480 CSEMISTBY OF THE LEVCOMA'lNS. 



page 141. Flexner and Noguchi* have recently made a careful study 

 of the hemolytic action of venoms. Their results briefly stated are 

 as follows : Agglutination of corpuscles occurs rapidly in favorable 

 solutions, while in very weak ones a delay of some minutes up to one 

 hour may be noted. Active agglutination takes place with 0.2 per 

 cent, solutions of venoms but the maximal results are given by 0.5 

 per cent, solutions. The corpuscles of the rabbit are highly sus- 

 ceptible while those of the guinea-pig, dog, sheep, swine are less and 

 in about the order given. Hemolysis follows agglutination and 

 depends on the strength and kind of venom and on the temperature. 

 The dog's corpuscles are more easily hemolyzed but agglutinate less 

 readily than do corpuscles from other animals. The agglutinating 

 power of venoms is destroyed by heating at 75—80° for 30 minutes. 

 This temperature has no elfect on the hemolytic power which, more- 

 over, is only slightly decreased by heating at 100° for 15 minutes. 

 The hemolytic power of venoms differs : cobra is most active, water- 

 moccasin, copper-head, and rattle-snake are less in the order named. 

 The different mammalian corpuscles possess a varying degree of sus- 

 ceptibility. The dog's corpuscles are hemolyzed most rapidly while 

 those of sheep, guinea-pig, pig, rabbit and ox are less susceptible in 

 the order given. The hemolytic effects can be brought out usually 

 with 0.2 per cent, solutions of the venoms but in the case of the ox 

 a 0.5 per cent, solution is necessary. Washed corpuscles are agglu- 

 tinated but not hemolyzed. The addition of serum, however, 

 promptiy induces hemolysis. Leucocytes are also agglutinated and 

 hemolyzed by venoms. The agglutinating principle may be common 

 to both the red and white corpuscles while the dissolving principle 

 for leucocytes is distinct from that for red cells. The toxic principle 

 is removed by nerve cells but not by blood cells. Venom destroys 

 the germicidal properties of many blood sera by fixation of the serum 

 complements by the venoms which, however, have no action upon 

 the intermediate bodies of the serum. Antivenin neutralizes venom 

 and removes both the hemolytic and antibacteriolytic actions. 



The blood or serum of the common turtle (?) (Bufo vulgaris) is in 

 1 c.c. dose toxic to frogs. This property of the blood, therefore, is 

 a result, as in the case of the viper and the garter-snake, of the 

 " inner-secretion " of toxic glands (Phisalix and Bertrand). 



Cloez and Gratiolet in 1852 examined the poison contained in the 

 cutaneous pustules of some batrachians, and succeeded in extracting 

 a substance which gave a white precipitate with mercuric chlorid 

 and formed a platinum double salt. Beyond this meagre information 

 very little is known in regard to the character of these poisons, 

 though Zalesky, in 1866, announced the isolation of an alkaloid to 

 which he assigned the formula Cj^Hg^NjOj, and which he named 

 samandarin. According to Dutartre (1890), this base is a leuco- 

 ' Jown. Exp. Med., 6, 277. 



