178 VENOMOUS SNAKES AND THE PHENOMENA OF THEIR VENOMS 



If a fairly large amount of the fresh snake serum is added to the washed 

 corpuscles alone, complete haemolysis will result in a few minutes. But 

 if the same quantity of the serum is added to the venomized corpuscles 

 haemolysis is always imperfect or complete only after many hours' contact, 

 this especially being more pronounced (inhibited) when moccasin venom is 

 employed. Why is it? It is because the preoccupancy of the receptors of 

 the blood corpuscles by venom-intermediary bodies means the possession 

 of the majority of the receptors by isocomplementophilic intermediary bodies 

 in the case of crotalus venom, but by heterocomplementophilic intermediary 

 bodies in the case of moccasin venom; hence haemolysis may be complete in 

 the first instance in the presence of the homologous complement, but only 

 little in the second instance on account of the non-availability of the venom- 

 intermediary bodies, in this case of the crotalus complement. Even if the 

 moccasin complement be used, haemolysis proceeds slowly. Again, if, instead 

 of homologous serums, some quick-activating heterogeneous serums should 

 be employed, the venomized corpuscles undergo haemolysis, the promptness 

 of action being proportionate to the amount of venom, provided a certain 

 limit is not passed beyond which another phenomenon complicates the process 

 of the antihaemolytic action of venom. 



Flexner and Noguchi finally resorted to some other methods to identify 

 the haptophore groups of venom-intermediary bodies and serum-intermediary 

 bodies. They found that the anti-serum for crotalus serum was quite anti- 

 haemolytic against the crotalus haemolysin, but less so against moccasin or 

 cobra venoms. Antivenin prepared by Calmette was quite antihaemolytic 

 against crotalus serum. The reason why this antivenin was effective in neu- 

 tralizing the haemolytic action of crotalus serum, as well as crotalus venom, 

 may find its explanation in the fact that Calmette immunized his horses 

 with a mixture of several venoms, of which crotalus venom was a component. 



Venom haemolysis was found to proceed uninfluenced by the presence of 

 cholesterin. This fact was later confirmed by Kyes and Sachs, who in case 

 of venom-lecithin haemolysis found also a marked protection displayed by 

 this substance. 



Venom-agglutination occurs with the corpuscles hardened in 10 per cent 

 formalin in Hayem's solution, but no haemolysis. 



The approximate units of haemolytic activity of various venoms upon 

 different kinds of defibrinated blood in vitro are given by Flexner and Noguchi 

 in the following table, which also shows the coincidental agglutinative value : 



Table 8. 



