IMMUNITY. 



the curative serum acts, to say the least, in the 

 same manner as any foreign, active, ferment- 

 like substance introduced into the blood and 

 is not absolutely innocuous. There is serious 

 disappointment in store for us if we do not 

 succeed in ridding ourselves at once of the fal- 

 lacy regarding the absolute harmlessness of 

 the antitoxin. With the best intentions in 

 the world it is impossible to understand what 

 is the aim of such glorifications as those with 

 which this remedy has been greeted and which 

 remind us of the puffs of patent medicine, for 

 the simple facts prove that the claims made 

 are not justified. On the other hand, it is a 

 question that is certainly open to discussion 

 whether or not the employment of the serum 

 upon man may still be recommended in the 

 face of this real danger, for the risk may be 

 considered as overbalanced by the benefits ob- 

 tained in other respects. We may reasonably 

 hope that if the chief danger, the infection 

 with the specific disease germ and consequent 

 poisoning with its toxin, be avoided through 

 the agency of the serum, nature will easily 

 dispose of the lesser accessory dangers. 

 Looked at in this way, indeed, danger from 

 the use of the tetanus and diphtheria sera does 

 not seem to me to be great. 



The tetanus serum, first used upon man by 



