Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Nov.,  1918.  J 
Biological  Products. 
761 
as  bacterial  vaccines  or  bacterins,  consisting  of  suspensions  of  killed 
bacteria  in  physiological  saline  solution;  and,  when  injected,  they 
stimulate  the  mechanism  of  immunity  to  produce  sufficient  anti- 
bodies to  ward  off  attacks  of  these  organisms. 
Bacterial  vaccines  or  bacterins  are  by  far  the  most  numerous  of 
the  bacteriological  products  on  the  market  and  their  use  is  being 
attended  with  considerable  success.  Prophylaxis  against  typhoid 
infection,  respiratory  infections  such  as  common  colds,  meningitis, 
whooping  cough,  etc.,  is  produced  by  the  use  of  bacterial  vaccines. 
An  improvement  over  the  ordinary  type  of  bacterin  is  the  sero- 
bacterin  or  sensitized  bacterial  - vaccine  originated  by  Besredka  of 
the  Pasteur  Institute  of  Paris.  Serobacterins  differ  from  plain 
bacterins  in  that  they  have  been  treated  with  specific  immune  serum 
and  bring  about  a  quicker  immunizing  response.  To  illustrate :  the 
difference  between  typhobacterin  and  typho-serobacterin  is  that 
typho-bacterin  is  merely  a  standardized  suspension  of  killed  typhoid 
organisms  in  physiological  salt  solution;  whereas,  typho-serobacterin 
is  a  standardized  suspension  of  killed  typhoid  bacilli  which  has  been 
sensitized  by  treatment  with  a  serum  prepared  by  injecting  animals 
with  typhoid  organisms.  This  sensitization  has  the  effect  of  reduc- 
ing the  local  reaction  that  accompanies  injection  of  bacterial  vac- 
cines and  preventing  severe  genreal  reactions  which  are  sometimes 
caused  by  plain  bacterins.  Furthermore,  the  immunizing  effect, 
when  serobacterins"  are  used,  is  almost  immediate,  manifesting  itself 
within  24  to  48  hours ;  whereas,  in  the  case  of  bacterins,  several 
days  are  required  to  elicit  any  immunizing  response. 
The  Use  of  Biological  Products  in  the  Present  War. — The 
present  war  has  brought  out  many  important  things  in  the  scientific 
world.  Among  the  most  important,  if  not  the  most  important,  are 
the  facts  which  are  being  made  known  regarding  the  specific  effect 
of  some  of  the  biological  products  which  have  been  in  use  for  a 
number  of  years.  When  the  war  began,  neither  side  was  prepared 
for  the  many  cases  of  tetanus  which  developed  in  northern  France 
due  to  the  condition  of  the  soil  which  had  been  highly  cultivated 
for  many  years.  Tetanus  organisms  abounded  there  and  from  10 
per  cent,  to  12  per  cent,  of  the  wounded  developed  tetanus  and  90 
per  cent,  of  these  died  of  the  disease.  It  did  not  take  long  to  stop 
these  enormous  losses  by  the  prompt  use  of  tetanus  antitoxin.  It 
has  been  customary  in  the  allied  armies  to  give  every  wounded 
soldier  an  injection  of  500  units  of  tetanus  antitoxin  at  the  first 
