Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
January,  1921.  J 
Progress  of  Microbiology. 
51 
mischief  to,  or  bring  about  the  downfall  of,  the  living  human  body. 
But  there  are  also  elements  in  the  blood-stream  which  react  upon 
the  bacillary  and  other  organic  poisons  which  may  be  absorbed  into 
it.  These  elements  form  the  so-called  antibodies,  which  by  chemi- 
cally combining  with  the  virus  neutralize  it.  According  to  the 
current  theory  these  antibodies  may  be  reproduced  and  persist  in 
the  blood  for  an  indefinite  period.'  Jenner  believed  that  a  single 
attack  of  cow-pox  or  a  single  vaccination  protected  the  subject  for 
the  rest  of  his  life,  an  expectation  falsified  even  during  Jenner's 
own  lifetime.  No  one  can  now  say  for  certain  how  long  the  pro- 
tective period  lasts.  And  this  uncertainty  prevails  also  as  to  pro-, 
tection  from  other  diseases  for  which  special  vaccines,  stock  or 
autogenous  are  used.  If  the  results  of  his  recent  researches  are 
confirmed,  Dr.  Besredka,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  has  made  a 
remarkable  discovery  which  puts  an  entirely  new  complexion  on  the 
accepted  view  -of  immunization.  He  finds  that  while  the  infusion 
into  the  blood  of  the  living  germ  which  cause  a  disease,  such  as 
bacillary  dysentery,  does  not,  contrary  to  theory,  produce  acute 
general  toxaemia,  it  produces  exactly  the  same  effect  locally  upon 
the  bowels  as  if  the  germs  had  been  taken  into  the  system  by  the 
mouth.  And  the  result  is  the  same  whether  the  germs  are  hypo- 
dermically  or  intravenously  injected.  While  a  single  injection  of 
dead  dysentery  germs  have  after  a  lapse  of  18  days  increased  the 
amount  of  antibody  400  times,  it  was  found  that  after  two  injections, 
at  an  interval  of  8  days,  the  antibody  had  disappeared  from  the 
blood.  The  inference  is  that  microbes,  living  or  dead,  have  a  selec- 
tive affinity  for  certain  tissue  systems  or  definite  areas  in  these, 
and  that  the  protective  mechanism  is  formed  not  in  the  blood- 
stream but  locally  in  the  site  susceptible  to  the  given  disease.  Dr. 
Besredka's  experiments  show  that  as  regards  typhoid,  dysentery, 
paratyphoid,  and  similar  infections,  "vaccination  is  only  efficacious 
when  the  vaccine  finally  reaches  the  intestine  or  certain  zones  of  it. 
The  mode  of  vaccination  to  be  preferred  is  the  oral  route;  it  gets 
to  its  required  position  directly  and  with  a  maximum  of  security." 
Thus  administered  there  is  no  local  irritation,  such  as  sometimes 
occurs  at  the  site  of  a  hypodermic  injection.  Both  rabbits  and 
mice  which  swallowed  the  dead  germs  were  "solidly  protected." 
Some  of  the  lay  newspapers  in  their  references  to  Dr.  Besredka's 
discovery  wrongly  assumed  that  vaccination  per  se  would  be  of 
general  application.    So  that  vaccination  by  the  skin  against  small- 
