SERUM SICKNESS 145 



The Concentration and Purification of Antitoxic 

 Sera. Since the development of serum rashes and 

 other disagreeable symptoms is largely associated 

 with the serum as serum, it was natural that at- 

 tempts should be made to concentrate the serum as 

 much as possible. This was sought to be accom- 

 plished in two ways, (i ) by causing the production 

 by the horses of a high grade serum, (2 ) by separating 

 the non-antitoxic from the antitoxic fractions of the 

 serum. Without going into details, we may say 

 that the average grade of antitoxin at present pro- 

 duced is from five to ten times stronger than the 

 early Behring sera. We have, however, in that 

 time also markedly increased the number of units 

 ordinarily given per dose, so that the volume of 

 serum is still considerable. So far as the separa- 

 tion of the antitoxic and non-antitoxic fraction is 

 concerned we have already referred to the great 

 advance made by Gibson l in the practical concen- 

 tration and purification of diphtheria antitoxin. 

 It remains here to consider what clinical results 

 have been achieved with this globulin preparation. 

 In a recent study of this question Park and Throne 2 

 conclude that " the removal of a considerable 

 portion of the non-antitoxic globulins, as well as 

 all the albumins from the serum by the Gibson 

 method has eliminated much of the deleterious 



1 See page 18. 



* Park and Throne, Am, Journ, of the Med. Sciences, 1906. 



