VENOM H#®MOLYSIS AND VENOM AGGLUTINATION Ls 
extracted with alcohol, and that of the substances extracted with alcohol 
lecithin alone possessed the property of activating cobra venom in the same 
manner as aheated serum. ‘The hemolysis produced by the combined action 
of cobra venom and lecithin differed from that caused by the combination of 
cobra venom and certain suitable blood serum (complement) in the former’s 
rapid completion, and also its occurrence even at 0° C. 
Kyes and Sachs went deeper into the search for the closer mechanism of 
venom hemolysis produced by certain fresh serum on one hand and lecithin 
on the other. In order to decide whether the venom-activating property of 
the fresh serum of guinea-pigs is different from lecithin of that serum, they first 
employed the fresh serum of guinea-pig to see if in small quantities unable 
to activate the venom this serum still inhibits the venom-activating action of 
lecithin. It was found that this serum exerts a powerful anti-lecithin action 
in a dilution incapable of activating venom, showing that its anti-lecithin 
component exceeds in amount the venom activator contained in it. In still 
another experiment the serum of a rabbit immunized against guinea-pig 
complement was employed. This serum became highly antilecithinic after 
heating to 56°C. This lecithin-inhibitory property was saturated with the 
addition of lecithin, and then its action upon the venom-activating property 
of fresh serum of guinea-pig was tested. The result shows that this mixture 
inhibited the latter’s venom activation in a very small amount. A third 
differentiation was made by digesting the fresh serum of guinea-pig with 
papain, which destroyed the activating power of the former, although it had 
no effect upon the venom-activating action of lecithin. A fourth differentia- 
tion was found in the elective inhibitory action of cholesterin upon the activat- 
ing property of lecithin, whereas venom-complement hemolysis is seen to 
remain unaffected. 
Taking up once more the question of the nature of the corpuscular venom 
activator —their original endocomplement —Kyes and Sachs next sought 
the seat of the activator in the cells. They quickly found that the stroma is 
activating, but not the soluble laked fluid of the red corpuscles. By alcoholic 
extraction the activator was obtained in proteid-free state, and behaved in 
the same manner as lecithin. Again, as to the activating property of the 
washed stroma, they state that it corresponds with that of lecithin, as it is not 
inactivated at 62°C., is quite active at o° C., but inhibited by cholesterin. 
Thus, no endocomplement longer exists. 
The thermolability of the aqueous solution of disintegrated red corpuscles 
was found to be due to the simultaneous presence of hemoglobin, which at 
62° C. combines lecithin and renders it inactive in regard to venom hemoly- 
sis. In a series of experiments they showed that lecithin combines with 
hemoglobin when heated together in solution to 62° C. 
Kyes and Sachs proceeded further to ascertain the degree of susceptibility 
of the blood corpuscles of different species of animals to cobra venom, either 
with the addition of a sufficient amount of lecithin, or in their native state. 
