ANTI-ENZYME IMMUNITY 317 



substances, but only pneumococcal and streptococcal hemolysins have 

 been the subject of considerable investigation. 



a. Hemolytic, Dermonecrotic and Lethal Activities of Staphylo- 

 coccal Toxin. Kraus and Pribram (1906) reported that certain strains 

 of S. aureus produced powerful toxins fatal to rabbits. The culture 

 filtrates of this organism have been shown to exercise necrotic, lethal 

 and hemolytic activities. Burnet (1929) stated that these three activities 

 of staphylococcal exotoxin reside in the same substance. He believed 

 in the presence of only one antibody, capable of neutralizing all three 

 activities of the toxin: "It is particularly impressive that antitoxic sera 

 prepared in almost all the possible ways showed a constant relationship 

 between their antihemolytic and antitoxic powers." Levine (1939) also 

 stated that the properties of staphylococcal toxin are those of a single 

 substance. He found that 1 unit of U. S. Standard staphylococcus 

 antitoxin exactly neutralizes the hemolytic, dermonecrotic and lethal 

 properties of 0.00192 g. of dry staphylotoxin, quantitatively measuring 

 the neutralization of toxic effects by standard antitoxic serum. Potency 

 estimations of 10 commercial concentrated staphylococcal antitoxins 

 were found to have the ratio of hemolytic: dermonecrotic: lethal 

 potency values of 1 .0 : 1 .0 : 1 .0. 



The pharmacological action of staphylococcal toxin has been in- 

 vestigated by Kellaway, Burnet and Williams (1930). These studies 

 showed that the toxin caused quick death of cats, hemorrhages in the 

 lungs, pulmonary edema and distention of the right heart with blood. 

 Intravascular hemolysis was a striking feature in these animals. Feld- 

 berg and Keogh (1937) reported that staphylococcal toxin produced 

 the same effect on animal organs as lysolecithin and snake venoms. 

 Staphylococcal toxin caused an output of histamine from the perfused 

 lung of guinea pigs and cats. They stated that the results were com- 

 parable to those obtained with snake venoms. They believed that a 

 mechanism similar to the liberation of histamine by staphylococcal 

 toxin is involved in the action of other bacterial toxins. 



The above findings in comparison with the action of snake venom 

 suggest that the liberation of histamine in the animal organs by 

 staphylococcal toxin might be related to the formation of lysolecithin 

 by its action on tissue lecithin. Since, however, there is as yet no 

 direct experimental finding that shows that the toxin acting on lecithin 

 produces lysolecithin, the validity of the above assumption, based on 



