186 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 
tion, there is always some reduction in this power. But if the neutralized 
venom solution be left in the room temperature for a few days and its hemo- 
lytic strength be again measured, it will be found that the venom solution had 
become once again as strongly hemolytic as its original native venom solution. 
On the other hand, the hemolytic power of cobra venom heated without HCl 
remains at its reduced value without regaining its lost strength during the same 
length of time. Even after a lapse of only 4 hours the return of the hemolytic 
strength was often seen to be very complete. 
Faust ' tested his ophiotoxin for the hemolytic property and found that this 
substance has quite marked action upon the washed or unwashed corpuscles 
of ox, pig, horse, and sheep. Heating to go°® C. for 15 minutes did not destroy 
its hemolytic power. 
Ishizaka? studied the hamatoxic action of the venom of Lachesis flavo- 
viridis and found that the blood of dog is more susceptible to the hemolytic 
action than that of cat, rabbit, ox, or rat. 0.05 c.c. of dog’s blood promptly 
dissolved by 0.000002 gm. of the venom, while 0.co00002 gm. caused only 
a trace of lysis. Cat’s blood is much agglutinated, but only slightly dis- 
solved even in a comparatively large quantity of the venom, while 20 mg. of 
the same failed to hamolyze any part of the blood of mouse, ox, or rabbit. 
In these cases more or less agglutination took place. In support of the obser- 
vations of Flexner and Noguchi, he found with this venom that thorough 
washing of the corpuscles retards or diminishes hemolysis to a great extent. 
With the most susceptible kind of blood, namely, that of dog, Ishizaka 
found that after 3 to 6 washings the corpuscles become completely insus- 
ceptible to the smaller quantities of the venom. He found that lecithin 
can activate this venom very easily. Cholesterin is found to inhibit hemolysis 
caused by the habu venom, but not by combining directly with the latter; this 
latter fact has been shown by Noguchi in his former studies. 
In 1907 Noguchi attempted once more to clear up the questions concerning 
the susceptibility of the corpuscles of certain kinds of bloods and the non- 
susceptibility of those of some other kinds to the hemolytic action of venom. 
It appeared to him still quite uncertain why one set of the blood serums is 
able to activate venom, while the other is not. As to the nature of the thermo- 
stabile venom activators of the blood serum, Noguchi agrees with Kyes that it 
is chiefly lecithin which is capable of venom activation. But some serum 
contains, besides lecithin, certain thermolabile activators, whose action dis- 
appears when heated to 56° C. for half an hour. ‘There are numerous serums 
which are devoid of venom-activating property in the fresh state, but these 
all become invariably activating when heated to the temperature near or 
above the coagulation point. In these instances there is no doubt that leci- 
thin is liberated by heat and activates venom freely. This, however, does 
not explain the venom-activating property of the fresh serums; it only sug- 
gests that lecithin may exist in one set of serums in a state to be acted upon 
1Faust. Ueber das Ophiotoxin aus dem Gift der ostindischen Brillenschlange. Leipzig, 1907, 19. 
2 Ishizaka. Studien tiber das Habuschlangengift. Zeitschr. f. experim. Pathol. u. Therapie, 1907, IV, 88. 
