46 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCHES 



tatively into the chloroform, whilst the watery 

 portion has retained the whole of the true 

 poisonous principle, viz., the neurotoxin. From 

 the chloroform solution one can isolate the 

 active haemolytic principle by precipitation with 

 ether ; it can thus be obtained in the form of 

 a white powder, which, on chemical analysis, 

 gives figures which almost exactly fit the for- 

 mula of a mono-stearyl-lecithide. In this 

 process there has, therefore, been split off one 

 of the two molecules of fatty acid ; this can be 

 recovered quantitatively from the ether. 



The substance thus obtained is produced by 

 the union of a small quantity of the haemo- 

 lytically active part of cobra venom with a 

 relatively large number of lecithin molecules. 

 It is easy to prove that in this we really have to 

 do with a chemical compound, and not the 

 result of an absorption similar to that recently 

 described by Michaelis between rennet and 

 mastix ; for it is impossible to split up the 

 substance by solvents into two components, 

 viz., mono-stearyl-lecithin and the cobra venom 

 amboceptor, which would be possible if it were 

 only such a mixture. On the other hand, in 

 conformity with its altered chemical character, 

 the substance has obtained new properties not 



