THE VAMPIRE BAT 1 9 



The alleged difficulty of stopping the bleeding caused 

 by this bat would be amply explained by the dis- 

 covery of such an agent. 



This research miorht be conducted as follows. 

 The salivary glands of several recently killed vam- 

 pires having been removed, minced, and pounded 

 up in a small mortar, the crushed fragments might 

 be digested with cold water or treated with a 2 °/o 

 aqueous solution of sodium bicarbonate. The ex- 

 tract thus obtained could then be tried on rats 

 or guinea pigs, or indeed on the experimenter's 

 own finger! Probably the first method would be as 

 successful as any, since the extract obtained from 

 the pharynx of the leech (probably secreted by the 

 buccal epithelium) can readily be obtained by 

 digesting in water; it acts powerfully though not 

 permanently on the blood of dogs and rabbits, 

 producing constitutional symptoms, and is eliminated 

 by the kidneys. Leech extract has not yet been 

 obtained in isolated form, though it is soluble not 

 only in water but also in saline solutions. Alcohol, 

 ether, and chloroform all fail, however, to dissolve 

 it. Then, again, snake venom and even the 

 poisonous substance in eels' blood prevent the 

 formation of clots. 



As regards the second method, one must re- 

 member that tryptic pancreas ferment dissolved in 

 glycerine will, when injected into the blood of an 

 animal, afterwards prevent the coagulation of the 



