182 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 



quantity of the blood. From these results Lamb explains why, without addi- 

 tion of suitable serum, haemolysis was obtained by Kyes and Sachs, who 

 chiefly worked with cobra venom of group i, and not obtained by Flexner 

 and Noguchi, who worked with the venoms belonging to group 2. 



With the same experimental arrangements as the above, but using 0.2 c.c. 

 of 0.1 per cent lecithin saline suspension as the activator, Lamb demonstrated 

 the variabihty of the affinities possessed by different venoms toward lecithin. 

 He found that the venoms of Echis carinata, Bun gar us fascia tus, and Bungarus 

 caruleus become active on the addition of lecithin in the same degree as on 

 the addition of dog's serum, but lecithin has but shght activating effect upon 

 the venoms of Naja bungarus, Enhydrina valakadien, and Crotalus adaman- 

 teus. In this connection it is important to remember that the venoms of Naja 

 bungarus and Crotalus adamanteus are equally or even more hasmolytic when, 

 instead of lecithin, dog's serum is employed as the activator. This phenome- 

 non offers some difficulty in generahzing Kyes's hypothesis that lecithin is 

 solely responsible for the venom-activating property of a blood serum, because 

 pure lecithin is not equivalent, in activating these particular venoms, to a 

 suitable serum. 



The washed corpuscles of ox and goat bloods are entirely resistant to all 

 venoms here employed, but become haemolyzed upon the addition of lecithin 

 with the venoms belonging to group i. On the other hand, lecithin does not 

 appreciably accelerate or activate those venoms falling in group 2. These 

 differences were explained by Lamb as though different venoms have varying 

 affinities to lecithin. 



The next question determined by Lamb relates to the fixability of venom- 

 intermediary bodies by the blood corpuscles. He tried to impregnate the 

 washed corpuscles of certain suitable kinds of bloods with varying amounts 

 of venoms, say i, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 20 minimal complete haemolyzing doses. 

 The tests whether the corpuscles absorbed any portion of the venom from the 

 medium after a period of contact were made by examining the fluid separated 

 from the cells (by centrifugalization) for the remaining activity on a fresh lot 

 of the same kind of blood corpuscles with the simultaneous addition of either 

 homologous serum or lecithin, and also by resuspending the sedimented cor- 

 puscles in a fresh volume of saline solution and the subsequent introduction 

 of suitable venom activators. In no instance could Lamb demonstrate the 

 fixation of venom by the blood corpuscles. These results, which apparently 

 contradict those obtained by Flexner and Noguchi, are not, in reality, com- 

 parable in these instances, as the experimental arrangements in both cases 

 differ so far as the roles of complements in such mixtures are concerned. As 

 Lamb clearly pointed out, Flexner and Noguchi used the defibrinated blood, 

 whereas Lamb employed the washed cells. There are instances where no 

 fixation of intermediary bodies takes place, unless there is present at the 

 same time suitable complements or complementoids.^ 



1 Bordet and Gay. Sur les relations des sensibilisatrices avec I'alexine. Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1906, XX, 467. 



