166 APPLIED BACTERIOLOGY 



shoulder. A slight swelling makes its appearance, and 

 after a few days subsides again, when the operation is 

 repeated, using a larger quantity, and a slight swelling 

 may again appear; and when this has in turn subsided, 

 further injections are made, till it is possible to inject so 

 large a quantity as 200 centimetres of the toxin without 

 injury to the animal's health. 



When this point is reached, the horse is immunised 

 against the poison of the Klebs-Loffler to such a degree 

 that it could bear the injection even of living bacilli, and 

 is now ready to furnish supplies of antitoxin serum. For 

 this purpose, all that is necessary is to collect blood from 

 the animal with due antiseptic precautions, and after the 

 clot has separated to preserve the serum for use. This is 

 done by placing a sterile cannula in the jugular, and drawing 

 off the required quantities of blood into sterile glass bottles. 

 When the clot has separated, the serum is put up in small 

 stoppered bottles, or sealed up in tubes for sale. One of 

 the firms supplying this article evaporate the serum to 

 dryness, and send it out in the form of golden-yellow scales, 

 which dissolve in three or four parts of water. The injec- 

 tion of the antitoxin serum into patients is usually made 

 into the subcutaneous tissue of the flank, and if more than 

 one injection is considered desirable, they should be made 

 on opposite sides. 



Results obtained by the Treatment. — Experience has shown 

 that most benefit is obtained by injecting the remedy as 

 early as possible — that is to say, on the second or third 

 day, after which the remedy is of less value. 



In mild or very severe cases, not much advantage is 

 gained by the treatment ; hence the remedy is— at present, 

 at any rate — more adapted for use in large institutions, 

 where cases suitable for antitoxin treatment can be picked 

 out, than in private practice. 



