VACCINE-THERAPY 93 



are identical, and the curative treatment is the same in 

 each case. 



The immunizer may be called in to see a case at a stage 

 when there is a considerable accumulation of pus, and by- 

 reason of the situation the purulent matter digests the 

 adjacent healthy structures, burrowing deeply — involving- 

 vital parts, in the case of poll-evil, the spinal cord and the 

 spinal vertebras — and often showing no disposition to burst. 

 In this condition one finds a considerable unilateral or 

 bilateral swelling, slightly painful, and hot, and it may be 

 fluctuating or tensely hard. In such a condition vaccine- 

 therapy would be of little or of no use, and the reason is 

 not far to seek. To obtain the full benefit, the antibodies 

 of the blood must gain access to the focus of infection, and 

 where there is a considerable internal pressure through 

 excessive purulent accumulation the infiltration of lymph is 

 dammed back. The blood itself may be very rich in the 

 necessary bactericidal elements, and yet the tissue cells 

 may be dying from nothing short of bacterial intoxication 

 consequent upon auto-bactericidal starvation. 



To correct this condition, the pus should be evacuated 

 from the cavity at once, when the curative lymph will 

 flow freely through the diseased area. 



If this fails, we must look for other causes. The lymph 

 going to the parts may coagulate too freely, depositing 

 itself upon the cavity wall and adjacent tissues as a 

 coagulum, and thus acting as a barrier to osmosis. To 

 remedy this, flush the cavity with a solution of citrate of 

 soda, and give internally ounce doses every five hours of 

 citric acid until a free flow is established. 



Again, the blood itself may be so thick and tenacious as 

 to undergo too rapid and easy coagulation. 



Or again, if the case is one of long standing, the abscess 

 walls may be so thickened and indurated by the deposit of 

 lymph, etc., that no fresh healing lymph can pass through. 

 This must be removed by the free use of the curette. 



And, lastly, the bactericidal elements of the blood itself 



