AO je coat’ 
in eas ee z a 
‘methods of handlin 
PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF VENOM OF BLACK SNAKE, 167 
Sections of the two sponges treated in the same way presented 
very different appearances. The control was infiltrated with 
leucocytes which stained well with ordinary nuclear stains; the 
other contained leucocytes only near the margins, and many of 
these were broken down and took the stain badly, or not at all. 
From these sponge experiments I conclude that whereas into 
the control sponge the leucocytes could by their amceboid move- 
ments penetrate unharmed, in the other their activity was 
paralysed, they succumbed, and were eventually disintegrated by 
the solution of the venom. 
To recapitulate : the effects of the venom when introduced into 
the body on the blood corpuscles are :— 
(1) More or less destruction of the red corpuscles, the haemo- 
globin of which escapes by the urine. 
(2) A great increase in the number of leucocytes which may be 
preceded by a certain amount of diminution. 
(3) Inhibition of the vital activity of those white cells which 
come into contact with the venom in sufficient concentration. 
Alterations in the blood-plasma after the injection of venom. 
In the previous section of this paper I have shown that venom 
exerts a destructive action upon the red blood corpuscles whereby 
their disintegrated products are set free in the plasma. The 
haemoglobin circulates in solution in the plasma and is eventually 
discharged by the urine and bile. I do not know that there is 
any evidence that haemoglobin exercises any baneful influence 
by its presence in plasma, and I have not noticed any ill effects 
to follow the injection of two or three grammes of well washed 
crystals, dissolved in ‘9% NaCl solution, into the circulation of 
: The remaining portion of the red blood corpuscle, the 
Stroma, consists of a highly complex substance which by various 
: g may be made to yield products which are not 
80 Innocent, 
By extraction with various solvents, stromata yield cholesterin, 
lecithin, a globulin, and a proteid compound of nuclein, which is — 
