218 CHEMISTRY OF THE IMMUMTY REACTIOXS 



line compounds. Probably the hemolysis produced by autolytic prod- 

 ucts belongs in this category."" Alcoholic extracts of tissues are com- 

 monly hemolytic; these extracts when added to serum take on prop- 

 erties which cause them to resemble closely hemolytic complement 

 (Noguchi), and the soaps seem to be the active constituents of these 

 extracts. AsHg, although strongly hemolytic in the living body, does 

 not hemolyze corpuscles in the test tube (Heffter), and this is true 

 of some other poisons, which probably produce their effects through 

 tissue changes.-' The bile acids and their salts will also produce 

 hemolysis, as seen in jaundice. Sodium bicarbonate solutions of one 

 or two per cent, are hemolytic for some varieties of corpuscles, but 

 0.1 per cent. NaoCO,, and NaHCO., do not cause hemolysis. A study 

 of the hemolytic properties of one class of lipolytic hemolytic agents, 

 the terpenes, shows that their hemolytic activity varies much accord- 

 ing to their physical properties, generally decreasing directly with in- 

 crease in the solubility in water (Ishizaka).-^^ 



Leucocytes are dissolved by some of these agents, particularly the 

 bile salts, although they are affected by no means so rapidly or so 

 much as are the erj^throcytes. There seems to be no relafion between 

 the erythrolytic and leucolytic powers of these substances. Water 

 causes swelling, with solution of the granules in time, and the same 

 is true of ammonium-chloride solutions. 



Various chemicals cause morphological alterations in the leucocytes, 

 and of bacterial products the toxins of pyocyaneus and diphtheria 

 seem to be particularly leucocidal, causing a striking karyorrhexis 

 (Schiirmann).-^ 



HEMOLYSIS BY SERUM 



Normal blood-serum of many animals causes hemolysis to greater 

 or less degree when mixed with red corpuscles of another species of 

 animal, ajid this property can be greatly increased by immunizing 

 the animal with red corpuscles in the usual way. This hemolysis oc- 

 curs both in the test-tube and in the body, in the latter case causing 

 severe anatomical changes or even death. In all respects the mech- 

 anism of hemolysis hij serum seems to he idcntieal with that of bac- 

 teriolysis. Two substances are concerned, one the amhocfjytor, which 

 resists heat and which is increased by immunizing ; -®* the other, com- 

 plement, which is destroyed at 55° and which is present in normal 



29 Concerning hemolvsis by alcoliols, kotoncs. etc., orjiaiiic acids, and essences, 

 see Vaiidevelde, ]U\U. S(ic. cfiiiii. dc ]iolj.M(iue, lilOf) (li)), 28S. 



27 Friedljerr,'er and Brossa, Zeit. Imniunitiit., 1012 (15), 50(). 

 2TaArch. exp. Path., 1914 (75), 195. 



28 Cent. f. Patliol., 1!)10 (21), 337. 



28a In an extensive study of the hemolytic antibody, Thiele and Embleton 

 (Zeit. Inmnmitiit., 101,3 (20), 1) descril)e its forination as in several steps, at 

 first bcinj^ tliermolabile and unitiiifi with tlie corpiisele only when warmed. They 

 also find complement to have several t-omponents. If confirmed, lliesc oliserva- 

 tions may explain some of the discrciiiuicies between the olisei-vations and the 

 conclusions of different workers, which luive caused nianv controversies. 



