During the past four years, thousands of cases of tetanus have been treated with varying degrees of success. But there is still doubt in the minds of many as to the efficiency of antitetanic serum as a therapeutic measure.
Since the causative organism of the disease is anaerobic, it is probably most toxic when excluded from oxygen either by being in the deep tissues of the patient or in combination with anaerobic organisms, such as B. subtilis or B. pyocyaneus, which will exhaust any supply of oxygen present. B. tetani may be cultivated, however, in increasing supplies of oxygen until it finally loses its virulence. It may be locked up in a healed and therefore sealed wound for months and regain a practical toxicity during the advent of pyogenic organisms to a new wound, operative or otherwise, when tetanic symptoms disappeared months before; or, indeed, after no previous signs of