Serum-therapy in the light of the most recent investigations / by Frederick W. Stetson.
- Stetson, Frederick W.
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Serum-therapy in the light of the most recent investigations / by Frederick W. Stetson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![the destruction of nerve, liver, lymph-cells or other tissues, it is possible that the class of antitoxines em- braces numerous classes of anti-elements, each having its specific protective action. Thus there may be in- cluded under the broad term antitoxines hitherto undiscovered antineurolysins, antihepatolysins, anti- lympholysins, etc., after the analogy of the already recognized antihaemolysins. Now it has recently been shown by various investi- gations that normal serum contains many such pro- tective elements in small amounts; that the sera of different species differ from each other in the varieties of elements they contain; and that among individuals of the same species there is a quantitative variation in these elements. In the case of the bactericides, it was shown in 1888 by Nutall that rabbits' blood was bactericidal for anthrax, the bacillus subtilis, and the bacterium megatherium (2). ]!*^issen has demonstrated the same effect of rabbitt's blood upon cholera, typhoid, coccus aquatilis (3). Buchner found the serum of rabbits l^actericidal for anthrax, hog cholera, typhoid, cholera, etc. (4), and at the same time that this effect was not an inherent quality of serum itself, for he found that ox and horse sera were quite ineft'ective toward the typhoid bacillus. Furthermore, that this bactericidal action toward dif- ferent bacteria was not due to a single substance in the serum was demonstrated by an experiment of Nissens. In this he injected intravenously into a rabbit a great amount of the coccus aquatilis, and immediately drew off the l^lood from the vein. This blood had lost its bactericidal strength for this or- ganism, while it remained unchanged for cholera and typhoid (3).](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21167606_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
