EED CORPUSCLE CONTENT OF THE CIRCULATING BLOOD 565 



method, use is made of the blue dye T 1824, 10 mgm of which are dissol- 

 ved in 5 cm^ of water. 



Before injecting the dye, a blood sample which is used to determine 

 the hematocrit figure is secured by venous puncture. Through the same 

 cannula with wdiich the blood sample is taken, T 1824 solution from 

 a calibrated syringe is injected into the circulation. In order to remove 

 the last traces of the dye present, the syringe is filled with blood which 

 is also injected. This process is repeated three times. 



Blood samples of the patient are drawn 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes, 

 respectively, after injection of the dye. After the blood sample has 

 coagulated, the serum is centrifuged off and its dye content is deter- 

 mined by making use of a photoelectric colorimeter. The light absorption 

 by the dye-free serum is previously ascertained in the same way. 



The dye content of the different sera secured from the same patient 

 at different times is plotted against time and, from the curve obtained, 

 the dye content present at zero time is extrapolated. This procedure is 

 necessary because it lasts some minutes until dye and blood are properly 

 mixed and, during this time, some dye leaves the plasma. 15 — 30 minutes 

 after injection, some dye was found to be present in the lymph of the 

 ductus thoracicus (Cardozo, 1941), and Koster observed some dye in 

 the bile 30 minutes after administration. 



From the plasma volume obtained by means of the dye method and 

 the hematocrit figure, the corpuscle content and the blood volume 

 were calculated. The results are shown in Tables 6 and 7. 



Determination of the corpuscle volume carried out with the CO method 



We determined, furthermore, the corpuscle content applying the 

 CO method. Carbon monoxide is prepared under the action of con- 

 centrated sulphuric acid on sodium formiate. The CO obtained is led 

 through a sodium hydroxide solution, in order to remove any carbon 

 dioxide or sulphuric acid spray possibly present. The purified CO is 

 stored in a gasometer constructed by connecting two flasks containing 

 diluted sodium hydroxide. Before filling the gasometer with CO, a 

 stream of carbon monoxide is led through the liquid for some time, so 

 that all air is removed from the gasometer. The gas stored in the gaso- 

 meter was found to contain 97 per cent CO. 



The CO is administered to the patients by a Krogh "basal metabolism 

 apparatus" containing a known volume of CO (200 cm^) and a few 

 litres of oxygen. For the transfer of the CO from the gasometer to the 

 Krogh apparatus, use is made of a Luers glass syringe carefully kept at 

 room temperature, the CO being injected in the tube leading from the 

 oxygen flask to the spirometer and the tube washed with an oxygen 

 current. The patient inhales the mixture of CO -f- Og in the course of 



