INFLUENCE OF HELODERMA VENOM. 



105 



According to Porges and Pribram,* and Fleisher and Loeb,f the addition 

 of calcium chloride to an infused sodium-chloride solution causes a lowering of 

 the blood-pressure and a diminution in the secretion of urine. These observa- 

 tions suggested the possibility that the lowered blood-pressure and the lessened 

 elimination of urine in animals injected with venom-sodium-chloride solution 

 were due to some inorganic portion of the dry venom, acting in a manner simi- 

 lar to calcium chloride. Calcium chloride, however, as we have shown pre- 

 viously, diminishes the elimination of urine independently of its action on the 

 general arterial system. We incinerated, therefore, 20 mg. of the dry venom 

 and dissolved the ash in sodium-chloride solution ; 20 mg. of venom contain on 

 the average approximately 13 per cent of ash; approximately 2.5 mg. of inor- 

 ganic material were therefore added to 800 c.c. of salt solution. 



When this mixture of venom-ash and sodium-chloride solution was infused 

 into rabbits no fall, but even a slight rise, of blood-pressure was usually seen 

 after the first 50 or 100 c.c. of fluid had been infused. After this rise the pres- 

 sure either remained at the same level during the course of the infusion or sank 

 very gradually to normal. At no time did the pressure fall as low as it did 

 after the infusion of the dry venom. Thus the infusion of the venom-ash 

 sodium-chloride solution acts in very much the same manner on blood-pressure 

 as the infusion of pure sodium-chloride solution,! and the fall of blood-pressure 

 resulting from the infusion of venom-sodium-chloride solution must conse- 

 quently be due to the organic portion of the venom (see fig. 18). 



The addition of the venom-ash to the sodium-chloride solution does not 

 interfere with the elimination of fluid through the kidneys; for every 1,000 c.c. 

 of fluid infused 780 c.c. of urine were secreted. In these experiments the quan- 

 tity of fluid present in the intestines at the end of the infusion was so small that 

 it appeared useless to measure it; neither was any ascitic fluid found in these 

 experiments. 



Table 2. Non-nephrectomized rabbits infused with venom-ash sodium-chloride solution. 



Average for every 1,000 c.c. infused: 



c.c. 



Urine 780 



Intestinal fluid 5 



Average for every 1,000 c.c. retained: 



Intestinal fluid 19 



The fact that such a small amount of intestinal fluid and no ascitic fluid 

 were found in these experiments is due to the very small quantities of fluid (an 

 average of 144 c.c.) which were retained within the bodies of the animals. As 

 we have shown previously,^ when small quantities of fluid are retained within 

 the body, the quantities of peritoneal transudate and intestinal fluid produced 



*Porges and Pribram, Arch, fur exper. Path. u. Pharm., 1908, lix, 30. 

 jFleisher and Loeb, Jour. Exper. Med., 1909, XI, 641. 

 JFIeisher, Hoyt and Loeb, Jour. Exper. Med., 1909, xi, 291. 



