Am.  Jour.  Pharm.") 
November,  1896.  j 
Antitoxins. 
615 
fluid,  or  serum,  which  exuded  from  it  after  it  had  clotted,  was  intro- 
duced under  the  skin  of  another  animal,  this  second  animal  acquired 
a  strong,  though  more  transient,  immunity  against  the  particular 
toxin  concerned.  The  serum  in  some  way  counteracted  the  toxin, 
or  was  antitoxic.  But  more  than  that,  if  some  of  the  antitoxic 
serum  was  applied  to  an  animal  after  it  had  already  received  a  poi- 
sonous dose  of  the  toxin,  it  preserved  the  life  of  the  creature,  pro- 
vided that  too  long  a  time  had  not  elapsed  after  the  poison  was 
introduced.  In  other  words,  the  antitoxin  proved  to  be  not  only 
preventative,  but  curative. 
Similar  results  were  afterwards  obtained  by  Ehrlich,  of  Berlin, 
with  some  poisons  not  of  bacterial  origin,  but  derived  from  the  vege- 
table kingdom  ;  and  quite  recently  the  independent  labors  of  Cal- 
mette,  of  Lille,  and  Fraser,  of  Edinburgh,  have  shown  that  anti- 
dotes of  wonderful  efficacy  against  the  venom  of  serpents  may  be 
procured  on  the  same  principle.  Calmette  has  obtained  antitoxin 
so  powerful  that  a  quantity  of  it,  only  Woo"  o"  Par^  °f  tne  weight 
of  an  animal,  will  protect  it  perfectly  against  a  dose  of  the  secretion 
of  the  poison  glands  of  the  most  venomous  serpents  known  to 
exist,  which,  without  such  protection,  would  have  proved  fatal  in 
four  hours.  For  curative  purposes  larger  quantities  of  the  remedy 
are  required,  but  cases  have  been  already  published  by  Calmette  in 
which  death  appears  to  have  been  averted  in  the  human  subject  by 
this  treatment. 
Behring's  darling  object  was  to  discover  means  of  curing  tetanus 
and  diphtheria  in  man.  In  tetanus  the  conditions  are  not  favorable, 
because  the  specific  bacilli  lurk  in  the  depths  of  the  wound,  and 
only  declare  their  presence  by  symptoms  caused  by  their  toxin  hav- 
ing been  already  in  a  greater  or  less  amount  diffused  through  the 
system  ;  and  in  every  case  cf  this  disease  there  must  be  a  fear  that 
the  antidote  may  be  applied  too  late  to  be  useful.  But  in  diphtheria 
the  bacilli  very  early  manifest  their  presence  by  the  false  membrane 
which  they  cause  upon  the  throat,  so  that  the  antitoxin  has  a  fair 
chance  ;  and  here  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  Behring's  object 
has  been  attained. 
The  problem,  however,  was  by  no  means  so  simple  as  in  the 
case  of  some  mere  chemical  poison.  However  effectual  the  anti- 
toxin might  be  against  the  toxin,  if  it  left  the  bacilli  intact,  not 
only  would  repeated  injections  be  required  to  maintain  the  transient 
