The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27


an injection of 20 c. C. of toxin. along with
10 or Is c. C. of standard antitoxin, be.
meath the skin of the neck or forequarter.
| upon three separate occasions at intervals
of five days. After this IL receives In
creasing doses of toxin, alone, at inter
walls of six to eight days. until at the enc
of two months 1t is able to stand with
| little discomfort doses of such strength
that If given in the first stage these doses
would have quickly caused death.
At this period the horse is bled to a
small extent and its serum tested to as
certain If prospects are good for the pro-
duction by the animal of high grade OF
artitoxin. II satisfactory progress has
| been made. the injections are continued
for another month. when, as rule. the
| maximal degree of antitoxic power In the
serum will have been attained.
The horse is now bled to the proper ex-
tent. the blood being received in a sterile
| aguiates and the serum separates from
it. When the preparation of clot and
| serum is complete. the latter Is drawn
off. taken to the laboratory and standard
lied. This being finished. an antiseptie
fluid is added to preserve the serum from
| decomposition. 1t is then bottled. labeled
/ and sent out for use.
| In similar fashion tetanus antitoxin is
| prepared: and quite recently Calmette has
produced an antitoxic serum for use in
snaKe bite, BY injecting horses with mi
mute increasing doses of snake venom. His
| experiments have given some remarkable
| results, not only in laboratory work, hut
also in cases of actual snake bite occur
| ring in man. Thus meteorological scien-
lists after years of laborious work. in the
| face of much criticism and severe de-
| nuneiation. may confidently announce
that they have in their possession a magic
key to one OF natures secret doors. The
lock has been turned. The door stands
| partly open. and we are permitted a
| glimpse OF the future possibilities to be
attained in the great fight against dis
ease.
| PREVENTIVE MEDICINE.
| The following are some of the diseases
| which have been remarkably controlled
| through the agency of preventive medicine:
SMALLPOx.-While not a scourge or
the first rank like the plague or cholera
| at the outset of the century varioa was
one of the most prevalent and dreaded
| of all diseases. Few reached adult life
without an, attack. Today, though out
| breaks still occur. 1t is a disease thorough
| ly controlled by vaccination. The protec.
tive power of the inoculated cowpox is
! not a fixed and constant quantity. The
protection may be for life. or 1t may las,
| only for year or two. The alI-important
| fact is this: That efficiently vaccinated
| persons may be exposed with impunity,
and among large bodies of men (e g., the
| German army. in which revaccination IL
| practiced. smallpox is unknown. OF 100
vaccinated persons exposed to smallpox
possibly one might take the disease in q
mild form; of leo unraccinated persons so
exposed. one alone might escape: from
twenty-five to thirty would die. To be
efficient. vaccination must be carried out
Systematically. and If all the inhabitants
of this country were revaccinated at in
tervals, smallpox would disappear Gas it
has from the German army and the ne
cessity for vaccination would cease. The
difficulty arises from the constant pres
ence Of an unvaccinated remnant by
which the disease is kept alive. The Mon
treal experience in 1855 is an object les.
son never to be forgotten
For eight or ten years vaccination had
been neglected. particularly among the
French-Canadians. On February 2s. 1855.
Pullman car conductor. who came from
Chicago. where the disease had been
slightly prevalent, was admitted into the
Hotel Dieu. Isolate was not carried ont
and on the LIST of April a servant In the
hospital died of smallpox Following her
death the authorities of the hospital sent
to their homes all patients who presented
no symptoms of the disease. Like fire in
dry grass the contagion spread. and with
in nine months there died of smallpox g.
1854 persons. 1t ruined the trade of the
city for the winter and cost millions of
dollars There are no reasonable obiec-
tons to vaccination, which is simple
process, by which mild and harmless
disease is introduced. The use of the ami
NAL vaccine does away with the posi-
bility of Introduction of other disorders
such as syphilis.
TfPHUS FEEER.-Untii the middle of
the present century this disease prevailed
widely in most OF the large cities. par
ticularly in Europe. and also in iails
ships. hospitals. and camps 1t was more
widely spread than typhoid fever and
much more fatal Murchison remarks of
it thar complete history of its ravages
would be the history of Europe during the
past three centuries and a half. Not one
of the acute infections seems to have bean
more dependent upon filth and unsanitary
conditions. With the gradual introduction
of drainage and good water supply. and
the relief of Overcrowding the disease has
almost entirely disappeared. and is rarely
mentioned now In tine bills of mortality
except in a few Of the larger and more
unsanitary cities. The following fe,ures
illustrate what has been done in England
within sixty years: In 1888 in England
l.22S persons died of fever (typhus and
typhoid per million of living. Twenty
years later the figures We're reduced to
SlS: in 1878 to COG of typhoid and TO Sc of
typhus fever. In 1892 only IS7 died of w.
phoid fever and only of typhus per mil
lion living
TYPHOID F'EVER.--Whiie preventive
medicine can claim a great victory In this
disease also, it is less brilliant, since the
conditions which favor its prevalence are
not those specially relating to overcrowd-
ing as much as to imperfect water supply |
and the contamination of certain essential |
foods, as milk. It has been repeatedly |
that with pure water sup
ply and perfect drainage. typhoid fever |
almost disappears from a city. In Vienna |
after the introduction OF good water. the
rate of mortality from typhoid fever fell