86 ESSAYS ON BACTERIOLOGY. 



in such matters, together with his equally known 

 shrewdness as an observer, have therefore given much 

 weight to his favorable judgment of the treatment. 

 Theorizing, he says, must give way to fhe brute force 

 of these facts. 



All of the experiments upon animals show that the 

 prophylactic powers of antitoxic serums is their great- 

 est; that here their power is practically absolute; that 

 their curative power, also practically absolute in te- 

 tanus and diphtheria, is only absolute when applied 

 early in the course of the infection; that the quantity 

 of antitoxin necessary for prophylaxis or cure corre- 

 sponds to the quantity of toxin to be antagonized, and 

 finally, clinically considered, the longer the infection 

 has run and the more pronounced its character, the 

 larger is the dose of antitoxin necessary for cure. 



Many questions have, of course, been raised as to 

 the limitations of the serum treatment and its possible 

 immediate or- remote dangers. These questions will 

 require for their solution painstaking, accurate and 

 unprejudiced study, and we may be sure that the in- 

 exorable logic of time will give us the answer. 



We have now passed through the period of acute^ 

 intense interest- A world-wide experience with the 

 treatment has furnished the foundation for the neces- 

 sary debate over the meaning and plan and value and 

 limitations of the therapeutic revolution which seems 

 upon us. We are now ready to settle down to a ju- 

 dicial frame of mind, to watch calmly the develop- 



