92 MODERN BIOLOGIC THERAPEUSIS 



travenous injections, yet, after eight hours, the 

 concentration appears to fall; while with in- 

 tramuscular injections, after eight hours, the 

 antitoxin content of the blood is nearly as great 

 as immediately after intravenous injection. 



Value of Intramuscular Injections Rolleston 

 and Macleod (British Journal Children's Dis- 

 eases, July, 1914) believe that intramuscular in- 

 jections deserve to supercede all other methods 

 of administration of antitoxin in the treatment 

 of diphtheria for the following reasons: (1) 

 It is quite as simple as the subcutaneous method, 

 insures much more rapid absorption, and is less 

 painful; (2) it is superior to the intravenous 

 method, not only in the great simplicity of its 

 technic, but also in the less rapid excretion of 

 antitoxin after injection; (3) the more rapid ab- 

 sorption of antitoxin by the intramuscular route 

 is shown, not by the effect on the faucial or 

 laryngeal process but by the lesser incidence of 

 paralysis. 



Futility of Subcutaneous Route A subcu- 

 taneous injection is not wholly absorbed for 

 three days; the water holding the antitoxin in 

 solution is quickly absorbed, but the antitoxin 



