234 TOXINES AND ANTITOXINES. 



acid solution. Sheep's blood is the most susceptible, and then 

 comes the blood of the goat, rabbit, dog, ox, hen, and guinea- 

 pig, while that of the pigeon, frog, and toad is hardly affected. 

 In the case of sheep's blood, about O3 mgrm. is sufficient to 

 dissolve a litre completely. 



There is as yet no reason for concluding that phrynolysine has 

 a complex structure. 



Normal sera do not contain any anti-body. By immunisation, 

 however, it is possible to produce an antilysine, which in a dose 

 of 0'025 c.c. affords protection against a dose of the toxine suf- 

 ficient to hsemolyse 1 c.c. of a 5 per cent, emulsion of sheep's 

 blood. 



Salamander Poison. 



A poisonous substance that formed an antitoxine was dis- 

 covered, by PmsALix, 1 in the skin of the back of the Japanese 

 salamander (Sieboldia maxima). 



The poison is soluble in water and glycerin, and possesses 

 little stability. It is completely destroyed by twenty minutes' 

 exposure to a temperature of 60 C., and also by alcohol. 



It produces oedema and areas of haemorrhage in the frog, and 

 in warm-blooded animals necroses also. Paralysis also occurs, 

 and the excitability of the nerves is gradually lost; death results 

 from the paralysis of the respiratory system. 



The poison is weakened by being heated to 50 C., but still 

 retains its immunising power. Animals thus treated can then 

 resist much larger doses, not only of this poison b y ut also of 

 viper venom and eel's-blood poison (PmsALix 2 ), whence we may 

 conclude that it has a certain degree of relationship with these 

 toxines. 



Spider Venom. 



Poisonous spiders occupy an important position in the popular 

 imagination. Very many spiders, and notably the tarantula, 

 have been accused of possessing toxic properties. Little, how- 

 ever, was known scientifically about spider poisons until the 

 appearance of ROBERT'S 3 comprehensive monograph. 



iPhisalix, "Act. phys. venin du Salamandre," Soc. BioL, xlix., 723, 

 1897. 



2 Phisalix, "Propr. immunisantes du venin du Salamandre," Soc. Biol., 

 xlix., 823, 1897. 



3 Robert, Beitr. z. Kenntn. d. Giftspinnen, Stuttgart, 1901 (gives the 

 older literature from the earliest times); id., "Giebt es fiir den Menschen 

 gefahrliche Spinnen?" Die Med. Woche, 1902, 154. 



