SAFEGUARDS OF THE BODY 143 



in a similar way in the presence of other 'poisons. 

 Thus certain poisonous vegetable extracts and the 

 venom of snakes may be used to secure artificial im- 

 munity in the horse, with the development of antitoxin. 

 In countries where venomous reptiles abound the loss 

 of life from their bites is sometimes very great; for 

 example, in India, where the great cobra slays many 

 victims. An antitoxin for snake poison is now made 

 which is most effective against the bites of the cobra 

 and several other venomous serpents. It is called 

 antivenin. Its efficiency for rattlesnake bites has been 

 claimed, but recent studies have thrown some doubt 

 upon this point. 



Of course as soon as this remarkable diphtheria 

 antitoxin was discovered the eager workers in the 

 field of preventive medicine at once concluded that we 

 were at the dawn of a new day. For if we can so 

 effectively control the ravages of diphtheria, why not 

 of the other bacterial diseases? So everybody set to 

 work to discovfir new antitoxic sera of pneumonia, 

 tuberculosis, plague, typhoid fever, cholera and vari- 

 ous forms of blood poisoning, 'the bacterial excitants 

 of which were already known. 



But, unfortunately, these efforts, pursued with the 

 utmost zeal and persistence the world over, have thus 

 far met with very little success. Antitoxic sera for 

 tetanus, or lockjaw, and for some forms of blood 

 poisoning, have seemed to be measurably useful. But, 

 for the most part, the attempts have failed, except in 



