CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIA 131 



ceed $a, i.e. 50 — the observation gives not more than 

 40. In the same manner if b is small, e.g. 06 or 1, 

 the quantity of haemolysin does not reach 100 even 

 with the greatest excess of amboceptor (# = 900). 

 According to the formula x cannot in this case 

 exceed a maximum x=2ob y i.e. 12 or 20, in perfect 

 accordance with the observation. This circumstance 

 indicates that neither the amboceptor nor the com- 

 plement acts as a katalyser or sensitiser. (The 

 test-tubes containing the mixtures were kept at 

 $y° C. for two hours and subsequently for seventeen 

 hours at 2 C, so that the final equilibrium was prob- 

 ably nearly reached.) 



The agreement of the formula with the observa- 

 tions indicates that a binding really takes place, so 

 that when 100 units of haemolysin are formed the 

 quantity of amboceptor in 20 cubic millimetres of the 

 goat serum and the content of complement in 5 cubic 

 millimetres of guinea-pig serum are consumed. 



The fact that total haemolysis is not reached even 

 with very great quantities of amboceptor or com- 

 plement if the other component is not present in a 

 sufficient degree had been proved by Morgenroth 

 and Sachs in 1902. 



Two other combinations were tried. The one 

 of them in which amboceptor from goat and guinea- 

 pig serum acted upon red blood -corpuscles from 

 sheep gave the formula 



(^oa—x)(2$b — x)= iqoox. 

 The second with red blood - corpuscles from ox 



