VENOMS, TOXINS, ANTIBODIES 345 



Venomous secretions and venomous sera also occur in many other 

 groups, notably fishes and amphibians. Kopaczewski (101) has made 

 a special study of the toxic serum of the moray {Muraena helena), as 

 well as of the venom secreted around certain of its teeth. The serum, 

 usually referred to as "eel serum," can be destroyed by irradiation but 

 is relatively msensitive. The venom was apparently not tested in this 

 regard. The serum was weakened by 48 hr. exposure to direct sunlight, 

 and lost about one-half to two-thirds of its toxicity on 30 min. exposure 

 to a powerful quartz-mercury-arc lamp (approximately 8000 cp.) at a 

 distance of 5 cm. Temperature was not a factor. Sources of ultra-violet 

 radiation of wave-length 3000 to 4000 A were tried but were too weak to 

 have any effect, although the effectiveness of visible light would lead 

 one to expect some loss of toxicity at least. Exact energy measurements 

 are needed before the destructive efficacy of different spectral regions 

 can be compared. Kopaczewski correlates inactivation of the moray 

 serum with an ultramicroscopically observed decrease in dispersity (102). 



Schuscha, under E. Friedberger,^ also investigated the toxicity of 

 "eel serum," which he tested by injection into guinea pigs. The inade- 

 quacy of such tests for quantitative work is probably the cause of the 

 anomalous course of the inactivation by ultra-violet radiation as observed 

 by him, 10 min. irradiation producing less effect than 5 min. His figures 

 for the reduction of the hemolytic effect of eel serum in vitro as a result 

 of irradiation are also quantitatively anomalous. 



Friedberger himself had previously reported (66) that although the 

 toxicity of eel serum was decreased by brief ultra-violet irradiation, its 

 hemolytic power was not appreciably altered. Evidently this material 

 is quite photostabile, although Kopaczewski's work seems to be adequate 

 proof that it can be detoxicated by light. 



SAPONINS AND TOXIC PROTEINS OF PLANT ORIGIN 



Among the earlier investigations of the biochemical effects of light 

 is one by Dreyer and Hanssen (46) in which it is shown that the glucosides 

 saponin and cyclamin and the toxic proteins ricin and abrin all lose their 

 hemolytic power under ultra-violet irradiation from a Bang Ag-electrode 

 quartz-lamp. 



Quantitative data are given illustrating the regular course of photo- 

 inactivation which the authors state was shown by the substances named, 

 as well as by coli agglutinin and three enzymes studied at the same time. 

 Though the details of titration and calculation are not given, it appears 

 that a unimolecular reaction isotherm is followed, whose familiar equa- 

 tion is 



h = - log 



t a — X 

 2 Schuscha, A. T. Thesis, Cairo, 1915, quoted by Friedberger and Scimone (67). 



