172 PHYTOTOXINS AND ZOOTOXIXS 



action, affecting the neurotoxic properties less than the hemato- 

 toxic components (Noguchi l ). 



Much work has been done upon the nature of the constituents 

 of venom. As early as 1843 Prince Lucien Bonaparte found 

 that there were proteids in the venom, which was corroborated 

 by Mitchell in 1861. In 1883 Mitchell and Reichert described 

 two poisonous proteid constituents of venom, one of which was 

 coagulable by heat and seemed to be a globulin ; the other 

 resembled the proteoses (they called it " peptone," according to 

 the nomenclature of that time). To the globulin they ascribed 

 the local, irritating properties of venom ; to the albumose, the 

 systemic intoxication. Corresponding to their action, venoms 

 of different serpents were found to vary greatly in the propor- 

 tions of these proteids. Cobra venom, which acts chiefly sys- 

 temically, contains 98 per cent, of albumose and but 2 per cent, 

 of globulin ; rattlesnake venom, with its marked local effects, 

 contains 25 per cent, of the irritating globulin ; moccasin 

 venom contains 8 per cent, of globulin. Several other observers 

 soon corroborated the main facts of Mitchell and Reichert's 

 report ; but, as has been seen in connection with the consideration 

 of the composition of enzymes, toxins, etc., the fact that a sub- 

 stance is carried down with a proteid is no proof that it is itself a 

 proteid. 2 What has been established is merely that the irritat- 

 ing component of venom can be destroyed by heat, and is 

 removed with the globulin in fractional separation ; while there 

 remains a substance not destroyed by boiling, which comes down 

 at least in part with the albumoses of the venom, and causes 

 chiefly systemic manifestations. 



Enzymes in Venoms. As venom causes rapid liquefaction 

 of tissues into which it is injected, Flexner and Noguchi 3 tested 

 crotalus and cobra venom for proteases, and found that they 

 digested muscle rapidly, and also gelatin and unboiled fibrin ; 

 whereas boiled fibrin and boiled egg-albumen were undigested. 

 Wehrmann 4 found that venom (cobra ?) digests fibrin and inverts 

 saccharose, but does not digest starch. Martin 5 found fibrin 

 ferments in various venoms. 



Toxicity. Calmette has determined the toxicity of several 

 venoms, and gives the following figures : 



1 Jour. Exper. Med., 1906 (8), 252. 



2 Faust (" Tierische Gifte," p. 60) has described a non-proteid, nitrogen-free 

 poison in cobra venom which he calls "ophiotoxin." It has a curare-like 

 action and also paralyzes the central nervous system. Its general properties 

 resemble those of picrotoxin and sapotoxin. 



3 Univ. of Penn. Med. Bull., 1902 (15), 360. 



4 Ann. d. T Inst. Pasteur, 1898 (12), 510. 



5 Jour, of Physiol., 1905 (32), 207. 



