ABSTRACT
Since methods for measuring acceleration and inhibition of haemolysis were first described (Ponder, 1926), very little attention has been paid to the way in which accelerators and inhibitors act. The effects of only a few chemical substances have been studied, and detailed investigations on the accelerating and inhibiting effects of various ions, etc., have certainly not tended to simplify the situation (Yeager, 1929, 1931; Gordon, 1933 a,b); recently, however, the problem has become of interest from quite a different point of view.
The resulting concentration of ethyl alcohol, 0.2 %, has no effect on the velocity of haemolysis
See footnote 2 on p. 42.
The relation between configuration and accelerating power could be further tested if substances such as 1, 2, 3, tri-chlor-benzene, 1, 3, 5, tri-chlor-benzene, etc., could be obtained in a sufficiently pure state. Unfortunately, I have not been able to obtain many substances which I should have liked to have tested, and this accounts for many obvious lacunae in this investigation.
There are cases, however, in which a substance may be an accelerator or an inhibitor for one lysin, and inert with respect to another. For example, estriol inhibits saponin lysis, but has no effect in a taurocholate system; phenanthraquinone (002 mM./l.) is a powerful accelerator in a taurocholate system, but has little or no effect in a saponin system; aniline is a good accelerator for the bile salts, but affects saponin very little. These instances, however, are more the exception than the rule.
A technical difficulty appears here, for the greatest concentration of anthracene which can be made is about 0-014 mM./l. Suppose the smallest acceleration which could just be observed were-R = 0.99; then (R— I)/c would be–0-71, an acceleration 28 times that given by benzene. In fact, it would scarcely be possible to distinguish between the small acceleration R = 0 09 and the small inhibition R= 1.01, so, in the case of a substance such as anthracene, all we can do is to set an upper limit to the accelerating power and say that it is less than 28 times that of benzene. Generally speaking, values are apt to be only very approximate in the case of very insoluble substances, because the acceleration produced is usually small and difficult to measure, yet (R— i)/c is relatively great because c is so small.
There seems to be a general belief that organic solvents denature proteins by forming interfacial films, but there does not appear to be any literature on the subject. The problem of the adsoption of protein by oils has been investigated in a semi-quantitative manner by St von Przylecki.
