Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-06-05
A DANGEROUS REMEDY.
DtPhtheria and the DeIusion OF
Ansi.TOxine.


ecy that the use of anti-toxine was
going to make it possible to save the
lives OF at least 10000 children a year
in this country alone" as stated by
your Governor, J. H. McGraw, in re-
turning House bill 80 unapproved, en-
titled can Act to Prevent Vivisection
and to regulate dissection in schools
in the State of Washington and to
provide penalty therefor; find it is
becoming more than question wheth.
er it has saved even one life, and cases
are reported on the highest authority
where it's use has been even more sud-
denly fatal than the bite of the cobra.
Only little more than a year ago
Miss Valentine, of Brooklyn, suffering
from mild form of diphtheria, was
injected with Behring's anti-toxine by
DIR. j. L. Kortright, 352 Rodney street.
Immediately after receiving the treat
ment she said she felt tickling sem
sation through her whole body-fell
upon the lounge in commissions, and
was dead in ten minutes, her face hav-
ing turned black almost instantly
after receiving the fluid. "It was hor.
rible," said the physician, and in all
my years OF practice never witnessed
such terrible DEATH" Her cousin,
sick with diphtheria at the same time,
died in three years after being treated
with anti-toxine prepared by the same
firm.
"The intelligence has lately come
MAY, 1866 of a similar death from
anti-toxine in Wheelersburg, Ohio. A
fine healthy boy five years of age was
inoculated in order to prevent his hav-
ing diphtheria as it had attacked some
other member Of the family, though
in a mild form. The boy received
only one incubation and in five min
utes was dead" The Medical News OF
April 18th contains another account:
" The celebrated Prof. Langerhaus,
Medical Director of the Moabit Hos.
pital, startled Berlin by causing the
following announcement to be pub
lished in the papers: "Our darling
Ernest, in perfect health, aged twenty.
one months, died suddenly in conse-
quence of an injection of Behring's
serum" The boy was in ex-
cellent health and was inoculated
merely as q preventative measure. DIR.
Lenox Brown. of London, who is con.
sidered high authority, does not be-
lieve that it lessons in the least the
mortality from diphtheria. Other au-
thorities deny that the mortality has
decreased in the hospitals OF Vienna
or Berlin. In the report lately made
of our own Municipal Hospital, DIR.
Welch shows that there are more
deaths among the cases where anti
toxine was used than in those where
it was not."-Journal of ZoophHy,
{ Phila.), May 26.
The Journal de Medicine de Paris
says: "At this moment, the mortality
caused by diphtheria has increased
considerably in spite of the virtues of
the anti-toxine serum" JIM. Greene
writes to the Boston Investigator,
April 25, 1896: Thousands of anti
toxine cases have had other treatment
at the same time, yet recovery all goes
to the credit of anti.toxine. Many
inoculated with the serum have had
no diphtheria, simply sore throat. In
many cases, also, death from compli.
cations caused by anti-toxine are not
charged against it, they are put into a
separate list-pneumonia, kidney dis
ease, heart failure, etc.-and anti.tox-
inc gets off "scot free" In London,
anti-toxine has been employed in the
hospitals for between one and two
years and during that time the records
show an increase of mortality. In
Munich, Germany, 80 deaths out Of 80
children treated with anti-toxine have
been reported by Prof. Won Ranke.
In Chicago, during October, November
and December of last year. cases
treated with anti-toxine showed NOR
tality of 48.S per cent, while 80 Chi
cago physicians state that in diph-
iberia treated without anti-toxine
there was death rate of 7 per cent"
The eminent Prof. w. H. Cook, NJ.
D., of Chicago. in q personal letter,
dated Jan. Is, 1896, wrote: In my
many years of practice with hundreds
upon hundreds of every grade OF true
diphtheria I have not lost over two (2)
per cent. Within the last IA months
l have treated and been consulted in
over 100 cases and lost none of them"
His pamphlet. exposing the whole
anti-toxine delusion, fell like bomb
in medical circles in Chicago. 1t was
fully endorsed by many of the very
best physicians there, and opposed by
many more who had various reasons
for favoring the new remedy, quite
force of hypodermic injectors being
employed by the Health Department,
and the profits of its use are consider
able according to the New York Her.
aid of Dec. l, 1895, which reports, "the
income OF the New York Anti-toxine
10 % eSON .-..l- f.a-,, ho