MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES 213 



as that of turpentine injections might be more satisfactory because 

 the effect is prolonged over a considerable period of time. 



Sterling has reported the use of nonspecific vegetable proteins in 

 asthma ; a number of observers have reported satisfactory results with 

 endocrine glands of various types ovarian substance (Fishberg), 

 pituitrin (Bensaude and Hallion, Zueblin), as well as with normal 

 horse serum (Zener) and the various antitoxins diphtheria and 

 tetanus. Danysz has discussed the general theory of antianaphylaxis 

 or desensitization in a recent paper in connection with related dis- 

 eases due to manifestations of hypersensitization in the skin and 

 gastro-intestinal tract. 



The indiscriminate use of sera of various kinds in asthmatics is a 

 practice that should be discouraged because a number of deaths have 

 been reported as a result of such injections. (Boughton.) It must 

 be borne in mind that in this condition we are dealing with a patient 

 highly sensitive to protein shock and great care should be exercised. 



ANGIONEUROTIC EDEMA 



Schulmann relates that discovery of a transient phase of 

 hemolysis, the crise hemoclasique, in a number of cases of 

 Quincke's disease has confirmed its analogy with other affec- 

 tions in which anaphylaxis is a factor, and treatment on this assump- 

 tion is proving successful. He applies it in the form of autohemo- 

 therapy, drawing 2 c.c. of blood into a syringe from a vein at the bend 

 of the elbow, and he reinjects the blood into the neighboring sub- 

 cutaneous tissue, merely drawing the needle out of the vein and point- 

 ing the tip in another direction in the tissues of the arm. He has made 

 hundreds of these injections and never had a mishap, but the desensi- 

 tization may take up to two months, although there is relief almost 

 from the first. Three typical cases are described; one woman of 31 

 had been subject to attacks of angioneurotic edema since before 

 puberty, returning at different points and lately becoming more fre- 

 quent and lasting for three or four days. She was given three in- 

 jections a week and by the end of the third month the tendency seemed 

 to have been arrested. She returns every three or four months to 

 have a few injections of the kind made. In another case the attacks 

 had been recurring every two or three days during the six months 

 following a childbirth, and they were accompanied with headache and 

 urticaria. There has been no recurrence during the year since the 

 course of thirty-five injections. 



SECONDARY ANEMIA 



A number of observers claim to have obtained satisfactory stimu- 

 lation of the hematopoietic system following nonspecific injection, 



