134 TOXINES AND ANTITOXINES. 



The reasons that led EHRLICH to conclude that it was a different 

 poison to the true tetanus poison, the convulsion-producing tetano- 

 spasmine, are as follows : 



The ratio between the amounts of tetanolysine and tetano- 

 spasmine in the cultivations and preparations derived from them 

 is not constant. Some solutions of the poison are rich in the 

 former and relatively poor in the latter, and vice versd. 



Tetanolysine is more sensitive to external influences than 

 tetanospasmine. 



Tetanolysine combines with the erythrocytes, while tetanus 

 toxine is left by them in solution. 



In proportion as the tetanus solution varies in the amounts 

 of the two poisons, so also the anti-serum prepared by means of 

 this solution contains varying relative quantities of the corre- 

 sponding anti-bodies, so that it is sometimes more antitoxic and 

 sometimes more antilytic in its action. 



Tetanolysine was thoroughly investigated by MADSEN 1 in 

 EHRLICH'S Institute, and his results were confirmed by KRAUS 



and CLAIRMONT. 2 



MADSEN obtained, by means of precipitation with ammonium 

 sulphate from a bouillon culture of tetanus, a preparation, of 

 which O000001 grin, was the amount required for a lethal dose 

 for a mouse. 



This poison dissolves the blood-corpuscles of many animals ; 

 rabbits' blood, being particularly sensitive, is used for the experi- 

 ments, in the form of a 5 per cent, emulsion in a physiological 

 solution of sodium chloride. 



The amount of solution is determined colorimetrically by com- 

 parison with a standard solution of blood. It depends, ceteris 

 paribus, on the amount of poison added. There is a difference, 

 however, in the sensitiveness of individual blood-corpuscles ; 

 moreover, tetanolysine has much less action in the cold than at 

 the incubation temperature, whereas other hsemolytic poisons do 

 not possess this property. 



Tetanolysine is extraordinarily sensitive to external influences. 

 Even at the ordinary temperature it becomes considerably weaker 

 in less than an hour, especially in dilute solutions, but concen- 

 trated solutions also soon lose part of their hsemolytic power. 

 Higher temperatures, even 50 C., have a very injurious effect. 

 The lysine can be kept on ice without undergoing decomposition 

 for twenty-four hours, and in the dry condition is absolutely stable. 



1 Madsen, "Ueber Tetanolysin," Zeit. f. Hyg., xxxii., 214, 1899. 



2 Kraus and Clairmont, "Ueber Hamoly sin und Antihamoly sin," Wien. 

 klin. Woch., 1900, 49. 



