The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-10
NEW TREATMENT
 FOR D|PHTHER|A Consul General A. W. Thackara
 Gives Information MANUFACTURE OF SERUM Production is Under Government Con- trol In Germany to Prevent AduI- teration--Methor of secur-
 Ing Serum.
MANUFACTURE OF SERUM

Washington.-June 9.-(Special. )--Consul General A. w. Thackara sends from Der lin the following information on the new treatment for diphtheria, supplementary to tine iticlo on this subject furnished by Consul General Guenther, and published in Daily Consular and Trade Reports for March 16
 The manufacture of serum in Germany is under government control, In order to prevent adulteration. Since Behring's dis coyery of the dphtheria serum, and the establishment of this treatment about ten years ago, the production of serum has i become a most important branch of in- dustry. The researches on the subject of I the power of resistance or immunity of living creatures to the bacilli of disease have been developed Into the science of experimental therapeutics, and their most important result is the treatment by serum. In addition to curing a disease already broken out, serum is used for the prevention of disease, and in this direc- i ton great success has been obtained i'll the E'atherland, particularly in the case of diphtheria.
 Must Be Tested.
 Before any serum for diphtherla can be sold by chemists 1t must be tested and stamped by the government official desig- mated for the purpose, the testing being carried out on principles resulting from the researches of Ehrlich and other Ger | man scientists, regarding the effects of antitoxic and bactericidals sera on con tagious germs and their poisons. The substances used for these tests (so-called test poisons, test sera etc.) are kept in tine testing house under conditions guar anteeing their immutabillty.
 During the years 1892 and 1893 there died in ten states in the German empire. before healing serum had been discovered, 113,- 259 children between the ages of and 15 years from diphtherla. During 1896 and 1897, after the pretty general treatment with diphtheria serum had been intro- duced there were registered in the above mentioned ten German states only 45.942 deaths from diphtheria among children be- tween 1 and 15 years of age, notwith- standing the fact that the population had considerably increased
 Securing the Serum.
 The diphtheria remedy, liquid and solid, is obtained from the blood of horses which have been rendered immune by gradually increasing doses of bacteria-freed dlph- theria toxin. The diphtheria remedy Is tested by government officials for It's antitoxine potency and freedom from germs at the Royal Institute for Expert mental Therapy. The diphtheria- serum horses are made immune by subcutaneous injections of diphtheria poison in gradu- ally increasing quantities. Their blood yields. after separating from it the cor pnscles. the diphtheria serum, which at the end of the manufacturing process Is examined concerning it's strength and which Is afterwards sent for re-examlna- tion to the control station.
 When the horse has been made immune, a small quantity of blood Is taken from it. The blood Is left in cylinder for twenty-four hours until it coagulates. afterwards with the aid of the "egouteur'' the serum Is separated from the blood cor puscles, the latter remaining in the sieve. certificate Is given after re-examnation. The filling of the serum into bottles and the bottling for export is done with a "burette,' which is in direct connection with the glass in which the serum Is kept. and 1t is supplied in the strengths of 300 800 and 1000 units of 'immuniza- tion." Diphtheria serum can only be ob- tained by the public under a physicians prescription, through an apothecary, 1t being sold at the retail prices of 16.6, 35.7, 53.5, 73.8 and 452 cents, and $1 .19 per dose, according to the strength of the dose; that Is, in strengths of from 200 to 200o units of 'immunization'' per cubic centimeter.