The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-10-02

Gus culture to overcome the horses |
inherent ability TO throw off diphthe- |
ria. In any case the scientist continues
to increase the dose of diphtheria un-
Ill the horse shows a high fever and
other evidences of the disease.
Then the animal is cared for until
he RECEIVERS and his fever disappears.
He is again injected and suffers a
much slighter attack. He RECEIVERS, is
reinfected, RECEIVERS, and is further
treated until he can be injected with
as high of 200 centimeters of diph-
liberia poison culture of standard
strength without showing any i'll eff
fects.
Finally. when this horse has re-
ceived say 1900 centimeters of the
poison and is able to throw off diph-
iberia completely. his blood is evil
IDENTIFY filled with the serum that kills
diphtheria germs. He is then ready
to fulfil his high mission Of supplying
suffering little boys and girls with
the antitOxin that can and Will save
their tiny lives from that formerly
terrible scOurge of the nursery
qiphuheria.
The difference. as already stated. of
culuvating antitoxin horses for the
other diseases is not great. For te-
tanus only 500 cubic centimeters can
be injected into any horse. With the
antitOXiu for bubOnic plague the
horses must be injected. not with
filtered culture which is freed from
the microbes. but the actual plague
germs are poured into the horses
veins. AT first these germs are weak
ened BY being exposed to a high tenn
perature. After the horse has learned
to Kill these heat-weakened plague
germs he is fed on those that are fully
alive and vigorous, just as they are in
persons dying from the plague.
The best of antitOXin horses take a
long time TO build up in their blood
the quality of Withstanding the
straightout plague bacilli. 1t takes
nearly two years for any horse to gain
this position, and they are extremely
difficult TO handle while going through
with the process.
The Finished Animal.
The finished animals are kept light
ly exercised, and are bled from the
neck in rotation as the laboratory de-
mands may call for the different
kinds of antitOxins. About three
quarts are taken from an animal at a
bleeding. which. considering the
amount in his pampered body, is a
total blood in his veins.
All vessels are absolutely steriliZed,
and the blood is put aside for twenty
four hours, during which period il
coagulates. Above the hardening red
blood there is found floating a straw
cOlOred. syrupy juice. In this lies the
cure for anthrax Chat otherwise al
ways fatal disease). the cure for diph-
liberia, the preventive of bubonic
plague, or of typhoid fever, etc.
The Finished Product.
The antitoxins themselves are ac-
tually finished up in the big Pasteur
institute in Paris. The curative ele-
ments are isolated and preserved in
glycerine solutions after the primitive
serum has been heated 10 a very high
temperature to prevent further cOagu-
lation. and some highly technical
chemical changes. Also a preserYYa-
tive, usually a slight trace of conserv-
ing acid, is added. and the finished
product is dramatically sealed in the
tubes, which are already becoming IA
miliar to the public.
These are the steps in the produc-
ton OF antitoXins that can be readily
explained to the unprOfessiOnal read
er. During each Of them a multitude
of highly complicated and marvellous
processes occur. Perhaps no man in
the world knows more about these
difficult scientific problems than DIR.
MetchnikOff of the Pasteur institute.
He is recOgnizer all over the world as
one of the great masters of the pro-
ductiOn of antitOXins, and he has an
able assistant in Professor ROuX. who
has direct personal charge of the Ia
bOratory work in the Pasteur insti- |
tuee.
The laboratories in Paris and the /
antitoxin horses at Villeneuve-L Etang
produce practically all of the anti !
toxins used outside of the United
States. The Pasteur antitoxin estab- /
lishment is working on two more Sc
runs, which are announced as even /
more remarkable than the nine now
produced. Whatever the final out /
come, the interest of the place cannot !
be gainsaid. and as a center of medi- /
cal achievement il is not surpassed in |
the entire world today.