ANTITUBERCULOSI8 SERUM. 609 



antitoxic and other antibodies are said to be 

 formed. 



The unusual claim is made by Maragliano that 

 his antituberculosis serum is effective in the treat- 

 ment of human tuberculosis not only because of its 

 own properties, but because it causes the tissues to 

 form additional antibodies. It is difficult to take 

 the latter claim seriously, since it is not in accord 

 with the laws of antibody formation as we under- 

 stand them at the present time. However, favor- 

 able reports of the value of the serum have been 

 published principally from Italian sources. It is 

 claimed that the serum manifests its curative pow- 

 ers and causes an increase in specific antibodies 

 when given per os. 



Maragliano also advocates a method of mixed Mixed immt 



.... . , . , ization and 



active and passive immunization in man, in which vaccination 

 1 c.c. of serum is given subcutaneously every sec- 

 ond day for twenty days; for a second period the 

 same quantity of serum is given, but supplemented 

 by increasing amounts of the toxic extract of 

 bacilli; and for a third period the toxic extract 

 is injected in increasing doses during from three 

 to four months. 



The same authority thinks that it may be 

 possible to vaccinate against tuberculosis by a 

 single subcutaneous injection of a vaccine (killed 

 bacilli?). He states that in both man and animals 

 antibodies are formed in the serum following the 

 vaccination, and that in animals their resistance to 

 infections with living bacilli is increased. Mar- 

 morek asserts that killed tubercle bacilli which 

 have been treated with his antitoxic serum are 

 readily absorbed from the subcutaneous tissue, and 

 proposes the use of such bacilli as a vaccine. 



