128 MODERN BIOLOGIC THERAPEUSIS 



therapy in this condition, and with a sufficient 

 percentage of success to encourage them in its 

 continuance, is steadily increasing. Therefore, 

 the report of Dr. A. C Burnham (Annals of 

 Surgery, May, 1914) is particularly timely and 

 of special importance since it deals with 111 con- 

 secutive cases of severe infection, collected from 

 the records of the Presbyterian Hospital, New 

 York City, in which either the course and symp- 

 toms were those of septicemia or in which cul- 

 tures showed the presence of bacteria in the cir- 

 culating blood. These cases occurred between 

 1905 and 1913 and represent not the therapy of 

 one physician, but rather the treatment of a 

 group of physicians and surgeons on the vari- 

 ous services of a general hospital. 



Burnham points out that septicemia with true 

 bacteriemia, though a disease of exceedingly 

 high mortality especially in the type associ- 

 ated with malignant endocarditis and in term- 

 inal infections is in many cases amenable to 

 treatment. He states that the results were es- 

 pecially favorable when Antistreptococcus 

 Serum was given early. The reports of cases 

 of true bacteriemia were especially favorable 

 and indicate the value of this serum in severe 



