AUTOSERUM THERAPY 



783 



effect in retarding the growth of cancer in mice, and while in a small per- 

 centage of cases large doses of ascitic fluid of cancerous origin may re- 

 lieve pain and retard the growth of the cancer for from one to five 

 months, no permanent effects, either preventing or checking the dis- 

 ease, were apparent. 



Leavy and Hastings 1 and Carter 2 have drawn attention to the ap- 

 parent improvement in marasmic infants following the daily injection, 

 for a number of doses, of an ounce of sterile ascitic fluid (the result of 

 cardiac or renal disease) into the subcutaneous tissues of the gluteal 

 region or abdominal wall. As these fluids are non-toxic, reinjection is a 

 justifiable procedure after the fluids have been subjected to the Wasser- 

 mann reaction and to careful cultural and animal injection tests to prove 

 their sterility. 



1 Bost. Med. and Surg. Jour., 1910, clxiii, 293. 



2 Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1911, cxlii, 241. 



