STREPTOCOCCIC INFECTION 159 



that the filtrate, in doses of 5 c.c. intravenously, killed rabbits, but the 

 poison was not destroyed by boiling and, therefore, could not have 

 been a toxin. Moreover, the poison from egg white is quite as potent 

 as this. The poison in the streptococcus is that common to all proteins 

 and it is probable that when it is isolated the yield from the protein 

 substance of this organism will be less than the average from proteins 

 in general. In other words, the streptococcus is probably not rich in 

 poison. If it were otherwise, recoveries from streptococcic infection 

 would be less rare than they are. It is true that immune sera have 

 been prepared, their protective value demonstrated on animals and 

 their beneficial effects in man shown, but they do not act like anti- 

 toxins. They do not fulfil the law of multiple proportions. Their 

 beneficial effects, so far as they have any, are due to favoring phago- 

 cytosis and not to neutralizing a toxin. The immune sera are 

 obtained by treating animals with strains the virulence of which has 

 been greatly increased by passage through animals, and while certain 

 amounts of the serum are protective against certain doses of the 

 culture, when the latter remains small, multiple amounts of the serum 

 fail to protect against like amounts of the culture. Much credit is due 

 Marmorek, Tavel, Aronson, Menzer and others for the most careful 

 and scientific work in attempts to prepare curative sera against 

 streptococcic infection. Success in this would bring to medicine a 

 great triumph and to humanity a greater blessing, but it must be 

 admitted that, up to the present time, the problem remains without 

 practical solution, and prevention rather than cure must demand our 

 best efforts. 



