Bobby Rushbrook, age 9, of Huntsvil1e, Ala., for his question:

Are antibiotics different from antitoxins?

Doctors and druggists use these fine sounding words. Antibiotics and antitoxins are both medicines. But they work in different ways. An antibiotic may be able to cure a number of different diseases. Each antitoxin can help the body to solve only one problem.

Both of these big words begin with anti, which means against. Antibiotics and antitoxins are both against sickness which harms the body. The antibiotics destroy the germs which attack the body. Sometimes the body is cured by poison from a snake bite. Certain germs also make poisons which damage the body. The word toxin means poison, and the antitoxins are medicines which work to make poisons harmless to the body.

Many illnesses are caused by bacteria which are midget members of the plant world. These little germs also have their enemies. Sometimes they are attacked and destroyed by tiny molds. And, strange to say, these molds are also midget members of the plant world. The molds give off chemicals called antibiotics. We use these antibiotics as medicines to destroy the disease germs that attack us.

When a patch of a certain mold is allowed to grow, it gives off a chemical called penicillin. The bacteria which cause pneumonia and other diseases Melt away in the penicillin. The precious chemical is a yellowish colored powder Called an antibiotic. As a medicine, it destroys the germs which cause pneumonia and other diseases.

We get our antibiotics by pampering molds and other small, living things. In most eases it is harder to produce an antitoxin. Sometimes the body makes its own antitoxins. This may happen when it is attacked by germs that give off poisonous substances. But sometimes the body needs the help of a large animal to make enough antitoxin.

Diphtheria germs damage the body with poisonous substances. When a horse is injected with these gertils, it makes a lot of antitoxins. These chemicals turn the diphtheria poisons into harmless substances wherever they find them. Later some Of the blood serum is taken from the horse. The Serum has enough antitoxin chemicals to help a patient with diphtheria.

Antibiotics are chemicals that destroy the living germs that attack the body. Antitoxins work against poisons which may be made by germs or come from snake bites. An antibiotic chemical may destroy several different germs. An antitoxin can be used to make only one kind of poison harmless. The antitoxin which helps against snake bite is of no use against the poison of lockjaw, and the lockjaw antitoxin is of no use against the poisons of diphtheria.