1011] 0)1 P/n/sirnI Chemistry ami Vie Dorfrine of Tmnumili/. -221 



able to give total hemolysis with a certain quantity of red blood- 

 corpuscles. In another vessel we have the same quantity of red 

 blood-corpuscles. Then if we take only the one part of the blood- 

 corpuscles and mix it with the poison, and let it have time to l)e 

 absorbed, for which a quarter of an hour is sufficient, and then add 

 the second quantity of blood-corpuscles, the hemolysis will l)e 

 50 per cent. If, on the other hand, we divide the poison in two 

 equal portions, and add each of them to each part of the blood- 

 corpuscles, then the hemolysis will be much less than 50 per cent., 

 and only about 25 per cent., because the degree of hemolysis of a 

 certain quantity of blood-corpuscles is approximately proportional to 

 the square root of the quantity of poison added. (If this quantity 

 falls below a certain limit, there is no action at all.) In this case, 

 evidently, the hemolytic effect is less if we add the whole quantity of 

 red blood-corpuscles at once to the poison than if we add the two 

 half parts at different times, whereas in the experiment of Bordet 

 the effect was the opposite. 



From this it is clear that in hemolytic and similar experiments 

 it is necessary to take care that the poison added does not remain 

 for some time in concentrated solutions acting on only a part of the 

 blood-corpuscles, but it is necessary to shake them up immediately 

 after admixture, so that a homogeneous fluid surrounds them. This 

 is most easily done by adding the emulsion of the blood-corpuscles 

 by means of a syringe in a strong current, and shaking the test-tube 

 containing the mixture immediately after the injection of the blond. 



Many of the experimental errors in older experiments are due 

 to the circumstance that this precaution has not been followed. 



As has been pointed out repeatedly, the poisons are taken up very 

 rapidly l)y the red blood-corpuscles, or bacilli, into their interior. 

 There they react rather slowly with the albuminous substances, and 

 thus cause the effects of hemolysis, bacteriolysis, or agglutination, 

 which is probably only a special case of coagulation. Therefore, the 

 equilibrium between toxins and antitoxins finds place chiefly in the 

 interior of the cells, and not in the surrounding fluid. The pro- 

 tecting influence of sera and other albuminous substances probably 

 depends on their entering into combinations with the toxins, and 

 thereby hindering them from diffusing into the cells. Many of the 

 difficulties in explaining the effects of toxins and antitoxins were 

 due to the circumstance that it was generally supposed that they 

 react outside of the cells. 



IX. — The Compound Hemolysins. 



In former times so-called " transfusion," i.e. injection of animal 

 blood in the veins of the patient, was often used to refresh the blood of 

 patients suffering from different illnesses. This treatment was 



Q 2 



