690 LECTURE XXX. 



One phase of hemolysis was, therefore, explained. The amboceptors 

 present in immune serum unite with the red blood-corpuscles of that species 

 of animals to which they are suited. No other kind of blood is able 

 to combine with the amboceptors which react so readily with sheep's 

 blood. For this reason alone we cannot assume that it is a case of mere 

 absorption of the blood amboceptors by the red blood-corpuscles. The 

 combined amboceptors cannot be removed by washing, and in fact the 

 affinity of these for the red corpuscles may be determined. It has been 

 found that different red corpuscles are capable of combining with very 

 different amounts of amboceptors. 



We must now attempt to explain how the complement stands in relation 

 to the process of hemolysis. In the first place, Ehrlich and Morgenroth 

 have proved that normal red corpuscles do not unite with the complements. 

 The simplest explanation is that the amboceptors possess at least two 

 differently constituted groups. One unites with the blood-cell, and the 

 other with the complement. This effects the solution of the blood-cor- 

 puscles. The complement alone cannot act upon them. The groups 

 which are adapted to act upon the red corpuscles are wanting. Only by 

 the aid of the amboceptor is the complement able to react with the erythro- 

 cytes. Just what this influence is we cannot tell, but it is possible that a 

 fermentation takes place. We may state that hemolysin has been con- 

 sidered to be analogous to the toxines. It is in a sense a compound 

 toxine. The haptophor group of the toxine corresponds to the ambo- 

 ceptor, and the toxophor group to the complement. The comparison 

 seems even more justifiable when we add that it has been found possible 

 to form anti-bodies to the hemolysins. Certain poisons of the animal 

 and vegetable kingdom are analogous to the hemolysins. 1 We may 

 mention snake venom, garden-spider poison (Arachnolysiri) , and toad 

 poison (Phrynolysin) . It is also possible to obtain poisons with a hemo- 

 lytic action from bacterial cultures. We may refer to stapholysin which 

 is obtained from staphylococcus cultures, and tetanolysin from tetanus 

 bacteria. 



Here at this point we may also refer to an observation which we have 

 already discussed in detail. 2 One of the many poisonous effects of snake 

 venom is its hemolytic action. If, for example, we add the poison of the 

 cobra to blood, hemolysis soon sets in. If the blood-corpuscles, how- 

 ever, are well washed, i.e. freed as completely as possible from every trace 

 of serum, and then placed in 0.85 per cent sodium chloride solution, no 



1 Cf. Flexner and Noguchi: J. exper. Med. 6, No. 3 (1902). H. Sachs: Hofmeister's 

 Beitr. 2, 125 (1902). F. Proscher: Ibid. 1, 575 (1901). R. Kraus and P. Clairmont: 

 Wiener klin. Wochschr. 1900, No. 3, and 1901, 1016. M. Neisser and F. Wechsburg: 

 Miinchener med. Wochschr. 48, No. 18, p. 697 (1901) and Z. Hygiene, 36, 299 (1901). 



2 Cf. Lecture VI, p. 115, et seq. 



