Nov. 19. I92I Hemotoxins from Parasitic Worms 391 



the fluid were concerned. In some cases sterile fluid was obtained in 

 this manner, but more often the fluid became contaminated. The con- 

 tamination was extraneous and not inherent in the body fluid of the 

 worms, since a number of experiments performed by the writer showed 

 quite conclusively that the intact body fluid of Ascaris is sterile. 



In the course of the experimental work described in this paper speci- 

 mens were kept alive in vitro for a few days. This necessitated infor- 

 mation as to the conditions that are favorable to the survival of the 

 parasites outside of the host. The customary procedure of keeping 

 parasitic worms at a low temperature is not applicable to Ascaris lumbri- 

 coides when considerable periods, generally in excess of 24 hours, are 

 involved. Incubator temperatures (37.5° C.) are more favorable than 

 refrigerator temperatures, but so far as longevity of the worms outside 

 the host is concerned, a temperature ranging from above 25° to 32° was 

 found to be the most favorable. The worms were kept in shallow dishes 

 and in beakers, and sufficient salt solution was added to cover the worms. 

 Fluid from worms that had thus been subjected to starvation was 

 obtained in the same manner as fluid from fresh worms. 



2. EXPEIRIM^NTS WITH TH:^ BODY Fl^UID OF ASCARIS I^UMBRICOIDEIS 



In nematodes the space between the body wall and the gut wall is filled 

 with a fluid which in the case of such large-sized worms as those of the 

 genus Ascaris is available in quantities sufficient for investigation. 

 According to Flury the body fluid of Ascaris equorum consists largely of 

 water (95 per cent). Other substances present in this fluid, according to 

 the same investigator, are albumin, globulin, and other proteins, soaps, free 

 fatty acids, various katabolic products of proteins, purin bases, and their 

 derivatives, sodium, chlorid and other inorganic substances, as well as 

 digestive and oxidizing enzyms. Flury found that the body fluid of 

 A. lumbricoides is physically and chemically indistinguishable from that 

 of A. equorum. 



The fact that the body fluid of Ascaris lumbricoides, which in fresh 

 specimens has a bright pinkish color, contains oxyhemoglobin is of great 

 significance. The presence of oxyhemoglobin in the worms may be 

 readily demonstrated by means of the spectroscope. Schimmelpfennig 

 {1902) appears to have been the first investigator to note this fact, on the 

 basis of which he ascribed to worms of the genus Ascaris the r61e of blood- 

 suckers. This investigator also states that worms belonging to this genus 

 liberate their oxyhemoglobin content into the physiological salt solution 

 in which they are kept alive in vitro. The presence of iron granules in the 

 gut wall of ascarids was affirmed by Askanazy (i8g6) , who bases his view 

 on positive Berlin blue tests, the inference being that the pigment in 

 question is obtained from the blood of the host. Flury (19 12) refers to 

 the presence of hemoglobin in ascarids and states that he observed it in 

 worms which had been kept for two weeks in an incubator. Flury 



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