222 



Professor Srantt Arrlienias 



[JniK' 9, 



the quantity of free ammonia in a mixture of this base with boric 

 acid. In this case the quantity of free ammonia was determined 

 by its hemolytic activity : n is the number of equivalents of anti- 

 toxin, or boric acid, added to one equivalent of toxin or annnonia. 

 T gives the quantity of free toxin, or ammonia, in per cent. T calc. 

 is the corresponding quantity calculated according to the law of 

 Guldberg and Waage. The temperature was ;-57° C. 



The formula of (luidbcrg and Waage is, in this case : — 



(Cone, of free lysin) (cone, of free antilysin) 

 = K (cone, of combined lysin)^. 



The constant K of the equation for the tetanolysin is K = 0" 115, 

 for tlie ammonia with boric acid it is 1-02. (Subsequent measure- 

 ments on the conductivity of borate of ammonia, carried out by Lunden 

 at :>7°C., gave K = 1M)4 in good accordance with the figure deduced 

 from Madsen's and my experiments.) 



The agreement between the observed and calculated figures is 

 wholly within the errors of observation. The less the constant 

 K, the stronger is the compound. For strong acids with strong 

 bases the constant K is very small, nearly equal to zero. Even 

 by the neutralization of toxins the constant K, in some cases, has 

 a very small value. 



With the diphtheria-toxin the constant is 0*012, i.e. about ten 

 times less than with the tetanolysin, but still the partial decomposi- 

 tion of its compound with its antibody is very evident, as the quoted 

 observations of Ehrlich indicate. But for the lysins in snake-poisons 

 the constant K lias still lower values, so that the decomposition of its 

 combination with the corresponding antivenin is nearly insensible 

 except in the neighbourhood of the neutralization point. This is 

 evident from the following values for the toxicity of one equivalent 

 cobralysin mixed with n equivalents of its antivenin, in its action at 

 ;}7" 0. on blood-corpuscles from the horse. 



