The herald., 1896-06-03
Is It Dangerous Was the One
Question Asked
A RECOGNIZED AUTHORITY
Or. Davisson, ex.President of the State
Board of Health
Give, His Opinion Upon the 1atter-No 7ore
So Than the Administration OF Any
Other nedicine, Says He

"Is the use of antitoXfne dangerous
was the question put to DR.. j. H. DAVIS
| son, ex-president of the state board OF
health, who has been foremost in intro
| ducing the celebrated cure for diphther-
| ia in California, and is a recognized au-
thority on the subject.
NO more so than the administration
| of any other medicine by the hypooer-
| mic process" was the reply. "Hypo-
| dernic treatment at best is heroic, con-
tinued the doctor, especially where so
| large a dose is injected as is customary
with antitoxine. Then there is always
! danger of introducing air into the Velns'
which is generally attended with ser
| ious consequences, and in many cases
proves fatal. By the exercise of ordln-
| ary care, however, this does not OFTEN
| happen.
| NO, l do not consider that the use of
| antotoXine is necessarily dangerous.
| The risk from injury through injection
of the fluid is not near SO great as risk
| of combating the disease by the old
| methods Diphtheria has been Shorn OF
| it's terrors by the new remedy. ana l
would not hesitate to have the antitoN-
| inc serum injected into my own flesh
| in case of threatened or actual attack
by the disease, nor would l shrink to use
| it on any member of my own family.
| The efficacy of the remedy has been
| amply demonstrated. and the death rate
| in diphtheretic cases reduced to very
small per cent of what it used to be-
| The question as to the danger of using
antitoXine was prompted by the fol-
| lowing Associated Press dispatch:
| WASHINGTON, May ia profound
| sensation has been caused among med
| ical men of Germany and France
through the fatal effects attending the
| administration of the famous anti
dphtheretic serum. in the case of a
child of an eminent Berlin physician.
| A servant in the physicians household
| showing signs of 'diphtheria, the doctor.
| to prevent his child from contracting
| the disease, administered an injection
| of the serum and the child died in a
| few minutes. United States CONNER
cial Agent Moore at Weimer has made
| the incident the subject of a special re-
| port to the state department in which.
| after telling of the various theories put
| forth by the medical authorities to ac
| count for the fatal actiOn of the serum
| he declared that the child died from
| nervous shock, although it has been held
| that the injection of the serum into a
| healthy person for prevention is not a
! dangerous practice.
Dr. Davisson's answer was given be-
| fore he had read the dispatch or been
informed of it's contents. After he had
| read it. he said
| Il do not see anything remarkable
| about this case. The child may have
| died from nervous shock, as stated in
| Mr. Moore's report. Death may have
| resulted from one of a number of causes
but l do not believe that it was the Sc
rum itself that killed the child OF
course, the serum must be fresh and
| pure when used to yield safe and good
results. To use serum which had be-
come putrid from age or exposure would
| be disastrous. 1t is not probable.
though. that an eminent physician as
| stated in the dispatch would be so care
less as to use impure serum upon his
| own child, or any patient in fact. The
| mere fact that the patient died in this
| case few minutes after the serum had
| been injected is no reason why its use
| should be condemned or discontinued
| There was a similar case in New York
| when anti-toXine was first introduced in
| this country. which caused the use of
| the new remedy to be stubbornly op-
| posed. Opposition, however. was no
| stronger than that made when vaccin-
! alton was first advocated s a prevent
i've for smallpox. and was soon over
| come. So it has been with nearly all
| new discoveries in medicine The peo-
pie and the profession itself are slow to
accept innovations, and it is only by the
logic of success in repeated experiments
| that new system or remedy at last
comes to be generally accepted
Here in California we were very
prompt in taking up anti toxine and
the results have been highly satisfac-
tory BY getting an appropriation
from the legislature we have been able
10 introduce the remedy generally
throughout the state: otherwise we
| could not have done so. We have dis
| tributed about 400 bottles of the serum.
free of charge. to physicians and prac-
| titioners of every school now use it, Los
| Angeles doctors, especially, have been
| prompt in adopting the new remedy.
| and scarcely any competent physician
| would now think of treating a case of
| diphtheria without it. Not a death has
resulted in any instance, so far as re-
ported, where anti-toXine was used suf-
| fciently early"
( What is antitoXine? 1t is the serum
OF the blood of a horse which has been
inoculated with the toxines of diph-
theria. About three months after the
toXines Qrom the Latin toxicum poison.
| meaning originally poison into which
arrows were dipped) have been injected
| into the horses neck, the animal is bled
| in the ordinary manner. The blood is
| allowed to stand in vessel until it
| coagulates. the red part, oR cor
| puscies, separating from the Watery
| fluid or serum The latter settles at the
bottom, and it is this clarified blood
fluid that is the real antitoxine. The in
oculated, bleeding, collection of the
| serum, etc, must of course be done with
great care and under the supervision of
II
perfectly healthy specimen"
At the fourth annual state sanitary
! convention held at Los Angeles, April
| 10th last, DR.. Davisson, just previous to
| retiring from the presidency of the state
| board of health. submitted a report on
| Diphtheria AnttoXine. which was read
| only by title. but which has since been
| issued in pamphlet form from the state
| printing office. In this report Mr.. Da-
| Visson gives a history of the introduce
| ton and use of antitoxine in this state,
and says in part:
Prior to January, 1895, there had
| been but little diphtheria antitoXine
used in California. 1t was an in
| noVatiOn in medicine and a new and un-
familiar remedy, which was, for the
most part. imported from Germany and
France, as it was not prepared in Amer
lea for the trade except in New York
in small quantities. From the nature
of the remedy it was subject to changes
Incident to keeping and handling by
those unfamiliar with it. and also sub
jected to extremes of temperature and
| decomposition in transit, to say nothing
of limitations, etc 1t was also q after
| of commerce and often speculation. be-
| ing sold a fabulous prices without any
sort of security against dangers or fail
| ures due to the circumstances above
| mentioned. The Introduction of 10 &C.
| or two fluid drachms of the serum of the
| horse, previously immunized with the
| toxins of diphtheria, into q child by the
| bUnp6prrnic met bp6 is tO saw tba la.c+