624 THE PYOGENIC STAPHYLOCOCCI 



to treat and the vaccine prepared according to the method described for 

 the preparation of streptococcal vaccines (p. 605). A carbolic vaccine appears 

 to give better results than an heated vaccine and the emulsion should be of 

 such an opacity that quarter-inch type can be read through it when contained 

 in a 6 X f in. tube. If a thicker emulsion be made the organisms may survive 

 the action of the carbolic acid for several days. 



[For the treatment of staphylococcal infections an initial dose of 250 X 10 6 

 organisms may be inoculated and the dose repeated at intervals of five to 

 seven days. If necessary the dose may be increased as the treatment 

 proceeds but care must be taken that too large a dose be not inoculated 

 otherwise the beneficial results will not be obtained.] 



5. Serum therapy. 



About this branch of the subject there is still much to learn. The experi- 

 ments are few in number and have not infrequently yielded contradictory 

 results. 



Mosny and Marcano failed in their attempts to vaccinate rabbits by inocu- 

 lating them with small doses of an active toxin. 



According to Courmont only toxins soluble in alcohol possess vaccinating 

 properties ; the substances precipitated by alcohol on the other hand pre- 

 dispose to infection. By injecting the soluble toxin prepared by the methods 

 described above, Courmont has been able to obtain some degree of 

 immunity. The serum of animals so treated appears to attenuate the viru- 

 lence of the staphylococcus. Control experiments by Tavel have failed to 

 confirm the researches of Courmont. 



Viquerat and Kosc, and Parascandolo obtained a serum which is both 

 prophylactic and therapeutic. This serum, prepared by inoculating into 

 animals virulent cultures in sugar broth which have been sterilized by the 

 addition of 5 per cent, of carbolic acid, is said to be both antitoxic and 

 bactericidal. 



Capman inoculated rabbits and dogs with a filtered culture of a staphy- 

 lococcus grown in 1 per cent, peptone broth and incubated at 37 C. for 3 

 weeks. After several injections of toxin the animal was left alone for a fort- 

 night or 3 weeks and then bled. This blood was both bactericidal and 

 antitoxic, and inoculated into guinea-pigs and rabbits protected them from 

 and even cured them of a staphylococcal infection. 



Paltchikowsky immunized a horse with repeated sub-cutaneous inocula- 

 tions of a culture of the Staphylococcus aureus, and obtained a serum which 

 when injected sub-cutaneously protected the animal against twice the fatal 

 dose of staphylococci injected into the veins. 



According to Proscher only the inoculation of living staphylococci leads 

 to the production of an active antistaphylococcal serum. Proscher inocu- 

 lated goats and horses with a very virulent staphylococcus recovered from a 

 boil on the lip. A goat which in the space of a month was inoculated with 

 7 agar cultures and 30 broth cultures of this staphylococcus yielded a serum 

 of which 1-3 c.c. inoculated under the skin protected rabbits against five 

 times the fatal dose of the virus inoculated into the veins. 



6. Agglutination. 



Kolb and Otto prepared a serum possessing marked agglutinating pro- 

 perties. This serum (prepared with a staphylococcus isolated from the 

 human subject) has powerful agglutinating properties for the Staphylococcus 

 pyogenes but is without any action on saprophytic non-pathogenic staphy- 

 lococci (this test may be applied in the identification of the organism). 



