ANTl-STRBPTOCOCCIC SERUM 135 



able period of time. The blood serum is standardised 

 against the ' exalted ' organisms from time to time, until a 

 sufficiently high antimicrobic power is developed. 



Bokenham has also prepared a similar serum by culti- 

 vating the streptococci in the first instance in a mixture of 

 broth and human blood serum. Horses and asses were 

 inoculated, and a considerable degree of immunity was 

 established. 



This antistreptococcic serum has been used with a very 

 considerable degree of success in erysipelas, puerperal 

 fever, and other cases of streptococcic infection in the 

 human subject. 



This serum is a true example of an antimicrobic serum, 

 in contradistinction to an antitoxic serum. It possesses 

 but little or no power of protection against the toxins of 

 B. streptococcus. 



Anti-typhoid, anti-cholera, anti-plague, anti-pneumococcic: 

 sera have been prepared in an analogous manner to the; 

 above ; an account of these will be found under theset 

 respective diseases. 



Antivenomous Serum.— Although snake venom has no rela- 

 tion to bacterial toxins, it is important that a short account 

 of antivenomous serum should be given here, more particu- 

 larly as this important discovery is the direct outcome of 

 the application of bacterial methods. The importance of 

 this discovery, due to the researches of Drs. Calmette and 

 Fraser upon snake venom, may be estimated when it is 

 stated that in British India alone nearly 23,000 individuals 

 are killed yearly as the result of cobra bites. 



The difficulty in the past has been to obtain sufficient 

 quantity of the venom for scientific investigation, owing to 

 the fact that the venom glands of the full-grown cobra 

 only contain about 1 c.c. of the liquid venom. But while 

 in charge of the Bacteriological Institute at Saigon, Cochin 



