212 VENOMS 
the diminution of bactericidal power in this experiment, that the 
alexin becomes fixed by the venom. Since the secretion of alexin 
is connected with the presence of leucocytes, the hypoleucocytosis 
due to the venom is sufficient to explain the loss of bactericidal 
power. 
Nevertheless, the action of venom is not confined to these 
physiological phenomena ; in diffusing itself through the organism 
it stays more especially in parts where the circulation has become 
slower, in the capillaries of the organs where the leucocytes that 
have disappeared from the general circulation are already to be 
found agglomerated and altered. Here the cytolysins of the venom, 
continuing their effects, are capable of neutralising the alexins 
set at hberty by the destruction of the leucocytes, and thus the 
rapid multiplication of the bacteria of putrefaction, which have 
come from the intestine or were carried in with the bite, is easily 
explained. In the same way, we can account for the suppuration 
that is met with as a complication of non-lethal bites, in spite of the 
hyperleucocytosis consequent upon the penetration of a weak dose 
of venom ; immediate neutralisation of the alexin set at liberty at 
the level of the wound has sufficed to enable micro-organisms to 
multiply. 
D.— Various Diastasic ACTIONS oF VENOMS. 
So long ago as 1884, de Lacerda, in his ‘ Lecons sur le venin des 
serpents du Brésil,” described the results of his researches upon 
the diastasic actions of venom. He proved that venom emulsifies 
fats, causes milk to curdle, and does not saccharise starch. But 
the solutions of venom employed by this author were not sterile, 
so that putrefactive phenomena may be believed to have occurred 
in the course of his experiments. 
The subject has been studied afresh by Wehrmann! in my 
laboratory, and afterwards by Lannoy.? These two investigators 
l Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, 1898. 
? Thèse Paris, No. 1138, 1908. 
