220 VENOMS 
condition, of fresh serum derived from other snakes, or of fresh 
serum from the guinea-pig. 
Antivenomous serum also, when added in a suitable dose, 
entirely suppresses the hemolytic action of snake-serums ; it has, 
however, greater effect upon the hemolysin of Cobra-blood than 
upon that of the blood of other snakes. This observation had 
previously been made by W. Stephens,’ and it has been verified 
by Noc in my laboratory. 
Crotalus-serum dissolves the red corpuscles of the mongoose 
(Herpestes ichneumon) of Jamaica, whose extraordinary resistance 
to venom is well known. But if variable doses of Ancistrodon- 
venom and Crotalus-serum be made to act simultaneously upon 
these corpuscles, the latter are no longer dissolved. Again, if, 
instead of red corpuscles which are but little sensitive, like those 
of the mongoose, we employ the highly sensitive corpuscles of the 
guinea-pig, the result is the same. These experiments are regarded 
by Flexner and Noguchi as proving that the amboceptors of the 
toxic serum become fixed, in conformity with Ehrlich’s theory of 
the lateral chains, upon the receptors of the sensitive erythrocytes, 
and leave no more receptors free for the fixation of the venom. 
The same investigators have endeavoured to determine the 
respective toxicity of the tissues of the different organs of Crotalus. 
They found that the most toxic organs are the spleen and the 
liver; the toxicity of the spinal cord, kidney and muscles is much 
less. It appears that this toxicity 1s intimately connected with the 
quantity of blood that the tissues retain, for the physiological effects 
observed are identical with those that follow the injection of blood 
or serum alone. 
They also ascertained that the contents of the eggs of Crotalus 
are especially rich in poison, and this poison appears to consist for 
the most part of neurotoxin, since it does not cause hemorrhages. 
Phisalix has observed that the ovules of the viper exhibit analogous 
toxicity.” 
> Comptes rendus de la Société de Biologie, July 1, 1905. 
