ON SPECIFIC THERAPEUTICS. 49 



to dissolve any of the above-mentioned bloods 

 without the addition of lecithin, whilst the poison 

 of Trimesunis anamaknsis dissolves only the cor- 

 puscles of the guinea-pig, that of Bungarus 

 fasciatus only the corpuscles of man and guinea- 

 pigs, but not others. From these researches 

 we may deduce two facts, viz. : (i) That the 

 haemolytic amboceptors of snake poisons possess 

 different affinities for lecithin, this affinity being 

 lowest in bothrops venom, which dissolves none 

 of the before-mentioned corpuscles, and highest 

 in cobra venom, which dissolves three of the 

 five kinds ; (2) that the firmness of union of the 

 lecithin present in the different blood species 

 varies, being highest in the sheep and the ox, 

 lower in the rabbit, still lower in man, and 

 lowest of all in the guinea-pig. You see here 

 very clearly one of the conditions which are of 

 importance for the definition of atrepsy, namely, 

 that of indisposability. Lecithin has an affinity 

 for certain constituents of the cell and it also 

 has an affinity for the constituents of the poison ; 

 the difference between these two affinities 

 decides whether cobra lecithide can be formed 

 and haemolysis can thus be produced. If the 

 affinity of the constituents of the stromata is 

 higher, haemolysis does not take place, i.e., the 



