ANTIBODY OF INTESTINAL WORMS. 



487 



Acid W at 15 C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 5-0-5-5 



Acid W at 37 C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 5-0 5'5 



Acid W at 50 C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 5-0 5-0 



Acid W boiled. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W= 5-5 



Control. 

 2 c.c. T + 2H 2 = 88 



Alk. W at 15 C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 5-0 5-5 



Alk. W at 'AT C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 5'0 5-5 



Alk. W at 50 C. for 6 hours. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 9'0 9-0 



Alk. W boiled. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W=9'0 9-5 



Control. 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. alk. = 9-0 9-5 



Gelatine tubes and toluol were added and the digestion, measured in mm. after 16 hrs. 

 appears opposite each mixture. T = trypsin solution. W = worm extract. Alk. (in control) 

 = N. Na 2 C0 3 . 



Thus we see that whilst acid worm extract may be heated with 

 impunity even to the boiling point, alkaline worm extract, though 

 preserving its inhibiting power well during prolonged exposure to 37 C., 

 rapidly loses it as the temperature rises. 1 have repeatedly boiled acid 

 worm extracts for 10 or 15 minutes without in any way impairing their 

 activity ; whereas extracts, rendered even faintly alkaline, at once lose 

 their power when raised to the boiling point. for a few moments only. 



We are now in a position to understand why simple heating to 

 100 C. destroyed the antibody in Weinland's extracts. In preparing 

 these extracts he used a solution of disodium hydrogen phosphate so 

 that the extracts had a strongly alkaline reaction. That this is the 

 cause of the results which he obtained is sufficiently obvious from the 

 following experiment : 



Digestion in mm. 



2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. W = 4-0 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. BW = 4-0 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. H 2 O =10-5 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. Wph. =4-0 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. BWph.= 9'5 

 2 c.c. T + 2 c.c. H 2 0ph.= 9 '5 



Explanation. BW = worm extract boiled for 3 minutes. 



The three lowest mixtures of the series are the same as the upper three except that 

 each contains 5/ Na 2 HP0 4 . Gelatine tubes and toluol were added, and the digestion 

 in each tube was measured after 20 hours. 



