OF HEMOGLOBIN, AND ITS SPECIFICITIES. 



81 



in the presence of any reagent which causes a separation of the globin and 

 hematin, or which converts the hemoglobin into methemoglobin or reduced 

 hemoglobin. The degree of decomposability varies in relation to different 

 species, and in individuals of the same species under abnormal conditions. 

 Korber (Ueber Differenzen des Blutstoffes, Inaug. Dissert., Dorpat, 1886; 

 Centralblatt f. med. Wissensch., 1867, v, 117) found by the aid of the spec- 

 troscope in a study of the bloods of 11 species of warm-blooded animals 

 (man, horse, bullock, sheep, pig, dog, cat, hare, goose, chicken, and crow) and 

 3 species of cold-blooded animals (frog, pike, and lote) interesting differences 

 in the behavior towards certain reagents. Normal human hemoglobin was 

 found to be more readily decomposed by acetic acid than by soda, but the 

 opposite was noted under pathological conditions. In febrile states in the 

 human being and in inanition in the dog decomposability was increased. 

 The hemoglobin of typhus blood decomposed 18 times sooner than normal 

 blood. Under given conditions, the hemoglobin of the chicken was decom- 

 posed 150 times more quickly than that of man; pig's was decomposed 

 780 times more slowly than that of the bullock and 350 times more slowly 

 than that of the dog, etc. Rabbit's hemoglobin was decomposed 150 times 

 more quickly through acetic acid than by soda, but the hemoglobin of the 

 pike was affected much more readily by soda than by acetic acid. With a 

 proportion of 0.5 gram of sodium hydrate to 20 c.c. of a 1 per cent solution 

 of blood, he found that the decomposition of hemoglobin began at time 

 intervals shown in table 30. 



TABLE 30. Time intervals of beginning of decomposition of hemoglobin. 



Kruger (Zeit. f. physiolog. Chemie, 1888, xxiv, 318), in similar spectral 

 examinations with the bloods of the dog and horse, found support to Kor- 

 ber's results. He states that the resistances of the hemoglobins of the dog 

 and horse against acetic acid and sodium hydrate differ, that they vary 

 considerably, and that the variability is due to the chemical condition of 

 the hemoglobin itself; that the difference in the decomposability increases 

 with the quantity of decomposing agent ; and that sodium hydrate is more 

 effective than the acid. The results of the foregoing investigations have 

 received support in the comparatively recent investigations of Magnanimi 

 (Bull. d. soc. Lancisiana d. osped. di Roma, 1898; Jahr. li. d. Fort. d. 

 Thierchemie, 1898, xxvin, 144) and Ziemke (Vierteljahresschr. Med., 1901, 

 xxii, 77). Magnanimi by the aid of a Kriiss spectrophotometer examined 

 the bloods of 4 men and 1 woman, and also the bloods of the dog, horse, 

 calf, pig, wether, and lamb. He found upon the addition of sodium hydrate 

 that the bands of human blood vanish in 38 minutes, of the dog after 110 



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