SNAKE VENOMS 143 



here to precipitates of phosphates as do enzymes and toxins (Cal- 

 mette). They do not diffuse through dialyzing membranes. When 

 dried, the venom can be kept almost indefinitely without losing its 

 strength, specimens over twenty years old having been found unim- 

 paired. Glycerol and alcohol also seem not to injure it, but oxidiz- 

 ing agents of all kinds arc very destructive. Light impairs the power 

 of venoms, as also does radium (Phisalix).^^ Eosin and erythrosin 

 also reduce the power of venom through their photodynamic action, 

 affecting the neurotoxic properties less than the hcmatotoxic compo- 

 nents (Noguchi).^^ Cobra venom withstands even 100° for a short 

 time, but crotaline venoms are destroyed at 80-85°. 



Much work has been done upon the nature of the constituents of 

 venom. As early as 1843 Prince Lucien Bonaparte found that there 

 were proteins in the venom, which was corroborated by Mitchell in 

 1861. In 1883 Mitchell and Reichert described two poisonous pro- 

 tein constituents of venom, one of which was coagulable by heat and 

 seemed to be a globulin; the other resembled the proteoses (they 

 called it "peptone," according to the nomenclature of that time). 

 To the globulin they ascribed the local, irritating properties of venom • 

 to the albumose, the systemic intoxication. Corresponding to their 

 action, venoms of different serpents were found to vary greatly in the 

 proportions of these proteins. Cobra venom, which acts chiefly sys- 

 temically, contains 98 per cent, of albumose and but 2 per cent, of 

 globulin; rattlesnake venom, with its marked local effects, contains 

 25 per cent, of the irritating globulin; moccasin venom contains 8 

 per cent, of globulin. Several other observers soon corroborated the 

 main facts of Mitchell and Reichert's report; but, as has been seen in 

 connection with the consideration of the composition of enzymes, tox- 

 ins, etc., the fact that a substance is carried down with a protein is 

 no proof that it is itself a protein. What has been established is 

 merely that the irritating component of venom can be destroyed by 

 heat, and is removed with the globulin in fractional separation; while 

 there remains a substance not destroyed by boihng, which comes down 

 at least in part with the albumoses of the venom, and causes chiefly 

 systemic manifestations. 



Since venoms act as antigens and stimulate the formation of spe- 

 cific antibodies, it is to be presumed that the poisonous principles 

 are proteins, or toxalbumins, although this conclusion does not neces- 

 sarily follow. Faust^^ believes the poison of venoms not to be proteins, 

 but glucosides, free from nitrogen, resembling very much quillajic 

 acid, and therefore belonging to the saponin group of hemolytic 

 agents. He has isolated such a substance from cobra venom, which 

 he calls ophiotoxin (C17H26O10), and from rattlesnake venom a sub- 



" Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1904 (56), 327. 



=« Jour. Exper. Med., 1906 (8), 252. 



-9 Arch. exp. Path. u. Pharni., 1907 (56), 236; 19111(64), 244 



