262 PHAGOCYTOSIS— OPSONINS 



ate neighborhood are much stimulated, hence the introduc- 

 tion of a vaccine calls to their aid cells in the body gener- 

 ally, and much more of the resulting antibodies are carried 

 to the lesion in question. Manifestly surgical procedures 

 such as incision, drainage, washing away of dead and ne- 

 crotic tissue with normal saline, solution, not necessarily 

 antiseptics, will aid the antibodies in their action and are to 

 be recommended where indicated. 



In the practical application of any remedy the dosage is 

 most important. . Unfortunately there is no accurate method 

 of determining this with a vaccine. Wright recommended 

 determining the number of the organisms per c.c. as before 

 mentioned, and his method or some modification of it is still 

 in general use. From what was said with regard to varia- 

 tion, both in organisms and in individuals, it can be seen that 

 the number of organisms is at least only a very rough guide. 

 This is further illustrated by the doses of micrococcus 

 (staphylococcus) vaccines recommended by different writers, 

 which vary from 50,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 per c.c. The 

 author is decidedly of the opinion that there is no way of 

 determining the dosage of a vaccine in the treatment of any 

 given case except by the result of the first dose. Hence it is 

 his practice to make vaccines of a particular organism of 

 the same approximate strength, and to give a dose of a 

 measured portion of a cubic centimeter, judging the amount 

 by what the individual or animal can apparently withstand, 

 without too violent a reaction. If there is no local or gen- 

 eral reaction or if it is very slight and there is no effect on 

 the lesion, the dose is too small. If there is a violent local reac- 

 tion with severe constitutional symptoms clinically, and the 

 lesion appears worse, the dose is too large. There should 

 be some local reaction and some genetal, but not enough to 

 cause more than a slight disturbance, easy to judge in human 

 subjects, more difficult in animals. In cases suitable for 

 vaccine treatment no serious results should follow from a 

 properly prepared vaccine, though the process of healing 

 may be delayed temporarily. Wright claimed, and many 

 have substantiated him, that always following a vaccination 

 there is a period when the resistance of the animal is dimin- 

 ished. This is called the "negative phase," and Wright 



