VENOM HAEMOLYSIS AND VENOM AGGLUTINATION 163 



are elongated, deformed, or broken up; others present shining points and then 

 break up into minute fragments. Direct contact of the blood with the venom 

 in vitro produces adhesion of the corpuscles, which then lose their normal 

 forms. In a few minutes the dissolution is complete. 



Feoktistow (1888), who worked with the venoms of Crotalus and Vipera 

 berus, found that 2 per cent solution of these venoms produced dissolution 

 of the corpuscles after i8 to 24 hours. 



Ragotzi (1890) states that the blood corpuscles of mammals injected with 

 cobra venom or directly mixed with it become convex and lose their tendency 

 to form rouleaux. The corpuscles are dissolved after some hours. When a 

 sample of frog's blood is mixed with the venom the corpuscles at once become 

 pale and the stroma invisible. The nuclei remain for some time. The 

 laked blood still shows the oxy haemoglobin absorption band, but gradually 

 disappears without losing its clear, bright color. 



C. J. Martin (1893 and 1896) made observations on the effects of the venom 

 of Pseudechis porphyriacus upon the blood corpuscles of various animals. 

 The blood of frog was mixed with an equal volume of a 0.7 per cent solution 

 of NaCl containing o. i per cent of venom. The mixture was observed under 

 the microscope. Within a few minutes a disintegration of the corpuscles 

 occurred. The disappearance of the erythrocytes was so complete that at 

 the end of 15 minutes there was nothing except the slight coloration of the 

 field to distinguish the preparation from one of lymph. The action on the 

 white cells was much slower. At the end of 15 minutes there was no change, 

 but no amoeboid movements occurred. Soon nuclei became clearer and 

 then intensely granular, swollen, and finally disappeared. During this time 

 controls were still actively motile. The corpuscles of pigeon were slightly 

 more resistant. 



The blood corpuscles of different mammals present remarkable diversity 

 in their power of resisting the destructive effects of the venom, and those of 

 the dog were more sensitive than those of any other animal. With this 

 blood o.ooooi gm. of the venom was just sufficient to destroy 100 c.c. of blood, 

 either in the body or in vitro. The corpuscles of rabbits, cats, guinea-pigs, 

 and white rats, and especially those of man, were much less sensitive to the 

 destructive effect of venom. Martin observed that in dogs haemoglobin is 

 easily crystallized out from the laked corpuscles, both in vivo and in vitro. 

 The urine nearly always contains such crystals, and in animals which died 

 with suppression of urine two or three days after the injection of the poison, 

 microscopical examination of the kidneys has shown the tubules to be com- 

 pletely blocked with hi^moglobin crystals. Haemoglobinuria is a frequent 

 symptom with animals other than dogs, except with minimal or subminimal 

 doses. 



On examining the blood of animals, immediately subsequent to death from 

 the injection of pseudechis poison, Martin found, except in those cases which 

 succumbed within a few hours after the injection, increase in the number 

 of leucocytes and occasional gathering together of these cells in grape-like 



