Abstract
AT the Congress of Hygiene and Demography recently held at Madrid, many matters of scientific interest and importance were introduced and discussed. Unfortunately the papers were not printed and distributed among the members, and as the majority were read in Spanish, the discussions were curtailed. The Section of Micro-biology as applied to Hygiene attracted the largest share of attention. Among the more important contributions was that of Dr. Behring, who announced that, as the result of experimental work with the toxin and antitoxin of tuberculosis, he had isolated a substance from the tubercle bacillus a hundred times more powerful than Koch's tuberculin, and had obtained, by passing the virus through the horse, an antitoxin which he believed to be an efficient cure for the disease. Experiments on a large scale are to be carried out at the Berlin Veterinary University. Dr. A. Calmette, of the Pasteur Institute of Lille, demonstrated in a highly successful manner the prophylactic effect on snake-bitten patients of serum of the blood of horses subjected to small doses of the venom. For this purpose a rabbit was injected with a large dose of a mixture of venom of the cobra, naja, and bothrops; this proved fatal in twenty minutes. Two rabbits were then injected with the protective serum, and in ten minutes each received a dose of the mixture equal in amount to that which killed the first rabbit. These rabbits appeared to suffer no ill-effects. Further experiments gave unquestionable evW dence as to the prophylactic property of the serum, which is easily prepared and retains its protective power for an indefinite period.
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Micro-Biology as Applied to Hygiene. Nature 58, 15–16 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058015a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058015a0