A toxoid for the active immunization of human beings against tetanus infection has been developed within the past few years and its efficiency as a producer of tetanus antitoxin has been well established. It has followed directly in the wake of the development of diphtheria toxoid, and today a refined alum precipitated formaldehyde detoxified tetanus toxoid standardized under rules of the National Institute of Health is commercially available. It is not within the scope of this paper to discuss the aspects of its development or its antitoxin producing capacity, all of which may be found in such recent papers, with references, as those of Bergey and Etris,1 Jones and Moss,2 Hall,3 Gold4 and Cowles.5
The advantages inherent in the active immunization with tetanus toxoid are that the serum antitoxin titer may be raised to a level higher than that afforded by the usual prophylactic dose