The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-03
Questions to BE Settled Are Were
Deaths Due to LOckjaw and Was
LOckjaw Due to Serum.
PROBABLY WILL BE AFFIRMED
NATTER OF RESPONSIBILITY THEN
WILL BE ADVOCATED.
How the Antitoxin Is Produced at the
st. Louis Farm-Its Nature and
General Effect.

ST LOUIS. Nov. Am inquiry was be-
gun to-day by the coroner, DR.. r. NJ. Funk
houser, into the deaths which are said TO
have been caused by tetanus, the result
of the administration. it is claimed, of Il
diphtheric antitoxin made and distributed
by the Board of Health. Coroner Funk
houser has summoned all of the prominent
physicians of the city, and will endeavor TO
find out what infection there may have
been in the antitoxin administered TO the
children who have died, how the infection
occurred and to whose fault, if any indi-
vidual. this was due
There are two questions which the in
Quiry will try to settle: First. whether the
deaths were due to lockjaw and, second,
if so, was the lockjaw due to infected
serum Indications point to a confirmation
of both; but no one seems to be able TO
account for how the serum became in
fected.
Dr. Starkloff. president of the Board OF
Health. testified that the only personal use
he made of antitoxin of the make Of Aug.
"a one bottle which he administered
to a patient nine days ago. No symptom
of tetanus has developed thus far. Witness
said that antitoxin of the Aug. q make was
issued TO about SlXty-fNe pnNSlclahS-
DIR. Ravold, who had full charge of the
manufacture of the citys antitoXin, testl-
fed that he had drawn serum from the
horse Jim on Sept 80 and had left IL IN
large flask in his office. He had been out
| o. the city for a few days and when ne
| returned he found that the horse had de
veloped tetanus. The horse was immedi-
! ately shot and the serum destroyed. None
| or ii had been used. The hearing Will be
| continued on Monday.
The process of producing antitoXin IS a
nslfs .1alN ~ tlV
| esting in its details. Skillfully prepared, 1t
| was, according To the theory of bacteriolo-
| glsts and physicians, simply harmless
remedy for diphtheria, produced from the
! virulent germs of diphtheria itself just AZ
/ the vaccine virus is used to cOunteract the
| poison of smallpox In the cultivation OF
vaccine virus cows are used the medium
| for producing the counteractive agent, and
! in the cultivation of antitoXin horses are
| used The horses must be strong. healthy,
vigorous and used to hard work. Thor
oughbredS are useless for the purpose.
Out at the anti-toXin farm, on the poor
| house grounds, are four horses which have
| been used by DR.. Armand Ravold for the
| purpose, a white and a bay, formerly in the
ambulance service, and a white and a bay
| from the fire department. These furnished
| all the serum, the basis of the .anti-toXin,
| which has been used in the city.
| DR.. RavOld first prepared his toxin.
| which is the poison of the diptheria bacil-
| lus. in the city chemists laboratory. This
| toxin is obtained originally from the throat
| of diphtheritic patient or 1t can be Guilt
! waited artificially by a process known only
! to bacterioogists This toxin was treated
| with tricresol, then heated and filtered when
| cool. To ascertain its Virulence small guam
/ titles were injected into guinea pigs. Its
| effect on the animals was carefully record
| ed, and If the toxin was of sufficient viru-
| lence, it was then used on the horses at the
] farm.
Four or five drops of this poisonous toxin
| is sufficient to kill any horse except those
| in the best physical condition The horse
! selected was placed in a pen In the yard,
| the hair shaved away from just behind mis-
| shoulder blade, the skin washed with soap
| and a carbolic acid solution and an injeC-
| ton of the toxin made in the vein beneath
| the skin. Two drops was the usual first
| dose This usually raised the animals tenn
| perature to about l01 or 1O2 degrees and
! made him deathly sick. The effects usually
wore away within four days, and at the
| end of a week Il larger dose was given.
| These injections. in increasing quantities
up to 200 or 800 drops. Were given weekly
| for from two to four months at which time
| the horse was ready to be bled.
| The blood was drawn from the big jusu-
J lar vein in the neck and from six TO ten
quarts were taken at each letting. and
| placed i'm glass jars. The wound was stitch
| ed up and the horse turned ont.
The blood was placed in ice chests ana
allowed to clot. The CLOTHING squeezes a
| called the serum. The serum Il poured
| off, tricresol is added 10 ii. and the mix
| ture is allowed TO stand several days %
'ripen," after which ii is filtered.
| Experiment has proved what amount Ol
| the poisonous diphtheria toxin il a fata
| dose for guinea pigs. Ten times this amount
was then mixed with a definite quantity OF
| the filtered serum. and this mixture was
| administered TO the pigs TO ascertain what
| amount of serum would keep the pigs from
| dying. When this ascertained ten
| times that amount of sermum was called
| one antitoXn unit The number of anti
| toxin units in one cubic centimeter Zone
| Ounce) was then calculated. and the serum
| labeled On the label was noted the date %
| bleeding and the number Of units TO the
| cubic centimcnter Before being distributed
! this serum was again filtered. put into
| small sterile bottles, each containing al
| ounce Corked with "A sterile cork ana la.
| beled with the date of the bleeding an,
! the number of units TO the bottle. This wa,
| the antitoXin used by physicians To coun.
| teract the raVages OF diphtheria ina a pa
| tient and effect cure
| At the antitoXin farm there are ut pres
| ent four horses-Bill and Frank bays and
| Sam and Jim. grays. Jim and Bill are new
| arrivals from the fire department having
| been sent there three weeks ago. FTank
| has been in service a year and a half and
| Sam since last spring. There i another oc-
| cupant of the farm, "Aguinaldo.' who has
never been bled. Sam and Frank together
| with the late lamented" Jim, who caused
| all the recent trouble by contracting tc-
| tanus. have furnished all the antitoxu
used in the city in the last eighteen months
| The horses are in charge OF Peter Kraft
! one of the poorhouse employees.