212 VENOMS 



the diminution of bactericidal power in this experiment, that the 

 alexin becomes fixed by the venom. Since the secretion of alexin 

 is connected with the presence of leucocytes, the hypoleucocytosis 

 due to the venom is sufficient to explain the loss of bactericidal 

 power. 



Nevertheless, the action of venom is not confined to these 

 physiological phenomena ; in diffusing itself through the organism 

 it stays more especially in parts where the circulation has become 

 slower, in the capillaries of the organs where the leucocytes that 

 have disappeared from the general circulation are already to be 

 found agglomerated and altered. Here the cytolysins of the venom, 

 continuing their effects, are capable of neutralising the alexins 

 set at liberty by the destruction of the leucocytes, and thus the 

 rapid multiplication of the bacteria of putrefaction, which have 

 come from the intestine or were carried in with the bite, is easily 

 explained. In the same way, we can account for the suppuration 

 that is met with as a complication of non-lethal bites, in spite of the 

 hyperleucocytosis consequent upon the penetration of a weak dose 

 of venom ; immediate neutralisation of the alexin set at liberty at 

 the level of the wound has sufficed to enable micro-organisms to 

 multiply. 



D. — Vaeious Diastasic Actions op Venoms. 



So long ago as 1884, de Lacerda, in his " Le9Gns sur le venin des 

 serpents du Bresil," described the results of his researches upon 

 the diastasic actions of venom. He proved that venom emulsifies 

 fats, causes milk to curdle, and does not saccharise starch. But 

 the solutions of venom employed by this author were not sterile, 

 so that putrefactive phenomena may be believed to have occurred 

 in the course of his experiments. 



The subject has been studied afresh by Wehrmann ^ in my 

 laboratory, and afterwards by Lannoy.^ These two investigators 



' Awnales de I'Institut Pasteur, 1898. 

 2 TKiae Paris, No. 1138, 1903. 



