The action of snake venoms on surface films

and of Kyes and Sachs 1903 showed that the action of snake venom haemolysins is upon the lecithin portion of the cell membrane. Later, Delezenne and Fourneau 1914 found that egg-lecithin undergoes a partial hydrolysis by snake venom, the unsaturated fatty acid residues being specifically removed to form lysolecithin, which contains a single saturated ali- phatic hydrocarbon chain. No satisfactory mechanism has been suggested for this specific hydrolysis. A study has been made in the present work of the actions of various snake venoms on unimolecular films of lecithin and other compounds in relation to the processes involved in venom haemolysis.