26o 



VENOMOUS ANIMALS 



Hence Kyes concludes that the hsemolytic element of all snakes 

 is an amboceptor possessed of a haptophore group for the erythro- 

 cyte, and a toxophore group for lecithin, which contains the active 

 element for the haemolysis. The haptophore group, however, 

 probably differs in different poisons, for Lamb has shown that, 

 while cobra- venom will unite with Calmette's antitoxin, poison of 

 Viper a russellii will not. Bungarus and Naja hungarus act like 

 the cobra, and Lachesis and Crotalus do not. 



Noguchi investigated lecithin, and found it to be by no means 

 an inert substance, and, further, that certain oleic compounds and 

 oleic acid itself would act as venom activators. 



He found that the addition of oleic acid or its soluble soaps to 

 a non-activating serum in the ratio which corresponds to the per- 

 centages of fatty acids and soaps contained in some of the easily 

 activating sera makes it highly active to venom. In the normal 

 serum of a dog, however, he found that there was a lecithin com- 

 pound acting like free lecithin. He further found that these two 

 classes of activators could be differentiated from one another by 

 calcium chloride, which annulled the first group, but was powerless 

 against the lecithide. Non-activating sera do not contain this 

 lecithin compound, and other lecithides — e.g., lecith albumin — -are 

 powerless. 



When serum is heated, the non-coagulated portions contain a 

 lecithin activator, as described by Kyes, which is identical with 

 Chabrie's albumon; but this does not exist preformed in unheated 

 sera, and is due to the high temperature altering other proteid 

 lecithides into albumon. 



He further found ovovitellin to be one of the best lecithin proteid 

 activators. He finally came to the conclusion that the reason why 

 some red corpuscles (man, etc.) are acted upon by venom, while 

 others (ox, etc.) are not, depends solely upon the amount of fatty 

 acids, and perhaps also of soaps and fats, contained in the cor- 

 puscles, to the stroma of which they are attached. They exist 

 plentifully in corpuscles easily affected, and in small amount in 

 those not easily affected. 



The position at the present moment is, therefore, that snake- 

 venom produces haemolysis by its amboceptors uniting with com- 

 plements contained in the sera of the majority of mammals and 

 birds investigated, and that these complements are fatty acids and 

 soaps (belonging principally to the oleic series). 



Further, there are endocomplements in the erythrocytes of certain 

 species, and these are of the same nature as those in normal sera, 

 and are attached to the stroma of the corpuscle. 



Finally, the reason why heated sera become active at high tem- 

 peratures after losing their activity at lower temperatures is because 

 of the conversion of the proteid lecithides into another form of 

 lecithide called albumon, which is an activator. 



For the controversy between von Dungern, Coca, supported by 

 Mainwaring on the one side and Kyes on the other, reference must 



