230 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Anti- Anthrax Serum. * — M. E. Marchoux records a large number of 
experiments made with anti-anthrax serum, and finds that the serum of 
animals (rabbits and sheep) which have become habituated to strong 
doses of anthrax cultures in bouillon, acquires a special property ; it 
indisputably possesses preventive and curative properties. After the 
injection of the serum a transient phagocytic reaction, ending in destruc- 
tion of the bacteria, may be observed. This anti-anthrax serum does not 
act after the manner of a vaccine ; its protective action is established 
quickly, and is as quickly lost. It appears to act as a stimulant to the 
white corpuscles of the blood, it increases their mobility, and hence its 
protective and curative action is indirect and due to phagocytosis. 
The serum is obtained in the usual way, namely, by accustoming 
animals (sheep and rabbits) to increasing doses of an attenuated virus, 
so that eventually they can support considerable quantities of virulent 
cultures. The serum was found to be most efficacious at a period of from 
fifteen days to three weeks after infection, and its activity was required 
to be at least 1000. Once obtained, the serum retained its power very 
well ; for at the end of two months its activity was not diminished. 
Antistreptococcous Serum, j — Dr. A. Marmorek gives an analysis of 
96 cases of scarlet fever treated with antistreptococcous serum having a 
preventive power of 30,000. In all these cases Streptococcus was present 
either alone or in company with other microbes. In seventeen cases the 
bacillus of Loeffler was found ; of these, four died from diphtheritic 
intoxication. Only one purely scarlet fever case was lost. 
All the children received 10 ccm. of serum, and if the case was severe 
double that quantity. The injections were repeated daily until the 
temperature fell: one or two injections were usually sufficient. If, 
however, the lymphatic glands enlarged or albumen appeared in the 
urine, the injections were continued until the bubos subsided and the 
albumen disappeared. 
It is inferred that scarlet fever is not caused by the Streptococcus 
known to us ; for when a rise of temperature is due to the action of this 
microbe, it ceases after injection of the serum ; while the fever from 
the scarlatinal virus continues and the eruption pursues its ordinary 
course. 
Effect of Injection of Solutions of Common Salt and of Anti- 
Diphtheritic Serum 4 — Dr. Axel Johannessen has performed a series of 
experiments to determine the truth of the statement that anti-diphtheritic 
serum is dangerous in the case of tuberculous children. The injections 
were performed on children and nurses, and consisted in the first place 
of a 0*79 solution of common salt, and in the second of 5-20 ccm. of 
Koux’s serum injected subcutaneously. The salt solution produced no 
very definite effect in either tuberculous or non-tuberculous cases ; the 
serum, especially in adults, produced very marked effects, among which 
were rise of temperature, development of erythema, pain and swelling of 
the joints; but there was no distinct difference between tuberculous and 
non-tuberculous patients. 
* Ann. Inst. Pasteur, ix. (1895) pp. 785-810. 
t Op. cit., x. (1896) pp. 47-50. 
t Biol. Centralbl., xv. (1995) pp. 647-9. 
