224 CHEMISTRY' OF THE IMMUNITY REACTIONS 



venoms for different sorts of corpuscles varies in inverse propor- 

 tion to their agglutinative power. The hemolytic intermediary bodies 

 are resistant to heat, suffering but slight loss of power at 100° C. 

 Red corpuscles of the frog are not hemolyzed by venom, and those of 

 necturus (mud pupp}') but slightlj', agreeing with the known resist- 

 ance of cold-blooded animals to snake-bites. 



The erythrocj^tes of different individuals show considerable varia- 

 tions in their resistance to hemolytic agents, perhaps depending upon 

 tile amount or upon the manner of fixation of the lipoids in the cor- 

 puscles; thus the corpuscles of syphilitics show a heightened resist- 

 ance to hemolysis by cobra venom (Weil)'^ except in the earliest 

 stages, when they are hypersensitive. Also, the serum of persons suf- 

 fering from various diseases, especially mental diseases, inhibits the 

 hemolysis of human corpuscles by cobra venom. '^ After splenectomy 

 there is an increased resistance to venom hemolysis.'^ 



Eel serum is remarkably hemolytic, so much so that a quantity' of 0. 1 c.c. per 

 kilogram of body weight will kill a rabbit or guinea-pig in three minutes when 

 injected intravenously. Heating at 54° C. for fifteen minutes destroys the hemo- 

 lytic action, and, unlike ordinary serum hemolysins the addition of complement 

 does not restore its activity. Animals can be immunized against this serum. In- 

 troduced into the stomach in ordinary quantities eel serum is not to.\ic. It can 

 be dried and redissolved without losing its activity, but acids and alkalies readilj' 

 destroy it. Mosso, who first discovered the toxicity of eel serum, called the un 

 known active principle ichthyotoxin. It is found chiefly in the albumin fraction 

 of the eel serum. ^^ Many other animals produce hemolytic poisons (e. g., spiders, 

 bees) which are discussed under Zootoxins, Chapter vi. 



Hemolysis in Disease 



During health there is alwaj^s going on a certain amount of de- 

 struction of red corpuscles that have outlived their usefulness; hence 

 in disease we may have to deal with either an alteration in the nor- 

 mal processes of blood destruction or the introduction of entirely new 

 processes. Although the place and manner of normal red corpuscle 

 destruction is'inot completel}^ known, yet it seems probable that there 

 is relatively little hemolysis within the circulating blood. "When a 

 red corpuscle becomes damaged, it seems to become more susceptible 

 to phagocytosis, and it is then picked out of the blood, chiefl}' by the 

 endothelial cells of the sinuses of the liver, spleen, hemolymph glands, 

 and bone-marrow. Within these cells it apparently undergoes hemo- 

 lysis. Eventually, the resulting pigment is split up b}' the liver, the 

 non-ferruginous portion forming the bile-pigments, while the iron 

 seems to be mostly withheld to be worked over into new hemoglobin.-' 



>' Jour. Infect. Dis., 1909 (6), 688; Stone and Schottstaedt, Arch. Int. Med., 

 1912 (10), 8. 



*" See articles on this subject in the Miinch. med. Woch., 1909, Vol. 56. 



1" Kolmer, Jour. Exp. Med., 1917 (25), 195. 



2»Sato, Kyoto .Jour. Med. Sci., 1917 (14), 36. 



21 Muir and Dunn (.lour. Path, and Bact., 1915 (20), 41), find that after 

 acute hemolytic anemia in ral)bits the excess iron stored in the organs lias been 

 nearly all aljsorbed by the time regeiuMatioii of tlu> blood is complete. 



