New-York tribune., 1901-06-09
BILE As An ANTITOXIN.
RECENT INVESTIGATIONS CONCERNING ITS
PROPERTIES
From American Medicine.

i'hoIEklli>S.
From American Medicine.
Among the means OF protection possessed 10y
the organism against infectious diseases and
TOXIC agencies, laboratory investigation has re-
Gently placed the bile; but, as is true of So many
other facts IN medicine, empiric knowledge an
uclpated scientific discovery. Thus. the natives
OF Africa, according 10 Fraser. have long known
the value of serpents' bile as an antidote in the
treatment Of snake bites and among the natives
or Bengal II has been custom. centuries old
10 employ the liver of mad dogs protective
agent against hydrophobia In a letter 10 the
! Gazette Hebdoma6aire de Medecin, a Frenci
traveller writes follows:
About three months ago a mad dog bit SIN
or seNea persons, among whom We're TWO OF my
pofrers. L ordered bits OF iron To be heated
white hot for cauteriZinS the wounds, but the
natives said to me with laugh. oh. Sahib. that
is nothing; We have an excellent remedy foi
hydrophoAia; you shall see. The mad dog APP
preached again; one OF the natives took a club
and killed the animal. Another opened lts
body, took therefrom the palpitating liver cut
il into small bits. and gave them to the wounded
man, who ate them RAN. There Is no more
danger they SAID 10 me. As remained IN
credulous. they brought me TO a young man VINO
bore large scars on his legs He had been blt,
ten five years before 10y a mad dog. but mao
eaten a piece of the animals liver, and mad
felt 81 effects.
These events took place in March and il is
now july j. The wounds are cured ana an the
men continue to do well. our natives even as
sert that their remedy MIL cure = man after he
has been attacked hy the disease.
Wehrmann found 10y experiment that bile de-
. StrpNS the -NNlC properties nl eel serum anu va
snake venom. hUt that it Apparently mas n" pro
tectiVe curative properties. The active ahti-
toxic principle Of bile was found hy PhisaliN 70
ht the taurochOlate, and especially the SEco
choiate. of sodium.
The important experiments Of Fraser are vel
known liz. found that the bile of both poison
Gus and on-poisonous serpents counteracts ms
toxic effects of snake v"9om nNSall has sih
lar properties. but was estimated to be seventy
times weaker than the bile of poisonous SCI
pents The bile also neutra ICES diphtherla
T toxin but as Frasers experiments snow ON,
when il comes from the 'iane species "i aH'''a
T as rhat injected with the toxin.
Perhaps the most interesting obserNatl' IN con
nected with the aEtitoXic properties 81 bie ar'
those made hy Koch i'm his study of the rinder
pest in South Africa. 1t MAS found that cattli
can b. immLniZed when inj cted with the III e @
animals that have died with rinderpest on IN
fifth or sixth day Cf the disease Thr protect"i
I conferred lasts for a leriod q Tour lh"il'i''
Kolle and Turner haze. however, improved ~
kocs method Of iIilI'1un' ation hs IN" ihJ -'tl
Of VirulenI rin9erpest blood ana 81 :. uhl iron
animals that haH~ recovered from the diN-'iS'
they have obtanad an antito-c serum t:+t u
ranch more powerful Than bile hti" Is "i III
opiriCr that the antitoNic properties 81 bl.t ,'i
not due To Tire presence IN * oi aAE s"'""'
poison or antitoNia. hut that with tIe hir ar
introduced micro-organisms Of the dlse2sa Nh 9 =
s,raN al The point Cf incubation. th~r ol'S'iil
nation beng prevented 10y the action 81 the M
on The surrounding tissues. In 'thrr NoF@s. @ 1h
immunity is active. &nai"So uS L" tii''' ''i'-'
l,. vaccination against anthrax. aLd NOT ~ - "
as j.. The immunity obtained lE nrafs q ann
toxins against diphtheria and I tanus
Ninc.nZi found g!lat IN" bile II ANIMALS slitei
ing from t-ianus is able 10 antaGonize q certain
amount Of tetanus toxin while TN" hile iro u
healthy animal Is Is devoid 81 such properly ina
The hiia has also the power oI neulrallZ nE '-I
tain .roisorous alkalods MAS shown 10y Ario-d
This invcstiea injected series of frogs Nlti
Xarvin. doses Of strychnine. ana recorded u'
onset 4 convulsiOrs the severity, duration am
i he time within which death occurred Anothe
series of frogs were injected with the same d"se
I of s,rvchnire mixed with fresh frogs ME,
third with similar doses ~ stry mime nlhea VIZ
ov~au ana a fourth with bile alorc. The fro
that had received tn strychniGe mixed with hil'
surl ived doses OF stTychnine which weie suftA
fatal when given alone. The symptoms apIeaT"t
later and were less SEVERE. The fr"sh frogs
lille Was more active then the OK bile. None Z"
th,. frogs died after the injection with hii'
alone. - .-.., 80;
! In connection with the subject of tile aliiI' I'%i
action Of biz. il l. interesting 10 note that 'il'
/ theory so long maintained that bile ln Inc iii'ta
tines exerts antsepiic properties. Is nof sup
oor,ed bv recent invest cations Albu ana ON T
ha<. shown that the reputed anti-pnirefachN'
property of bile is a myth Mosso likewIse q ~
IN ctra I'd that lille has no power 10 arrest pu''
factjon. although in his experiments IL s.eiie'
slightly 10 hinder Inc growth of bacteria. " nat
ever influence the bile poss -sSts upon pu'ie
factiye PROCESSES in the intestine IS indirect