﻿292 STRONG. 



the cellular tissue is very slow and that by the intravenous inoculation the 

 organism may be saturated with the antitoxin immediately and by a 

 smaller dose than it could be if used subcutaneously. Dujardin-Beau- 

 metz 97 further remarks that in cases where the pest bacilli appear early in 

 the general circulation, there are additional advantages for the intravenous 

 inoculation of serum. In my opinion in cases where plague bacilli are 

 already circulating in the blood there is little hope of a successful result 

 with the serum, either in man or animals. The treatment of cholera with 

 intravenous inoculations of the "antitoxic cholera serum" of Brau and 

 Denier so far has not been very successful, apparently because the serum 

 does not evidence sufficient antitoxic action. In plague immune serum 

 also, no matter by what method it is prepared, as has been demonstrated, 

 we are not able to obtain any antitoxic action of value and so, for the same 

 reason, we perhaps may not be justified in the hope of obtaining in plague 

 any different results from the intravenous than from the subcutaneous inoc- 

 ulation of the serum, other than those which, as the French authors have 

 suggested, would result from its more rapid absorption. By the intra- 

 peritoneal inoculation, as suggested by Dujardin-Beaumetz and others, 

 a rapid absorption of the serum may also be secured. The cases of plague 

 in which serum therapy will accomplish the best results are those where 

 the infection is still confined to certain of the lymph channels. There 

 is no doubt of the great prophylactic value of plague immune serum but, 

 as was mentioned in Chapter IV, the passive immunity conferred by 

 it disappears after a few days. 



97 Loc. dt., p. 481. 



