Corrciipiukircc. ENTERIC FEVER IN INDIA. To the

Editor,

"

Indian Medical Gazette."

Sir,?Enteric fever is being treated and perhaps with some success by injecting cultures of the typhoid bacillus ; serumin diphtheria, therapeutics has been successfully applied " * * II parait, en tetanus, phthisis, pneumonia, and:?* effet, que M. Behring, qu'on peut surnommer 1 Edison de la medecine, va nous proposer procliainement des antitoxines infaillibles contre la fievri typho'ide et le cholera."?(Joum. de Med. de Paris, 6th January 1895.) Naturally, therefore, my letter published in your September or November number, acquires meaning unlooked for at the time.

Viquerat [Brit. Med. Journ., 1894 II, 718) has found that of all animals the ass has the greatest natural immunity to tubercle, and he successfully treats consumption with the highly immunised serum of the ass.

April

1895.]

CORRESPONDENCE, APPOINTMENTS, LEAVE, &c.

" " Naturally, therefore, serotherapie has become the rage, and here, without going the length of proposing serum of the 44 mongoose" for snake-bite, I may just repeat that we have misunderstood, and are underrating the importance of, the 44 " enteric." plains" native's comparative immunity against 44 All children are to be considered as naturally immune" to enteric for a time at least, but the plains native only, is found 44 to be immune" through life. Therefore with our newlyacquired knowledge misjht we not now interpret this as immunity acquired by habit and order of living, and have we 44 not the antitoxine " i*eady to hand in the blood serum of the healthy, young, immunised native in any (preferably the most dirty) native village in the plains. Certainly the native of the plains suffers from 44 enteric," and cases are recorded even without use of evasive words like 44 44 " tropical," malarial and other ; but are not these few reports more than anything confirmatory of this early imgrave error in munising process in general, and of the 44 attributing this comparative immunity to a racial" difference which is auite impossible to explain. G. M. SHEWAN, m.b., Agra, nth B.I. '20th March 1S95.

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