Antitoxine
the name given to a remedy for diphtheria. The diphtheritic toxine produced by cultivating the bacillus of diphtheria in broth, in the presence of air, is injected in increasing amounts into an animal, preferably the horse, until it is immunized, or rendered insusceptible to diphtheria. The serum of the animal thus rendered immune may then be injected into the system of a person suffering from diphtheria, with generally successful results. The decrease of deaths from this disease since the introduction of this remedy is remarkable, and in most large cities it is provided free to all unable to pay for the medicine. Among other antitoxines the most important are the antitoxine of tetanus and the antitoxine of snake poison.