Evening star., 1896-12-05
An Element of Danger.

1T is very evident from the facts of this
case Uhe death of Prof. Langerhans' cn;ld),
which are typical of a gradual increasing
class, that there is a certain element of
danger in the serum, which cannot be
guarded against by experiments on the
horses, and can only be tested by the
effects of their serum on the children.
Special instructions. indeed, have been
given from the laboratories that notes
should be made by the attendant physician
of the number indicating the horse from
which the serum IS taken in each case, SO
as to judge of me proportion of ili-effects
produced by the anti-toNia from different
animals-a procedure which bears peril
ously close relationship to human vivisec-
tion
in all seriousness by an American ply
sician, with experience of three rapidly
fatal results of injection, that the possibil-
ity of the presence Of 4 poison should he
excluded by a preliminary trial on a cat
Having regard, however, TO the proverbial
nine-pnWer resistance of this domestic ami
NAL the patient might die, or happily re-
cover with the treatment, while these pre-
llminary experiments We're in progress
Dr. Browne gives the following graphic
illustration of the danger that arises from
the fact that the serIm is affected by the
condition Of the animal from which it is
taken:
1T has also been reported that a certain
white horse had to be destroyed, because
in those patients-who survived injection
OF serum derived from this source-local
assesses and skin erGptions were unduly
frequent. We have. however, no statistics
to show In how many cases death was
mounted on this particular white horse,
ard 1t is not unfair to assume that the
fatality with serum derived from it have
been in excess of those treated with serum
from other horses which did not produce
these assesses and other complica tons
with equal frequency"
ho, Ia
article appeared in the Contemporary Re-
view an article from DR.. Lutaud Of Paris
appeared in the Journal de Medicine of
that city the 2Sth of last June), from
readers the following remarkable passages.
containing. they do, expert opinions
from Germany and Denmark, as we'll as an
appeal to the physicians Of France i'm the
interest of true science and of the helpless
children on whom these disgusting and
dangerous experiments are practiced
A French View.
LAS with all religions. that of the Pas
teurians is supported upon terror and the
fear Of death; it has, like others. the ad-
vantage of promising-not felicity in an
other world-but happiness and health In
this. Take our serum say the new gods,
ria, Scarlatina and all other epidemic
scourges. Neither Christ nor Mahomet
promised SO much. This explains the inn
mense success of the sero-therapy: it unites
all the suffrages-radicals, royalists, So
cialsts and free-tninkers. Messrs. Roux
and Marmoreck also profit from the vogue.
Not content with selling their products at
high prices, they wish to sell the profits of
the state. Last year they. got a million
francs, besides the subscription from the
Figaro. This year they wish for the funds
of the Paris lottery; they will have them,
and much besides. Let them make the
most of their success; these good things
are only for a time.
For medical men, let US keep out of
the current and guard ourselves against
unreflectng enthusiasm. There is already
too much staked on the anti-diphtheria Sc
rum. Last winter the mortality from diph-
iberia maintained the same total as during
the years lS92 and 1893, in spite of the un-
limited resort to sero-therapy. Let us re-
call to memory the fact that this d:scoy-
cry, due to Behring, and not to Roux, had
been applied in Germany and abandoned
before the PaSteur Institute took it under
its powerful patronage. Here is what the
Germans, who knew it before US, say of it
"Auerbach rotifle- in the Central5latt fur
1nnere Medicin (No. Is, 1880, some grave
Behring, which is more dangerous than
useful Gottstein publishes large num-
ber of fatal cases, and says, the curative
effect of the serum is not yet demonstrate ted
it does net confer immunity, and possesses
no propnylactic on.'-(Theraputische
Monatshefte, No. 5, 1880. Soerensen pub
l:shes j report from the Blegdom Hospital,
Copenhagen, ard says: The injections of
! serum have been without useful action in
cases of croup.'-Qb., No. ?, .1Se6)
AS to the serum of Mar;noreck, which
FOL n~.., ,,~lx,