NOVEMBEE 28, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



851 



ally been calculated to reveal the presence 

 of toxins with the characters indicated, 

 even if such existed in the cultures. Re- 

 cently, however, a beginning has been made 

 in this direction, and we have already be- 

 come acquainted with certain toxins of an 

 interesting nature, to which I desire to 

 direct your attention. 



Intrinsically and in their general bear- 

 ing upon the subject before us, the recent 

 investigations of Flexner and Noguchi upon 

 the constitution of the toxins in snake 

 venom are of special importance. It 

 was in snake venom that Weir Mitchell 

 and Reichert first demonstrated the ex- 

 istence of that class of poisons often 

 called, although with doubtful propriety, 

 toxic albumins. Investigations of snake 

 toxins are of peculiar interest for many 

 reasons, not the least of which is their 

 resemblance to bacterial toxins. The 

 demonstration by Sewall of the possi- 

 bility of active immunization from venom, 

 and the further studies by Calmette and 

 by Fraser of this phenomenon, and espe- 

 cially of the protective and curative prop- 

 erties of antivenin are well known. 



Until recently it has been generally held 

 that the venom toxins resemble in molec- 

 ular structure the diphtheria and the te- 

 tanus toxins in being single bodies with a 

 combining or haptophore group and a toxo- 

 phore group of atoms. The researches of 

 Flexner and Noguchi, now in progress, of 

 which only the first part has been pub- 

 lished,* necessitate a quite different con- 

 ception of the nature and manner of action 

 of venom toxins from that previously en- 

 tertained. I have followed with great in- 

 terest the work of Professor Flexner on 

 toxins, begun several years ago in my labo- 

 ratory when he was my assistant and asso- 

 ciate, and since continued along new lines 



* Flexner and Noguelii, ' Snake Venom in Rela- 

 tion to Haemolysis, Bacteriolysis and Toxicity,' 

 Journal of Experimental Medicine, March 17, 

 1902, Vol. VI., p. 277. 



in his laboratoiy at the University of Penn- 

 sylvania, and I wish to acknowledge his 

 generosity in permitting me to use in this 

 lecture certain unpublished results of his 

 and Noguchi 's investigations. 



These investigations have shown that the 

 toxic action of venom upon red blood cor- 

 puscles, leucocytes, nerve cells and other 

 cells is like that of the duplex cytotoxins 

 already described— that is, it depends upon 

 the combination of intermediary bodies con- 

 tained in the venom, on the one hand with 

 the animal cells for which these bodies 

 respectively have affinities, and on the 

 other hand with corresponding comple- 

 ments contained, not in the venom, but in 

 the cells or fluids of the animal acted on. 

 For example, it is well known that the 

 addition of venoms to fresh blood brings 

 about the quick destruction and solution of 

 the red corpuscles. If, however, certain 

 venoms be added to red corpuscles which 

 have been thoroughly washed with isotonic 

 salt solution so as to remove all the comple- 

 ment, the corpuscles are agglutinated but 

 not dissolved, although it can be shown 

 that substances from the venom (inter- 

 mediary bodies) have entered into com- 

 bination with the corpuscles. If now a 

 little fresh serum which contains the com- 

 plement, and by itself may be an excellent 

 preservative of normal corpuscles, be added 

 to these venomized corpuscles, they are 

 promptly dissolved. 



Preston Kyes, working in Professor 

 Ehrlich's laboratory, in an investigation 

 just published* on the mode of action of 

 cobra venom, confirms the conclusion of 

 Flexner and Noguchi concerning the am- 

 boceptor nature of cobra venom, and adds 



* Preston Kyes, ' Ueber die Wirkungsweise des 

 Cobragiftes,' Berl. klin. Woch., 1902, Nos. 38 and 

 39. I am greatly indebted to my fri' nd Professor 

 Ehrlich and to my former pupil Dr. Kyes for 

 putting me in possession of the main results of 

 these interesting experiments before the date of 

 their publication. 



