That is an exact picture of the state of things thirty years ago; the student taking notes, waiting for the _post-mortem_ examination, then correcting his notes there, etc. Every case of brain-tumour in those days died, but many are saved now; and every case of brain-abscess in those days died (one or two were saved by a sort of miracle of surgical audacity); but many are saved now. ANTITOXINS AND CARBOLIC ACID It is said by opponents of experiments on animals, that the active principle, in antitoxin, is not the antitoxin, but the carbolic acid which is added to it. They take this statement from the _Medical Brief_; and we have learned something of the style of that journal. Here is a sentence from the official journal of the National Society:-- "The _Medical Brief_ calls antitoxin 'the fraud of the age,' and says: _Would that physicians could all realise the hideous horror of using this nasty stuff as a remedial agent_. It would be nothing less than ghoulishness to inject the matter from an abscess into a child's arm, yet antitoxin is not much better; it is the decomposing fluid from a diseased horse, partially neutralised by carbolic acid." For a commentary on this sentence, take the following letter from an eminent bacteriologist:-- "As regards diphtheria antitoxin, the addition of an antiseptic is by no means necessary or universal. For fully two years I added none to the serum which I prepared, but contented myself with filtration through a Kieselguhr filter, and bottling under aseptic conditions. At one time Roux used to put a small piece of camphor in each bottle as some sort of safeguard against putrefaction. Nowadays I believe that most makers preserve their sera by adding a trace of trikresol--I am not quite sure of the amount, but it is either .04 per cent. or .004 per cent.!" But it is probable that the _Zoophilist_ will still accept the authority of the _Medical Brief_. Baccelli got good results, in tetanus, from the administration of carbolic acid; therefore, in diphtheria, the good results from diphtheria-antitoxin are due to the carbolic acid in it. That is the argument. But there is no carbolic acid in it? Oh, then the patient got well of himself, the treatment didn't kill him, it was not diphtheria after all, the disease has altered its type lately, he was well nursed, the back of his throat was painted with something, the doctor got half-a-crown by calling it diphtheria, the bacillus diphtheriæ may be found in healthy mouths, and all bacteriology is _base and blatant materialism_. THE ARGUMENT FROM THE DEATH-RATE