Mrs. Grundy. (Tracy City, Tenn.) 1903-1930, 1911-01-05

"Dangerous?' queried the tuberculo-
sis expert. Not at all! Go in and see
the man who is working on rabies.
Now that's what call risky work,
Just let that bowl slip and the bugs
Will fly out, to find their way into the
smallest break In his skin, and then
he Is on the road to case of hydro
phobla. That's an awful disease"
The rabies specialist cannot see 1t
that way; he has his views on the
dangers of the tetanus worker.
We'll, If you really want to see
where man risks his life, go in there.
| can feel pretty sure of what my bugs
are doing, but lockjaw, well, that's the
limit, think"
| And the specialist at work with the
tetanus bacilli is modest and refers
you to the meningitis department, and
he in turn sends you where the CLAN.
ders germs are being cultivated, until
you have seen for yourself the danger.
GUS calling OF every one of them Each
! has its risk so great that it seems re-
markable that anyone would dare to
take up the work.
Commissioner Lederle Of the health
department of New York city, and DIR.
William H. Parks, chief of the re-
search laboratory, showed the work of
preparing the antitoxin from the first
to the last stage the other day.
ITO get the antitoxins and vaccines,
and also for test purposes, We use
guinea pigs, rabbits, goats, calves and
horses" said the commissioner THE
horse furnishes us with most of the
antitoxin. On the farm there are "a
horses, OF which IS are used for diph-
iberia alone. When they have given
us the immunized serum they are put
to work; their strength has not been
impaired by the operation. The calves
from which we take the vaccine are
killed and eaten by us. Yes, actually
eaten, and | trust that you will make
this point strong, because l believe 1t
will do much to show the people who
have been crying out against vaccina-
ton that there is nothing harmful in
1t. or We could never eat the meat.
'Antitoxin and vaccine treatment,
wonderful as have been the results, is
only in its infancy, and we cannot but
wonder what the future holds in store.
AS each day passes and new points
are brought to light, we are encour-
aged to fight Just that much harder in
the hope that the next will bring out
ever so much more.
Take tetanus antitoxin as an exam.
pie. 1t is not so long ago that we dis
covered that this was an excellent i'm
muntzing agent. Injecting 1t into the
veins has produced cures, and positive
cures at that"
III the diphtheria room the bacteri-
ologist was preparing for the trans
planting of the living bacteria from
the test tubes, where they get their
start, to a larger vessel, in which they
develop rapidly. On a glass-topped
table were bunsen burner a small
wire basket containing about twenty
small test tubes, each corked with a
small wadding Of cotton; a receptacle
holding dozen glass-handled plati-
mum wires, microscope and the large
vessel, about one-third filled with a
yellowish or ambercolored fluid, and
also number of slides like the small
covers Of preserve jars. These were
the test slides upon which the individ.
ual germs are developed into colonies
each colony appearing to occupy no
more space than could be covered nv
large pin point.
These germs were to be used for in.
jections to one of the horses. from
which they wished to secure the dinh-
iberia antitoxin.
The first dose given to the animal "a
small one, but the germs get to work
at once. At the same time the blood
takes up the task of fighting them
The next injection is larger, and the
blood, now containing certain agents
produced in the first battle, attacks
the newcomers with added force. So