RELATION OF TOXINES TO ANTITOXINES. 53 



which, expressed in words, means that the quantity of blood 

 haemolysed is not only proportional to the square of the time of 

 the reaction, but also to the square of the amount of toxine a 

 fact already experimentally determined, as mentioned above. 



The acceleration in the velocity of the reaction with each rise 

 in temperature of 10 C. amounts to 2'76 : 1 with ammonia and 

 sodium hydroxide, and 3 -04 : 1 with tetanolysine. The relative 

 velocity of the reaction with ammonia compared with sodium 

 hydroxide is 2 '24 : 1. It is thus absolutely independent of the 

 concentration of the OH-ions. Hence the OH-ions are not the 

 real active agents in the hcemolysis. 



Neutral salts check the action of their corresponding bases. 

 The effect of the salt is approximately proportional to the cube 

 root of its quantity. Ammonium salts, in particular, have a 

 strong restrictive action. In the case of tetanolysine salts 

 (though in larger quantities) have a stimulating influence. 

 Normal blood serum and egg albumin check the action of 

 " toxines," and particularly that of tetanolysine. Thus we have 

 here a restriction of the effect of active substances by normal 

 blood serum, which plays so great a part in the action of ferments. 

 Here, too, without doubt, we have to deal with the occurrence of 

 normal receptors as anti-bodies. 



Relations between Toxine and Antitoxine. The experiments 

 described here were made by ARRHENIUS and MADSEN with 

 tetanolysine, the method being an extension of Ehrlich's method 

 of incomplete saturation described above. They treated a 

 constant amount of toxine (2 c.c. of a 2 per cent, solution of 

 tetanolysine) with increasing amounts of antitoxine (in a 0*0025 

 per cent, solution), and determined the toxicity of the mixtures 

 i.e., the quantity that caused a definite amount of hydrolysis 

 when added to 10 c.c. of a 2-5 per cent, emulsion of horse's blood. 

 Allowance being made for the relative volumes, the toxicity can 

 be expressed by the equation 



1 10 + x 

 = x ' '~W~' 



where x represents the observed amount of toxine and G the 

 poison strength. 



It was found by experiment that the required amount, x, 

 constantly increased with the quantity of antitoxine added, and 

 that G showed a corresponding decrease. There is thus no 

 reason for the assumption that the " poison spectrum" (vide supra] 

 of tetanolysine assumes a step-shaped form. On the contrary, the 



