174 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 



., The preparations of lecithins which they employed for venom activation 

 v^ere only slightly haemolytic, and it required nearly 200 times the amount 

 necessary for the activation of cobra venom. A preparation of kephalin was 

 also capable of venom activation, while sinapin was devoid of this property. 

 The following table states the results in succinct form: 



Table 7. 



In closing, Kyes and Sachs state that the addition of a small amount of 

 hydrochloric acid to cobra venom increased the resistance of the latter's 

 haemolytic substance to the temperature of 100° C. The concentration of 

 this acid was one-eighteenth normal, to prevent quick heat-destruction of 

 the venom, in which almost no diminution of lytic power took place in 30 

 minutes' boiling, although it was entirely inactive after 2 hours' heating. 



Kyes finally succeeded in preparing a new compound which possessed 

 considerable haemolytic activity from the mixture of an aqueous solution 

 of snake venom and chloroform solution of lecithin. The process of pre- 

 paration has been described on page 86. This new compound is the 

 venom lecithid and was obtained in a microcrystalline form. Usually it 

 quickly separates out from the aqueous solution and becomes amorphous. 

 It differs in physico-chemical properties from the native venom by its solu- 

 bility in various organic-fat solvents and in its enormous resistance to high 

 temperature. Its haemolytic action is almost instantaneous and uninfluenced 

 by low temperature (o°C.). It is almost non-fatal, although if given sub- 

 cutaneously in a very large quantity infiltration takes place. It differs from 

 lecithin in its insolubility in ether. 



Cholesterin has inhibitory action upon the haemolytic action upon venom 

 lecithid. It is important, after the shaking of the venom solution with chloro- 

 form solution of lecithin, that the aqueous portion of the mixture does not 

 contain any further haemolytic substance, while the neurotoxic principle 

 remains still in solution. 



Besides cobra venom, the venoms of Lachesis lanceolatus, Lachesis anamal- 

 ensis, Lachesis flavoviridis , Crotalus adamanteus , Vipera russellii, Bungarus 

 caruleus, Bungarus fasciatus, and Naja haje were found to form the lecithids. 



Flexner and Noguchi ^ kept up their studies on snake venom and found in 

 the meanwhile that the venoms freshly squeezed out of the poison glands of 



» Flexner and Noguchi. The constitution of snake venom and snake sera. Jour, of Path, and Bac- 

 terioL, 1903, VIII, 379. 



