282 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 
THE EFFECTS OF VENOM UPON THE BLOOD CORPUSCLES OF COLD- 
BLOODED ANIMALS. 
The following article is reprinted from the University of Pennsylvania 
Medical Bulletin, July-August, 1903: 
In the course of experiments upon hemolysis carried out during the past sum- 
mer at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Holl, I took advantage of the 
opportunity to study the agglutinative and lytic action of venom upon the blood 
corpuscles of a wide series of cold-blooded animals. The study is of sufficient 
interest, I think, to warrant presenting the results in a tabulated form. (See 
table 41.) 
The blood was obtained from animals belonging to the classes of reptilia, am- 
phibia, pisces, insecta, crustacea, vermes, mollusca, and echinodermata. 
The dried venoms were dissolved either in 0.9 per cent or 2 per cent saline solu- 
tion immediately before conducting the experiments; the venoms employed were 
cobra, water-moccasin, and rattlesnake; the blood was used in 5 per cent suspension; 
the temperature was that of the room, and varied between 20° and 30° C. 
In order to determine the minimum hemolytic, leucolytic, or agglutinative 
quantity (dose) of venom, the reactions were noted at a fixed interval. Thus, 
for hemolysis and leucolysis, after 12 hours; for agglutination, after 4 hours of 
contact. 
While solution of the erythrocytes can be readily observed in test-tube reactions, 
leucolysis can be determined only by direct microscopic examination. In general, 
there is no difficulty in distinguishing leucolysis and leuco-agglutination; but in 
some instances the act of defibrination causes considerable alteration of the white 
corpuscles, and these cells exhibit a tendency to undergo spontaneous agglomera- 
tion. When the result was mistakable it was indicated by the use of the term 
“doubtful.” 
The action of venom upon washed corpuscles was also studied, and it was deter- 
mined that hemolysis occurred not at all with water-moccasin and rattlesnake 
venom, while with the cobra venom a delayed solution would set in. This result 
with cobra venom recalled the similar one which Professor Flexner’ and I had 
met with in our studies of cobra-venom hemolysis in warm-blooded animals, and 
is now sufficiently explained on the basis of the existence of intracorpuscular com- 
plements as observed by us and by Kyes,’ and of Kyes’s important researches on 
lecithin in relation to its action as complement to cobra-venom amboceptor. 
The heat liability of venom agglutinins for the blood cells of cold-blooded ani- 
mals was found to vary between 68° C. and 72° C. for an exposure of 30 minutes. 
The temperature of too? C. maintained for 30 minutes abolishes largely the hamo- 
lytic power of venom over these corpuscles. Crotalus venom proved most susceptible, 
as its activity is greatly reduced at go° C. in 30 minutes. 
1 Flexner and Noguchi. The constitution of snake venom and snake sera. Univ. of Penna. Medical 
Bulletin, 1902, XV, 345; Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 1903, VIII, 370. 
2Kyes. Ueber die Wirkungsweise des Cobragiftes. Berliner klin. Wochenschrift, 1902, 886, 918. 
Kyes and Sachs: Zur Kenntniss der Cobragift activirenden Substanzen. Berliner klin. Wochen- 
schrift, 1903, XLI, 21, 57, 82. 
