196 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 
cury. As has been shown by Madsen and Walbum, acids in excess produce 
non-hemolyzability of the corpuscles, whereas their weaker concentration 
causes regular dissolution of the cells. 
Kyes and Sachs explain this phenomenon by assuming that an excess of 
venom amboceptors produces “side-tracking”’ of lecithin and renders the 
latter unable to attack the venomized corpuscles. In other words, the hemo- 
lytic amboceptors of the venom are responsible for this phenomenon when 
used in great excess. They did not, however, produce the evidence that the 
venom from which all coagulable constituents have been eliminated by a 
brief boiling, which is insufficient to diminish its hemolytic power, is still 
capable of producing this protective phenomenon. 
Noguchi analyzed this phenomenon in quite a different manner and reached 
an entirely different conclusion. He treated the washed corpuscles of horse 
with varying strengths of different venoms, ranging from a superhemolytic 
(or non-hemolyzable) dose to an optimum hemolytic dose (this latter con- 
centration is only hemolytic in the presence of suitable venom activators). 
When venom is present in more than 5 per cent concentration the hemolysis 
of the defibrinated blood of horse is retarded for nearly 12 hours at 20° C., 
causing no lysis within the first 6 hours. But as long as there is a trace of 
serum constituents in the mixture complete dissolution can not be prevented 
by any practicable concentration of venom. An equal mixture of the defibrin- 
ated blood and 2.5 per cent cobra-venom solution will undergo hemolysis in 
I or 2 hours. 
It has already been stated that the thoroughly washed corpuscles of horse 
are not hemolyzed by venom, no matter what the degree of concentration. 
If cobra venom in strengths above 4 per cent be mixed with a corpuscular 
suspension of 5 per cent, no change may take place in the mixture in many 
weeks; while with a quantity of venom as small as o.1 per cent the cells will 
disintegrate rather more quickly than in control tubes which are not entirely 
sterile. 
Corpuscles which had been brought into contact with the stronger solutions 
of venom were tested for resistance to salt solutions of varying toxicity. These 
tests disclosed the unexpected fact that corpuscles thus highly venomized, 
and in the presence of an excess of venom, are not hemolyzable even by 
water. At the same time their susceptibility to heat is changed. It has 
been found that the control tubes of blood corpuscles alone are hemolyzed 
completely in from 175 to 180 minutes when kept at the constant temperature 
of 53°C. In the presence of venom of a concentration not exceeding 1 per 
cent, complete hemolysis will take place at this temperature in from 5 to 15 
minutes; with a concentration of venom as low as 0.01 per cent 30 minutes 
will be required; with a concentration of 10 per cent there is no perceptible 
change in the corpuscles for the first 20 minutes, after which laking com- 
mences. This last laking is not, however, typical. A bright haemoglobin 
color does not appear in the fluid, but the cells undergo disintegration, the 
color of the mixture becomes coffee-like, and in about an hour a turbid pre- 
