppuration, and consequent lessened scar formation are 

 some of the good effects ascribed to this treatment. 



Favorable results have also been observed in the treatment of lep- 

 rosy with injections of serum secured by raising a blister with cantharides. 

 Similar reports have been made by Jez 2 in the treatment of erysipelas, 

 and by Mordinos 3 in that of typhoid fever, influenza, and Malta fever. 

 Other observers have also reported good results following the injection 

 of from 5 to 10 c.c. of the patient's serum in the treatment of gonorrheal 

 arthritis, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and other infections. Robertson 4 

 states that he has never observed the slightest influence of autoserum 

 injections in the treatment of typhoid fever and pneumonia. 



AUTOSERUM (SALVARSANIZED) IN THE TREATMENT OF SYPHILIS OF THE BRAIN 



AND SPINAL CORD 



The treatment of syphilis of the central nervous system has always 

 been unsatisfactory. With the discovery of salvarsan and neosalvarsan, 

 the hope was fostered that these remedies would prove of therapeutic 

 value in the treatment of tabes dorsalis, paresis, and cerebrospinal 

 syphilis. Experience has shown, however, that while the progress of 

 tabes dorsalis may be arrested in the early stages by vigorous treatment, 

 in paresis the prognosis is much less hopeful. As these diseases are now 

 known to be truly syphilitic, the presence of Treponema pallidum having 

 been actually demonstrated in the cerebral cortex, spinal cord, and 

 cerebrospinal fluid by Noguchi and Moore, Nichols, Graves, Marie, 

 Levaditi, and others, the cause for failure in the treatment of these in- 

 fections must be ascribed largely to the fact that the choroid plexus 

 filters out salvarsan and mercury, as well as antibodies, and prevents 

 these remedies from reaching the cerebrospinal fluid, just as it prevents 

 the entrance of serum, albumin, sugar, urea, ammonia, etc. Although 

 there can be no doubt as to the spirocheticidal properties of salvarsan, 

 and as to its ability to kill the treponema in the tissues, this much-desired 

 action does not seem to occur mainly because the drug cannot gain ac- 



1 Quoted in Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1913, Ix, 380. 



2 Wien. klin. Wochenschr., August 31, 1901. 



3 La Presse MSdicale, 1911, xix, No. 96, 1009. Personal communication. 



