Det. SS ee. ee ee ee 
1039 
Stewart (12) found that saponin acts more slowly at 0°; that it acts 
upon blood treated with formalin as readily as upon fresh blood; that 
it increases the conductivity of the blood. The nuclei of the red cor- 
puscles of Necturus were not affected by saponin. He concluded that 
saponin acts first upon the envelopes of the corpuscles, increasing their 
permeability to electrolytes, thus agreeing with Ransom. 
- EXPERIMENTAL WORK. 
Saponin from Hntada scandens proved highly toxic for rabbits and 
guinea pigs. When diluted with normal salt solution to a concentration 
of 1 to 200 and injected into the peritoneal cavity, 2.5 milligrams of 
saponin per 100 grams of animal was uniformly fatal, while a quarter 
of this amount (0.6 milligram per 100 grams of animal) killed in 
several instances. No gross lesions were found in animals dying within 
a few hours; in those living for a longer period a localized peritonitis 
was occasionally met with, and one guinea pig died of intussusception. 
The results were better when a dilution of between 1:500 and 1:1,000 
was used for injection. Subcutaneous inoculations of a 1:200 solution 
were followed by abscesses, and a high dilution, given intravenously, 
proved to be rapidly fatal. . 
The saponin is powerfully hemolytic. 0.0050 cubic centimeter of a 
one-half of 1 per cent solution (0.025 milligram) completely dissolved 
1 cubic centimeter of a 5 per cent suspension of rabbit’s corpucles which 
were freed from serum, and half of this amount produced hemolysis of 
the serum-free corpuscles of the guinea pig. 
Experiment showed that the corpuscles of the rabbit can absorb more 
than the simple hemolysing dose of saponin, for in one case as much as 
four times this quantity was required to produce hemolysis of two con- 
secutive cubic centimeters of blood suspension. This agrees with Ran- 
som’s results. 
Saponin loses its hemolytic power after the addition of serum, 0.1 
cubie centimeter of horse’s serum protecting 1 cubic centimeter of a 5 per 
cent suspension of guinea pig’s corpuscles against twice the dissolving 
dose of saponin, and 0.01 cubic centimeter of serum just allowing complete 
hemolysis to take place. 
reduction in erythrocytes, accumulation of pigment in lymphoid organs, and, after 
intravenous injection, the prompt appearance of large numbers of nucleated red 
cells in the circulation, normoblasts, megaloblasts, and naked pyknotic nuclei. 
After repeated doses the blood picture resembled that of a primary anemia in 
man, together with a relative and absolute decrease of polymorphonuclears and 
increase of mononuclears. Intravenous injections affected almost only the hemo- 
poietic organs, acting with especial severity upon the cells and capillaries of the 
bone marrow. 
49083——3 
