VENOM H4MOLYSIS AND VENOM AGGLUTINATION 181 
easily grasped by the venom, while in others it is not at all available for venom 
activation. ‘Testing the antihemolytic power of Calmette’s antivenin, he 
found that it neutralizes the action of the venoms of Bungarus ceruleus, 
Bungarus fasciatus, Naja haje, and Naja tripudians, but not at all that of the 
venoms of Lachesis lanceolatus, Lachesis flavoviridis, Crotalus, and Vipera 
russellit. In the absence of serum or lecithin none of the venoms hemolyzed 
the bloods of sheep, ox, or rabbit, except that the last kind was dissolved by 
Naja tripudians. The blood of man was not attacked by the venoms of 
Lachesis lanceolatus, Lachesis anamalensis, and Crotalus, but by those of the 
daboia, habu, kraits, and cobras. This article does not contain any sub- 
stantial evidence that lecithin exists variously in different kinds of bloods. 
In 1904 Noguchi’ pointed out that the hemolytic principles contained in 
the venoms of cobra, rattlesnake, water-moccasin, and daboia are not identical, 
so far as their affinities to specific antivenins are concerned. Although not 
in a strict sense, the antivenin derived from an animal immunized against a 
given venom shows a specific affinity to that venom. In these experiments he 
employed the antivenin specific for cobra, crotalus, moccasin, and daboia. 
Lamb ” (1905) took up the question of the mechanism of venom hemolysis 
and contributed many interesting facts. He employed ten different kinds 
of venoms, comprising Naja tripudians, Naja bungarus, Bungarus ceruleus, 
Bungarus fasciatus, Notechis scutatus, and Enhydrina valakadien of the 
Colubride, and Vipera russellii, Echis carinata, Lachesis gramineus, and 
Crotalus adamanteus of the Viperide. From the action of these venoms 
upon the washed blood corpuscles of dog, Lamb divides the venoms into two 
groups according as they have or have not hemolytic action on these cells 
without the addition of a free activating agent —lecithin or serum. The 
first group contains cobra venom and daboia venom, which even in small 
amount have a complete hemolyzing effect; the venoms of Bungarus ceruleus 
and Echis carinata, which have also a complete hemolyzing action when used 
in large quantity, and the venom of Notechis scutatus, which has only a slight 
effect even in comparatively large amount. Group 2, namely, those venoms 
which have no hemolytic action on the washed cells of dogs, consists of the 
poisons of Naja bungarus, Bungarus fasciatus, Enhydrina valakadien, Lache- 
sis gramineus, and Crotalus adamanteus. Testing their hemolytic value in 
the presence of the serum of dog or an adequate amount of lecithin developed 
that, except the venom of Enhydrina valakadien, all these venoms became 
nearly equally hemolytic, notwithstanding slight variations may be noticed. 
0.00001 gm. was about the average dose which could completely dissolve 
I c.c. of 5 per cent suspension of the washed dog corpuscles (in 0.85 per cent 
salt solution) in 1 hour at 37° C. and over night in the ice-chest, when 0.5 c.c. 
of twofold dilution of dog’s serum was added simultaneously. The enhy- 
drina venom never completed hemolysis even in a dose of 5 mg. in the same 


1 Noguchi. Expériences thérapeutiques avec les antivenins (Crotalus adamanteus et Ancistrodon 
piscivorus). 1904. 
?Lamb. Snake venoms in relation to hemolysis. Sc. Mem. Off. Med. and San. Dept. Governm. 
India, 1905, new series, No. 17. 
