160 THE LAND-MARKS OF 



In noticing these researches the editor of the . 

 Indian Medical Gazette remarks : " To trust to 

 dialysis alone, in the attempt to separate the 

 different proteids of snake-poison, is calculated 

 to give most unsatisfactory results. Even a 

 crystalline salt, which is readily dialysable, re- 

 quires a period of several days for complete ex- 

 traction by dialysis. It would be practically 

 impossible to altogether extract a peptone, if, 

 indeed, such is really present, in this way. Be- 

 sides, in dialysing albuminous fluids, decomposi- 

 tion must occur, and not only may an active 

 proteid thus lose its activity, but poisonous decom- 

 position products, which did not exist in the 

 original venom, may be formed in this way, and 

 being readily dialysable, they will contaminate 

 the crystalloid proteids. The products which 

 Dr. Mitchell experimented with were obtained in 

 this objectionable manner." Wolfenden adopted 

 a recognized mode of precise chemical analysis so 

 that his proteids were presumably of a fairly pure 

 nature. Notwithstanding the very great import- 

 ance of these contributions, I cannot help believ- 

 ing that the active principles of snake-poisons 

 are rather of the nature of animal alkaloids, 

 having an affinity for albumin and globulin. 



