Ill 



too little colour is obtained, for the purpose of good 

 measurements. 



The fact that, in the case of tetanolysin, a maximum 

 is obtained with certain blood dilutions, indicates that 

 Ihis body also is fixed by the blood corpuscles, as is 

 shown in former experiments') This combination is 

 however probably of a less stable character than that 

 in which bases are combined with blood corpuscles, so 

 that in all cases a perceptible amount of tetanolysin 

 is free, which may have a luumolytic action. Yet the 

 difference is probably only of a quantitative character. 



On this properly depends perhaps also another circum- 

 stance, which distinguishes the haemolysis, arising from 

 tetanolysin, from that to which sodium hydrate or ammo- 

 nia gives rise. In the case of not too strong haemolysis 

 through bases, after the corpuscles have subsided, two 

 layers are observed in the htumolysed fluid. They differ 

 very much in depth of colour, the upper one, a few 

 millimeters high, being 2 to 3 times lighter than the 

 lower one. But in the latter too the colour becomes 

 deeper towards the bottom. It would seem as if a sen- 

 sible time elapsed before the blood corpusles were dis- 

 solved by the bases. This might be owing to the small 

 amount of free hydrolysed alkali in the fluid. The blood 

 corpusles gain time to subside to a certain point, be- 

 fore they are hsemolysed, and for this reason the fluid 

 below this point is stronger. The colour of the upper 

 lager may be ascribed chiefly to the circumstance that 

 a collection of red blood corpuscles does not consist of 

 a number of quite uniform elements. A series of these 

 will probably show a very different resistance against 



Th. Madsen: 1. c. and: Ueber Heilvcrsuche im Reagensglas. Zeitschrift f. Hygiene 

 etc. XXXII 1899. 



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