THE VENOM OF THE AUSTRALIAN BLACK SNAKE. 255 
neutral salts. The names given to similar bodies formed in the 
gastric digestion of proteids* are respectively, proto-albumose and 
hetero-albumose. 
We next allowed some venom to remain under a large volume 
of absolute alcohol for several weeks, by which means _ proteids 
other than albumoses or peptones are rendered permanently in- 
soluble in water or dilute saline solutions, whereas proto-albumose 
is unaltered and hetero-albumose only to a certain extent, some 
portion of it being changed into dys-albumose and therefore no 
longer capable of being dissolved by these media. The results 
obtained by this treatment were confirmatory of those detailed 
above. 
After the sojourn under alcohol the precipitate was extracted 
with 5% Na Cl solution. The extract so obtained was very viru- 
lent and contained proto- and a small amount of hetero-albumose, 
which were separated in the following manner. The precipitate 
was digested with the salt solution for twenty-four hours and 
filtered. The filtrate was dialysed against distilled water, which 
was frequently changed, for forty-eight hours. At the end of 
this time there was a slight flocculent precipitate on the membrane. 
The whole contents of the dialyser were then decanted into a test- 
tube, the deposition of the precipitate hastened by means of the 
centrifuge and the supernatant fluid carefully pipetted off. 
The small precipitate was then thoroughly washed with an 
abundance of distilled water and then the tube again placed in 
the centrifuge, and ina few moments the precipitate was deposited 
at the bottom of the tube, and. the excess of fluid could now be 
easily removed. The sediment was dried at a gentle heat. The 
fluid contents of the dialyser were concentrated by a further 
dialysis against absolute alcohol and evaporated to dryness at 40° C. 
In this way we again obtained two bodies (albumoses) the one 
insoluble in distilled water and therefore precipitated by dialysis, 
== 
* Kuhne & Chittenden—‘‘ Ueber Albumosen,”’ Zeitsch. f. Biol. 1884. 
