702 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 934 



The immune serum has thus far acted 

 best when it was injected into the subdural 

 space on several successive days. This is in 

 conformity with the fact that however in- 

 troduced into the body the virus establishes 

 itself in communication with the cerebro- 

 spinal liquid where it propagates for a 

 time. Later the virus localizes in the ner- 

 vous tissue itself and becomes accessible 

 not from this liquid only but, probably, 

 from the general blood also. The serum 

 introduced into the subdural space soon es- 

 capes into the blood ; and thus a double ac- 

 tion is secured : on the one hand, it reaches 

 the nervous tissue directly from the cere- 

 brospinal liquid, and on the other indi- 

 rectly with the blood. An immune horse 

 serum at first gave disappointing results 

 but latterly its employment by intramus- 

 cular injection has given more promise. 

 But none of the sera mentioned can be 

 regarded as having more than touched the 

 fringe of the problem of a cure for the dis- 

 ease. 



Such brilliant success has been recently 

 recorded in respect to the specific chemical 

 therapeutics of infection that an effort has 

 been and still is being made to attack the 

 problem from this quarter. Here also only 

 a starting point has been secured and the 

 subject merely opened to further experi- 

 mentation. The point of departure, which 

 we have adopted, is the drug hexamethyl- 

 enamin (urotropin) which possesses a de- 

 gree of antiseptic action in the body and 

 is known to be secreted into the cerebro- 

 spinal liquid. When the drug is adminis- 

 tered by mouth it can be detected by chem- 

 ical tests in the liquid in a short time. 

 When inoculation of virus and administra- 

 tion of the drug are begun together and 

 the administration continued for some days 

 afterward, the development of the paralysis 

 is sometimes but not always averted. 

 Hexamethylenamin lends itself to modifi- 



cations by the addition of still other anti- 

 septic groups to its molecule. We have 

 tested a large number of such modifica- 

 tions and have found certain ones to ex- 

 ceed the original compound in protective 

 power, and others to promote the onset of 

 paralysis. This is the common story of 

 drugs. None are wholly without some 

 degree of injurious action upon the sensi- 

 tive and vital organs of the body. But 

 manipulative skill has already succeeded in 

 eliminating the objectionable and improv- 

 ing the valuable features of certain drugs 

 so that they exert their action but little 

 upon the organs and severely upon the 

 parasites when they become useful as thera- 

 peutic agents. This process may be called 

 sundering the organotropic and parasito- 

 tropic effects. Whether this can be suc- 

 cessfully accomplished with this class of 

 compounds can not be predicted. But if 

 not, the quest will be transferred to still 

 other drugs. When it is accomplished the 

 victory will be won. By whom will the 

 victory be won, and when? Ours is the 

 office of story-teller and not the vision of 

 the prophet! 



In giving Huxley to science the Charing 

 Cross Hospital School of Medicine con- 

 ferred a great benefit upon the world. In 

 imbuing him with the ideals of biological 

 science it performed an especial service for 

 America. For in 1876 Huxley journeyed 

 to Baltimore to deliver the address at the 

 formal opening of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, at which time he outlined in es- 

 sence the plan of medical education which, 

 twenty years later, was adopted and put 

 into practise at the Johns Hopkins Medical 

 School. The example of this wise founda- 

 tion, inspired by Huxley, has acted far 

 and wide throughout the United States as 

 a regenerating force upon medical educa- 

 tion. Simon Flexnee 



