The Nature of the Antagonism Between Toxins and Antitoxins

Abstract

THE subject of toxins and antitoxins, though still in its infancy, is one which possesses considerable importance not only to the scientific world, but also to all members of the community. In the cases of snake poisoning, and diphtheria especially, the curative results that follow the administration of antitoxic serum are most marked, and it is in connection with these two conditions that the subject has been principally worked out. Important and interesting as these results are, foreshadowing as they do a new method of therapeutics in many other diseases, there are still two fundamental questions which have hitherto remained unanswered. The first of these is, What is the nature of the substances in question? The second is, What is the nature of the antagonism between them?