ON SPECIFIC THERAPEUTICS. 47 



found in cobra venom. For, in the first place, 

 it is distinguished from the cobra amboceptor 

 by having become so completely thermostable, 

 that solutions of this cobra-lecithide can be 

 boiled for hours without losing a fraction of 

 their efficiency, whilst under similar conditions 

 the original venom would be rapidly destroyed. A 

 further important property is shown by the fact 

 that cobra-lecithide, even in small quantity, in- 

 stantaneously and without any incubation period 

 dissolves the erythrocytes, whilst snake venom, 

 even in the presence of lecithin, only produces 

 a similar effect after several hours. The long 

 incubation period observed in experiments with 

 the native poison is explained by the fact that 

 the real poisonous body has first to be formed 

 by a synthetic process, which, in dilute solutions 

 and at ordinary temperatures, may naturally 

 require some time for its completion. As you 

 see, I believe with Kyes, that the haemolysis of 

 the red blood corpuscles is the result of a similar 

 lecithide formation. 



It is interesting to note the action of cobra 

 venom towards different kinds of red blood cor- 

 puscles. It has been found that the corpuscles 

 of the guinea-pig, man and rabbit, are at once 

 dissolved by solutions of the poison, but that 



