Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-12-10

varsan is really a chemical COM
pounu. Its efficiency depends on
the of arsenic it contains.
If there is too much, the patient
will die; if too little he gets no ben
eft o the treatment. 1t was a
long time before chemists achieved
this concotion of arsenic which
would be strong enough to cure but
not kill. To make sure that it is
just right a sample lose out of ev-
cry lot made is injected into rats at
the laboratory. Rats are used be-
cause they happen to respond to
that particular disease and treat
ment more like human beings than
any other animal.
Only one biological product-ra-
bies vaccine-is made by the gov
eminent at the hygienic laboratory,
would gladly turn over this work to
the state laboratories except for the
fact that scarcely enough is called
for to make it worth while for most
states to bother with it. The gov
eminent sends out 1000 treatments
of rabies vaccine a year, all ver
the country.
The vaccine is made from the
spinal cord of a rabbit that has been
injected with rabies. The cord is
dried to a certain state, and then
preserved in glycerine to keep it
from drying further. Only about
one-quarter of an inch is used for a
dose, but 81 doses have to be in
jected in the patient. one each day
for three weeks.
This is the least used of the vac
cines, but it is one of the most
valuable because it is the only pre-
ventitve of hydrophobia known.
l DIN A.s H. 1@a - l..
a mad dog and VIII receives the
n chance in 200 of dying from
rabies. But if the symptoms de-
velop before the first injection is
made there is no remedy.
Rabies Naccins.
Rabies vaccine is the most expen-
sive of the biological products, cost
ing from $25 to $50 for the course
of Fl injections. Diphtheria anti
toxin is much cheaper. A tube of
1000 units, a usual treatment, costs
"A to IS now. Smallpox vaccine is
cheapest of all the products, at
about 20 cents a dose. and only one
dose is needed. The comparative
ly high price placed on most of the
serums is due mainly to the fact
that they deteriorate after a time
and become weaek or altogether
useless.
Besides creating new biological
products and safeguarding those on
which the general public depends,
the government has one other duty
in connection with them. That is
TO try to keep useless off the
market. In this the Federal govern
ment has only a limited control. 1;
can, and does, refuse a license to a
m kaeafor ers mCkfsrhuldvc
maker of a serum known to be val
ueless or harmful. so that he can
not snip it out of the state i'm which
II is made. This keeps him from
doing an extensive business, but il
does not prevent him from selling
his goods throughout the state
Ihat is a matter for the state health
officials to regulate.
The government has refused its
licenses to makers of serums for
tuberculosis because no such sue
cessful serum has yet been pro-
udced. 1t has refused licenses for
some cold and hay fever erum
which were uniformly worthless
There are numbers of these last on
the market, and they vary widely
in value. Still another type of rem
edy refused a license by the gov.
eminent was a rattlesnake serum
which the owner proclaimed as a
sure cure for e%pileptic fits, but
which medical specialists pro.
nouncde entirely lacking in the
power ascribed to it.