The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-03-09
LEor treating the faca1the head
is hetdd erect, andtharnovements
,l are upward and or'tsva"t
SCARLET FEVER SERUM.

1t should be noted. does not disappear with
the rash. but continues in more or less de-
cided form through the progress of the
case-after the fever passes away, the pa
tient is bled, of course in a manner that
gives neither pain nor is fraught with
danger. TO obtain. the serum the blood is
then subjected 10 a certain treatment. the
method Of which was worked out by Doctor
Blumenthal. Professor Won Leyden's assist
ant. The professor himself studied his help
mates method and approved of f..
The patients are inoculated with the Sc
rum at the rate Of twenty square centime-
tiers. As the poison causing scarlet fever +
unknow animals could not be used FOR the
initial experiments at all. Otherwise ami
mails would have been inoculated with scar
let fever and the disease driven out b. the
supposed remedy afterwards. Doctor Won
Leyden bases his theory on this oberva-
ton:
A person is attacked with scarlet fever
only once. which proves that with the
abatement of the disease protective corpus
cles are formed in the blood that makes the
person immune against a second attack a.
long as he or she lives. The blood of the
convalascent, then" argues the professor.
is in itself a remedy against scarlet fe-
YER"
Up to now fifteen persons We're treated
with the new serum. all Of whom expert
enced much relief. while five got over the
attack In an incredibly short time.
These fortunate five people were inOcu'at-
ed the day after the rash appeared and be-
fore 1t had spread over the extremities.
They came to the clinic -forty-eight hours
after the first symptoms of scarlet fever
had manifested themselves, as shivering,
headache. hot, dry skin. flushed face. thirst
and furred tongue. Their. threats were red
and swollen and the scarlet had already
spread over their tongue and mouth: face
and breast, and the trunk of the body. too.
were covered with the minute red spots, be
fore the injection was made.
The writer. being present and noting the
progress Of the disease. was in a position
to keep an exact time record.
When visited on the morning after inocu-
lation. l found the five persons mentioned
entirely free from fever. which circum-
st~ance-whatever one may think of the
serum method-places q scarlet patient al
most directly on the road to recovery. For
my part, I thought it wonderful progress,
seeing that my own scarlet patients fire.
Quently suffered from fever for weeks. some
falling into dslirium or showing comatose
symptoms to the great alarm Of their reia-
tives and friends.
The inoculated three men and two women
recovered rapidly and the other ten persons
are also well again to-day. but they took
mere time to mend, their tardy recovery
being apparently due to unavoidable delay
in the serum treatment; at least, 1 can't
think of any other reason. particularly. as
none OF tho second batch suffered from
the malignant form Of the disease, while
two OF the others did. To appreciate this, 1t
should be noted that malignant scarlet fever
often assumes q typhus-Hke character, and
not infreQuently results IN death a few
hours after the attaek-death by blood
poisoning. ii seems.
There Is one feature about the serum that
recommends 1t. even to the opponents or
this method Of treatment: 1t is absolutely
n-on-dangerous. Professor Won Leyden dis
tils 1t from the blood of youthful individ-
uals only after rigid inquiry into their
health and family records. Victims of
hereditary diseases, OF other ailments be-
aides scarlet. are, Of course. not wanted.
as incubation by their blood might prove
1 had abundant opportunity for observing
the 3n0culatea psrsons, None seemed to ex,