GENERAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS OF THE VENOM. 55 



Guinea-pig 33, 480 g. 



May 20, 4 h 17 m injected 0.060 c.c. venom from heloderma No. 2 obtained after 

 injection of pilocarpine; second portion after secretion had become very slimy. 

 5 o'clock paralyzed; breathing quick, not labored; occasional convulsive move- 

 ments of legs. 5 h 20 m breathing irregular, slow; jerking movements of head 

 and legs. 6 o'clock dead. 

 Rat 6, 120 g. 



May 24, 6 p. m. injected 0.1 c.c. venom from heloderma No. 1 obtained before 

 injecting pilocarpine. 6' h 25 m appears weak, unable to move easily. 7 o'clock 

 somewhat better. May 25 found dead. 

 Rat 7, 120 g. 



May 24, 5 h 56 m injected 0.1 c.c. venom from heloderma No. 1 obtained after inject- 

 ing pilocarpine. 6 h 30 m very weak. 7 o'clock labored breathing; reflexes 

 absent. ? h W m dead. 

 Venom before injection. 

 Rat 5S, 100 g. 



June 7, 5 h 3o m injected 0.1 c.c. venom. 6 h 30 m dying. S o'clock dead. 

 Guinea-pig 48, 420 g. 



May 31, 12 h 03 m injected 0.1 c.c. venom. l h 30 m sits down; breathing rapid. 

 2 o'clock inclined to fall on one side; able to right itself. 2 h 30 m breathing 

 difficult, jerky. 3 h 25 m occasional violent jerks. 4 o'clock dead. 

 Rat 15, 61 g. 



May 31, 12 h 14 m injected 0.1 c.c. venom. 12 h S0 m lying on side ; breathing rapid. 

 12 h 40 m lying on side; breathing slow. 12 h 4S m reflexes absent. 12 h 50 m dead. 

 Venom after injection. 

 Rat 59, 100 g. 



June 7, 5 h 40 m injected 0.1 c.c. venom. 6 h 30 m dead. 

 Guinea-pig 47, 600 g. 



May 31, 12 o'clock injected 0.1 c.c. venom. 12 h 30 m lying down. 12^40 

 lying down; breathing rapid. l h 30 m lies on side. 2 o'clock breathing very 

 forced ; right legs paralyzed. 2 h 30 m breathing difficult ; slower. 2 h 45 m tetanic 

 convulsions when stimulated. 2 h S0 m dying; convulsions when stimulated. 

 3 h 10 m dead. 

 Rat 14, 98 g. 



May 31, 12 h 10 m injected 0.1 c.c. venom. 12 h 30 m lying on side; breathing 

 rapid. 12 h 40 m lying on side; breathing slow. 12 h 45 m reflexes present. 

 12 h 50 m reflexes present. 1 o'clock reflexes absent. l h 10 m better; able to 

 move. 2 o'clock lies on side; apparently dying; reflexes present. 2 h 20 m 

 dead. 



EFFECT OF HEAT ON VENOM. 



Santesson (Nordickt Medicinskt Arkiv. Testband Ullegnadigt Axel Key, 

 Nov. 5, 1897) showed in a few experiments that boiling the venom for at least 

 10 minutes does not diminish its toxicity. We have found, however, that 

 boiled and unboiled portions of the same venom were equally toxic only when 

 the precipitate was not filtered off from the former. Some of the venom was 

 evidently carried down with the precipitate, but if precautions were taken so 

 that the precipitate was fine enough to be injected there was no appreciable 

 difference in the effect of the boiled and unboiled portions. In some cases 

 where the filtrate from the boiled venom showed a lower toxicity than the 

 original sample we found that the precipitate, mixed with physiological salt 

 solution and injected into an animal, was toxic. We found the same to be true 

 concerning the precipitate from unboiled venom, i.e., the precipitate formed by 

 diluting venom with ten times its volume of physiological salt solution gives, 

 when injected into an animal, all the effects produced by injecting the precipi- 

 tate from boiled venom. 



Since it was possible to heat the fresh venom to 100 without decreasing 

 its toxicity we were able to sterilize the venom before injecting it into animals. 

 This precaution was manifestly necessary, since it was found that the fresh 



