CHEMISTRY OF THE LEUCOM AINES. 349 



unable to substantiate GtATJTIEr's statements. Still more 

 recently Wolfe nden, in an elaborate paper on the nature 

 of cobra venom, has confirmed Wolcott Gibbs as to the 

 entire absence of any alkaloidal body. 



Mitchell and Reichert have made a careful study of 

 the venoms of various serpents, such as cobra, rattlesnake, 

 moccasin, and Indian viper, and have succeeded in isolating 

 two proteid constituents, one belonging to the class of 

 globulins and the other to the peptones. The peptone is 

 said to be non-precipitable by alcohol. According to 

 them, the globulin constituent consists of at least three 

 distinct globulins. They found that boiling coagulates 

 and destroys the globulin as a poison, but leaves the 

 venom peptone toxically unchanged, so that the solution, 

 though still poisonous, fails to produce the characteristic 

 local lesions due to fresh or unboiled venom. On the other 

 hand, Gautiek asserts that the venom is not sensibly 

 altered on being heated to 120°-125°, and that the toxic 

 action remains constant even when all the proteid con- 

 stituents are removed, thus showing that the toxic action 

 cannot be attributed to the albuminoids. The venom pep- 

 tone from the rattlesnake or the moccasin, however, when 

 injected into animals produced toxic effects which were 

 marked by an cedematous swelling over the site of injection ; 

 the tumor was filled with serum, and so also was the sub- 

 cutaneous cellular tissue. Furthermore, a gradual breaking 

 down of the tissues occurred, accompanied by rapid putre- 

 factive changes and a more or less extensive slough. That 

 peptones may possess intensely poisonous properties has been 

 shown to be the case by a number of authors, among whom 

 may be mentioned ScHMiDT-MtJLHEiM, Hofmeistee, 

 PoLLiTZER, and others. Brieger has, moreover, demon- 

 strated that the formation of peptones in the process of 

 digestion is accompanied by the development of a toxic 

 ptomaine which he has named psptotoxine. 



The venom globulins, on the other hand, though present 

 in less quantity than the peptones, induced the same re- 

 markable local effects seen on injection of the pure venom. 



16 



