SERUM THERAPY 79 



less than 10 per cent. The conclusions arrived 

 at by Biggs and Grugard, after a review of a 

 large amount of the statistics and opinions 

 published since the beginning of antitoxin 

 treatment in 1893, were as follows : "It mat- 

 ters not from what point of view the subject is 

 regarded, if the evidence now at hand is prop- 

 erly weighed before one conclusion is or can be 

 reached whether we consider the percentage 

 of mortality from diphtheria and croup in 

 cities as a whole, or in hospitals or in private 

 practice; or whether we take the absolute mor- 

 tality for all the cities of Germany whose pop- 

 ulation is over 15,000, and all the cities of 

 France whose population is over 20,000; or the 

 absolute mortality for New York City or for 

 the great hospitals in France, Germany and 

 Austria; or whether we consider the question 

 with the relation to the day on which treatment 

 of the disease is commenced, or the age of the 

 patient treated; it matters not how the subject 

 is regarded, or how it is turned for the purpose 

 of comparison with previous results, the con- 

 clusion reached is always the same namely, 

 there has been an average reduction of mortal- 

 ity from the use of antitoxin in the treatment 



