294 



COLLECTED STUDIES IX IMMUNITY. 



TABLE II. 



From these experiments it can be seen that in the cases described 

 the cobra venom has the character of an amboceptor and that the 

 amboceptors are activated by serum complements which possess 

 the ordinary degree of thermolability. 



We have thought it necessary to determine the mode of action 

 of both substances according to the method used in previous studies 

 on haemolysis. Hence we next studied the behavior of sheep blood- 

 cells toward the isolated cobra venom and toward the complement. 

 So far as the behavior toward the poison alone is concerned it can be 

 shown that this poison is bound by the sheep blood-cells although 

 these are not by themselves dissolved by cobra venom. This confirms 

 the statement of Flexner and Noguchi. According to our experience, 

 however, the blood-cells possess relatively feeble binding powers, 

 especially in dilute solutions of the poison. 1 On the other hand 

 the complement alone is not at all bound by the blood-cells. This 

 is borne out by the fact that at C. sheep blood-cells are not dissolved 

 by cobra venom + guinea-pig serum; while at 8 C. only a trace of 

 solution occurs. If a separation experiment is made, so that ambo- 

 ceptor and complement are allowed to act on blood-cells at C., 



1 The statements of Decroly and Rousse (Archiv. internat. de pharma- 

 codynamie et de therapie, Vol. VI, 1899) are in entire accord with the slight 

 binding powers of red blood-cells for snake poison. They find that in the animal 

 body also snake poison is bound very much more slowly than diphtheria or 

 tetanus poison. Rabbits which had been intravenously injected with a fatal dose 

 of snake venom could be saved even after ten minutes by bleeding and trans- 

 fusing fresh blood, whereas with diphtheria or tetanus poison, even though the 

 same treatment was done immediately, the fatal ending could not be averted. 



