198 VENOMS 
We must not, therefore, be surprised to find that such a combination 
may take place with the proteic substances in venom. The com- 
bination in this case is a truly chemical one. Lecithin in its 
natural state, or that which is normally found in serums which 
quicken venom, such as horse-serum, even when heated to 65° C., 
therefore plays the part of complement according to Ehrlich’s 
theory, or that of alexin according to the theory of Bordet, while 
venom itself would be an amboceptor or sensitiser. 
This is not, however, the way in which the phenomenon should 
be understood, for it is impossible to admit the identification of 
heated serum or lecithin with the complementary substances or 
alexins, seeing that the essential characteristic of the latter is that 
they are intolerant of heat and become entirely inactive on being 
raised to a temperature of 58° C., or even by simply being kept 
for a few days exposed to the air and hght. We must therefore 
suppose, with P. Kyes and H. Sachs, that the red corpuscles them- 
selves contain substances capable of playing the part of comple- 
ments (endo-complements), and that it is with these that the venom 
combines when quickened by the presence of lecithin or heated 
serum, the latter only acting because it contains free lecithin. 
All substances that contain lecithin, such as bile, hot milk, or 
cephalin, are capable of exerting the same quickening action, but 
do not themselves possess any inherent hemolytic power. 
Cholesterin, on the contrary, represents a kind of antidote 
to lecithin, as also to normal serums. It prevents hemolysis of 
the red corpuscles in a mixture of washed corpuscles and venom, 
yet it does not in any way modify the properties of true alexins or 
complements. 
Moreover, no correlation exists between lecithides and the neuro- 
toxin in venoms. The combination lecithin + venom possesses hemo- 
lytic action, but is in no way neurotoxic. Conversely, venom can 
be freed from its groups of molecules combinable with lecithin, 
and remain neurotoxic. 
Lecithide is insoluble in ether and acetone, but soluble in 
