PYOCYANOLYSINE. 137 



spasmine. Even after five minutes twice the dose was required; 

 after fifteen minutes, three times ; and after thirty minutes, five 

 times the amount of a single protective dose. Beyond that time 

 accurate measurements were not possible, since, prior to the 

 addition of the antilysine, the amount of solution was so great 

 that the shade of colour could no longer be accurately matched. 



PYOCYANOLYSINE. 



A similar bacterial hsemolysine has been obtained from culti- 

 vations of B. pyocyaneus by BULLOCH and HUNTER. l 



They isolated it from eight different cultivations, the " results 

 being practically the same." 



The hsemolytic power was tested upon the blood-corpuscles of 

 the most different species of animals, the amounts usually em- 

 ployed being 0-5 c.c. of the unfiltered culture, or 1-5 to 2 c.c. 

 of that filtered through a Chamberland filter. Rabbit's blood 

 offered some resistance. 



There is very little pyocyanolysine present in young cultures, 

 the filtrate being practically devoid of it. Cultivations three to 

 four weeks' old yield a filtrate which also contains lysine, though 

 invariably in a very small proportion as compared with that in 

 the main cultivation. 



BULLOCH and HUNTER conclude from this that the lysine is 

 combined with cells of the bacilli, and is not liberated until the 

 cultivations grow older. In consequence of this combination 

 with the cells it is somewhat protected from the destructive 

 effect of heat, so that the unfiltered cultivation can resist a 

 temperature of 100 C. for a short period (fifteen minutes), 

 whereas the poison in the filtrate is rapidly destroyed by boiling. 

 The antilysine has not yet been detected. 



These results were, in the main, confirmed immediately after- 

 wards by WfiiNGEROFF, 2 who, however, also obtained the lysine 

 by filtration of the cultures. Subsequently MARG. BREYMANN 3 

 found the lysine only in the filtrates, even in the case of young 

 cultivations. 



WEINGEROFF was able to give a direct proof that the lysine 

 combined with the blood-corpuscles, while the toxine present in 



1 Bulloch and Hunter, " Ueber Pyocyanolysin," CentralbL f. Bakt., 

 xxviii., 865, 1900. 



2 Weingeroff, " Zur Kenntnis des Hamolysins des B. pyocyaneus," 

 CentralbL f. Bakt., xxix., No. 20, 1901. 



3 M. Breymann, " Ueb. Stoffwechselprod. d. B. pyocyaneus," CentralbL 

 /. Bakt., xxxi., 481, 1902. 



