36 Toxins and antitoxins. 



of the organism, preserving . them from intoxi- 

 cation.* 



Such was also the opinion of Rouxf; and Cal- 

 mette demonstrated that a mixture of venom and 

 of a non-toxic antivenom recovered its toxicity on 

 being heated to 68° C, whereby the antivenom 

 was destroyed (Calmette: Le Venin des Serpents, 

 Paris, 1897, p. 58) ; and Wassermann arrived at 

 the same result. | 



The array of proofs offered by these scientists, 

 which we cannot here enlarge upon without use- 

 lessly extending our subject, would tend to make 

 one believe, at first glance, that the antitoxin does 

 not act directly on the toxin, but at the present 

 time Buchner's theory appears untenable. Numer- 

 ous researches have proved conclusively that the 

 toxin and the antitoxin have a specific affinity 

 for each other, by virtue of which these principles 

 combine to form a substance free from all toxicity, 

 but unstable, and which may be decomposed by 

 heat or certain other factors. § 



Some recent experiments by J. Martin and Cherry 

 {Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1898, Lxiii, p. 

 423) have clearly brought out this fact. These 

 authors made mixtures of serpent venom with its 



* Buchner: Munchener med. W ochenschr . , 1893, p. 480. 

 f Roux: Annates de I'lnstitut Pasteur, 1894, viii, p. 724. 

 % Wassermann : Zeitschr. jiir Hygiene. 

 § J. Danzsy; Annales de I'lnstitut Pasteur, xvi, p. 331. 



