COAGULATION OF BLOOD OF ARTHROPODS. 309 



coagulation. The following experiments were mainly made with 

 adult Limuli : 



() If one collects blood at once into saturated solutions of dif- 

 ferent salts, surpassing in quantity considerably the quantity of 

 blood received, coagulation can be to a great extent inhibited or 

 prevented. Magnesium sulphate, sodium chloride, potassium 

 chloride, sodium nitrate, aluminium, ammonium sulphate, potas- 

 sium oxalate, sodium citrate, potassium and sodium tartrate, 

 potassium sulphate and sodium sulphate, all have a decidedly in- 

 hibiting effect, and to a less degree sodium carbonate. 



If the solutions are diluted with one half or an equal amount 

 of water, the effect shows a corresponding decrease.' Pbtass ; um 

 salts are less effective than sodium salts ; the potassium nitrate is 

 almost without effect ; the oxalates do not have any markedly 

 stronger effect than the other saturated salts ; it is therefore im- 

 probable that oxalates act in this case as precipitants of calcium, 

 but rather as saturated salts. The blood corpuscles are in the 

 main better preserved in these solutions. In the sodium and 

 potassium sulphates they become roundish and send out proc- 

 esses after some time. In sodium nitrate and potassium and 

 sodium chloride they retain on the whole an oval shape. Sabat- 

 tani's hypothesis, that the inhibiting effect of salts is based on 

 their action on calcium, preventing it from being ionized, becomes 

 improbable, at least in this case. If the saturated solutions of 

 the salts containing the blood are afterwards diluted with distilled 

 water, many cell granules which had previously been preserved, 

 now disappear. Many cells, however, seem to remain unchanged. 



($) Pyrrhol, resorcin and especially hydrochinon, have some 

 inhibiting action on coagulation without preventing it entirely. 

 Blood corpuscles remain more or less preserved in these solu- 

 tions. 



(r) Solutions of adrenalin chloride, 1300, pilocarpine 1300, 

 and atropine 1300, have a slightly inhibiting effect on coagula- 

 tion, especially adrenalin. The cells here swell up and frequently 

 arrange themselves through agglutination in epithelial-like 

 order. Many cells, mainly at the margins where the adrenalin 

 comes in contact with the blood, remain isolated or form only 

 small clumps. The formation of a continuous coagulum however, 

 at the margin does not take place frequently. 



