160 



TETANUS 



cent. But, in the less acute cases, there is a decided 

 improvement, from 40 per cent, to 16 per cent. 

 Taking the statistics as a whole, there is a distinct 

 improvement in the mortality of tetanus since the 

 introduction of antitoxin." 



It would be foreign to the present purpose to 

 pursue this matter further : for the other treatments, 

 used by Baccelli and by Krokiewicz, and the sub- 

 dural use of antitoxin, are also founded on experi- 

 ments on animals ; and the same will be true of 

 any better method that shall be developed out of 

 them. 



The preventive use of the tetanus-antitoxin, for 

 the immunisation of human beings or of animals, 

 has given excellent results. Horses are very apt to 

 be infected by tetanus ; and the antitoxin has been 

 used in veterinary practice, both for prevention and 

 for cure. The curative results are not, at present, 

 very good. But, as regards protection against the 

 disease, there is evidence that horses can be im- 

 munised against tetanus by the antitoxin with 

 almost mechanical accuracy. In some parts of the 

 world, the loss of horses by tetanus is so common 

 that their immunity is a very important matter ; 

 and that the antitoxin does confer immunity on 

 them is shown by statistics from France and from 

 the United States : — 



1. France. — "The results of Nocard's method 

 of preventive inoculations in veterinary practice are 

 most striking. Among 63 veterinarians, there 

 have been inoculated 2737 animals with preventive 



