CHAPTER VII. 



CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF HEMOGLOBIN IN RELATION TO SPECIES, 

 ACCORDING TO PREVIOUS INVESTIGATORS, WITH 

 EXPLANATIONS OF VARIOUS CONTRADIC- 

 TORY STATEMENTS, ETC. 



As early as 1852 Kunde (Zeit. f. rat. Medicin, 1852, N. F., n, 271) 

 and Funke (ibid., 288) in coincident articles stated that the hemoglobin 

 crystals of different species are different. Kunde prepared crystals from 

 the bloods of a number of species, including the bat, dog, ox, horse, guinea- 

 pig, squirrel, rat, mouse, rabbit, pigeon, and tortoise, and published some 

 figures illustrating the shapes of the crystals. From these differences in 

 the shape and from the differences in solubility he concluded that the 

 blood crystals obtained from different species are not identical, but distinct 

 and characteristic of the species. Funke was led to the same conclusion 

 from the examination of the crystals from the blood of the horse, ox, pig, 

 dog, cat, and several species of fish. While making no attempt to give an 

 exact crystallographic description, Funke records a number of angles ob- 

 served in two of the species examined. These contributions were almost 

 immediately followed by an article by Teichmann (ibid., 1853, in, 375), 

 who states that from the same blood, and even in the same preparation, 

 crystals of various forms may be obtained, from which and for other reasons 

 he concludes that the differences are not in relationship to species, but 

 accidental and due to exterior conditions. 



Teichmann's statement seems to have arrested further interest in this 

 subject until 10 years later, when it was taken up by Rollett (Sitzungsb. 

 Math.-nat. Klasse d. k. k. Akad., Wien, 1862, XLVI, Abth. n, 85), and shortly 

 after by Bojanowski (Zeit. f. wiss. Zoologie, 1863, xn, 312). Rollett pre- 

 pared crystals from the bloods of man, the guinea-pig, dog, rabbit, squirrel, 

 and cat, all of which preparations, with the exception of the last, he sub- 

 mitted to von Lang, a crystallographer, for crystallographic investigation. 

 Von Lang's examinations were made with the microscope, and in some 

 cases the optical characters were examined and a few angles recorded. 

 Von Lang determined the crystal system in each case, and from his data 

 Rollett concluded that while the crystals from different species are different 

 they may all be included in two crystal systems, the orthorhombic and the 

 hexagonal. The descriptions of von Lang are very brief, and no attempt 

 at giving all of the crystallographic constants is made, but these are the 

 first definite determinations on record of the systems of crystallization of 

 hemoglobin. 



Bojanowski reviewed the literature of hemoglobin crystals and pre- 

 pared crystals from the blood of rabbit, mouse, dog, cat, hedgehog, river 



131 



