854 
VERANUS A. MOORE. 
in the production of disease or secondary invaders possessing 
more or less septic power. This being the case, the advocates 
of the general use of any of these serums imply that the anti¬ 
toxin of one streptococcus will immunize against or cure ani¬ 
mals infected either with the same or with any other species or 
variety of this genus of bacteria. 
In 1897 Van de Velde* in a very exhaustive series of ex¬ 
periments showed that one streptococcus antitoxin will not 
immunize against another save to a very slight degree. 
The statements of Sir Richard Douglass Powellf in his 
recent address before the British Medical Association are wor¬ 
thy of consideration in this connection. In pointing out the 
value of antistreptococcic serum in human practice he urged 
the recognition of the real organisms to be combatted : u From 
the clinical side,” he states, u one would judge there to be very 
frequently more than one poison in association. This is cer¬ 
tainly the case in many diseases. We must push our diagno¬ 
sis further to include a recognition of the precise organism or 
organisms which have obtained lodgment in any case.” 
The evidence before us in numbers of reports of the re¬ 
sults of the use of this serum in human practice shows that 
in certain instances its effects .have been almost miraculous 
in their restorative power, but in others entirely useless. The 
report J of the committee appointed by the American Gynaeco¬ 
logical Society to investigate the value of antistreptococci serum 
in the treatment of puerperal infections contains this statement: 
“ Experimental work has cast grave doubts upon the efficiency 
of anti-streptococci serum in clinical work by showing that a 
serum which is obtained from a given streptococcus may protect 
an animal from that organism but may be absolutely inefficient 
against another streptococcus and that the number of serums 
which may be prepared is limited only by the number and 
* Archives de Medecine Experimentale, Tome IX. (1897), p. 833. 
f Philadephia Medical Journal, Aug. 19, 1899. 
J The American Journal of Obstetrics , September, 1899. Reviewed in Lancet , 
Nov. 18, 1899. 
