HEMOLYTIC PROPERTIES OF HELODERMA VENOM. 



155 



The hemolysis caused by 0.125 mg. of sodium oleate is less than the hemo- 

 lysis caused by a similar quantity of sodium oleate plus venom. 



Turtle Corpuscles. 



The turtle corpuscles react to sodium oleate in a manner similar to the 

 guinea-pig corpuscles; with 0.1 mg. of sodium oleate there is shghtly less hemo- 

 lysis of the turtle corpuscles than of the guinea-pig corpuscles; as was shown in 

 parallel series carried out with guinea-pig and turtle corpuscles with similar 

 quantities of sodium oleate or mixtures of sodium oleate and venom. 

 1 c.c. of 5 per cent siispension of turtle corpuscles. 



After addition of venom the quantity of sodium oleate necessary to cause 

 hemolysis was a little more than half the usual hemolytic dose, whereas a some- 

 what smaller dose of sodium oleate when added to the venom suffices to hemo- 

 lyze the guinea-pig corpuscles. 



Summary. 



Sodium oleate serves as an activator for the heloderma venom, but the 

 difference between the hemolytic dose of the sodium oleate alone and the acti- 

 vating dose of sodium oleate is very small. Addition of venom to sodium 

 oleate diminishes the hemolytic dose of the sodium oleate approximately one- 

 half in the case of the majority of corpuscles. There exists, therefore, an acti- 

 vating power of venom when combined with sodium oleate, but it is consider- 

 ably smaller than in the case of lecithin. 



ACTIVATION OF HELODERMA VENOM BY VARIOUS SERA. 



Flexner and Noguchi,* who discovered that addition of serum to snake 

 venom made the latter hemolytic, were inclined to identify the ordinary serum 

 complement with the activating substance. Later the investigations of Kyesj 

 and Calmettet suggested lecithin as the source of the venom-activating sub- 

 stance. The subsequent studies of Kyes and Sachs, § however, made it very 

 probable that besides the lecithin some other activating substance was present 

 in various sera. 



We have carried out a large series of experiments in which we tested the 

 power of the various sera to serve as activators of the heloderma venom, and 



*Flexner and Noguchi. Jour. Exper. Med. 1902, vi. No. 3. 

 JKyes. Berl. klin. Wooh., 1902, Nos. 38 and 39. 

 tCalmette. C. R. Acad. Sci., 1902, 134, 1446. 

 §Kye3 and Sachs. Berl. klin. Woch., 1903, xl, Noa. 1, 2, and 3. 



