"We are further of the opinion that in antitoxic serum we possess a remedy of distinctly greater value in the treatment of diphtheria than any other with which we are acquainted." * * * * * Now let us take the whole record of all the hospitals together. The disease was first admitted in 1888; this year is therefore to be reckoned as incomplete. +--------------------------+----------++--------------+----------+ |Year. |Percentage||Year. |Percentage| | |Mortality.|| |Mortality.| +--------------------------+----------++--------------+----------+ |1888 | 59.35 ||1897 | 17.69 | |1889 | 40.74 ||1898 | 15.37 | |1890 | 33.55 ||1899 | 13.95 | |1891 | 30.63 ||1900 | 12.27 | |1892 | 29.35 ||1901 | 11.15 | |1893 | 30.42 ||1902 | 11.04 | |1894 | 29.29 ||1903 | 9.69 | |1895, first antitoxin year| 22.85 ||1904 | 10.08 | |1896 | 21.20 ||1905 | 8.3 | +--------------------------+----------++--------------+----------+ These results, of course, are but one instance of what has happened, since 1895, in every country all over the civilised world. _Securus judicat orbis terrarum._ We have Siegert's tables (1900), based on no less than 40,038 cases admitted in nine years to sixty-nine hospitals in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Paris. He divides these nine years into a "pre-serum period," an "introduction year," and a "serum period." In the pre-serum period the general mortality was 41.5, and the mortality of cases requiring operation was 60; in the serum period, the general mortality was 16.5, and the mortality of cases requiring operation was 37.5. Any bad results that have been recorded from the use of the antitoxin are so rare, in comparison with the hundreds of thousands of injections made, that they do not come to be considered here. And, even though a few have occurred, we may be sure that some of them were due, not to the antitoxin, but to the natural course of the disease.[23] The lesser drawbacks, the occurrence of joint pains and of rashes, are transient and in no way serious. [23] This, of course, does not apply to two instances, in 1901, of accidental contamination of serum. See, for an account of these, _The British Medical Journal_, November 1901. It has been supposed, and said, that the use of the antitoxin increases the complications of the disease. On this point, the best authority is Professor Woodhead's monumental Report (1901), dealing with the Metropolitan Asylums Board cases for 1895 and 1896. He sums up the matter thus:--