398 



Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xxii. No. a 



Table 1.— Effect of salt-solution extract of Ascaris lumbricoides on red blood corpuscles " 



Kind of erythrocytes.*' 



Quantity of extract. <= 



Results after 

 two hours at 



37° C. 



Guinea pig. 



Do... 



Do... 



Do... 



Do 



Rat e 



Do... 



Do... 



Do... 

 Hog/ 



Do.... 



Do.... 



O. I cc 



. 2 CC.<* 



Salt solution 



. I cc. Hjoiled). 



. 2 cc. (boiled). 



. I cc 



. 2 cc 



. .^ cc 



Salt solution <^ 



. 4 cc 



Salt solution d. 



Cattle / . 

 Do. 

 Do. 



. 4 cc. . . . 

 Salt solution <'. 



+ + + 



+ + + 



+ 



+ + 



+ + + 



+ 

 + + + 



+ + + 



a — indicates total absence of hemolysis. + indicates slight hemolysis. + + indicates marked but incom- 

 plete hemolysis. + + + indicates complete hemolysis. 



f> One cc. of a 5 per cent suspension of defibrinated blood washed three times in physiological salt solu- 

 tion was used in experiments. 



c The extract used in these experiments was made by suspending lo gm. of fresh worm material in loo 

 cc. of 0.85 per cent NaCl. 



d Two controls — 0.5 cc. and i cc. of salt solution containing 0.5 per cent phenol were tested on i cc. of the 

 suspension of corpuscles. 



« Pooled blood from six rats. 



/ Four samples of corpuscles were tested. 



5. EXPERIMENTS WITH ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES POWDER 



The hemolytic principle of Ascaris lumbricoides may be preserved by 

 drying the parasites. Specimens collected at a local abattoir were 

 washed in salt solution to remove adhering interstinal debris, dried 

 superficially with filter paper, and then placed in vacuum over sul- 

 phuric acid. When the specimens were sufficiently crisp they were 

 powdered in a mortar and stored for future use. Ascaris lumbricoides 

 powder when added to a suspension of washed blood cells of cattle, 

 sheep, swine, etc., produces rapid hemolysis. As ip the case of extracts 

 of the parasite, the hemolytic action is inhibited by normal serum. The 

 hemolytic substance may be more easily obtained from dried than from 

 fresh ascarids by extracting the worm material in physiological salt 

 solution. This is no doubt due to the fact that the dried material can 

 be readily crushed and the hemolytic substance which, as has already 

 been indicated, is rather closely bound to the parasite, may be more 

 readily liberated. The following experiments performed by the writer 

 illustrate this point: Several swine ascarids were broken tip into small 

 fragments but were not powdered in a mortar. A portion of this ma- 

 terial was extracted in salt solution for a few hours and filtered. The 

 filtrate was tested on washed sheep corpuscles with negative results. 

 The remaining portion of dried worm material was thoroughly ground 



