The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-07
A LIFE-sAVING HORSE.
He Once Hauled a Truck, but Now
Anti-Toxin.
New York Mail and EynreSS

new 1OIk Mail dIlu EApICoS.
There was a horse once that thought 1t
would be much nicer to be driven up Fifth
avenue attached to a runabout with DARK
body and crimson Wheels 81 fha mt TO p na v wearnty
He thought it would be nice to be a nlgn
stopper, well groomed and Wei cared LOT,
the park. He envied those other wealthy
horses and looked up to them from his little
This horse is unhappy no longer. lie
looks down upon the prancing, high hoof-
proud Consciousness that he is not like other
horses. He is a life saver. He IS anti
toxin BIZ No; Z" He has has fp hprses in m4 fhe
world, and saved the lives of any. quantity
Of poor children suffering from diPhtheriaas
V s.senfaary Surgeons, No. 14 West Fifty
seventh street, call him, is a perfect mine
of anti-toxin, and since he was discovered
in November has furnished hfteen quarts
"Mr. Billie received a reporter very
affably last evening. He is q very undemI
onstrative horse, and under ms WOOL
the heavy Western variety. He stands six
teen hands in height and, weighs a great
many more pounds than he did before ne
became this wonderful producer of anti
toxin. He was picked up at a horse sale
by the buyer for the estapnsnnnen, a ahh
one of his hind legs he was easily pa IN
for 81. This was the best 81 the college
college. and after a few days of rest was
given the usual dose of toxine,. which IS
the poisonous substance formed by the
aMra Billie" did not like it at first. He
had been examined by the usuai .tsos 10
see if he had CHAMBERS of any. other horsey
diseases. had been pronounced SOUND, with
the exception of the game foot and the
general debility caused by a little too lnucl
fruck work. When they injected the two
cubic centimeters of toxine under las Skin
near the sho. sEIirae by mMrl Sings 81 tns ioes5sdi
around in surprise and mildly protested. 1t
made his temperature go up ana mage MN
II, q few DAYS ne became normal again,
and the dose was repeated. The morse pc
gan to thrive and grow TAT, ana now mas az
taken two hundred centimeters without so
much as winking.
This continued for three months, and the
e~x-truck horse seemed to like the life. 1t
was much pieasanter to have plenty to eat
and nothing to do, with an hour or exercise
hhe asaten and hitched to a truck. Then the
physicians took his temperature and looked
very wise, and p one gay ne sley and ma inserted a
glass tube and got out a lot of blood. They
took one quart the first time, and tested 1t
by separating the serum, and were sur
prised at finding it twice as strong as any
taken from the other forty horses IN the
two stables where the work goes on. ApouI
seven quarts of blood were taken out, and
the horse was given another dosing.
Another horse who has produced a large
quantity of serum is named Bobby. He is
a roam, standing about 1873, a good stopper
and is often driven to a runabout for exer-
else. He has a faSnlOnaDly banged tdll,
and is as good a horse as any one would
wish to own.
The operation of procuring the serum,
which has just been described, is a very
simple one. and merely consists in filling
the animals system very full of the toxine
poison. Some of the horses cannot stand it.
Out of the forty horses who have been
operated upon, eight have died. These
were horses, some of them, who were too
old to properly take the treatment. All the
horses at the two stables are now young
horses, six or seven years of age, as 1t
has been found they are more adapted to
the process, and give the best results.
Sometimes the serum is of a clear, yell
lowish color and sometimes it is redder.
The color varies. and the reason for this
is not known. The anti-toxin is sterilized
and put up into small bottles. The Board
of Health uses a great deal Of the anti
toxin which comes from the New York
College of Veterinary Surgeons. There is
a laboratory on the second floor Of the
building where the whole work of prepara-
ticn is done.
Since the latter part Of October, when
the horses were gathered together and the
manufacture of anti-toxin was begun, under
direction of DIR. William III. Park and a
corps of assistants. much success has been
attained in producing this cure for diph-
iberia, which has always been so dreaded,
but which can be warded by securing the
services OF such devoted horses as Bobby
and mfr. Billie"