The Antitoxins 131 



1. Diphtheria Antitoxin. This was first utilized for prac- 

 tical therapeutic purposes by Behring.* An account of the 

 method utilized for securing it in utilizable quantities will 

 be found in the chapter upon diphtheria. As usually pre- 

 pared by the administration of the toxin, it is essentially 

 an antitoxin and has no destructive action upon the diph- 

 theria bacilli. In therapeutics it is employed to neutralize 

 or "fix" the toxin circulating in the blood, not to destroy 

 the bacilli, or to effect the regeneration of the tissues 

 injuriously acted upon by the toxin. Martin is of the opinion 

 that such purely antitoxic serums are inferior to those con- 

 taining other immunity products, such as bacteriolysins, 

 and recommends that the whole culture instead of the filtered 

 culture be used in the immunization of the animal. If 

 this is done, the bacteriolytic effect is added to the antitoxic 

 effects of the serum. 



The serum may be used to prevent or to cure diphtheria 

 (see chapter on Diphtheria). 



2. Tetanus antitoxin was first prepared by Behring and 

 Kitasato.f It can be employed for the prevention or cure of 

 tetanus. For the former purpose, hypodermic injections of the 

 serum may be given in cases with suspicious wounds, or the 

 wounds may be dusted with a powder made by pulverizing 

 the dried serum. For treatment the serum must be admin- 

 istered in frequently repeated large doses by hypodermic or 

 intravenous injection. The results are less brilliant than 

 those attained with diphtheria antitoxin because of the avid- 

 ity with which the cells of the central nervous system take 

 up the tetanus toxin, and the firmness of the union formed. 

 An analysis of a great number of cases has, however, 

 shown that the recoveries following the free administra- 

 tion of the serum exceed the recoveries effected by other 

 methods of treatment by about 40 per cent, (see chapter 

 upon Tetanus). 



3. Antivenene or Anti -venomous Serum. This was dis- 

 covered by Phisalix and Bertrand J and made practical 

 for therapeutic purposes by Calmette. Calmette found 

 that cobra venom contained two principles, one of which, 

 labile in nature and readily destroyed by heat, was destruc- 



* " Die Blutserumtherapie," Berlin, 1902. 



t "Deutsche med. Wochenschrift," 1890, No. 49. 



J"Compt. rendu de 1'Acad. des Sciences de Paris," Feb. 5, 1894, 

 Tome cxvin, p. 356. 



"Compt. rendu de la Soc. de Biol. de Paris," 10 Series, Tome I, 

 p. 120, Feb. 10, 1904. 



