VETERINARY MEDICINE. 879 



Mode of union between the Amanita hemolysin and its antihemolysin, 

 W. W. Ford and Ethel M. Rockwood (Jour. Pharmacol, and Expt. Ther., ^ 

 (1913), No. 3, pp. 235-239, figs. 2).— "If a fresh extract of A. phalloides be 

 made, filtered through a Berkfeld filter, rendered isotonic by the addition of 

 NaCl, the hemolytic strength of this solution can be determined with great 

 exactness and correspondingly the exact quantity of the antihemolytic serum 

 which will neutralize it, that is, produce a mixture which will have no solvent 

 action on blood corpuscles. If now, increasing quantities of the hemolysin be 

 emi)loyed and the amount of antihemolysin necessary for neutralization be 

 determined, the increase in the antihemolysin can be found. By platting the 

 data obtained by means of a system of abscissas and ordinates the manner in 

 which the hemolysin and antihemolysin combine can be represented in a 

 graphic way, and exact information obtained as to the law which holds for the 

 union of the two. A similar series of observations starting with fixed quan- 

 tities of antihemolysin and estimating the amount of hemolysin neutralized can 

 also be made and in turn platted. We thus obtain 2 lines or curves showing 

 the combining power of the hemolysin and antihemolysin." 



The mode of union is of the simplest and follows the law of multiple propor- 

 tions. 



Note on the Amanita toxin, "W. W. Ford and Editu Bronson {Jour. 

 Pharmacol, and Expt. Thcr., Jf (1913), Xo. 3, pp. 2-'/ ^-2^ 5). —Amanita toxin was 

 submitted to combustion analysis. For this purpose 200 gm. of the thoroughly 

 dried fungus was extracted with alcohol and the poison was isolated by 

 Schlesinger and Ford's method. "At every step in the procedure the various 

 products were tested to determine their activity. The final solution had a high 

 degree of toxicity, 1 cc. containing 0.0007 gm. of material killing a guinea pig 

 weighing 175 gm. in 7 hours. This solution was then evaporated to dryness on 

 a water bath, taken up in water and precipitated in absolute alcohol, in which 

 reagent the purified toxin is practically insoluble. This last precipitate was 

 dried in a vacuum desiccator. 



" From the 200 gm. of fungus we obtained 0.2114 gm. of a slightly pigmented 

 amorphous powder which represents the active principle and retained its tox- 

 icity unimpaired. This substance has failed to crystallize under any conditions 

 which we have thus far been able to produce. Its amorphous character ren- 

 ders investigations into its chemical nature extremely difficult and the results 

 of combustion analysis are necessarily of doubtful value." 



The final product was of a high degree of toxicity. Its ash consisted of 9.5 

 per cent of sodium salts. The combustion analysis showed it to contain nitro- 

 gen and sulphur in large quantities and hydrogen and carbon. 



" The hemolysin and the toxin differ radically, not only in their physiological 

 properties but in their chemical reactions, and require different methods of 

 preparation. The hemolysin, for instance, is precipitated by G5 per cent alcohol 

 and by basic lead acetate, while the toxin is soluble in alcohol of this strength 

 and is not thrown down by lead acetate. Many other chemical differences are 

 to be noted. In spite, however, of the dissimilar methods of preparation the 2 

 final products, in both cases physiologically active, contain nitrogen and sulphur 

 in addition to the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen." 



Action of extracts made from the mushroom (Ag'aricus campestris), 

 boletus (Boletus edulis), and chanterelle (Cantarellus cibarius) upon the 

 red blood coi-puscles, E. Friedberuek and G. A. Buossa (Ztschr. Immunitdtsf. 

 u. Expt. Thcr., I, Orig., 15 (1012), No. 6, pp. 506-517.— This consists of an in- 

 vestigation in regard to the presence of agglutinins and hemolysins in the ex- 

 tracts of the above-named fungi. Toward the blood corpuscles of various ani- 

 mals, i. e., guinea pig, pig, rabbit, sheep, horse, and bovine, certain differences in 



